.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 ========================= PRAMIN aperture mechanism ========================= .. note:: The following description is approximate and current as of the Ampere family. It may change for future generations and is intended to assist in understanding the driver code. Introduction ============ PRAMIN is a hardware aperture mechanism that provides CPU access to GPU Video RAM (VRAM) before the GPU's Memory Management Unit (MMU) and page tables are initialized. This 1 MiB sliding window, located at a fixed offset within BAR0, is essential for setting up page tables and other critical GPU data structures without relying on the GPU's MMU. Architecture Overview ===================== The PRAMIN aperture mechanism is logically implemented by the GPU's PBUS (PCIe Bus Controller Unit) and provides a CPU-accessible window into VRAM through the PCIe interface:: +-----------------+ PCIe +------------------------------+ | CPU |<----------->| GPU | +-----------------+ | | | +----------------------+ | | | PBUS | | | | (Bus Controller) | | | | | | | | +--------------+ <------------ [1] | | | PRAMIN | | | | | | Window | | | | | | (1 MiB) | | | | | +--------------+ | | | | | | | | +---------|------------+ | | | | | v | | +----------------------+ <------- [2] | | VRAM | | | | (Several GiB) | | | | | | | | FB[0x0000000000] | | | | ... | | | | FB[0xFFFFFFFFFF] | | | +----------------------+ | +------------------------------+ [1] Window starts at BAR0 + 0x700000. [2] Program PRAMIN to any 64 KiB-aligned VRAM boundary. PBUS is responsible for, among other things, handling MMIO accesses to the BAR registers. PRAMIN Window Operation ======================= The PRAMIN window provides a 1 MiB sliding aperture that can be repositioned over the entire VRAM address space using the ``NV_PBUS_BAR0_WINDOW`` register. Window Control Mechanism ------------------------- :: NV_PBUS_BAR0_WINDOW Register (0x1700): +-------+--------+--------------------------------------+ | 31:26 | 25:24 | 23:0 | | RSVD | TARGET | BASE_ADDR | | | | (bits 39:16 of VRAM address) | +-------+--------+--------------------------------------+ The 24-bit BASE_ADDR field encodes bits [39:16] of the target VRAM address, providing 40-bit (1 TiB) address space coverage with 64 KiB alignment. TARGET field (bits 25:24): - 0x0: VRAM (Video Memory) - 0x1: Reserved (unused) - 0x2: SYS_MEM_COH (Coherent System Memory) - 0x3: SYS_MEM_NONCOH (Non-coherent System Memory) .. note:: Nova only uses TARGET=VRAM (0x0) for video memory access. The SYS_MEM target values are documented here for hardware completeness but are not used by the driver. 64 KiB Alignment Requirement ---------------------------- The PRAMIN window must be aligned to 64 KiB boundaries in VRAM. This is enforced by the ``BASE_ADDR`` field representing bits [39:16] of the target address:: VRAM Address Calculation: actual_vram_addr = (BASE_ADDR << 16) + pramin_offset Where: - BASE_ADDR: 24-bit value from NV_PBUS_BAR0_WINDOW[23:0] - pramin_offset: 20-bit offset within the PRAMIN window [0x00000-0xFFFFF] Example Window Positioning: +---------------------------------------------------------+ | VRAM Space | | | | 0x0000000000 +-----------------+ <-- 64 KiB aligned | | | PRAMIN Window | | | | (1 MiB) | | | 0x00000FFFFF +-----------------+ | | | | | ^ | | | | Window can slide | | v | to any 64 KiB-aligned boundary | | | | 0x0123400000 +-----------------+ <-- 64 KiB aligned | | | PRAMIN Window | | | | (1 MiB) | | | 0x01234FFFFF +-----------------+ | | | | ... | | | | 0xFFFFF00000 +-----------------+ <-- 64 KiB aligned | | | PRAMIN Window | | | | (1 MiB) | | | 0xFFFFFFFFFF +-----------------+ | +---------------------------------------------------------+