Metro M4 QSPI Flash Memory Address? Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

[User_UMjT7KxnxP8YN8]

Microchip's SAM-D5x/E5x Family Datasheet says in 37. QSPI - Quad Serial Peripheral Interface:

"The QSPI allows the system to execute code directly from a serial Flash memory (XIP) without code
shadowing to SRAM. The serial Flash memory mapping is seen in the system as other memories (ROM,
SRAM, DRAM, embedded Flash memories, etc.,)."

Can the QSPI flash on the Metro M4 be read in the processor address space like any other flash memory? If so, to what address range is it mapped?

[danhalbert]

If QSPI peripheral is set up in the right mode, yes, it's in the address space. We do this in CircuitPython, though not to execute code (just to read). See Figure 8-1 in the SAMD51 datasheet.

Selection_075.png (43.73 KiB) Viewed 155 times

[User_UMjT7KxnxP8YN8]

If data is stored there, does that make it accessible via the USB port when booting?

[danhalbert]

No, the bootloader doesn't store into QSPI, and random binary data stored in QSPI is not accessible via USB. There has to be an onboard program that talks USB and reads/writes to the QSPI. In CircuitPython the QSPI chip is used as CIRCUITPY. For Arduino we have a raw access library: https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit_QSPI.