Common Firmware Environment

Common Firmware Environment (CFE), pronounced as 'cafe', is a firmware interface and bootloader developed by Broadcom for 32-bit and 64-bit system-on-a-chip (SOC) systems. It is intended to be a flexible toolkit of CPU initialization and bootstrap code for use on embedded processors (typically running on MIPS32/64 instruction set cpu's found in Broadcom SoC's). It is roughly analogous to the BIOS on the IBM PC platform. Its source-code is available on Open source license from Broadcom. Common embedded system alternatives include Das U-Boot.

Its main responsibility is to initialize CPU's, caches, memory controllers, and peripherals required early on in the power on stage. It typically incorporates several built-in device drivers for SOC peripherals, it has several console choices, including serial ports, ROM emulators, JTAG, etc. Just like in other boot loaders environment, variables are commonly configured in persistent storage to create auto boot options. It also has support for network bootstrap.

Platforms

CFE is used in at least some of the following wireless router platforms:

CFE is used in the following home entertainment platforms:

CFE is also used in the Amiga NG platform AmigaOne X1000

See also

External links


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