[U-Boot] Handling images(.jpg, .bmp etc) in u-boot

[U-Boot] Handling images(.jpg, .bmp etc) in u-boot

[bhargavak]

Hi

I have currently implemented u-boot splash screen, a battery charging
animation(as a series images) in u-boot on my board, all of the above by
creating a GIMP header (.h) for each of the image.

The problem I'm facing is, the size of the u-boot binary is ever increasing,
as the headers for each image is very large even though all of them take up
only 1/4 of the screen size(WVGA).

Now, I'm supposed to implement a full screen size splash screen and add a
few more images to accommodate extra levels of battery charging.

With this added my u-boot.bin goes upto 4-5MB (and that is bad right ??)

I just came to know that there is a method where we can create a partition
and put images(.bmp) into the EMMC flash.
I saw the u-boot's manual where there is a description about a environment
variable 'splashimage'.

My concern here is, can someone please elaborate the procedure mentioned
there.
I do not have a network connection to my board, I just have a microUSB cable
connection my PC and the board.

If there are any other methods to implement the whole thing better,
suggestions a welcome. 



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[U-Boot] Handling images(.jpg, .bmp etc) in u-boot

[Wolfgang Denk]

Dear bhargavak,

In message <1364111315717-150524.post@n7.nabble.com> you wrote:
> 
> I have currently implemented u-boot splash screen, a battery charging
> animation(as a series images) in u-boot on my board, all of the above by
> creating a GIMP header (.h) for each of the image.

Why are you doing this? Why don't you just load the bmp files within
U-Boot?

> The problem I'm facing is, the size of the u-boot binary is ever increasing,
> as the headers for each image is very large even though all of them take up
> only 1/4 of the screen size(WVGA).

Why don;t you draw smaller images, then?  For battery charging state,
a pretty small image (definitely smaller than 1/4 WVGA) should be more
than adequate.

> Now, I'm supposed to implement a full screen size splash screen and add a
> few more images to accommodate extra levels of battery charging.
> 
> With this added my u-boot.bin goes upto 4-5MB (and that is bad right ??)

Yes, this is very bad.

> I just came to know that there is a method where we can create a partition
> and put images(.bmp) into the EMMC flash.
> I saw the u-boot's manual where there is a description about a environment
> variable 'splashimage'.
> 
> My concern here is, can someone please elaborate the procedure mentioned
> there.

What exactly is the problem?  JUst read the images from whichever
storage medium you may be using, and use the bmp command to displaty
them.

For example, this is the whole "code" for a slide show demo I've been
using on a number of trade shows:

	bootdelay=6
	show_one=fatload mmc 0:2 40001000 slide-${i}.bmp;bmp d 40001000
	slide_show=while mmc rescan; do for i in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ; do run show_one ; sleep ${delay} ; done ; done
	bootcmd=run slideshow


> If there are any other methods to implement the whole thing better,
> suggestions a welcome. 

Well, reduce the images you are drowing to the really needed size.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
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[U-Boot] Handling images(.jpg, .bmp etc) in u-boot

[bhargavak]

Hi Wolfgang Denk


Wolfgang Denk wrote
> What exactly is the problem?  JUst read the images from whichever
> storage medium you may be using, and use the bmp command to displaty
> them.

Kindly pardon me for my ignorance,

The problem I'm facing is how do I load my images into eMMC flash.
The tftp command the manual uses seems pretty staright forward, but it does
require a network connection, doesn't it ?
I just have a microUSB connecting my PC and board(a device running android
on OMAP44xx),
how do I proceed ?

How do I do what tftp, load to RAM, then use cp.b ?
Please help me out..




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[U-Boot] Handling images(.jpg, .bmp etc) in u-boot

[Wolfgang Denk]

Dear bhargavak,

In message <1364124418778-150541.post@n7.nabble.com> you wrote:
> 
> The problem I'm facing is how do I load my images into eMMC flash.

There is a several ways to do that.

> The tftp command the manual uses seems pretty staright forward, but it does
> require a network connection, doesn't it ?

