Memory reserve for bootloader Pic18F46J50 – 61 days old

[GAMBOA]

Hi list,

I have to reserve space for a bootloader right at the beginning of the flash, from the address 0x0000 to 0x2000 it is reserved for the bootloader (although it may end up being more). My application should use program memory from address 2010 onwards. Well how can I tell the compiler to do this. I have no idea. Thank you.

Regards,
Gamboa

[top204]

Over the years I have created declares to help me develop the compiler that have come in useful, and here is another one:

Declare Proton_Start_Address = $2000

The above Declare will move the original Org for the compiler's library code and the interrupt vector orgs to the address in the Declare. It is only valid on 18F devices, but I'll see about adding it to enhanced 14-bit core device as well. It will not work with (legacy) standard 14-bit core devices because of their older architecture, and PIC24 and dsPIC33 devices have a complex lower flash architecture with the interrupt vector tables that the linker adds seperately, so it will not be suitable for those either. For PIC24 and dsPIC33 devices, a new linker script would have to be written each time the address changed! Although it looks like the new vectored interrupt PIC18F devices will need the same because they use a new assembler program, so this Declare is only for the standard 18F devices and will not be valid for later microcontrollers that "must" use the linker.

With the above Declare, the start of the assembler code listing looks like:

proton_code_start
    org 0X2000
    goto proton_main_start

If interrupts are used:

    Declare Proton_Start_Address = $2000
    
    On_Hardware_Interrupt GoTo ISR_High
    On_Low_Interrupt GoTo ISR_Low

The Asm code listing looks like:

proton_code_start
    org 0X2000
    goto proton_main_start
    org 0X2008
    goto ISR_High
    org 0X2018
    goto ISR_Low

Notice it has also re-vectored the High and Low interrupt address'.

Your program sitting at the bottom of flash must add jumps to the new vector address', otherwise the program will not start and interrupts will be chaos because the hardware's vectors are still at adress' $0000, $0008 and $0018. This is standard for bootloaders that sit at the bottom of flash memory, but make sure it is re-vectoring (jumping) to the new address'.

[GAMBOA]

Thank you Les for your quick response.

Regards,
Gamboa