Enabling New Hardware in U-Boot
Explore the process of enabling new hardware in U-Boot, a popular open-source bootloader for embedded devices, in this informative conference talk by Jon Mason from Broadcom Ltd. Gain insights into the methodology for enhancing and upstreaming U-Boot with Broadcom's Northstar SoC product line. Learn about U-Boot's features and uses, the steps involved in enabling new hardware, and the complexities of upstreaming changes into mainline U-Boot. Discover the primary goals of getting memory, serial, and networking functionalities working, along with alternatives for SoCs without Ethernet. Delve into topics such as SPI and NAND support, diagnostics, and size considerations. Understand the upstreaming approach, including customer demand, rebasing, squashing, and GPL compliance. Follow the journey from initial development to submitting patches and working with U-Boot maintainers to integrate new hardware support.