alif — Alif Ensemble SoC functions

The alif module exposes port-specific functionality for the Alif Ensemble SoC, including a block-device wrapper for the on-board OSPI flash and a helper to dump SoC information from the Secure Enclave services.

Example:

import alif

alif.info()
flash = alif.Flash()

Functions

alif.info() → None

Dumps device information collected from the Alif Secure Enclave services (SE services) to the serial terminal.

Classes

class alif.Flash(*, start: int = -1, len: int = -1)

Creates a block-device object backed by the on-board OSPI flash. This class is only available when the firmware is built with OSPI support enabled.

When called with no arguments, returns the default singleton object covering the writable filesystem region of flash.

start is the byte offset into the flash storage region. Must be a multiple of the flash block size and within the flash storage range. Defaults to -1 which means start at offset 0.

len is the length in bytes of the flash region exposed by the object. Must be a multiple of the flash block size and not extend past the end of the flash storage region. Defaults to -1 which means use all remaining bytes from start.

The object also implements the buffer protocol, allowing read-only memory-mapped access to the flash region via the OSPI XIP base.

readblocks(block_num: int, buf: bytearray) → int
readblocks(block_num: int, buf: bytearray, offset: int) → int

Reads from the flash starting at the block block_num (and an optional byte offset within that block) into buf. The number of bytes read is determined by the length of buf.

Returns 0 on success or a negative error code.

writeblocks(block_num: int, buf: bytes) → int
writeblocks(block_num: int, buf: bytes, offset: int) → int

Writes buf to the flash starting at the block block_num (and an optional byte offset within that block).

When called without offset, the affected blocks are erased before being written. When called with offset, the data is written without erasing first (the caller must ensure the target region has already been erased).

Returns 0 on success or a negative error code.

ioctl(cmd: int, arg: int) → int

Performs a block-device control operation. cmd is one of the standard MicroPython MP_BLOCKDEV_IOCTL_* commands:

  • 1 (init) — returns 0.

  • 2 (deinit) — returns 0.

  • 3 (sync) — returns 0.

  • 4 (block count) — returns the number of blocks in the region.

  • 5 (block size) — returns the flash block size in bytes.

  • 6 (block erase) — erases the block at index arg and returns the result of the erase operation.

Other cmd values return None.

Constants

alif.usb_msc: bool

Present and set to True only when the firmware is built with USB Mass Storage Class support enabled. The attribute is absent otherwise.