User:Pmcg521
From REU@MU
Contents
Patrick J. McGee
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Logs
REU 2019:
Week 1:
- Establish goals for the summer: develop Embedded Xinu's serial port, Ethernet driver, HDMI driver, keyboard driver, and USB storage driver.
- Look into logistics of a formal XinuPi3 release (separate branch on our GitHub to prevent single-core assumption conflicts)
- Make note of MU courses that may benefit from Xinu (possible changes necessary depending on the course)
- Clean working branch of our repository to exclude unnecessary single-core platforms and #ifdef statements. Fix outstanding compiler warnings. Goal: arm-rpi3 is single platform for new "multicore" branch of formal xinu-os release.
Week 2:
- Complete framebuffer driver port for XinuPi3.
- Evaluate USB subsystem for storage device (file system capability).
Week 3:
- Look into Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) additions for the O/S. Troubleshoot PoE-capable network switch
- Begin cleaning up ethernet driver code (LAN7800)
- Begin docs (Doxygen)
Week 4:
REU 2017:
Specific progress can be viewed on our GitHub repository (commits across multiple branches).
| Week 1: May 30-June 2 |
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| Began attempts to boot the full version of Embedded Xinu kernel with Raspberry Pi 3 |
| Researched a Linaro Cross-Compiler to use for its Cortex A-53 ARM processor with ARMv8 architecture |
| Drew diagrams of the boot sequence and compilation for better understanding of the Pi 3's mechanisms |
| Traced through the dynamics of written Assembly code in the full research version of Xinu |
| Week 2: June 5-9 |
| Tested the LED program in updated Assembly code. Began testing the Serial Port Transceiver driver for the Pi 3 |
| Read about Raspberry Pi bare metal programming via online sources |
| Read about how the Raspberry Pi 3 controls the frequency of its UART pins |
| Read ARM processor documentation about configuring UART clock frequency |
| Used the oscilloscope in attempt to obtain the clock frequency of the UART pin |
| Week 3: June 12-16 |
| Read an online textbook about the ARM processor of the Pi 3. |
| Successfully controlled the PL011 UART with a 48MHz frequency. Began porting full version of Xinu. |
| Read ARM64 documentation on registers to use with process interrupt handling. |
| Began working on the context switch for the 64-bit architecture. |
| Finishing work on the files necessary for context switching and rescheduling. |
| Week 4: June 19-23 |
| Continue working on the boot functions of our implementation. Finished the Research Conduct course. |
| Read about register manipulation in the ARM guide. Continue working on process creation. |
| Begin researching physical memory space in the Pi 3. |
| Read guides to porting from ARM32 to ARM64. Digging deep for a solution to a memory allocation problem. |
| Read about ATAGS and what steps need to be taken to ensure the proper accessible RAM amount. |
| Week 5: June 26-30 |
| Narrowed down the memory issue to an Aarch64-specific register-load requirement. Working on the fix. |
| Fixed memory issue - now allocating nearly all available memory. |
| Presentation by Dr. Kim Factor on tips to create a good research poster. |
| Began formulating research poster. Working on process queue structure. |
| Continue outlining research paper for submission to EWiLi Embedded Systems conference. |
| Week 6: July 3-7 |
| Major change of working state: switch from 64-bit to 32-bit for compatibility and teachability reasons. |
| Migrating all code from non-working 64-bit to working 32-bit. |
| Processes create and context switch among one core. Push to resolve multiple cores. |
| Week 7: July 10-14 |
| Expanding startup code to include change in privilege level. |
| Finished outlining poster. Tested ethernet driver and multiple core threading throughout the week. |
| Week 8: July 17-21 |
| Studied simple Linux-style multi-core scheduling algorithms using mutual exclusion. |
| Created a method of scheduling across multiple cores with Xinu. |
| Tested multicore synchronization with atomic instructions. |
| Week 9: July 24-28 |
| Studied technical documentation on how Raspberry Pi CPU mailboxes have worked in the past. |
| Test core mailboxes and work out kinks corresponding to core setup. |
| Finished final version of research poster: Utilizing Multi-core threading on Embedded Xinu. |
| Finished research paper and submitted it to EWiLi conference. |
| Week 10: July 31-August 4 |
| Expanded material of final presentation. |
| Presented my research poster alongside colleagues. Viewed and discussed posters outside my discipline. |
| Watched my fellow researchers' presentations and continued making notes of guidelines. |
| Gave my final formal research presentation on the final day of the REU. |
