Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO Version 1.0
Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO
Table of Contents Summary............................................................................................................................. 4 1 Introduction................................................................................................................. 5 1.1 Chip drivers......................................................................................................... 6 1.2 Map drivers ......................................................................................................... 6 1.3 User modules ...................................................................................................... 6 1.4 MTD utilities....................................................................................................... 6 2 Configuring the MTD Subsystem............................................................................... 7 2.1 Enabling the MTD support ....................................................................................... 7 2.2 Choosing the Chip driver .................................................................................... 7 2.3 Choosing the Map driver .................................................................................... 8 2.3.1 CFI Flash device in physical memory map................................................. 8 2.3.2 Flash device in physical memory map based on OF description.............. 10 2.4 Emulating a char or block device...................................................................... 11 3 Working with the MTD enabled Flash ..................................................................... 14 3.1 Erasing the flash................................................................................................ 14 3.2 Writing to the flash ........................................................................................... 15 3.3 Reading from the flash...................................................................................... 15 3.4 Creating partitions on the flash ......................................................................... 16 3.4.1 Command line partition table parsing....................................................... 16 3.4.2 Redboot partition table parsing................................................................. 17 3.4.3 Flash partition map based on OF description ........................................... 18 4 Mounting jffs2 filesystem on the MTD device......................................................... 19 5 Unsorted Block Images (UBI) .................................................................................. 20 5.1 Features of the UBI........................................................................................... 21 5.2 UBI Utilities...................................................................................................... 22 5.3 Attaching a MTD device to UBI....................................................................... 22 5.4 Creating UBI volumes ...................................................................................... 23 5.5 Mounting JFFS2 on UBI volume...................................................................... 23 6 References................................................................................................................. 25 7 Revision History ....................................................................................................... 25
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO
Table of Figures Figure 1 Linux MTD Subsystem ........................................................................................ 5 Figure 2 Enabling the MTD subsystem .............................................................................. 7 Figure 3 Choosing the Chip driver...................................................................................... 8 Figure 4 Choosing the Map driver ...................................................................................... 9 Figure 5 CFI Flash device in physical memory map .......................................................... 9 Figure 6 Setting buswidth/chip-interleave for CFI Flash device in physical memory map ........................................................................................................................................... 10 Figure 7 Flash device in physical memory map based on OF description ....................... 11 Figure 8 Char device Emulation ....................................................................................... 12 Figure 9 Command line partition table parsing ................................................................ 16 Figure 10 Enabling UBI support....................................................................................... 20 Figure 11 Enabling UBI debug support ............................................................................ 21 Figure 12 Emulating MTD device on UBI volume .......................................................... 24
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO
Summary This document describes the usage of the Memory Technology Device (MTD) Subsystem of Linux in conjunction with Xilinx EMC core and external NOR flash chips. It starts with a basic view of the MTD in kernel and proceeds through enabling the MTD support in your kernel, working with the MTD enabled flash devices, and mounting filesystems onto the flash devices, etc. This document doesn’t provide information about the usage of MTD with NAND chips.
This document consists of the following sections: Chapter 1, “Introduction”, provides a view of the MTD Subsystem in the kernel and information about the basic components of the MTD Subsystem. Chapter 2, “Configuring the MTD Subsystem”, takes a look at enabling the MTD support and accessing the NOR Flash chips connected through the Xilinx EMC core. Chapter 3, “Working with the MTD enabled Flash”, examines performing I/O and creating dynamic partitions on the MTD enabled flash. Chapter 4, “Mounting jffs2 filesystem on the MTD device”, provides information about mounting jffs2 filesystem on to the MTD enabled flash device. Chapter 5, “Unsorted Block Images (UBI)”, explains the features of UBI along with the creation of UBI volumes and mounting jffs2 filesystem on a UBI volume.
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO
1 Introduction This document describes the usage of the Linux Memory Technology Device (MTD) Subsystem of Linux in conjunction with Xilinx EMC core and external NOR flash chips.
The Linux MTD subsystem provides support for flash (NOR and NAND) and similar nonvolatile storage devices. MTD uses a layered approach; it is easy to add new devices and have them functional. MTD is integrated into Linux kernel and also provides mechanisms to mount filesystems on to the flash. The Figure 1 Linux MTD Subsystem provides a detailed view of the MTD Subsystem in the Linux kernel.
