What's happening with Ezport ?

[efk]

Hello,

My prototype board with the MFC52235 is almost ready. For the production of the final printed boards, i would like to be able to upload the firmware via Ezport (BDM is perfect for making the prototype, but it is not suitable for firmware uploading during mass production).

I read several posts regarding Ezport, and all of them are not solved. So my questions are:
- does somebody already uploaded the firmware via Ezport. If yes could you please give some tips ?
- otherwise, do you know some other forums where i could post this topic ?

And now a question for people who already made high quantity production:
- could you please tell me how you proceed to upload the firmware into each printed board ?

Regards.



Message Edited by efk on 2007-11-11 10:35 AM

Message Edited by efk on 2007-11-11 10:36 AM

Message Edited by efk on 2007-11-11 10:36 AM

[efk]

Hello Petter,

After several hours of research, here is my conclusion:
- i was not able to find anybody with experience of firmware uploading via SPI
- i was not able to find anybody with experience of firmware uploading in production chain
- i was not able to find a software able to program SPI with size bigger than 32Kbytes

My conclusion is:
- i have the feeling i am the first to look for these above things
- i give up the SPI port
- i give up the idea of firmware uploading, from outside interface casing
- firmware uploading in production chain will be done via BDM port

Regards.

[sjmelnikoff]

It may be too late for this design, but it may be worth using a bootloader in future products. That way, you can upload the code using any method you like, e.g. UART, SPI, CAN, etc.

Steve M.

[efk]

The firmware includes a bootloader. But our concern is to upload the first firmware into the processor flash memory, which is first of all empty.

[sjmelnikoff]

Ah OK. What about JTAG?

[efk]

I know nothing about jtag, but as far as i understood, JTAG connector has same quantity of pins than BDM connector. And we were interested by Ezport because it requires less pins ; this gives the possibility to put the Ezport connector on the interface casing.

[Petter]

I'm using EzPort for programming now. I'm planning to include EzPort as an option for my programmer (main target is JTAG-programming) but I whould like to know what kind of connector most people are using for their PCB's?
Or if they have the EzPort connected to the pins of some JTAG capable devices (so they can do indirectly EzPort via JTAG while testing the board).

[efk]

Thank you for your answer.

I would chose a subd 9 pins connector (male shape, in order to not confuse with a serial port from add-on equipment). I think the sub connector is pretty good for firmware uploading in production line.

By the way, if you can suggest a software + interface able to program the MFC52235 via Ezport, this would be welcome.

Regards.

[Petter]

Thank you for your reply. Personally I find the D9 connector somewhat clunky. I would expect people to use something like a 10-pin JTAG style connector
 used by Altera and others. Others might use a common connector for both JTAG and EzPort.

I've included EzPort as an option for my programmer, but the problem is that it will not be ready for production until some time next year. The software will
 read the SREC file and upload it to the programmer using Ethernet. No device driver required. Only userspace software.