Hi,
On 11 Nov 2007 at 17:45, Matthias Fuchs wrote:
Hi,
we had some discussions about the FPGA subsystem some days (and also a couple of months) before on this list. I have also some local improvements for the FPGA subsystem.
Before posting a couple of clean patches I dare to post a single patch just to get an ok for the different topics. When all points are clear, I will split my patch into one patch per per topic.
I have one wish on my list:
Would it be possible to have an optional "block write" function for the FPGA?
While I appreciate the current approach of single bit functions for the FPGA to be very convenient for board bring-up, it is somewhat slow on the larger FPGAs (with something like 1.5 MByte bitstream size).
An additional block write function that - if present - replaces the internal (generic) programming algorithm would give a clean way to use the existing FPGA infrastructure (commands, image handling, pre- and post-configuration) and switch to a fast load for production use.
Only then, you could take advantage of buses like SPI for FPGA load, too.
(I hacked something like this in my local u-boot, and the speed-up for FPGA loading was significant, at least 3 times. And I still did not implement the SPI path because I did not have the time yet...)
Best regards, Wolfgang