The open source Bootloader U-Boot is an industry recognized software. It supports a wide range of hardware architectures including the PowerPC SBCs supplied by ACTIS Computer.

U-Boot popularity is driven by a large developer’s community which maintains and writes new functions. This community includes major SOC manufacturers like Applied Micro and Freescale. U-Boot is fully compatible with Linux by offering a direct interface by passing arguments and resources structure to the kernel for an optimum system initialization.

Based on the latest technology, the Flat Device Tree (FDT) supports accurate system configuration and resources allocation. The FDT is dynamically defined and pass to the Linux Kernel during boot process. This approach allows a dynamic system board configuration even if a hardware modification is applied without modifying the software code.

Key Features

 Network download: TFTP, BOOTP, DHCP, NFS
 Serial download: s-record, binary (via Kermit)
 Flash management: copy, erase, protect, cramfs, jffs2
 Flash Types: CFI NOR-Flash, NAND-Flash
 Memory utilities: copy, dump. crc, check, mtest
 Mass Storage Devices: IDE, SATA, USB
 Boot from disk: raw block, ext2, fat, reiserfs
 Interactive shell: choice of simple or "busybox" shell with many scripting features.