[PATCH 2/5] doc: misc: Beaglebone capemanager documentation

From: Pantelis Antoniou
Date: Wed May 13 2015 - 04:01:13 EST


Add beaglebone capemanager documentation entry.

Signed-off-by: Pantelis Antoniou <pantelis.antoniou@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
Documentation/misc-devices/bone_capemgr.txt | 63 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1 file changed, 63 insertions(+)
create mode 100644 Documentation/misc-devices/bone_capemgr.txt

diff --git a/Documentation/misc-devices/bone_capemgr.txt b/Documentation/misc-devices/bone_capemgr.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..2a8c766
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Documentation/misc-devices/bone_capemgr.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+---------------------------
+ Beaglebone Cape-Manager
+---------------------------
+
+The beaglebone cape manager driver allows the automatic use of external
+peripheral capes to be automatically supported by Linux without any manual
+setup required by the user.
+
+Each beaglebone cape should contain an EEPROM that describes
+it in a fixed I2C address on the i2c2 bus of the baseboard.
+The format of the EEPROM is defined in the beaglebone reference
+manual at:
+http://beagleboard.org/static/beaglebone/latest/Docs/Hardware/BONE_SRM.pdf
+
+Reading the part number and revision information the manager
+requests a firmware file formatted as a device tree overlay blob.
+
+Applying the overlay the devices are instantiated and the cape is
+ready to be used.
+
+For instance if the part-number is BB-BONE-SERL-03 and the version is 00A1
+the firmware file requested will be BB-BONE-SERL-03-00A1-00A1.dtbo
+It will be located by the in-kernel firmware
+loader in the usual place, i.e. /lib/firmware/`uname -r`, /lib/firmware etc.
+
+The driver supports the following parameters (either as part of the kernel
+command line or supplied at module insertion time).
+
+disable_partno: A comma delimited list of PART-NUMBER[:REV] of
+ disabled capes.
+enable_partno: A comma delimited list of PART-NUMBER[:REV[:PRIO]] of
+ enabled capes.
+boot_scan_period: The boot scan period in ms. When the cape manager is built-in
+ the kernel image, the firmware loader cannot find the files
+ before the rootfs is mounted. This parameter controls the
+ period with which the boot state is checked in that case.
+
+There's a sysfs control interface which is defined at the ABI documentation
+area.
+
+Theory of operation:
+--------------------
+
+On driver probe the I2C EEPROM of the baseboard is read and information about
+the current baseboard is retrieved. This information includes the mapping from
+baseboard board name to DT friendly compatible string. I.e. the "A335BONE" board
+name from EEPROM is mapped to the "ti,beaglebone" compatible string which should
+be present in the dtbo to be loaded.
+
+Afterwards the EEPROMs declared in each slot are probed, and the EEPROMs found
+are decoded keeping track the cape part-number and version data.
+
+Using the part-number and version a firmware file is requested (the firmware
+file requested is <part-number>-<version>.dtbo).
+
+The dtbo is unflattend and the resulting device tree is matched against a
+compatible baseboard, and in case of multiple parallel loading capes the
+priorities defined are honored. That means that when there are multiple capes
+being loaded in parallel the ones with the lowest priority number are loaded
+first.
+
+Applying the device tree overlay makes the cape operational, as if it was part
+of the kernel's booting device tree.
--
1.7.12

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