GSoC 2015: Raspberry Pi 2 Support

[Rohini Kulkarni]

HI,

I tried running the dhrystone benchmark with some changes for cache/mmu set
up.

However, the output shows a reduction in performance.
The time to run through the dhrystone has increased from 12 to 13 and
dhrystones run per second decreased.
According to this result, things were better with caches disabled.

I have been working on this since two days and could not figure out an
improvement. Any pointers?

Thanks.


On Thu, May 28, 2015 at 8:41 PM, Rohini Kulkarni <krohini1593 at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I have to implement the cache coherency support for Cortex A7. But for A7
> MPCore, unlike for A9, I am not able to find any register description for
> the Snoop Control Unit from the TRM.
> I need help here on how to proceed.
>
> Additionally for A9 there is a single bit for A9 in the Auxiliary Control
> Register which enables cache broadcast operations. The register format is
> different for A7 and again I am unable to find how to achieve the same for
> A7.
>
> Thanks!
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, May 5, 2015 at 10:42 PM, Joel Sherrill <joel.sherrill at oarcorp.com>
> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> On 5/5/2015 11:11 AM, Rohini Kulkarni wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I am working with the code for bsp hooks. I am referring to existing ARM
>> multicore bsp codes, zync mainly.
>>
>> 1. There are existing hooks for the raspberry pi. Where should the code
>> for the  Pi2 hooks be added?
>>
>> The Pi and Pi2 are remarkably similar so Pi2 should be placed inside the
>> Pi BSP directory.
>> There is already a Pi2 variant of that code built. But we know specific
>> places where there
>> are variances. Depending on the scope of what is different, it can be as
>> simple as
>> a cpp conditional in a .h to select a value or two implementations of a
>> single method
>> and the Makefile.am picking the right file to build based on the board
>> variant.
>>
>> The big question to always ask is: Is this specific to the Pi2 and
>> incompatible with the Pi?
>>
>> Since the Pi BSP is still missing capabilities, it is likely code common
>> to both will
>> be added this summer. For example, did the mailbox interface change? I
>> don't know
>> but would guess that it didn't.  Each new capability added needs that
>> added.
>>
>> And any differences need to be analyzed to pick the least intrusive way
>> to provide
>> alternate implementations. Or enable special code like the Pi2 SMP
>> support which
>> is dependent on --enable-smp and being a Pi2.
>>
>> 2. Am I right in understanding that I will have to implement A7 specific
>> functions as have been for A9? I am referring specifically to the
>> arm-a9mpcore-start.h
>>
>> Yes.
>>
>> If the code is very similar between the a7 and a9, then a discussion
>> on devel@ should occur to decide the best way to minimize duplication.
>>
>> If you end up with a7 specific code, you should follow the location and
>> naming patterns already established. That places it in
>> libbsp/arm/shared/...
>> so it can be used by any BSP with the right SMP core.
>>
>>
>>  I am referring to existing codes to locate and get hold of what needs
>> to be done in the hooks. However, being new to such implementations, I am
>> taking longer to understand the details. Any suggestions that might help
>> here are welcome
>>
>> The answer will depend on the factors listed above. When code can
>> be shared, we want to share it across as many BSPs as makes sense.
>> When it is unique to a specific BSP **variant** (e.g. Pi vs Pi2), then
>> you want to find the way to account for the variation in the least
>> intrusive code way possible.
>>
>> Thanks!
>> On 1 May 2015 12:45, "Rohini Kulkarni" <krohini1593 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>  Hi,
>>>
>>>  Excited to be a part of  this edition of GSoC! Thanks to everybody for
>>> helping me get here and congratulations to all the participating students!
>>>
>>>  So, now getting to work, firstly I wish to know, specifically from my
>>> mentors, any changes that must be made to my proposed project or schedule.
>>>
>>> Secondly, are there any specifics for the development blog that we need
>>> to create for the project? Over time what is the blog expected to convey.
>>>
>>> Also, I have to create a new wiki page for my project as none exists. I
>>> want to know how to add one.
>>>
>>>  --
>>>  Rohini Kulkarni
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Joel Sherrill, Ph.D.             Director of Research & Developmentjoel.sherrill at OARcorp.com        On-Line Applications Research
>> Ask me about RTEMS: a free RTOS  Huntsville AL 35805
>> Support Available                (256) 722-9985
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> Rohini Kulkarni
>



-- 
Rohini Kulkarni
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