what is the difference between BInary and Intex hex loader file?

Benix Vincent wrote:

Can anyone tell me the difference between binary and intel hex loader file?

Additionally, to program the code into the flash which format i should choose?

Benix.

Hi Benix,

The main difference between the Intel HEX32, industry-standard PROM-file format we use as our default loader file format and the ASCII/INCLUDE/BINARY formats is that the Intel HEX32 contains PROM target address entries for each record, upper order (secondary) PROM address records, end-of-file records, individual record checksums, record type and size information, etc.  None of this information is present in the (unformatted) loader file types of ASCII/INCLUDE/BINARY.

These other formats are designed for PROM burners that do not support the default Intel HEX32 format.  The data contained in these files is still encoded as a linked list of blocks, each containing a block header (reflecting target address, size and flag information) and block data (payload) as described in our documentation (see VisualDSP++ Loader and Utilities Manual).  Of particular import is to know that the ASCII/INCLUDE/BINARY formats are devoid of PROM address information.

These lesser formats basically contain the byte-oriented loader data as width-adjusted hex-encoded characters (ASCII), hex-encoded characters separated by commas (INCLUDE) or raw binary data (BINARY).

Regarding your second question, as i mentioned above, we support a number of loader file formats (S-RECORD, ASCII, INCLUDE, BINARY and Intel HEX32 format), all of which are documented and discussed in more detail in the VisualDSP++ Loader and Utilities Manual. Which format to use is entirely up to you.

You can check which file format is available for a specific processor by checking the 'Format' Section under the 'Load:General' section of the 'Project Options', available from the Project file menu within VisualDSP++.

We have several Application Notes which may be of interest to you. EE-240 - "ADSP-BF533 Blackfin(r) Booting Process" and EE-239 - "Running Programs from Flash on ADSP-BF533 Blackfin(r) Processors".  Both of these, and others, are available from our website at the following location: www.analog.com/eenotes

Thanks,
David.

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EZ Admin