Firmware sections and their purposes

BST :: Bootstraper

Code that resides in the first 2K area that is loaded and executed by the hardware. This code contains minimal hardware initialization routines and is responsible for loading a second stage code bootloader.
Note: Fixed in address and length - cannnot be changed

BLD :: Bootloader

Code that executes after it has been loaded and placed in DRAM by the first stage boot strapper. It contains:
  • Loading firmware code, ramdisk, etc. to DRAM and execute it
  • Partition management utilities
  • Firmware programming utilities
  • Terminal (RS-232) interactive shell
  • Serial or USB download server
  • Diagnostic tools

PTB :: Partition table

A fixed region in the the flash memory that contains meta data on the location, size, and other information of 'partitions' stored in other parts of the flash area.
Note: Fixed in address and length - cannnot be changed

HAL :: Hardware Abstraction Layer

HAL is a layer of an operating system which isolates the kernel and all the rest of the software from the hardware. Only the hardware abstraction layer can access hardware, all other software uses the HAL to interact with the hardware.

PRI :: prKernel Image - primary firmware

The system software code that is loaded and executed by the bootloader at system startup.

BAK :: backup primary firmware

A valid firmware code that serves as a backup copy to the primary firmware.

RMD :: Ramdisk

A contiguous block of data to be copied from the flash memory to the RAM area, which may later be intepreted by the operating system to be a RAM-resident file-system.

NFTL ROM :: RO-Filesystem

A very basic and simple read-only file system.

NFTL Media-FS:: Embeded media filesystem

This region is not managed and known by the bootloader (NAND memory). It is managed by the file system and block device driver.

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