Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 15:12:35 -0600 From: "Michael C . Wu" <keichii@iteration.net> To: Devin Butterfield <dbutter@wireless.net>, freebsd-small@freebsd.org Cc: Jordan Hubbard <jkh@winston.osd.bsdi.com>, freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: StrongARM support? Message-ID: <20001218151235.D69041@peorth.iteration.net> In-Reply-To: <3A3862E4.5A46E14C@wireless.net>; from dbutter@wireless.net on Wed, Dec 13, 2000 at 10:04:20PM -0800 References: <78656.976769151@winston.osd.bsdi.com> <3A3862E4.5A46E14C@wireless.net>
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[sent to -small too] On Wed, Dec 13, 2000 at 10:04:20PM -0800, Devin Butterfield scribbled: | Jordan Hubbard wrote: | > > Is there any work in progress to support running FreeBSD on ARM | > > processors? If not, are there any plans to? I would be very interested | > > in helping out with such an effort. I would love to have FreeBSD running | > > on my iPAQ PocketPC. :) | > | > No work in progress, no plans. Would you be interested in heading | > such a project? That's what's needed. :) I would be quite interested. But do we have the resouces and the man-hours to handle IA-64/KA-64/PPC/Alpha/StrongARM at the same time? I am very interested in the PPC and StrongARM port, but there are so few of us on -ppc... Perhaps the first step would be to start a freebsd-arm@freebsd.org mailing list? | Unfortunately, I don't think that I have enough knowledge to "head" such | a project. I can certainly help in the effort though. I'm familiar with | the FreeBSD kernel and have written drivers but I really know little | about ARM or what it would take to get the FreeBSD kernel to boot on an | ARM. | | I guess we could start by using the data collected by the NetBSD group's | effort to run on ARM. Is there anyone here who is familiar with NetBSD's | ARM project? | | Anyone here interested in such a project (and perhaps who has some prior | knowledge of what would be involved in realizing such a beast)? Yes, I am! :) However, imho we should finish the FreeBSD/PPC project first. The StrongARM is quite similiar to the PPC processors. If we get the loader and init working, the rest will be a breeze. We could simply build a cross-gcc on ARM/Linux and the rest is making sure that everything compiles. Intel recently supplied me with the Brutus, Assabet, and the EBSA boards in addition to a compiler/debugger suite for a research project. IIRC, NetBSD doesn't have the newer StrongARM SA-11xx ports. And that's why we have to work from ARM/Linux. The good thing is that we do not need SMP on FreeBSD/ARM/StrongARM. (PowerPC still needs SMP support though.) The most important decision now would be: Should we concentrate on the PPC port first? Or should we go at each port simultaneously? With PicoBSD not working very well in -CURRENT and the advent of large sized flash media (SANDISK/CompactFlash, SmartMedia). Can we begin to maybe have a "make buildsmallworld" target? (i.e. a combination of NO_STATIC=yes and other suitable options) In addition, -CURRENT has become very much larger. I know about the "embedded systems are customized, so cut it down yourself" argument. However, what if it's still large after we cut it down to the bare minimum? Also, what about /dev/random seeding problems? -- +------------------------------------------------------------------+ | keichii@peorth.iteration.net | keichii@bsdconspiracy.net | | http://peorth.iteration.net/~keichii | Yes, BSD is a conspiracy. | +------------------------------------------------------------------+ To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-small" in the body of the message
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