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SAM9X60-EK – Writing MPLAB® Harmony 3 Application and at91bootstrap to NOR Flash (QSPI) Memory using SAM-BA ISP

Last modified by Microchip on 2024/06/20 12:44
Table of Contents

Introduction

In this training topic, you will write two binary images, harmony.bin (an MPLAB® Harmony 3 Software Framework Application) and boot.bin (Second-stage bootloader, at91bootstrap), to NOR Flash (QSPI) memory on the SAM9X60-EK Evaluation Kit using the SAM-BA® In-System Programmer (ISP). Once the images are written, and upon reset, the SAM9X60-EK will boot and run the application.

For this exercise, you will write the binaries that were created in the training topics:

Prerequisites

The following are prerequisites to complete this training:

​This training topic was developed with SAM-BA ISP v3.7.

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Hardware

For this training, you will use the SAM9X60-EK Evaluation Kit.

SAM9X60-EK Evaluation Kit

Set up the SAM9X60-EK as listed below to the host computer running SAM-BA host application.

Jumpers

  • Set the jumpers to their default positions as shown in the "Jumper Summary" section on the "SAM9X60-EK — Features" page.

SD Memory Cards

  • Ensure no SD memory cards are plugged into the SD card (J4) connector.

Power

  • Apply power as shown in the "Power Options" section on the "SAM9X60-EK — Features" page.

Console Serial Communications

SAM-BA Host to Monitor Serial Communications

​Be certain that the SAM-BA host application has been added to the path.

​Be sure to observe RomBOOT on the console. Otherwise, the SAM-BA host application cannot talk to the monitor on the target.

​For more information on SAM-BA host applets, see "SAM-BA ISP - Applets" page.

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NOR Flash (QSPI) Memory

The SAM9X60-EK has a 64 Mbit Serial Quad I/O™ (SQI™) Flash memory (U8) (Microchip Technology SST26VF064B) that can be used for booting the system.

The at91bootstrap (boot.bin) binary will be written to locations 0x0 to 0x0003FFFF. The MPLAB Harmony 3 Software Framework application (harmony.bin) binary will be written to locations 0x00040000 to 0x000FFFFF.

NOR Flash Memory Map

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Setup SAM-BA Host to Monitor Communications

In this section, you will establish SAM-BA host application communications with the target’s (SAM9X60) SAM-BA monitor. Then you will use the SAM-BA host applet (qspiflash) to erase and then write the boot.bin (at91bootstrap) and harmony.bin (MPLAB Harmony 3 Software Framework application) binary images to NOR Flash (QSPI) memory.

To communicate with the SAM-BA monitor on the target, you must have installed the SAM-BA host on a host computer and connect a Micro-B USB cable to the USB Type-A port (J7) on the SAM9X60-EK.
Ensure there is no SD memory card inserted in slot J4.

Open jumper the DISABLE_BOOT (J13).

This will allow booting from the onboard memories (NAND and NOR (QSPI) Flash memory).

Press both the DIS_BOOT (SW4) and nRST (Reset) (SW3) push buttons.

Pressing the DIS_BOOT (SW4) push button disables booting from the onboard memories.

Continue pressing DIS_BOOT (SW4) while releasing the nRST (Reset) (SW3) push button.

Release the DIS_BOOT (SW4) push button.

The SAM9X60-EK will boot to the SAM-BA monitor and start communications with the SAM-BA host application.

If you have the Console Serial Communications established, you can observe ROMBoot on the Console (terminal emulator) indicating the SAM-BA monitor is running.

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Erase NOR Flash (QSPI) Memory

In this section, you will erase the contents of the NOR Flash memory. This is a necessary step before writing data to NOR Flash memory.

​For more information on the SAM-BA applet qspiflash, see the "SAM-BA ISP - Applets: Program External NAND Flash Memory" page.

​Ensure that no other bootable NVMs on the SAM9X60-EK contain a bootable image. Ensure there is no SD memory card plugged into J4 and no bootable image in  NAND Flash (U9). For information on the default boot sequence of the SAM9X60, see Section 12, "Boot Strategies" in the SAM9X60 datasheet.

Erase the contents of the NOR Flash memory using the following SAM-BA host applet command:

$ sam-ba -p serial -b sam9x60-ek -a qspiflash -c erase

SAM-BA: qspiflash erase beginning

SAM-BA: qspiflash erase ending

Console: qspiflash erase

Write boot.bin to NOR Flash (QSPI) Memory

In this section, you will write the at91bootstrap binary image, boot.bin, to NOR Flash memory.

Change directory to the location of boot.bin:

<project_directory>\at91bootstrap\build\binaries\boot.bin

Write boot.bin to NOR Flash memory using the following SAM-BA applet command:

$ sam-ba -p serial -b sam9x60-ek -a qspiflash -c writeboot:boot.bin

The writeboot command is used when programming a bootstrap file into an external NOR Flash memory boot partition.

SAM-BA: qspiflash writeboot

Console: qspiflash writeboot

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Write harmony.bin to NOR Flash (QSPI) Memory

In this section, you will write the MPLAB Harmony 3 Software Framework application binary image, harmony.bin, to NOR Flash memory.

Change directory to the location of harmony.bin:

C:\Users\<user>\Harmony3\csp_apps_sam_9x60\apps\rtt\rtt_periodic_timeout\firmware\sam_9x60_ek.X\dist\sam_9x60_ek\production\

Write harmony.bin to NOR Flash memory using the following sam-ba applet command:

$ sam-ba -p serial -b sam9x60-ek -a qspiflash -c write:harmony.bin:0x200000

The write command is write:<filename>:[<addr>] where <addr> is the Flash Offset for Demo App value in the at91bootstrap configuration (Kconfig). The value 0x200000 you took note of in the training: "SAM9X60-EK – Configure and Build at91bootstrap to Load an MPLAB® Harmony 3 Application from NOR Flash (QSPI) Memory"

Linker for Production: ddram

SAM-BA: qspiflash write

Console: qspiflash write

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Run MPLAB Harmony 3 Application on the Target

To run the application, press the nRST (Reset) (SW3) push button. Observe the RGB LED (LD1) flashes blue. You can also observe the at91bootstrap reading from the NAND Flash memory on the console.

Console run

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Summary

In this training topic, you wrote the binary files harmony.bin and boot.bin to NOR Flash (QSPI) memory on the SAM9X60-EK and ran the application on the target.

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What’s Next?

For training topics on configuring at91boostrap for other Non-Volatile Memories (NVM), see:

Second-Stage Bootloader at91bootstrap

Writing to Non-Volatile Memory (NVM)

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