From: Carlo Martino <martino_at_cs.uchicago.edu>
Date: Sun, 17 Nov 2002 16:04:03 -0600 (CST)

Hi.

Would anyone be willing to clarify the firmware bootstrap process for me?
I've read the docs on the site, looked through source code and skimmed the
mailing list, but I still don't understand exactly what happens when you
boot the Archos up.

For what it's worth, here's my best guess at how it works:

* Power on.

* The processor starts reading instructions from ROM (which seems to start
at address 0). Shortly thereafter, the firmware copies itself into RAM.
If you don't have a firmware update, then the default version in ROM is
what you end up running; e.g. my Recorder 20, it's version 2.8.

* The firmware checks for a firmware updated in the root directory of the
hard drive. If one exists, then it loads that into memory and starts
running it.

* Question: is the entire default firmware in ROM, or do portions have to
be loaded from disk?

Needless to say, anything you can tell me to help clear this up would be
appreciated.

Thanking you in advance,

 - Carlo
Received on 2002-11-17