pcd bootloader

[georpo]

Hello all!

I tried the pcd bootloader example and it works just fine.
I can update various simple "Hello world" programs with Tera Term. (Siow shows Timeout error).

Now, I have a big and complex program with timer interrupts, spi interrupts etc which works normally. Will this work if I update through the bootloader? I am asking because I see interrupts in the bootloader code and I do not know what will happen.

Thanks.
_________________
George.

[Ttelmah]

In the program you load with the bootloader, this line in pcd_bootloader.h:

#build (reset=APPLICATION_START,interrupt=APPLICATION_ISR_START)

Relocates the interrupt table for this code. Note the 'interrupt=' part.

It's placed at the same location inside the new 'loaded' code, that it would
normally be at the bottom of memory outside the bootloader. PCD allows the
actual interrupt table to be moved, so none of the need to 're-vector' the
interrupts that applies with the PIC16/18.

[georpo]

Thanks Ttelmah.
So it will work. Right?
_________________
George.

[georpo]

Hello!!!

I am modifying the example to read the firmware from external flash
but I get out of ROM error. How can I increase the bootloader size?

Thanks.
_________________
George.

[Ttelmah]

Just define LOADER_PAGES before you load pcd_bootloader.h (both
in the bootloader, and in the main application). The default is 19 pages
for chips that have a 128byte page size, and 2 pages for the ones that
have a 2K page size. Check the data sheet for your chip for the flash
erase size, and either take the number of pages up to 3, or possibly up
to something like 28 if yours is one of the chips with the smaller erase
size.

So for the bootloader, on a chip with the larger pages:

[georpo]

Thanks again!!

So can I set the loader pages to anything that will fit my code?
Or it must be multiple of something etc?
_________________
George.

[Ttelmah]

LOADER_PAGES can be 'anything you want'.
The loader has to occupy a multiple of the erase block size. This is handled
for you by the .h file which multiplies LOADER_PAGES by the chip's
erase block size to calculate the size to reserve for the loader.
However (obviously) on chips where the block size is 4KB, using a large
value gives an enormous amount of space reserved for the loader.
You don't want to set it any larger than is needed.

[georpo]

Ttelmah, thanks a million!!!
_________________
George.