User Applications
User Space
Kernel Space
Shared Libraries
Virtual Filesystem (VFS)
Filesystems (JFFS, JFFS2, YAFFS)
User Modules (mtdblock, mtdchar)
NAND Chip Drivers
Libraries and Data structures
Nor Chip Drivers
MTD
Map Drivers
Kernel Space Probe
H/W
NAND
I/O
NOR
Figure 1 Linux MTD Subsystem
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO MTD can be broadly classified into •
Chip drivers
•
Map drivers
•
User modules
•
MTD utilities
The MTD also consists of libraries and structures which are used by the rest of the MTD.
1.1
Chip drivers
Chip drivers implement low level support for the NAND and NOR flash devices. MTD has drivers for the NOR flash devices that implement standard specifications such as CFI and JEDEC. MTD supports various CFI command sets defined by CFI specification, as kernel modules. The command set supported by a flash device can be enabled from the kernel configuration.
1.2
Map drivers
The MTD subsystem uses map drivers to access the flash devices. A map driver maps the flash device for CPU access and informs the MTD about the storage partitions available on the flash device. We can either use the existing map drivers in the MTD or write our own drivers, to access a standard flash device.
1.3
User modules
MTD provides certain drivers which can emulate a block device or a char device over the MTD enabled flash devices, for the higher layers to work with. The block driver allows the user applications to perform file I/O on the flash, while the char driver provides raw I/O access. Device nodes created by block driver are named as mtdblockX, whereas as char driver names them as mtdX, where X stands for the partition number.
1.4
MTD utilities
The MTD utilities can be used to work with the MTD enabled flash memory. They provide several tools to erase the flash, create a filesystem image, etc.
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO
2 Configuring the MTD Subsystem 2.1 Enabling the MTD support To enable MTD support in your kernel, go to Kernel configuration -> Device Drivers and enable “MTD support” (CONFIG_MTD).
Figure 2 Enabling the MTD subsystem
2.2
Choosing the Chip driver
Now that we have enabled MTD support, the next step is to chose the appropriate chip driver to probe your flash device. Since we have a cfi flash, we need to enable support for it. To do this, in Kernel configuration -> Device Drivers -> MTD support -> go to submenu for RAM/ROM chip drivers and enable the following. Detect flash chips by CFI probe (CONFIG_MTD_GEN_PROBE). Support for your flash chip (Intel chip in case of ML403).
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO
Figure 3 Choosing the Chip driver
2.3
Choosing the Map driver
Once you have selected the probe method, the next step is to select a map driver to map the flash device for CPU access. The cfi flash connected to a EMC core on Xilinx boards can be accessed in one of the following ways. •
CFI Flash device in physical memory map - Select this option if you want to physically configure the flash device for CPU access.
•
Flash device in physical memory map based on OF description - Select this option if you want the map driver to configure the flash device for CPU access, based on device tree.
2.3.1
CFI Flash device in physical memory map
In Kernel configuration -> Device Drivers -> MTD support -> go to sub-menu for “Mapping Drivers for chip access” and enable “CFI Flash device in physical memory map” (CONFIG_MTD_PHYSMAP) and specify the physical start address, physical length, and bank width. This option uses physmap.c (/drivers/mtd/maps/) driver to register the flash device.
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO
Figure 4 Choosing the Map driver
Figure 5 CFI Flash device in physical memory map
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO If you have chosen to physically configure the flash device, go to Kernel configuration -> Device Drivers -> MTD support -> RAM/ROM chip drivers and enable ‘Flash chip driver advanced configuration options’-> ‘Specific CFI flash geometry selection’ and enter the bus width and chip interleave based on your hardware configuration.
Figure 6 Setting buswidth/chip-interleave for CFI Flash device in physical memory map
Flash device in physical memory map based on OF description In Kernel configuration -> Device Drivers -> MTD support -> go to sub-menu for 2.3.2
“Mapping Drivers for chip access” and enable “Flash device in physical memory map based on OF description” (CONFIG_MTD_PHYSMAP_OF). This is the preferred method of accessing the EMC flash, as it doesn’t involve any overhead. The associated driver (drivers/mtd/maps/physmap_of.c) parses the device tree and registers the EMC flash, based on the information from the device tree. All the subsequent features discussed in this document assume that user has selected this option to access the flash (though most of the features work with the other option too).
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO
Figure 7 Flash device in physical memory map based on OF description
2.4
Emulating a char or block device
Once we have configured the MTD, we should let the higher layers to access the flash. User applications which perform file I/O on the flash device need to see it as a block device, whereas applications which need raw I/O access to the flash, should be able to see it as a char device. •
Enable “Direct char device access to MTD devices” (CONFIG_MTD_CHAR) or “Caching block device access to the MTD devices” (CONFIG_MTD_BLOCK) to emulate a char device or a block device over the MTD device.
