In Zedboard Video Chronicles Episode One, I powered up the Zedboard, loaded the Linux kernel and executed a couple of shell commands. Then, I connected to the JTAG interface and found that I had independent dual-core control of the Zynq 7020, as expected. Things were just about to get really interesting, but I ran out of time.
In this episode, I look at ways of conducting Zynq initialization, but only focus on the initialization of the DDR controller. My style of exploring silicon and development platforms is to start quickly in specific areas. By knowing what areas are often difficult to understand/control (gained via too many years of hard knocks in embedded software development), I take shortcuts often to maximize my learning in a brief period. Then later I go back and drill into the details, which can be tedious without having established a background beforehand.
I will cover the DDR initialization via macros, reverse-engineer said macros, explore where in the Xilinx tools to extract the data necessary for debugging, and explore where to find relevant data in the Technical Reference Manual quickly.
Check out the Zedboard Video Chronicles Episode Two