Yes, indeed TFTP needs a network connection (which, if supported for
your hardware, can also be over USB).

> I just have a microUSB connecting my PC and board(a device running android
> on OMAP44xx),
> how do I proceed ?

If the device is running Android, you definitely also have a network
connection, or don't you?  Why don't you do the needed formatting of
the eMMA< creationof file system and installation f the images under
an OS, then?

In U-Boot then you can simply read from that file system.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd@denx.de
You Don't Have To Be 'Damned' To Work Here, But It Helps!!!
                                             - Terry Pratchett, _Eric_

[U-Boot] Handling images(.jpg, .bmp etc) in u-boot

[bhargavak]

I created a partition in my eMMC, used fastboot to flash a "example.bmp"..
How do I get the base address of the partition ?

I have the following partitions on my device running android, has a u-boot
bootloader

U-Boot 1.1.4.XTRAVERSION-g6c554dbc-dirty (Mar 26 2013 - 14:26:11
Load address: 0x80e80000
DRAM: 512 MB
Flash: 0 kB
Using default environment
In: serial
Out: serial
Err: serial
efi partition table:
ptbl slot:    EMMC:(1).
      256     128K      xloader
      512     3M         bootloader
    6656     512K      splash
    7680     128K      misc
    8704     64M       efs
 139776    16K        crypto
 139808    16M        recovery
 172576    8M          boot
 188960    512M      system
1237536   256M      cache
1761824   128M      apk
2023968   2787M    userdata

How do I get the base address of each partition, I tried the following
commands in u-boot but It either gives me an error or doesn't return
anything
1. # flinfo
Bank # 1: missing or unknown FLASH type
Bank # 2: missing or unknown FLASH type

2. fsinfo
Device Hangs up

3. # fli
Bank # 1: missing or unknown FLASH type
Bank # 2: missing or unknown FLASH type

Please help me find the base address of each of the partition.



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[U-Boot] Handling images(.jpg, .bmp etc) in u-boot

[Anatolij Gustschin]

Hi,

On Sat, 30 Mar 2013 10:47:08 -0700 (PDT)
bhargavak <anur.bhargav@gmail.com> wrote:

> I created a partition in my eMMC, used fastboot to flash a "example.bmp"..
> How do I get the base address of the partition ?
> 
> I have the following partitions on my device running android, has a u-boot
> bootloader
> 
> U-Boot 1.1.4.XTRAVERSION-g6c554dbc-dirty (Mar 26 2013 - 14:26:11
> Load address: 0x80e80000
> DRAM: 512 MB
> Flash: 0 kB
> Using default environment
> In: serial
> Out: serial
> Err: serial
> efi partition table:
> ptbl slot:    EMMC:(1).
>       256     128K      xloader
>       512     3M         bootloader
>     6656     512K      splash
>     7680     128K      misc
>     8704     64M       efs
>  139776    16K        crypto
>  139808    16M        recovery
>  172576    8M          boot
>  188960    512M      system
> 1237536   256M      cache
> 1761824   128M      apk
> 2023968   2787M    userdata
> 
> How do I get the base address of each partition,

you seem to have only one efi partition. What do you need the base
address for?

> I tried the following
> commands in u-boot but It either gives me an error or doesn't return
> anything
> 1. # flinfo
> Bank # 1: missing or unknown FLASH type
> Bank # 2: missing or unknown FLASH type

This command is for NOR-Flash info, so this output is expected.
 
> 2. fsinfo
> Device Hangs up
> 
> 3. # fli
> Bank # 1: missing or unknown FLASH type
> Bank # 2: missing or unknown FLASH type
> 
> Please help me find the base address of each of the partition.

For loading files from a partition you do not need to know its
base address. Use appropriate commands, "fatload" comes to mind.

HTH,

Anatolij

[U-Boot] Handling images(.jpg, .bmp etc) in u-boot

[bhargavak]

Hi

Thank you for that heads up.
In one of posts above a reference to the following code fragment is made, it
uses a fatload command

> For example, this is the whole "code" for a slide show demo I've been 
> using on a number of trade shows: 

>        bootdelay=6 
>        show_one=fatload mmc 0:2 40001000 slide-${i}.bmp;bmp d 40001000 
>        slide_show=while mmc rescan; do for i in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ; do run
> show_one ; sleep ${delay} ; done ; done 
>        bootcmd=run slideshow

Can you please explain the "show_one" and the "slide_show" commands ?
And, do I just put this into board config ?