•
To start of with, enable debugging for MTD (CONFIG_MTD_DEBUG), and define the constant DEBUG_CFI in /drivers /mtd/chips/cfi-probe.c.
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO
Figure 8 Char device Emulation
Save the kernel configuration and boot your kernel. You should be able to see messages similar to those below (they might slightly defer based on the map driver used), on your console. It gives the list of features supported by the flash device, mtd device id for the flash device/partition, etc.
80800000.flash: Found 2 x16 devices at 0x0 in 32-bit bank Intel/Sharp Extended Query Table at 0x0031 Using buffer write method Extended Query version 1.1 Feature/Command Support:
00C6
- Chip Erase:
unsupported
- Suspend Erase:
supported
- Suspend Program:
supported
- Legacy Lock/Unlock:
unsupported
- Queued Erase:
unsupported
- Instant block lock:
unsupported
- Protection Bits:
supported
- Page-mode read:
supported
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO - Synchronous read:
unsupported
- Simultaneous operations: unsupported - Extended Flash Array:
unsupported
Supported functions after Suspend: 01 - Program after Erase Suspend: supported Block Status Register Mask: 0001 - Lock Bit Active:
yes
- Lock-Down Bit Active: no - EFA Lock Bit:
no
- EFA Lock-Down Bit:
no
Vcc Logic Supply Optimum Program/Erase Voltage: 3.3 V cfi_cmdset_0001: Erase suspend on write enabled cmdlinepart partition parsing not available RedBoot partition parsing not available mtd: Giving out device 0 to 80800000.flash
After booting the kernel, try cat /proc/mtd. This gives a list of MTD enabled devices. cat /proc/mtd [----output-----------------------------------------] dev:
size
erasesize
name
mtd0: 00800000 00040000 "80800000.flash"
The name of your MTD enabled flash depends on the map driver you are using.
CONFIG_MTD_PHYSMAP (physmap.c) uses the format phys_mapped_flash, while CONFIG_MTD_PHYSMAP_OF (physmap_of.c) uses the format address.flash, where address is the physical memory area to which your flash device is mapped.
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO
3 Working with the MTD enabled Flash To start working on the MTD enabled flash memory; download the mtd-utils from ftp://ftp.infradead.org/pub/mtd-utils/. Compile the utils with your toolchain. You might also need the library files libz*, used for data compression, if you want to make a jffs2 image and mount the jffs2 filesystem. Copy all the compiled utility executables on to your target.
3.1
Erasing the flash
The flash can be erased using the flash_earse or flash_earseall utilities. flash_eraseall [OPTION] MTD_DEVICE – erases the entire flash
"
-j,
--jffs2
format the device for jffs2"
"
-q,
--quiet
don't display progress messages"
"
--silent
same as --quiet"
"
--help
display this help and exit"
Ex: flash_eraseall /dev/mtd0 [----output-----------------------------------------] MTD_open MTD_ioctl Erasing 256 Kibyte @ 0 --
0 % complete.
CMTD_ioctl Erasing 256 Kibyte @ 40000 --
3 % complete.
CMTD_ioctl ---continue--Erasing 256 Kibyte @ 7c0000 -- 96 % complete. MTD_close [----output-----------------------------------------]
flash_erase MTD_DEVICE [start] [# erase blocks] [lock] – erases the specified blocks flash_erase MTD_DEVICE offset num_sectors
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO flash_erase -h | --help Ex: ./flash_erase /dev/mtd0 0x00000 1 [----output-----------------------------------------] MTD_open MTD_ioctl MTD_ioctl MTD_ioctl Total 1 Units Region 0 is at 0 of 32 sector and with sector size 40000 Performing
Flash
Erase
of
length
262144
at
offset
0x0
MTD_close Done [----output-----------------------------------------]
3.2
Writing to the flash
A file can be written to the flash using the following command. cat file_name > MTD_DEVICE
Ex: cat /usr/mtd.txt > /dev/mtd0 [----output-----------------------------------------] MTD_open MTD_write MTD_close [----output-----------------------------------------]
3.3
Reading from the flash
The contents of the flash can be read using the following command. cat MTD_DEVICE > file_name
Ex: cat /dev/mtd0 > usr.txt [----output-----------------------------------------] MTD_open
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO MTD_read MTD_close [----output-----------------------------------------]
3.4
Creating partitions on the flash
To create partitions enable “MTD partitioning support” (CONFIG_MTD_PARTITIONS) in In Kernel configuration -> Device Drivers -> MTD support. Partitions can be dynamically created on the flash device through one of the following three ways. •
Command Line partition table parsing
•
Redboot partition table parsing
•
Flash partition map based on OF description
3.4.1
Command line partition table parsing
To create partitions on the flash through command line do the following. •
In
MTD
support,
enable
“Command
line
partition
table
parsing”
(CONFIG_MTD_CMDLINE_PARTS).
