Date: Sat, 30 May 2020 18:09:04 +0000 (UTC) From: Oskar Holmlund <oskar.holmlund@yahoo.com> To: freebsd-arm@freebsd.org, "Dr. Rolf Jansen" <freebsd@cyclaero.com> Subject: Re: BeagleBone AI Message-ID: <1475482977.403029.1590862144455@mail.yahoo.com> In-Reply-To: <DCF67826-C2CA-461F-9A61-F934F6FB042A@cyclaero.com> References: <DCF67826-C2CA-461F-9A61-F934F6FB042A@cyclaero.com>
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Hello Rolf, Den l=C3=B6rdag 30 maj 2020 04:22:12 CEST, Dr. Rolf Jansen <freebsd@cyclaer= o.com> skrev:=20 We are starting a new project of industrial device controllers. We want to = utilize ARM-SBCs as unit controllers (and here a unit is one industrial dev= ice), and we need to attach at least 24 ADCs, 8 DACs and 16 DIOs to each un= it controller (UC). Many unit controllers (eventually tenths to hundreds) w= ould then communicate by a custom protocol over ethernet with a command and= control server. The UCs and the C&C server would be operated by FreeBSD. D= irect interoperability of the UCs with 3rd party IT systems is not a concer= n, integration needs to be done via the C&C server.=C2=A0=20 Since the sample/update rate requirements are quite low, we are going the I= =C2=B2C path, and initial testing has been done using the BeagleBone Black.= It got 2 separate I=C2=B2C 400 kbit/s busses which helps already, avoiding= I=C2=B2C address conflicts. Yet, the 8 port I=C2=B2C switch TCA9548A is wo= rking very well, and we are now sure to be able to attach enough ADCs, DACs= and DIOs to each unit controller. Although the initial viability tests were done with a BeagleBone Black runn= ing FreeBSD 13-CURRENT, we could start with another more modern SBC. First Question: What modern SBC with more than 1 I=C2=B2C bus and which can run FreeBSD 13+= + would you suggest? Now recently, I found the BeagleBone AI site https://beagleboard.org/ai/ <h= ttps://beagleboard.org/ai/>. This one got also 2 I=C2=B2C busses, and physi= cally, with respect to a housing, it could be a 1:1 replacement for a BBB. = It seems, this one is still too new for FreeBSD. I am very fond of the BB c= oncept - for me it is much more appealing for industrial embedded applicati= ons than for example any RPI. However, the BBB came to age, and I would sta= rt a new project with it only, if there would be a reasonable chance for an= upgrade path. Two more Questions: Is it reasonable to assume that FreeBSD would run on a BBAI in the future, = let=E2=80=99s say in 2 to 3 years? Perhaps I could help porting FreeBSD to a BBAI. What would be the general s= teps? Many thanks in advance for any suggestions, advices and clarifications. Best regards Rolf _______________________________________________ freebsd-arm@freebsd.org mailing list https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-arm To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-arm-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" I'm also into industrial embedded systems, we currently use am3358 and in o= ur roadmap we have a plan to use am57xx in the future. We build our own cus= tom hardware and dont use Beaglebone* in the products. First question; have a quick look at the hardware documentation from the So= Cs vendor listed in sys/arm and sys/arm64. If you like the structure of the= documentation talk to the vendor and see if you can get the product life t= ime your project needs, do the support organisation give some kind of desig= n review of schematics...do the support organisation "know" something about= the BSDs? :) I think its good if you can fix problems in the future on your own due to t= he lack of manpower in freebsd@arm as both Ian Lepore and Emmanuel Vadot ha= s pointed out several times.=20 Steps to get AM57xx SoCs to work: 1 Print the schematics and parts of the documentation ( https://www.ti.com/= lit/ug/spruhz6l/spruhz6l.pdf ) on paper. 2 Find marking pens. 3 Build & boot u-boot - probably easy check out ports/sysutils/u-boot-* cha= nge model/board_config maybe some patches are needed. 4 Dive into the devicetree (moving target and not always correct) and under= stand the concept. The relationship between different parts of the system a= nd the documentation, find the registers & bits you need and issue read/wri= te (maybe some glue are needed aswell).=20 5 Write new/rewrite drivers. 6 goto (4) It will probably take a year or two to have stable support for am57xx. If y= ou have time to work on making freebsd boot on BBAI it will be great - mayb= e we can get it done in 6 months ? :) I will put up an initial proposal for am335x clock on reviews.freebsd.org a= s soon as my account has been approved. Head boots and i have tested most o= f the function except PRUs.=20 I assume am57xx/dra7xx have some new type of clock/dpll but it should not b= e too hard to add. //Oskar
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