uboot updates

reukiodo

Have there been any uboot updates?

Specifically, I'd like to see a new uboot version that first prioritizes external booting, then falling back to on-board device booting, such as:
boot priority:
1. usb
2. uSD
3. eMMC
4. SPI
5. network

This would make it extremely easy to re-flash onboard media with the appropriate external media, while providing many boot options by default. For instance, OpenWrt could be flashed to SPI, while Android is flashed to eMMC, and linux can boot from uSD or usb. This way even if one media is unavailable or corrupted, uboot could try the next device until a bootable device is found.

reukiodo

I have been searching through the wiki and it seems there is quite a lack of documentation around the whole boot process.

For example http://www.orangepi.org/orangepiwiki/index.php/Orange_Pi_R1_Plus

Does the SoC always boot from the SPI? How does the SPI bootloader get updated? Where is the code for that? How to restore SPI if it gets corrupt?

I assume that SPI contains uboot partition(s) which would then boot from uSD (R1+ doesn't have eMMC). I don't think it supports USB or net booting, though I hope I am wrong. I think ideally the R1+ would get an SPI image update to include OpenWrt and a new uboot which prioritizes booting from USB first, uSD next, and finally the OpenWrt within SPI last. Though it would be nice to have a method to restore SPI in the event that a flash fails. I wonder if the 'Recovery Key' (reset button) puts the board into a mode which the SPI can be direct-flashed through its USB C port.