PicoCOM4/Linux development state and releases

PicoCOM Linux Release V1.4

We have uploaded a new Linux version for PicoCOM4 to our server. This release contains all pending patches and quite some new features. One thing is outstanding: we apparently had a misconfiguration so that the PicoCOM4 was only running at 1/3 speed under Linux. So with the new U-Boot, the PicoCOM4 is running three times as fast as before!

In the download area on our website you'll now only find one single tar archive: picocom4-V1.4.tar.bz2. This is the main release itself containing all sources, the binary images, the documentation and the toolchain. There is also a md5sum file where you can verify if your download was correct. And there is a PDF file describing this release and the first steps.

The tar archive is compressed with bzip2. So to see the files, you first have to unpack the archive

This will create a directory picocom4-V1.4 that contains all the files of the release.

Release Notes for PicoCOM4 Linux V1.4

Here is a list of the most noticeable changes in this release. Especially BuildRoot has been merged with Multi-Platform Linux. So you will see some changes here that are not directly related to PicoCOM4.

pc4boot (V26)
Supported Boards: PicoCOM4

• No changes

U-Boot picocom4-V1.4 (20.08.2013, based on u-boot-1.3.4)
Supported boards: PicoCOM4 (+ PicoCOM5, PicoMOD6, PicoMOD7, QBlissA8)

• Support new toolchain fs-toolchain-4.7.2-armv4t
• Fix serial configuration on s3c2416
• Disable DVS (Dynamic Voltage Scaling); now the PicoCOM4 is 3x faster!
• Remove unnecessary initialization that is already done in NBoot

Linux Kernel picocom-V1.4 (21.08.2013, based on linux-2.6.38)
Supported boards: PicoCOM4

• Add parameters for FT5X06 touch controller to SYSFS
• Improve sound: use codec TLV320 as clock/frame master, add capture feature
• Fix backlight control
• Use new S3C touch driver from F&S
• Remove some debug messages
• Fix SD card issues, some SD cards reported timeouts
• Clean up UART configuration, add alternative configurations
• Fix SPI driver (shift value for rx_lvl_offset)
• Add default gain, thold and offs for FT5X06 touch
• Switch to minimal defconfig
• Make default configuration similar to other F&S boards:
  
  
  • Include IPV6, EXT4, CIFS, NFSV4 and squashfs fix into kernel
  • Use SLUB memory allocator
  • Announce USB devices when they are connected
  • Remove support for devtmpfs, initrd, serial USB devices, NTFS, a.out binary format, legacy keboard and mice, legacy PTYs, swap and SM501 graphic controller as it is usually not needed
  • Remove SMDK2410 eval-kit from included platforms
  • Remove many unused modules, e.g. many codepages and joysticks

  
  

• Switch to F&S Tux logo
• Add generic LCD configuration
• Touch: Fix bug where buttons are only recognized after second touch
• Use new toolchain fs-toolchain-4.7.2-armv4t

BuildRoot picocom4-V1.4 (21.08.2013, based on buildroot-2013.02)
Supported Boards: armStoneA5, armStoneA8, NetDCU14, NetDCUA5, PicoMOD7A, PicoCOM4, PicoCOMA5

• Rebase multiplatform-linux version to buildroot-2013.02
• Merge multiplatform-linux and fsvybrid versions
• Create link for lib/ld-linux.so.3 if required
• Add libmcc (MCC: Multi Core Communication) for Vybrid
• Add mqxboot for Vybrid to start applications on Cortex-M4
• Add mcc-pingpong example (Linux side) for Vybrid
• Configure all targets for new toolchains fs-toolchain-4.7.2-*
• Add ttymxc3/4/5 to /etc/securetty to allow root logins on these lines
• Combine armStoneA8, NetDCU14 and PicoMOD7A to common fss5pv210
• New script /etc/init.d/S01fssetup to set up the F&S environment
• Use login_tty from F&S environment to start a getty on
• Use gdb 7.4.x
• Make STD and MIN defconfigs as similar as possible on all platforms
• Fix some typos, indendations and wrong comments

Toolchain picocom4-V1.4

• New toolchain fs-toolchain-4.7.2-armv4t based on binutils-2.23.1, gcc-4.7.2 and eglibc-2_17

Documentation picocom4-V1.4

• Improved first steps docu PicoCOM4_Linux_V1.4.pdf
• AdvicesForLinuxOnPC.pdf to help configuring your PC for embedded development

Your F&S Support Team