TN207
Rabbit Cloning Board
Introduction
The Rabbit Cloning Board copies designated portions of flash memory from one Rabbit-based controller
(the master) to another (the clone). Dynamic C version 6.50 or later is needed to use the cloning board.
Fast cloning, where the data transfer rate is the maximum allowed by the crystal frequency, was introduced
in Dynamic C version 7.05. Other options were added to be used with fast cloning. In fast cloning, the size
of the program to be cloned was limited by the size of the RAM, and programs that spanned two flash
devices could not be cloned. The options used with fast cloning were in the Dynamic C library
LIB\BIOSLIB\fastclone.lib.
The restrictions on fast cloning have been removed starting with Dynamic C 7.20; fast cloning is the only
implementation available or needed. Dynamic C 7.20 makes available more cloning options; the options
can be set using the cloning configuration macros near the top of
BIOS\RABBITBIOS.C
or in
Lib\BIOSLIB\cloneconfig.lib,
depending on your version of Dynamic C. With later versions of
Dynamic C you can use the “Defines” tab found in the Options | Project Options dialog to define the clon-
ing macros.
For a description of the various options, please see the section on
“Cloning Macros” on page 5.
Key Benefits
•
The Rabbit Cloning Board replaces a PC or EPROM burner as the primary tool to load programs, thus
•
•
•
•
reducing costs and workspace.
Programs may be loaded quickly onto blank, soldered on flash devices.
High-speed data transfer at 57,600 bps or 115,200 bps.
Higher-speed data transfer of up to 921,600 bps starting with Dynamic C version 7.05.
Ideal for low-volume cloning production.
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022-0050 Rev. K
Steps to Enable and Set Up Cloning
Before cloning begins the master controller must be readied. Follow these steps:
1. Connect the programming port of your master controller to a PC running Dynamic C (see
Figure 1).
Use
the programming cable that came with the controller and follow the instructions in the controller user’s
manual.
Figure 1. Enable Cloning on Master Controller
PROGRAMMING
CABLE
D
I
A
G
MASTER CONTROLLER
J2
P
R
O
G
To
PC COM port
PROG
PORT
Colored side
to pin 1
CMOS to RS-232
level converter
2. Apply power to the controller.
3. For older versions of Dynamic C
1
, open the BIOS file:
BIOS\RABBITBIOS.C.
4. Change the line
#define ENABLE_CLONING 0
//
set to 1 to enable cloning
//
set to 1 to enable cloning
to
#define ENABLE_CLONING 1
NOTE:
Various options are enabled by the macros described in
“Cloning Macros” on page 5.
These macros are found in the BIOS or the configuration library and any change to their values
must be made as part of Step 4.
5. Save the change(s) to
RABBITBIOS.C
and close the file.
6. Open the application program to compile to the master controller.
7. Click on the
Compile to Target
item in the
Compile
menu.
8. Remove power from the controller and disconnect the programming cable from the controller’s pro-
gramming port.
NOTE:
If
ENABLE_FAST_CLONING
(available in Dynamic C versions 7.05 to 7.10 only) was
set to 1 in the BIOS as part of step 4, other fast cloning options are available in
LIB\BIOSLIB\fastclone.lib.
These macros are functionally the same as the macros of
similar name that begin with “CL” instead of “FC” that are described in
“Cloning Macros” on
page 5.
The associated macros are:
•
•
•
•
FC_ASSUME_SAME_CRYSTAL
FC_CHECKSUM_ENABLED
FC_DOUBLE_CLONE_CLOCK
FC_RUN_AFTER_COPYING
1. For newer versions of Dynamic C use the “Defines” tab on the Options | Project Options dialog to define
cloning macros.
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Steps to Perform Cloning
The Rabbit Cloning Board comes with 1.27 mm and 2 mm cables to accommodate whichever size of the
programming connector that is on your Rabbit-based board.
1. Use one of the 1.27 mm or 2 mm cables to connect the
MASTER
header (J3 or J1, depending on the
cable used) on the Cloning Board to the programming port of your master controller. Make sure that the
colored side of the cable goes to pin 1 of the header as shown in
Figure 2.
Figure 2. Cloning Cable Connections to the Rabbit Cloning Board
MASTER
CLONING BOARD
TARGET
MASTER
J1
RABBIT CLONING
J2
RESET MASTER
CLONE STATUS
DS1
R1
Colored side
UP
2 mm
pitch
J3
2 mm
pitch
J4
S1
1.27 mm
pitch
MASTER
CLONE
1.27 mm
pitch
TARGET
BEING
CLONED
Colored side
DOWN
175-0247 REV. A
2. Use the other cable to connect the
CLONE
header (J4 or J2) on the Cloning Board to the programming
port of the target controller. Make sure that the colored side of the cable goes to pin 1 of the header as
shown in Figure 2.
3. Apply power to both the master and the target.
4. Press the
RESET MASTER
button on the Rabbit Cloning Board to initiate cloning. The master begins
sending the designated portion of the primary flash to the clone.