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[U-Boot] Handling images(.jpg, .bmp etc) in u-boot

[Anatolij Gustschin]

Hi,

On Sun, 31 Mar 2013 02:30:00 -0700 (PDT)
bhargavak <anur.bhargav@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi
> 
> Thank you for that heads up.
> In one of posts above a reference to the following code fragment is made, it
> uses a fatload command
> 
> > For example, this is the whole "code" for a slide show demo I've been 
> > using on a number of trade shows: 
> 
> >        bootdelay=6 
> >        show_one=fatload mmc 0:2 40001000 slide-${i}.bmp;bmp d 40001000 
> >        slide_show=while mmc rescan; do for i in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ; do run
> > show_one ; sleep ${delay} ; done ; done 
> >        bootcmd=run slideshow
> 
> Can you please explain the "show_one" and the "slide_show" commands ?
> And, do I just put this into board config ?

"show_one" and "slide_show" are environment variables containing
a sequence of U-Boot commands. These can be executed by "run show_one"
or "run slide_show".

When "show_one" is executed, U-Boot runs two commands:

 fatload mmc 0:2 40001000 slide-${i}.bmp

and

 bmp display 40001000

The first command loads a file (i.e. "slide-0.bmp") into
SDRAM memory at address 0x40001000. It loads the file from
the MMC/SD-Card which is connected to the first available
SD-Card controller. The file is loaded from the second
partition on the SD-Card which is a FAT partition (therefore
fatload command). The "${i}" in the file name is used
to be able to load images with different file names when
this command is executed in a loop.

The second command reads the image at address 0x40001000
in SDRAM, decodes the image data and copies it into the
frame buffer.

"slide_show" command is a loop which test for SD-Card
presence ("mmc rescan") and executes another inner loop
in which the "show_one" command is running 8 times
with index "i" counting from 1 to 8 (so that 8 different
images are loaded into SDRAM while each loop iteration).
After each load/display operation in the loop the execution
of the next loop iteration is delayed by the amount of
seconds specified in the "delay" environment variable.

Note that these loops will only work if U-Boot was built
with enabled CONFIG_SYS_HUSH_PARSER in the board configuration.

You normally won't put these commands into board config.
You have to setup the environment variables on the U-Boot
command line using "setenv" command and save them using
"saveenv" command.

HTH,

Anatolij

[U-Boot] Handling images(.jpg, .bmp etc) in u-boot

[bhargavak]

That's a very nice explanation..
Here's what I will do, please tell me if the whole procedure is right.

I have a SD-card partitioned as follows:
boot: FAT32, holds a MLO and u-boot.bin through which I boot my device (runs
on OMAP4470)
rootfs: mostly empty always (ext4 currently), I will format it as FAT32

I copy "slide-0.bmp" into the rootfs partition and define
"CONFIG_SYS_HUSH_PARSER".

Then I stop the bootloader before the kernel starts, do "setenv" as follows,
and "saveenv"
> show_one=fatload mmc 0:2 40001000 slide-${i}.bmp;bmp d 40001000

Then do the following:
> run show_one

I should be able to see the image on the screen ?
Is there any other configuration options that I should enable ?

For some reason "saveenv" was not working for me yesterday, when I tried to
experiment with the "splashimage" environment variable.
I do not remember the exact error it threw, I could post the error first
thing tomorrow from my workplace.
As a workaround can I set above variables in my "OMAP" config header ?
My u-boot version is "U-Boot 1.1.4-geb3fa991".



