NAME

       srec_mips_flash - MIPS‐Flash file format

DESCRIPTION

       The  MIPS SDE tool chain has a convert program that is able to output this format.  I have
       no idea what reads it, some kind of flash programmer I suppose.

   Format
       The file must start with '!R' to reset the state  machine.   White  space  appears  to  be
       ignored, except as it serves to separate tokens.

       Data  is  presented  as  32‐bit  hexadecimal numbers, in the normal big‐endian text number
       format.  To write them to memory, you have to know if the target is big‐endian or  little‐
       endian. for little endian targets, reverse the order of the bytes in this number.

       The  eight  bytes following a '>' are a sort of comment.  The SDE code reads like they are
       displayed in the flash programmer as a kind of progress indicator.

       The number following '@' is a new address for the following data.

       Each segment must be erased before it can be written, this is done with the '!E'  command.
       Each segment is assumed to be 128kB in size.

       Special  segments  must  unlocked  (with the '!C' command) and locked again (with the '!S'
       command).

       This file format contains no checksum mechanism.

   Command Line Options
       This  format  is  specified  using  one  of  the  -Mips‐Flash‐Big_Endian  or  -Mips‐Flash‐
       Little_Endian  options.   The  endian‐ness  must be specified on the command line, because
       there is nothing in the file contents to indicate the endian‐ness of the data it contains.

   Size Multiplier
       In general, binary data will expand in sized by approximately 2.3 times  when  represented
       with this format (worse if you use shorter lines).

EXAMPLE

       Here  is  an example MIPS‐Flash file.  It contains the data “Hello, World” to be loaded at
       bytes address 0x0000 (but remember, the file contents are always multiples of four bytes).
              !R
              >00000xxx @00000000 !E
              @00000000
              >00000000
              48656C6C 6F2C2057 6F726C64 210A0000
              >#DL_DONE
              >FINISHED

COPYRIGHT

       srec_cat version 1.64
       Copyright (C) 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004,  2005,  2006,  2007,  2008,  2009,
       2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 Peter Miller

       The  srec_cat  program  comes  with  ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details use the 'srec_cat
       -VERSion License' command.  This is free software and you are welcome to  redistribute  it
       under certain conditions; for details use the 'srec_cat -VERSion License' command.

MAINTAINER

       Scott Finneran   E‐Mail:   scottfinneran@yahoo.com.au
       Peter Miller     E‐Mail:   pmiller@opensource.org.au

COPYRIGHT

       srec_cat version 1.64
       Copyright  (C)  1998,  1999,  2000,  2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009,
       2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 Peter Miller

       The srec_cat program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY;  for  details  use  the  'srec_cat
       -VERSion  License'  command.  This is free software and you are welcome to redistribute it
       under certain conditions; for details use the 'srec_cat -VERSion License' command.

MAINTAINER

       Scott Finneran   E‐Mail:   scottfinneran@yahoo.com.au
       Peter Miller     E‐Mail:   pmiller@opensource.org.au