Using the FOX Package manager

by John Crispin

This article explains how you can download pre-compiled applications onto your foxboard

The fpkg tool

This tool originated from the idea that an easy way should be found to be able to get nano-X applications onto the fox. Hence i decided to write our own little package tool.

Using the tool

fpkg is very easy to use. Here is the help output

# fpkg -h
Usage : fpkg [-c configfile] [-i appname] [-l]
        -c configfile   -- /etc/fpkg.conf is default
        -g APPNAME      -- download named app
        -l              -- list apps in hive
        -t FOLDER       -- download into a non default folder
        -f              -- flash file int fpga

The package tool can download files that are held inside a hive, which is stored inside /etc/fpkg.conf. If you want to use a different config file, use the -c option. To list the files inside a hive, use the -l option (remeber to set a valid nameserver and gateway before hand) :

# fpkg -l
Found hive : http://www.phrozen.biz/fox_hive/
downloading http://www.phrozen.biz/fox_hive/files.list to /var/tmp/files.list
Tetris - Play tetris on nano-X
Chess - Play chess on nano-X
Foxbone_rel0.99 - Get the firmware for the FPGA

To download an application, use the -g option. If the application has more than one file, all of these will be downaloaded.

#  fpkg -g Tetris
Getting app : Tetris
Found hive : http://www.phrozen.biz/fox_hive/
downloading http://www.phrozen.biz/fox_hive/files.list to /var/tmp/files.list
downloading http://www.phrozen.biz/fox_hive/ntetris to /mnt/flash/ntetris
The file you just downloaded has the correct size
downloading http://www.phrozen.biz/fox_hive/ntetris2 to /mnt/flash/ntetris2
The file you just downloaded has the correct size
downloading http://www.phrozen.biz/fox_hive/ntetris3 to /mnt/flash/ntetris3
The file you just downloaded has the correct size

Finally, fpkg is able to directly download a vhdl firmware into the FPGA. Use the -f option for this. (flashing takes about 40 seconds, the fox will not respond in this time)

# fpkg -g Foxbone_rel0.99 -f
Getting app : Foxbone_rel0.99
Found hive : http://www.phrozen.biz/fox_hive/
downloading http://www.phrozen.biz/fox_hive/files.list to /var/tmp/files.list
downloading http://www.phrozen.biz/fox_hive/VGAFoxBone1.stp to /var/VGAFoxBone1.stp
The file you just downloaded has the correct size
/var/VGAFoxBone1.stp has a size of 88097 bytes
Starting the action program....
Please be patiant. This can take some time !
Everything went well !!

There will be more features added in the future so stay tuned :-)...