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[U-Boot] Handling images(.jpg, .bmp etc) in u-boot

[Anatolij Gustschin]

On Sun, 31 Mar 2013 04:54:35 -0700 (PDT)
bhargavak <anur.bhargav@gmail.com> wrote:

> That's a very nice explanation..
> Here's what I will do, please tell me if the whole procedure is right.
> 
> I have a SD-card partitioned as follows:
> boot: FAT32, holds a MLO and u-boot.bin through which I boot my device (runs
> on OMAP4470)
> rootfs: mostly empty always (ext4 currently), I will format it as FAT32
> 
> I copy "slide-0.bmp" into the rootfs partition and define
> "CONFIG_SYS_HUSH_PARSER".

Note that CONFIG_SYS_HUSH_PARSER is not necessary if you do not
use 'for' or 'while' loops (but it won't hurt, an maybe it is
already defined in your config file).

> Then I stop the bootloader before the kernel starts, do "setenv" as follows,
> and "saveenv"
> > show_one=fatload mmc 0:2 40001000 slide-${i}.bmp;bmp d 40001000

Note that when Wolfgang showed you this example, it was only
for reference how it could be done. You shouldn't blindly input
commands without understanding what these commands are supposed
to do. You also should read the command documentation in the
U-Boot manual and apply common sense. For example the load address
40001000 in the above example is valid only for a particular
architecture, starting offset of the DRAM memory and available
memory size. Using 40001000 address in your case might be wrong.

In your case only 512 MiB DRAM is available, you need to figure
out where the DRAM starts. Use "bdinfo" command and look at
the  DRAM bank start value, i.e.:

U-Boot > bdinfo
...
DRAM bank   = 0x00000000
-> start    = 0x10000000
-> size     = 0x40000000
...

In this example the memory starts at address 0x10000000, so a
reasonable load address could be 10001000 (since the area
starting from 10000000 might contain interrupt/exception vectors,
we skip 0x1000 sized block at start of DRAM).

for setting the environment variable use

 setenv show_one 'fatload mmc 0:2 40001000 slide-0.bmp;bmp d 40001000'

but replace 40001000 address with a valid address for your board.
On my board from the above example I could use address 10001000.


> Then do the following:
> > run show_one
> 
> I should be able to see the image on the screen ?

Provided you used a valid load address and enabled support
for "bmp" command and splash screen, yes.

> Is there any other configuration options that I should enable ?

I do not know your board and do not have your U-Boot source, so
cannot tell for sure. But you need at least

CONFIG_CMD_BMP
CONFIG_SPLASH_SCREEN
CONFIG_VIDEO
CONFIG_CFB_CONSOLE
CONFIG_VGA_AS_SINGLE_DEVICE
CONFIG_SYS_CONSOLE_IS_IN_ENV

and the config option to enable your video driver.


> For some reason "saveenv" was not working for me yesterday, when I tried to
> experiment with the "splashimage" environment variable.
> I do not remember the exact error it threw, I could post the error first
> thing tomorrow from my workplace.
> As a workaround can I set above variables in my "OMAP" config header ?

Look at the CONFIG_EXTRA_ENV_SETTINGS definition in your config
header. It includes additional definitions for embedded environment.
You could add your variables in this list, but it is only used
if the default environment is used. Your board is not in mainline,
so I cannot tell exactly what else might be needed.

> My u-boot version is "U-Boot 1.1.4-geb3fa991".

This version is _very_ old, we do not support it.

Thanks,

Anatolij

[U-Boot] Handling images(.jpg, .bmp etc) in u-boot

[bhargavak]

I'll surely take every word u've said about reading u-boot manual seriously. 
And I will try all the things you have said.

Thank You very much for such a vast information.

I will update my progress.




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[U-Boot] Handling images(.jpg, .bmp etc) in u-boot

[Bhargav AK]

Anatolij,

Thanks for the direction you gave..

I'm able to move all the images into one partiton and display each of them
on need basis
by branching to the respective offset addresses.

I need to know the following, can you please give me your suggestion:

I have been asked to find out if u-boot supports displaying images without
having to store them into any
partition in advance. (Why ? the question here was, what if someone forgets
to flash the images ? bizzare ? I don't know.. ;) )

Can we zip a .bmp image and compile it with a u-boot and unzip the archive
runtime ?
If this is possible, can it be done without increasing the size of the
"u-boot.bin" ?

