TFTP Bootloader contribution -> Now published!

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1

Hello everybody,

I'm working on a project of remotely operated astronomic observatory, and in the scope of this project I needed many TCP/IP controlled boards.

As I'm working as a network engineer I'm quite familiar with networks environements and the availability of a working TFTP bootloader was really missing to the Arduino boards in my point of view.

So I decided to rewrite the code of the unachieved TFTP bootloader published by the Arduino team, and since a few weeks I have a bootloader that works perfectly and helps me in my work on the Arduino boards in development environment and production.

I tried to contact the Arduino team in order to get it published and shared with everybody, but I can't manage to have a response from them.

Please can you help me to find a suitable way to publish it?

Here is the content of the Readme file I wrote in order to let you see what it can do. Sorry for my bad english!

Regards,

Denis

Name: Readme.txt
Author: Denis PEROTTO, from work published by Arduino
Copyright: Arduino
License: GPL GNU General Public License v2.0 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation
Project: eboot
Function: Project documentation
Compilator : gcc version 4.3.3 (WinAVR 20100110)
Version: 0.2 tftp functional on 328P

Ethernet bootloader for the ATmega328P / W5100

How it works

This bootloader starts a TFTP server on default UDP Port 69, and listens for about 5 seconds at startup. During this time the user can upload
a new firmware using any TFTP client software.

It manages interrupted file transfers even if a power failure succeed.

Size

At this time the bootloader's size is about 1500 words (3000 Bytes). Fuses have to be configured in order to declare a 2Kwords booloader.
Therefore the user code must not exceed 28672 Bytes.

EEPROM Usage

Bytes 0,1 and 2 are reserved for the TFTP Bootloader, please read "Settings stored in flash" below

Flashing bootloader:

Connect a TinyUSB programmer and "make install".

Configuring your network:

The bootloader default address is 192.168.1.1.
Configure your computer network card to a static address of 192.168.1.x with a subnet of 255.255.255.0.
By default, the bootloader assumes an internet gateway is at address 192.168.1.254.

Converting firmware to the right format:

The bootloader accepts raw binary images, starting at address 0x0000.
These can be generated using avr-objcopy, part of WinAVR / AVR-GCC, using the "-O binary" option.
Example: avr-objcopy -j .text -j .data -O binary [firmware].elf [firmware].bin

Uploading firmware manually:

  1. Check the target board is powered, and connected to the computer ethernet.
  2. Verify the computer network settings: Static IP of 192.168.1.x, Subnet of 255.255.255.0.
  3. Push reset button to start the bootloader. The LED will blink rapidly.
  4. In a console window (Windows): tftp -i 192.168.1.1 put [firmware].bin
  5. The board will be reprogrammed and reboot.

Flash codes:

Rapid blinking: Ethernet bootloader is wainting for a connection.

Timing

-Timeout at startup is set to 5 seconds approximately
-Timeout will never occur if there is no firmware in user flash space
-Timeout (also 5 seconds) will occur if a download has been started and no response is sent by the client, and TFTP server will restart and wait for a new attempt
-Timeout will never occur after an hardware reset if there has been an interrupted transfer before (we suppose the image in flash to be incomplete)

IP Addressing:

This TFTP bootloader does not implement a DHCP client at this time. As it has been thought to be as tiny, reliable and autonomous as possible
only static addressing is supported.

DHCP boot with TFTP server address recovery in specific DHCP Option could be an option in order to have a diskless station like behaviour, but
once again this bootloader has been thought to be rock-solid and automatic flashing of firmware at startup is a dangerous option.

Settings stored in flash:

In order to provide the possibility to configure the Ethernet settings used by the TFTP Bootloader
and the user application, the following settings can be stored in the MCU flash.

These are intended to be shared between the TFTP Bootloader and the client App. This will avoid any inconsistencies
and ARP resolution problems during the initialisation process that would succeed if different MAC addresses are
used for example.

