Chipkit Wifire Bootloader

Created Tue, 30 May 2017 01:07:40 +0000 by The_YongGrand

The_YongGrand

Tue, 30 May 2017 01:07:40 +0000

Hello there,

Is the bootloader in the Chipkit WiFire located entirely in the 160KB boot-flash and also being write protected?

majenko

Tue, 30 May 2017 09:24:30 +0000

I think it actually fits entirely within just one of the two 80k blocks that comprise the boot flash area.

Code Protection is not turned on, and I don't believe there is any software protection of the boot flash to prevent it overwriting itself.

The_YongGrand

Thu, 01 Jun 2017 03:06:24 +0000

I think it actually fits entirely within just one of the two 80k blocks that comprise the boot flash area. Code Protection is not turned on, and I don't believe there is any software protection of the boot flash to prevent it overwriting itself.

Thanks for the reply. By the way, which compiler and the MPLAB X IDE versions you compile the bootloader in? I tried finding in the Github but to no avail.

Could the newer versions of the Chipkit Wifire bootloader includes this boot-flash write protection feature? If so, it'll prevent accidental erasure of the bootloader.

EmbeddedMan

Thu, 01 Jun 2017 14:46:46 +0000

The bootloader can be built with the XC32 compiler or the chipKIT compiler (for this purpose, they are basically identical).

Feel free to suggest changes/features for the bootloader as issues on the bootloader GitHub site!

*Brian

majenko

Thu, 01 Jun 2017 15:27:18 +0000

Be aware, however, that the chipKIT bootloader is not the same as the Digilent bootloader. chipKIT was forked from Digilent some time back and already has much more functionality than the Digilent one. Digilent refuse to use our bootloader and insist on using their own, so don't expect any changes submitted to our repo to make it into future Diggilent boards. All the other boards, though, use the chipKIT bootloader, so they would get new features as they are implemented.

EmbeddedMan

Thu, 01 Jun 2017 16:13:51 +0000

Also be aware that Digilent has added additional functionality to their bootloader as well. Both have diverged from each other in different ways. (at least, that's the impression I've gotten from Digilent - I have not closely tracked their changes.)

*Brian

The_YongGrand

Fri, 02 Jun 2017 01:35:30 +0000

Thanks, I'll try using the Chipkit bootloader and compile it from there. :)