CVS: blob/doc diag.txt,NONE,1.1

[Stefan E. <se...@us...>]

Update of /cvsroot/blob/blob/doc
In directory usw-pr-cvs1:/tmp/cvs-serv1865

Added Files:
	diag.txt 
Log Message:
- added mninimal diag docs
- TODO:
	+ command list
	+ make how-to port more complete



--- NEW FILE: diag.txt ---
diag.txt
quickly hacked up by Stefan Eletzhofer
<ste...@el...>

Copyright (C) 2001 Stefan Eletzhofer <ste...@ww...>

$Id: diag.txt,v 1.1 2002/01/07 19:52:32 seletz Exp $

Disclaimer
----------

- This document is not yet complete.
- English is not my native language, so...
- send _any_ bug reports regarding _this_ _doc_ to the above email
  address
- Don't panic :)


What is it?
-----------

Diag is a tool to be used mainly as a diagnostic tool, hence the name. It was
written by Erik Mouw and the autor for exactly this purpose.

The intention the autor had in mind when writing diag and using/adding features
to diag was that:
	- diag could be easy extended
	- diag could be easy ported to other boards
	- diag could be used to test the board hardware before actually
	  start to write for ex. linux kernel drivers for that hardware
	  to make sure that the hw itself works

What does it already do?
------------------------

Diag can currently be used for/as:
	- a general memory tester (several algorithms are implemented to
	  detect different possible memory failures)
	- as a test bed for trying out SA1110 LCD functionality
	- to display and manipulate arbitary memory locations
	- do dump register contents (UART, Memory, LCD etc.)
	- to get a new board up and running in general

Currently worked on:
	- PCMCIA
	- IDE Flash via PCMCIA
	- loading a real kernel from IDE Flash stored in a real filesystem
	  (ext2, msdos)

How to use it?
--------------

Once support for your board is added (see below for that), diag compiles as a
separate object file, which has to be download by some means on your board.
Diag behaves much like the linux kernel, and thus can be uploaded and started
like a kernel, if "blob" is used as bootloader a "download kernel" and "boot"
is the comand to use.
In other words: Diag mimics a linux kernel and has to be loaded and started
like the linux kernel.

How do I add support for my board, then?
----------------------------------------

First you need to port BLOB on your hardware. Thats not too hard, see
"porting.txt" by Erik Mouw for a step-by-step doc on how to do that.

Diag lives in blob/src/diag. For every supported platform there is a
<platform>.c, like "system3.c" for the Pruftechnik Digital Board.

You have to add one for your hardware. Take the h3600.c for example. Add the
appropriate sections to configure.in, Makefile.am etc. This should be fairly
simple.

Build diag, load it onto your board and start it.

Then begin to play around and write test/debug commands for your hardware.
Read "commandlist.txt" for more infos on that. Read the source of the other
arch support files.