0:SIG1(0x55), 1:SIG2(0XAA) --> Signature, if present Bootloader will use the following settings for configuring the Ethernet Chip
2:IMAGE STATUS : 0xFF: BAD or never uploaded, 0xBB: IMAGE OK
3:GWIP0, 4:GWIP1, 5:GWIP2, 6:GWIP3 --> Gateway IP address (Default 192.168.1.254)
7:MASK0, 8:MASK1, 9:MASK2, 10:MASK3 --> Mask (Default 255.255.255.0)
11:MAC0, 12:MAC1, 13:MAC2, 14:MAC3, 15:MAC4, 16:MAC5 --> MAC Address (Default 12:34:45:78:9A:BC)
17:IP0, 18:IP1, 19:IP2, 20:IP3 --> IP Address (Default 192.168.1.1)

The consistency of these settings have to be garanteed by the client application.

Errors handled during TFTP transfer:

The following error codes and error strings can be reported to the TFTP client software:

  • "Opcode?", Code 1, TFTP Opcode sent by client is not supported
  • "Flash Full", Code 3, Flash size exceeded
  • "Invalid Image", Code 5, Firmware sent by client don't start with 0x0C 0x94 0xWX 0xYZ (JMP 0xWXYZ)
  • "Error", Code 0, Unknown error

Debugging

Debugging can be enabled at time of compilation in debug.h, uncomment the following line, save and compile:

//#define DEBUG

should be replaced by :

#define DEBUG

Debug will be outputted to the serial port of the Arduino board at 115200 bps speed.

Version history

0.1 (xx/xx/xxxx): First internal release. Supports uploads on tftp. (Arduino unachieved published release)
0.2 (07/12/2011): Reviewed by Denis PEROTTO, comments added, additionnal error codes added and code cleaned

Todo List

  • Return to Ethernet default settings when putting one pin HIGH during startup
  • Enable TFTP debugging by setting a value in flash in the client application
  • Add syslog functionnality in addition to serial debugging
  • Add possibility to configure the timeout of the TFTP bootloader by setting a value in flash in the client application
2

Hello,

I managed to chat with David from the Arduino's team today. The project is now published trough the Arduino Playground and can be accessed here:

http://arduino.cc/playground/Code/TFTPBootloader1

Regards,

Denis

3

NIce job

Can you tel more about

on a project of remotely operated astronomic observatory

Sounds very interesting!! Where do you use the Arduino for?

4

Hello,

the Arduino is used for different tasks:

  • Ethernet to serial and encoder reading on the telescope mount
  • Command of the dome motors
  • Command of different relays for powering all the devices
  • Sensor reading

Regards,

Denis

5

I don't think I will ever use it but congratulations on what looks like a very good implementation :slight_smile:

6

Thanks :wink:

7

The download links are dead; Can someone publish new link please? I'd love to test this as I have Ardunios in different locations.

8

Hello,

I just sent you an email with the source. My website seems to be dead, I will do the necessary as soon as possible in order to restore the link.

Regards,

Denis

9

Is this it??

10

Hello,

No it is not that one. Martin has uploaded the source on his website and provided me with a working link:

http://harizanov.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/TFTPBootLoader_0_2.zip

Regards,

Denis

11

Denis,

I have been trying it out, but it gets to a poing and just freezes till timeout. Here is what the serial spits out:

TFTP Bootloader for Arduino Ethernet, Version 0.2
Net init...
Using Default Settings
Net init done
TFTP Init...
TFTP Init done
----------------------------------------------------------
Starting ProcessPacket
Data in buffer: 0x0034 bytes
Read Pointer:0x7800
Address for len:0x7806
TFTP Packet Size:0x0028
New Read Pointer:0x0034
bytestoread:0x0000
This is block n°0x4C45
Opcode=0x0002
Write request
Changed to port 0xCC32
Send ACK (Not Final)
Send ACK 0x0000
Response sent

Any idea why?

12

Hy!

Is anybody still here, or forum dead,from 2012?
Im very glad for this code, and i really want to use it, but i stucked, as after a successfull bootloader burning,
Successfull raw binary image creation, and upload by ethernet with windows tftp,
Application is not started by bootloader, bootloader still in infinite flashing led mode, waiting for application...

What can be wrong here?
Regarding to tftp the transfer completed , byte sizes fit to bin file size...

Anybody can help?

Thanks in advance!

Mark.