[Empeg-technical] Re: Can empeg boot another OS ?

[Roger Lipscombe]

There is nothing in the boot ROM that checks the signature of the kernel image.  So, there is no particular reason why you couldn't program any other OS into the flash.

However, as others have said, this "other OS" would need specific support for the hardware found in the empeg.  Some of this hardware (serial UARTs, IIRC) is common to all StrongARM SA-1100 chips, so should be supported by any OS that supports the StrongARM.  Some of it isn't (the DSP and DACs, in particular), and will need specific driver support.

If you say that you "don't know much about embedded development", then I think that this might be out of your league currently, and you might want to set your sights a little lower.  You might find that hacking on the existing kernel (as other people have done, witness Hijack) will satisfy your urges.

As for the boot ROM; yes, the first chunk of the boot ROM is write-protected, and cannot be overwritten without putting a jumper across the prot-link.

Edit: I'll clarify that.  I believe that the kernel image might be checksummed to verify that it's valid.  It isn't, however, digitally signed in any way.