@fremen67: Have you tried uboot to mount the kernel & rootfs via NFS from your PC? I think this would be the best dev scenario.
The nfs client support on the default kernel works; I've mounted my Ubuntu Eclipse Cross Arm C/C++ workspace from the awg via:
mount -t nfs -o nolock,vers=2 {host pc ip}:/root/workspace/ /mnt/nfs
A quick test after setting the compiler flags:
[root@Hantek /mnt/nfs/hello/Debug]#./hello
Hello ARM World!
No I did not. I just used NFS on my MSO5062D, which is based on the same SoC and linux version, but only after it was running. I mounted the NFS share to overwrite my USB drive so that when I push the "Save to USB" button, the image is stored directly on the NFS server. But you will only have NFS support after having loaded the kernel, not before... I did not see NFS support in uboot. When uboot is loaded, you have access to usb, nand, tftp server and SD... and even if there was NFS support in Uboot, I think you would loose it as soon as the kernel would start loading, when the ethernet uboot driver is replaced with the linux one. So I doubt it is possible to mount the kernel using NFS via uboot. But maybe I am wrong.
Mounting rootfs via NFS after the kernel has been loaded maybe?
As for tftp, it is now working on the HDG. It was a bug related to the new MTD layout where the name "bios" had been replaced with "uboot". I modified cmd_menu.c in /common so that it works now in any case.
tftp is very convenient for updating nand partition and should be enough for testing. Don't you think?
There are also hidden menus which allow updating from SD. I will investigate that point too. Plus I think it should be possible to boot from the SD if we don't want to burn the nand to often.
##### Boot for SKY2416/TQ2416 Main Menu #####
##### EmbedSky TFTP download mode #####
[1] Download u-boot.bin to Nand Flash
[2] Download LOGO (logo.bin) to Nand Flash
[3] Erase the MISC partion
[4] Download Kernel (kernel.bin) to Nand Flash
[5] Download UBIFS image (rootfs.ubi) to Nand Flash
[6] Download Kernel_bk (kernel_bk.bin) to Nand Flash
[7] Download UBIFS image (recover.ubi) to Nand Flash
[8] normal start!
[9] recover start!
[0] Set the boot parameters
[f] Format the Nand Flash
[a] Download User Program
[c] Download Config(config.ubi).
[n] Set TFTP parameters(PC IP,SKY2416/TQ2416 IP,Mask IP...)
[p] Test network (TQ2416 Ping PC's IP)
[r] Reboot u-boot
[s] Download STEPLDR.nb1 to Nand Flash
[t] Test Linux Image (zImage)
[q] Return main Menu
Enter your selection: 1
test_dm9000 i/o: 0x20000300, id: 0x90000a46
DM9000: running in 16 bit mode
MAC: 10:23:45:67:89:ab
operating at 100M half duplex mode
Using dm9000 device
TFTP from server 192.168.1.100; our IP address is 192.168.1.101
Filename 'u-boot.bin'.
Load address: 0xc0000000
Loading: #########################
done
Bytes transferred = 362388 (58794 hex)
NAND erase: device 0 offset 0x0, size 0x100000
Erasing at 0xe0000 -- 100% complete.
OK
NAND write: device 0 offset 0x0, size 0x58800
Writing data at 0x58800 -- 100% complete.
362496 bytes written: OK
##### Boot for SKY2416/TQ2416 Main Menu #####
##### EmbedSky TFTP download mode #####
[1] Download u-boot.bin to Nand Flash
[2] Download LOGO (logo.bin) to Nand Flash
[3] Erase the MISC partion
[4] Download Kernel (kernel.bin) to Nand Flash
[5] Download UBIFS image (rootfs.ubi) to Nand Flash
[6] Download Kernel_bk (kernel_bk.bin) to Nand Flash
[7] Download UBIFS image (recover.ubi) to Nand Flash
[8] normal start!
[9] recover start!
[0] Set the boot parameters
[f] Format the Nand Flash
[a] Download User Program
[c] Download Config(config.ubi).
[n] Set TFTP parameters(PC IP,SKY2416/TQ2416 IP,Mask IP...)
[p] Test network (TQ2416 Ping PC's IP)
[r] Reboot u-boot
[s] Download STEPLDR.nb1 to Nand Flash
[t] Test Linux Image (zImage)
[q] Return main Menu
Enter your selection: