Guralp Systems CMG-DCM build <10,000 - Manual (Page 51)

Acquisition Modules and Platinum Firmware Platinum Firmware Upgrades
5 Platinum Firmware Upgrades
Platinum firmware is regularly updated to provide extra features, improve
performance and, occasionally, to correct errors. The upgrade process is
normally fast, simple and can be carried out remotely using either the web or
command-line interface (but see the important notes, below).
Note: This procedure does not upgrade the firmware of connected
or embedded digitisers, which should be upgraded using the web
interface or the dm24­upgrade command as documented in section
8.2.3 on page 115.
The upgrade process makes use of the rsync protocol which uses an elegant
and efficient algorithm to, effectively, transfer only the differences between
revisions; even within individual files. This significantly reduces the time
required compared to traditional upgrade methods.
5.1 Important notes regarding build 10,000
5.1.1 Significant changes at build 10,000
All systems that run Platinum, excluding the CMG-NAM, are based around
ARM microprocessors. Platinum relies on the Linux operating system and a
number of utility programs which are made freely available by the ARM
development community. In 2010, this community agreed a new
specification for the way that programs interact with the operating system and
each other. This specification is know as the Application Binary Interface, or
ABI. The new ABI was called the “EABI” and the original one was
retrospectively renamed the “OABI”, for old ABI. The two paradigms cannot
coexist and all new community development will be carried out using the
newer EABI.
For this reason, starting with build 10,000, Platinum development also moved
to the EABI.
Using the EABI requires the use of a different compiler and, to simplify
development, a similar compiler change has been made for CMG-NAM and
CMG-NAM64 development.
The decision to use the EABI and the new compiler has one significant
consequence – an upgrade from a build before 10,000 to a current build is
vulnerable to interruptions in a way that no other upgrade is. This has
implications for systems installed in remote locations.
5.1.2 Systems installed in remote locations
Programs using the EABI cannot interoperate (on the same processor) with
programs using the OABI. There are also problems when mixing programs
MAN-EAM-0003 51 Issue E - February 2014