If you have ever needed to connect an FPGA, an old-school parallel ADC, an Ethernet controller, or even an external NOR flash to a processor without writing bit-banging GPIO code, the GPMC is your best friend. At its core, the GPMC is a hardware memory controller that acts as a bridge between the processor’s internal memory bus and external memory-mapped devices. To the CPU, reading from an external FPGA or writing to an LCD controller looks exactly like reading from a local RAM address—thanks to the GPMC.
In the world of embedded Linux and high-performance microcontrollers, interfacing with external memory or peripheral chips often feels like a battle against timing constraints. Enter the GPMC (General Purpose Memory Controller). While it might not be as flashy as a GPU or as talked about as a PCIe bus, the GPMC is one of the most versatile and powerful peripherals found on Texas Instruments’ Sitara processors (like the AM335x, AM437x) and OMAP platforms. If you have ever needed to connect an
Have you fought with GPMC timing lately? Keep a logic analyzer handy and always double-check your gpmc,clk-activation-ns values. In the world of embedded Linux and high-performance