FastLoad Format

The FastLoad Format uses a compressed ASCII format that permits files to be downloaded in less than half the time taken for Motorola S-records.

The base-64 encoding used is "A-Za-z0-9,.". The data is encoded in groups of 4 characters (24 bits). The character '/' is used to introduce a special function. Special functions are:

A...... Defines an address.
B.. Define a single byte.
C.... Compare the checksums
EAA Define the program's entry point. The address will be the current address as defined by the 'A' command.
KAA Clear the checksum.
S.....,X Define a symbol. The address of the symbol will be the current address as defined by the 'A' command.
Z.. Clear a number of bytes.

Examples:

      /ACgAgAA        - addr = a0020000
      /ZAI            - clear 8*3=24 bytes
      /EAA            - define entry at 'addr' and exit
      AAABAAAC        - 00 00 01 00 00 02
      /Sfred,X        - symbol = 'addr'
      /BAB            - byte of 01

Generating FastLoad format files

The PMON source package contains two mechanisms for generating FastLoad format files.

The program genfrec converts MIPS ECOFF files into FastLoad format records. Thus, if used in conjunction with the command gencoff, it is possible to convert an arbitrary file into FastLoad format using the following procedure:

	gencoff -T80050000 file.bin -o file.cof
	genfrec file.cof > file.rec

This example will convert the file "file.bin" to "file.rec", which will download to 0x80050000.

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