The following table describes the LED patterns that may occur on the Cloning Board.
Table 1. LED Patterns on Cloning Board
Dynamic C
Version
Up thru 7.06
7.05 thru 7.10
LED is off.
in fast
cloning mode
LED is on.
LED starts blinking.
Cloning Status
Cloning is active
LED blinks several
times per second.
Cloning successfully completed
Error occurred
LED will blink quickly in a distinctive pattern of
LED stops blinking.
four flashes, then pause, then four more flashes…
Starting with
LED toggles on and off
LED stays on.
7.20
about once per second.
LED starts blinking.
If an error occurs press the
RESET MASTER
button on the Cloning Board to try again.
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Remove power from the target controller and unplug the cloning cable from its programming port. The
master controller is now available to program the next target.
Technical Description
Figure 3
shows the Rabbit Cloning Board circuit and
Figure 4
shows the programming port on a Rabbit
based product. The Rabbit Cloning Board works with both Rabbit 2000-based and 3000-based systems.
Figure 3. Rabbit Cloning Board Circuit
J1/J3
RXA
GND
CLKA
+5 V
/RESET
TXA
N/C
STATUS
SMODE0
SMODE1
1
2
3
4
5
RESET MASTER
J2/J4
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
CLONE STATUS
RXA
GND
CLKA
+5 V
/RESET
TXA
N/C
STATUS
SMODE0
SMODE1
MASTER
TARGET
BEING
CLONED
7
8
9
10
470
W
9
10
Figure 4. Rabbit Programming Port
VDD
~50 kW
~50 kW
~5 kW
RXA
VSS
CLKA
VDD
/RESET
TXA
STATUS
Rabbit Chip
SMODE0
SMODE1
~50 kW
~50 kW
The master controller detects a connected Cloning Board when the signal CLKA is held low. This is
detected in the BIOS when the reset ends and the cloning support of the BIOS is invoked. The cloning pro-
gram cold-boots the target system by resetting it and downloading a primary boot program.
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On some Rabbit core modules, such as the RCM4200, the PB1 (CLKA) signal is either not available or not
pulled up on the programming port, the master can be forced to invoke cloning support by setting
CL_FORCE_MASTER_MODE
to 1. This will cause the BIOS to assume a cloning cable is attached on
every startup, assuring that only the cloning code will run.
While compiling to the target with
CL_FORCE_MASTER_MODE
set to 1, the loss of target communica-
tion is expected and unavoidable. After the program has loaded and target communication is lost the clone
master will still correctly perform its cloning function after a cloning cable is attached.
Since the BIOS supports a variety of flash types, the flash EPROM on the two controllers do not have to
be identical. Cloning works between master and target controllers that have different-sized flash chips
because the master copies its own universal flash driver to the target. The flash driver determines the par-
ticulars of the flash chip on which it is running.
The master controller’s BIOS must allocate a memory buffer sufficiently large to work on the target. Prior
to Dynamic C version 7.02, the cloning software used root memory for this buffer, which reduces the root
memory available to the application program. The size of the buffer is given by the macro
MAX_FLASH_SECTORSIZE.
This macro is defined near the top of the
LIB\BIOSLIB\FLASHWR.LIB
file. The default value is 1024 (4096 in older versions). The user can
reduce this buffer size to the maximum of the master and target’s sector sizes if root data space is a prob-
lem, or increase it to 4096 if needed.
Starting with Dynamic C version 7.02, the cloning implementation uses
xmem
for the buffer, so root data
space will not be a problem; and no changes should be made to
FLASHWR.LIB.
Cloning Macros
The following macros are in the source code of the BIOS (BIOS\RABBITBIOS.C) or in
Lib\BIOSLIB\cloneconfig.lib,
depending on the version of Dynamic C. The default values
may be changed there. In later versions of Dynamic C you can change the defaults by defining the macros
in the “Defines” tab located in the Options | Project Options dialog. If a particular macro is not defined in
the BIOS file or the configuration library, then the associated option is not available in the version of
Dynamic C you are using. The exception to this are the fast cloning options enabled by the
FC_*
macros
in
fastclone.lib.
ENABLE_CLONING
Default is 0: cloning is not enabled. Set to 1 to enable cloning. The cloning implementation in
Dynamic C version 7.10 requires that
ENABLE_FAST_CLONING
and
ENABLE_CLONING
be set to
1 to enable cloning.
If PB1 is either not available or not pulled in the design,
CL_FORCE_MASTER_MODE
should be set
to 1 to force the board to assume that a cloning cable is always attached.
CLONE_WHOLE_FLASH
Default is 0: only compiled program will be copied. Set to 1 to copy entire flash device, which
excludes the system ID block unless
CL_INCLUDE_ID_BLOCKS
is set to 1 also. Excludes second-
ary flash device, but if the program being cloned extends into the second flash, it will be copied
regardless of this setting.
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