From owner-freebsd-arm@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Jun 24 01:55:49 2007 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-arm@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-arm@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id CDED516A469 for ; Sun, 24 Jun 2007 01:55:49 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jim@netgate.com) Received: from netgate.com (mail.netgate.com [64.62.194.115]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C00D713C489 for ; Sun, 24 Jun 2007 01:55:49 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jim@netgate.com) Received: from widget.local (rrcs-67-52-77-54.west.biz.rr.com [67.52.77.54]) by netgate.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 35585280039; Sat, 23 Jun 2007 18:55:46 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <467DCF22.4080804@netgate.com> Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2007 15:55:46 -1000 From: Jim Thompson User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.4 (Macintosh/20070604) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Olivier Houchard References: <20070620191432.GB12111@tirith.brixandersen.dk> <20070623123726.GA43928@ci0.org> In-Reply-To: <20070623123726.GA43928@ci0.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: freebsd-arm@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Gateworks Avila GW2348-4 X-BeenThere: freebsd-arm@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Porting FreeBSD to the StrongARM Processor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2007 01:55:49 -0000 Olivier Houchard wrote: > Hi Henrik, > > On Wed, Jun 20, 2007 at 09:14:32PM +0200, Henrik Brix Andersen wrote: >> Hi, >> >> Seeing how FreeBSD/arm seems have become the de facto reference >> implementation for embedded FreeBSD I thought I might as well get into >> the loop and order myself an ARM development board (I have previously >> only worked with embedded FreeBSD on x86 and that other operating >> system on x86, ColdFire and mips32). >> >> I have my eyes set on the Gateworks Avila GW2348-4 but before ordering >> one there are a few things, I'd like to know. Hopefully, someone on >> this list can answer my questions. >> >> I have only found one European reseller of the GW2348-4, DD-WRT SHOP >> [1], and according to their website the GW2348-4 is currently out of >> stock. Anybody know of any other European resellers? >> >> Gateworks lists an optional type A USB host interface for the >> GW2348-4, but I have been unable to find any reseller that holds this >> version of the board. Anybody here have one? Know where/if I can get >> one? USB isn't crucial as I will mostly be using the board to get >> aquinted with the ARM architecture (and, I hope, do some FreeBSD >> development), but it's a nice to have feature. >> > > I can't help for those, sorry. Beware however, I don't think we currently > support the USB port. It shouldn't be too hard, but it's just not there. Oliver, Note that Hendrik's reference was to the *optional* PCI-resident USB host port, not the USB device port that is in the ixp42x SOC. No, it shouldn't be too difficult, but I also don't know of any FreeBSD developers who have access to this modification. >> Anybody know if all Avila boards are sold with the Redboot bootstrap >> bootloader - or is that only included in the Development Kit? Is this >> a vanilla version of Redboot, or does it require custom patches to >> work with the Avila boards? >> > > I'm quite sure it will come with RedBoot. And I think vanilla won't work out > of the box, because it will lack the ethernet driver. You're talking about two different things. Hendrick wanted to know if the Redboot on the flash would boot FreeBSD. I explained (privately) how to get around it, in that it won't boot FreeBSD directly, but you can load a FreeBSD kernel out of flash (assuming the root is on CF) and then boot that(*). You're saying that FreeBSD will boot, but that the npx Ethernets won't come up without installing the Intel-microcode, etc. Also true, btw. (*) Yes, there is a more modern secondary bootloader, which can read the kernel out of a UFS filesystem, but I've not completely tested that yet. Jim p.s. I answered his other questions as best I could 1:1, because they seemed "commercial" in nature, and I didn't want to come off as being "commercial" (or "too commercial", anyway).