Provided by: plc-utils-extra_0.0.6+git20230504.1ba7d5a0-1_amd64 
NAME
plcboot - Qualcomm Atheros Panther/Lynx Powerline Device Bootstrapper
SYNOPSIS
plcboot [options] -N file -P file [device] [device] [...]
DESCRIPTION
Download and start runtime firmware on a local powerline device when it is in bootloader
mode. A powerline device enters bootloader mode if it has not flash memory or cannot load
firmware from flash memory for some reason. You can use this progrm to start the device
and then, optionally, permanently write a softloader, parameters and firmware into flash
memory.
Qualcomm Atheros introduced new boot methods with the Lightning chipset and new file
formats and flash methods with the Panther chipset. This program supports the newer
formats and methods. It does not support the older formats and methods. See programs
int6kboot or ampboot to initialize earlier chipsets.
This program is part of the Qualcomm Atheros Powerline Toolkit. See the plc man page for
an overview and installation instructions.
OPTIONS
-e Redirects stderr messages to stdout. Normally, status and error messages are
printed on stderr while primary program output is printed on stdout. This option
prints all output on stdout in cases where this is desired.
-F[F] Flash or Force Flash NVRAM using either VS_MOD_NVM or VS_MODULE_OPERATION. Adding
a second F here or another -F anywhere on the command line will force-flash a blank
or corrupted NVRAM. Firmware loaded from NVRAM may treat force-flash as an error,
depending of the firmware version.
-i interface
Select the host Ethernet interface. All requests are sent via this host interface
and only reponses received via this host interface are recognized. The default
interface is eth1 because most people use eth0 as their principle network
connection; however, if environment string "PLC" is defined then it takes
precedence over the default interface. This option then takes precedence over
either default.
-N filename
The file containing the firmware chain used to boot and flash the device. This
option and argument are required when booting or flashing a device but may appear
anywhere on the command line. Invalid image files will be rejected. No
assumptions are made about this file based on filename and no filename conventions
are enforced.
-P filename
The file containing the firmware chain used to boot and flash the device. This
option and argument are required when booting or flashing a device but may appear
anywhere on the command line. Invalid image files will be rejected. No
assumptions are made about this file based on filename and no filename conventions
are enforced.
-q Suppresses status messages on stderr.
-S filename
The file containing the softloader chain used to flash the device. On prior
versions of plcboot, the presence of this option indicated that flash memory should
be programmed but that is no longer the case. You must now specify bot this option
and option -F in order to program flash memory. This option and argument are
required when flashing a device but may appear anywhere on the command line.
Invalid image files will be rejected. No assumptions are made about this file
based on filename and no filename conventions are enforced.
-t milliseconds
Read timeout in milliseconds. Values range from 0 through UINT_MAX. This is the
maximum time allowed for a response. The default is shown in brackets on the
program menu.
-v Prints additional information on stdout. In particular, this option dumps outgoing
Ethernet packets on stdout.
-?,--help
Print program help summary on stdout. This option takes precedence over other
options on the command line.
-!,--version
Print program version information on stdout. This option takes precedence over
other options on the command line. Use this option when sending screen dumps to
Atheros Technical Support so that they know exactly which version of the Linux
Toolkit you are using.
ARGUMENTS
device The Ethernet hardware address of some powerline device. More than one address may
be specified on the command line. If more than one address is specified then
operations are performed on each device in turn. The default address is local. as
explained in the DEVICES section.
DEVICES
Powerline device addresses are 12 hexadecimal digits in upper, lower or mixed case.
Individual octets may be separated by colons, for clarity, but colons are not required.
For example, "00b052000001", "00:b0:52:00:00:01" and "00b052:000001" are valid and
equivalent.
A local device is any Atheros Powerline Device connected directly to a host Ethernet
interface. A remote device is any Atheros Powerline Device at the far end of a powerline
connection. A foreign device is any powerline device not manufactured by Atheros.
Common device addresses have symbolic names that can be used in place of the actual
address value. The following symbolic addresses are recognized by this program and most
other toolkit programs.
all Equivalent to "broadcast", described next.
broadcast
A synonym for the Ethernet broadcast address, FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF. All devices,
whether local, remote or foreign will respond to this address.
local A synonym for the Qualcomm Atheros Local Management Address (LMA),
00:B0:52:00:00:01. All local Atheros devices will respond to this address but
remote and foreign devices will not.
REFERENCES
See the Qualcomm Atheros HomePlug AV Firmware Technical Reference Manual for technical
information. See the Qualcomm Atheros Powerline Toolkit Online Documetation for practical
information and examples.
EXAMPLES
This example boots a powerline device by downloading runtime parameters and firmware then
starting firmware execution. The actual boot method used will depend on the file formats
and powerline device type detected by the program. The output shown here is typical for
panther and lynx chipsets. Option -P and -N are required but their order is not
important. Tne MAC address may be omitted beccause it will default to 00:B0:52:00:00:01
which is also the default bootloader device address. On completion, runtime firmware is
executing in SDRAM but flash memory has not been programmed. If This operation is common
for flash-less devices. If we reset the device at this point then it will return to
bootloader mode.
# plcboot -P AR7420.pib -N AR7400.nvm
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:01 BootLoader is running
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Write AR7420.nvm (1) (0x00000040:6212)
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Start AR7420.nvm (1) (0x000000C0)
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Write AR7420.pib (1) (0x00200000:10904)
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Write AR7420.nvm (5) (0x002B610C:281252)
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Start AR7420.nvm (5) (0x002B64FC)
eth1 00:B0:52:BA:BE:88 MAC-QCA7420ES-0.9.0.278-0-20110914-INTERNAL is running
The next example boots a device, as before, then flashes the same parameters and firmware
into non-volatile memory attached to the device. Observe that a softloader is required
and will be written to flash memory before runtime parameters and firmware. The
softloader need only be written once when first programming a blank flash memory. Option
-FF is optional but permitted for backward compatibility with programs ampboot and
int6kboot.
# plcboot -P AR7420.pib -N AR7400.nvm -S AR7420-softloader.nvm -FF
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Write AR7420.nvm (1) (00000040:6212)
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Start AR7420.nvm (1) (000000C0)
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Write AR7420.pib (1) (00200000:11692)
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Write AR7420.nvm (5) (002B6A4C:282444)
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:01 Start AR7420.nvm (5) (002B6E3C)
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:06 MAC-QCA7420ES-1.0.0.280-00-20110923-ALPHA is running
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:06 Start Session
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:06 Flash AR7420-softloader.nvm
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:06 Close Session
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:06 Start Session
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:06 Flash AR7420.pib
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:06 Flash AR7420.nvm
eth1 00:B0:52:00:00:06 Close Session
DISCLAIMER
Qualcomm Atheros firmware file structure and content is proprietary to Qualcomm Atheros,
Ocala FL USA. Consequently, public information is not available. Qualcomm Atheros
reserves the right to change firmware file structure or content or change the name or
behavior of any program that inspects or changes firmware files, in future software
releases without any obligation to notify or compensate users of such programs. Qualcomm
Atheros HomePlug AV Vendor Specific Management Message structure and content is
proprietary to Qualcomm Atheros, Ocala FL USA. Consequently, public information may not
be available. Aualcomm Atheros reserves the right to modify message structure and content
in future firmware releases without any obligation to notify or compensate users of this
program.
SEE ALSO
ampboot(1), amptool(1), chknvm(1), chkpib(1), int6kboot(1), modpib(1), plctool(1)
CREDITS
Charles Maier