MASC/uCLinux On LEON3

Introduction

MicroController Linux (μCLinux) is a Linux operating system for embedded hardware systems without a memory management unit (MMU).

The LEON3 is a 32-bit VHDL processor core based on the SPARCV8 RISC instruction set architecture.

This project will involve synthesis and placement of a LEON3 processor onto a commercial off the shelf (COTS) field programmable gate array (FPGA), μCLinux will then be loaded to the FPGA.

Hardware

• Xilinx Vertex 5, ML-505 board
• Xilinx Platform Cable USB
• Host Computer. x86-64 machine (AMD Phenom x4 9950 Black (AMD64))

People

• Professor Jose Renau: Leader of the MASC group at UCSC, instructor for CMPE-202, Computer Architecture.
• Samuel Toepke: PhD Student, primary investigator, student of Professor Renau.
• Tom Golubev: Member of MASC group, MS student. Source of Xilinx tools, Xilinx ML505 board and Xilinx Platform Cable USB.
• Rigo Dicochea: Member of MASC group, PhD student, general FPGA resource.
• Javier Castillo: Member of MASC group, embedded Linux resource.

System

• Ubuntu 8.10 running Sun VirtualBox Version 2.2.2 r46594.
• Virtual Machine running CentOS 5.3 i386, http://www.centos.org
• Download:
  • CentOS-5.3-i386-bin-1of6.iso
  • CentOS-5.3-i386-bin-2of6.iso
  • CentOS-5.3-i386-bin-3of6.iso
  • CentOS-5.3-i386-bin-4of6.iso
• Procedure:

1. Obtain a desktop computer. Any desktop machine with a USB port, serial port, and internet connection should suffice. Install the host Operating System of Ubuntu 8.10, as well as the specified VirtualBox.
2. Download the CentOS distribution, specific .iso files listed above.
3. (VirtualBox is used here, however, CentOS could of course be used as the machine's primary operating system). In VirtualBox, create a new virtual machine. Specific options used are described in CentOS_5.3_i386.xml.
4. With the new virtual machine, mount and boot to CentOS-5.3-i386-bin-1of6.iso.
5. When installing CentOS, install the following extras: "Development Libraries","Development Tools","Java Development","Legacy Software Development".
6. Login-name: 'centos' sans single quotes.
7. Once CentOS is installed: a. Applications->System Tools->Software Updater
8. We know have a fresh, updated operating system to begin the project.

Building uCLinux

Cross Compiler

The cross compiler is necessary to compile μCLinux using LEON3 as the target architecture.

In CentOS virtual machine, open a terminal. <source lang=bash> $ cd $ pwd /home/centos $ mkdir uCLinux $ cd uCLinux/ $ mkdir crosscompiler $ cd crosscompiler/ $ wget ftp://gaisler.com/gaisler.com/linux/linux-2.0/toolchains/sparc-linux-3.2.2/sparc-linux-3.2.2-1.0.1.tar.bz2 --2009-12-03 17:01:06-- ftp://gaisler.com/gaisler.com/linux/linux-2.0/toolchains/sparc-linux-3.2.2/sparc-linux-3.2.2-1.0.1.tar.bz2

          => `sparc-linux-3.2.2-1.0.1.tar.bz2'

Resolving gaisler.com... 216.251.43.17 Connecting to gaisler.com|216.251.43.17|:21... connected. Logging in as anonymous ... Logged in! ==> SYST ... done. ==> PWD ... done. ==> TYPE I ... done. ==> CWD /gaisler.com/linux/linux-2.0/toolchains/sparc-linux-3.2.2 ... done. ==> SIZE sparc-linux-3.2.2-1.0.1.tar.bz2 ... 44235674 ==> PASV ... done. ==> RETR sparc-linux-3.2.2-1.0.1.tar.bz2 ... done. Length: 44235674 (42M)

100%[============================================================================>] 44,235,674 279K/s in 2m 7s

2009-12-03 17:03:15 (340 KB/s) - `sparc-linux-3.2.2-1.0.1.tar.bz2' saved [44235674]

$ tar xjf sparc-linux-3.2.2-1.0.1.tar.bz2 $ su Password: root# cp -R ./sparc-linux /opt root# exit exit $ export PATH=$PATH:/opt/sparc-linux/bin </source>