I tried the "xxd -i" command to get a hex dump of the .zip file into a ".h"
file,
but this method increased the size of the "*.h" file generated. (it is
almost the same as the .bmp file inside the .zip)

Can you please give me your suggestions.

Regards
Bhargav




On Sun, Mar 31, 2013 at 6:51 PM, Anatolij Gustschin <agust@denx.de> wrote:

> On Sun, 31 Mar 2013 04:54:35 -0700 (PDT)
> bhargavak <anur.bhargav@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > That's a very nice explanation..
> > Here's what I will do, please tell me if the whole procedure is right.
> >
> > I have a SD-card partitioned as follows:
> > boot: FAT32, holds a MLO and u-boot.bin through which I boot my device
> (runs
> > on OMAP4470)
> > rootfs: mostly empty always (ext4 currently), I will format it as FAT32
> >
> > I copy "slide-0.bmp" into the rootfs partition and define
> > "CONFIG_SYS_HUSH_PARSER".
>
> Note that CONFIG_SYS_HUSH_PARSER is not necessary if you do not
> use 'for' or 'while' loops (but it won't hurt, an maybe it is
> already defined in your config file).
>
> > Then I stop the bootloader before the kernel starts, do "setenv" as
> follows,
> > and "saveenv"
> > > show_one=fatload mmc 0:2 40001000 slide-${i}.bmp;bmp d 40001000
>
> Note that when Wolfgang showed you this example, it was only
> for reference how it could be done. You shouldn't blindly input
> commands without understanding what these commands are supposed
> to do. You also should read the command documentation in the
> U-Boot manual and apply common sense. For example the load address
> 40001000 in the above example is valid only for a particular
> architecture, starting offset of the DRAM memory and available
> memory size. Using 40001000 address in your case might be wrong.
>
> In your case only 512 MiB DRAM is available, you need to figure
> out where the DRAM starts. Use "bdinfo" command and look at
> the  DRAM bank start value, i.e.:
>
> U-Boot > bdinfo
> ...
> DRAM bank   = 0x00000000
> -> start    = 0x10000000
> -> size     = 0x40000000
> ...
>
> In this example the memory starts at address 0x10000000, so a
> reasonable load address could be 10001000 (since the area
> starting from 10000000 might contain interrupt/exception vectors,
> we skip 0x1000 sized block at start of DRAM).
>
> for setting the environment variable use
>
>  setenv show_one 'fatload mmc 0:2 40001000 slide-0.bmp;bmp d 40001000'
>
> but replace 40001000 address with a valid address for your board.
> On my board from the above example I could use address 10001000.
>
>
> > Then do the following:
> > > run show_one
> >
> > I should be able to see the image on the screen ?
>
> Provided you used a valid load address and enabled support
> for "bmp" command and splash screen, yes.
>
> > Is there any other configuration options that I should enable ?
>
> I do not know your board and do not have your U-Boot source, so
> cannot tell for sure. But you need at least
>
> CONFIG_CMD_BMP
> CONFIG_SPLASH_SCREEN
> CONFIG_VIDEO
> CONFIG_CFB_CONSOLE
> CONFIG_VGA_AS_SINGLE_DEVICE
> CONFIG_SYS_CONSOLE_IS_IN_ENV
>
> and the config option to enable your video driver.
>
>
> > For some reason "saveenv" was not working for me yesterday, when I tried
> to
> > experiment with the "splashimage" environment variable.
> > I do not remember the exact error it threw, I could post the error first
> > thing tomorrow from my workplace.
> > As a workaround can I set above variables in my "OMAP" config header ?
>
> Look at the CONFIG_EXTRA_ENV_SETTINGS definition in your config
> header. It includes additional definitions for embedded environment.
> You could add your variables in this list, but it is only used
> if the default environment is used. Your board is not in mainline,
> so I cannot tell exactly what else might be needed.
>
> > My u-boot version is "U-Boot 1.1.4-geb3fa991".
>
> This version is _very_ old, we do not support it.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Anatolij
>