Figure 9 Command line partition table parsing
•
In the device tree, add the partition table to “bootargs”. The format for the command line partition table is as follows:
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO
mtdparts=[;; partition@0 { label = "fs"; reg = ;
};
partition@380000 { label = "firmware"; reg = ; read-only;
};
};
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO
4 Mounting jffs2 filesystem on the MTD device To mount any filesystem, first enable support for that filesystem in the kernel configuration. The procedure for mounting jffs2 filesystem is discussed here. Use the mkfs.jffs2 utility (available from mtd-utilities) to create a jffs2 image of the directory you want to mount on to the flash device. The step-by-step procedure is listed below. •
Erase the flash through the flash_eraseall utility (use the –j option). flash_eraseall –j /dev/mtd0 – this formats the flash for jffs2 (assuming that /dev/mtd0 is your MTD device).
•
Create a jffs2 image of the directory you want to put under jffs2. mkfs.jffs2 -d root_folder -o image_name -e sector_erase_size where, root_folder is the directory you want to put under jffs2 image_name is the name of the resultant jffs2 image sector_erase_size is the sector erase size fo your flash device
•
Write the image on to the flash. cat image_name > /dev/mtd0
•
Mount the jffs2 filesystem on to the flash. mount -t jffs2 /dev/mtdblock0 /mnt/jffs2
Note the use of /dev/mtdblock0, NOT /dev/mtd0. "mount" needs a block device interface and /dev/mtdblock0, 1, 2, 3... are provided for that purpose. /dev/mtd0, 1, 2, 3 are char devices and are provided for things like copying the binary image onto the raw flash devices (create the /mnt/jffs2 directory if it doesn’t exist).
Once the filesystem is mounted, verify that the contents of the /mnt/jffs2 directory are same as the directory for which the jffs2 image has been created above. We can create/modify the files within the /mnt/jffs2 directory and these changes will be reflected on to the flash. More
information
on
jffs2
filesystem
can
be
found
at
http://linux-
mtd.infradead.org/~dwmw2/jffs2.pdf and the FAQ page for JFFS2 on MTD website is at http://www.linux-mtd.infradead.org/faq/jffs2.html.
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO
5 Unsorted Block Images (UBI) UBI is a volume management system for the flash devices (specifically for NAND flash devices) which manages multiple logical volumes on a single flash device. A UBI volume is a set of consecutive logical erase blocks. UBI maps logical erase blocks to physical erase blocks and implements wear-leveling and I/O error handling. UBI volumes can be created statically or dynamically. Static volumes are read-only and their contents are protected by CRC. Dynamic volumes are read-write and the upper layer is responsible for data integrity. UBI volume size is specified when a volume is created and they are dynamically re-sizable. UBI takes care of the I/O errors on the volumes and the upper layer is free from any error handling. UBI has a pool of reserved physical erase blocks and substitutes a bad physical erase block with a good one and moves the data from the newly appeared bad physical erase block to the good physical erase block. Note: UBI currently doesn’t support flash devices with multiple erase regions. To enable UBI support in your kernel, go to Kernel configuration -> Device Drivers -> MTD support -> UBI and select “Enable UBI” (CONFIG_MTD_UBI). To start of with, enable UBI debugging (CONFIG_MTD_UBI_DEBUG).
Figure 10 Enabling UBI support
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO
Figure 11 Enabling UBI debug support
5.1
Features of the UBI
•
provides volumes which may be dynamically created, removed, or re-sized;
•
implements wear-leveling across whole flash device;
•
transparently handles bad physical erase blocks;
•
minimizes chances to loose data by means of "scrubbing".
UBI volumes are similar to the MTD partitions because both consist of erase blocks and both support read, write, and erase operations. But UBI volumes have the following advantages over the MTD partitions. •
there are no erase block wear-leveling constraints in case of UBI volumes, so users do not have to care about this at all, which means the upper-level software may be simpler;
•
there are no bad erase blocks in case of UBI volumes, which also leads to simpler upper-level software;
•
UBI handles bit-flips;
•
UBI also provides an atomic logical erase block change operation which allows to change the contents of a logical erase block and do not loose data if an unclean
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO reboot happens during the operation; this is might be very useful for the upper-level software (e.g., for a file-system); •
UBI has an un-map operation, which just un-maps a logical erase block from the physical erase block, schedules the physical erase block for erasure and returns; this is very quick and frees upper level software from implementing their own mechanisms to defer erasures (e.g., JFFS2 has to implements such mechanisms).
5.2
UBI Utilities
UBI utilities are available as a part of MTD utilities or can be downloaded from git://git.infradead.org/mtd-utils.git repository. Some of the tools are •
ubinfo - provides information about UBI installed in the system, about all UBI devices and volumes;
•
ubiattach - a tool to attach MTD devices (which describe raw flash) to UBI, which creates an UBI device sitting on top of the MTD device; this is an alternative method to specifying MTD devices on module load or in kernel boot command line;
•
ubidetach - a tool to detach MTD devices from UBI devices;
•
ubimkvol - a tool to create UBI volumes on UBI devices;
•
ubirmvol - a tool to remove UBI volumes from UBI devices;
•
ubinize - a tool to generate UBI images;
•
ubiformat - a tool to format empty flash, to erase flash preserving erase counters, and to flash UBI images to MTD devices.
All the UBI utilities support –h option and print sufficient information. UBI support can be enabled through kernel configuration (Device Drivers-> MTD support-> UBI-> Enable UBI). Enable debugging for UBI, to start of with.
5.3
Attaching a MTD device to UBI
If UBI is compiled as a kernel module, specify the MTD device to attach, in module arguments. modprobe ubi mtd=0 If UBI is compiled into the kernel, specify the MTD device to attach, in the kernel boot parameters. ubi.mtd=0 MTD devices can be attached or detached to UBI anytime using ubiattach and ubidetach utilities.
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO ubiattach /dev/my_ubi0 –m 0 All the above three examples attach mtd0 to UBI. Below are the kernel boot-up messages of a system in which a MTD device is attached to UBI. mtd: Giving out device 0 to 80800000.flash UBI: attached mtd0 to ubi0 UBI: MTD device name:
"80800000.flash"
UBI: MTD device size:
8 MiB
UBI: physical eraseblock size:
262144 bytes (256 KiB)
UBI: logical eraseblock size:
262016 bytes
UBI: number of good PEBs:
32
UBI: number of bad PEBs:
0
UBI: smallest flash I/O unit:
1
UBI: VID header offset:
64 (aligned 64)
UBI: data offset:
128
UBI: max. allowed volumes:
128
UBI: wear-leveling threshold:
4096
UBI: number of internal volumes: 1 UBI: number of user volumes:
0
UBI: available PEBs:
28
UBI: total number of reserved PEBs: 4 UBI: number of PEBs reserved for bad PEB handling: 0 UBI: max/mean erase counter: 3/1 UBI: background thread "ubi_bgt0d" started, PID 680
5.4
Creating UBI volumes
UBI volumes can be created dynamically using ubimkvol and ubirmvol utilities. ubimkvol /dev/ubi0 –N rootfs –s 128MiB creates a 128MB UBI volume on UBI device 0 and names it rootfs. ubirmvol /dev/ubi0 –n 0 deletes a UBI volume with volume-id 0 from UBI device 0.
5.5
Mounting JFFS2 on UBI volume
UBI can emulate MTD devices on UBI volumes and JFFS2 can be mounted on these emulated MTD devices. Enable “Emulate MTD devices” in Device Drivers-> MTD support-> UBI, to ask the UBI to create one MTD device for each UBI volume.
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO
Figure 12 Emulating MTD device on UBI volume
To mount JFFFS2 filesystem on the emulated MTD device follow the procedure described in the section, Mounting jffs2 filesystem on a MTD device. More information on UBI is available at www.linux-mtd.infradead.org/doc/ubi.html.
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Linux MTD Subsystem with Xilinx EMC core - HOWTO
6 References •
Essential Linux Device Drivers by SreeKrishnan Venkateshwaran
•
Linux MTD website at http://www.linux-mtd.infradead.org/index.html
7 Revision History The table below contains a list of revision changes to this document.
Date 6/27/2008
Version 1.0
Revisions Author Description Sadanand Mutyala Initial version created
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