Date: Sat, 23 Jun 2007 15:55:46 -1000 From: Jim Thompson <jim@netgate.com> To: Olivier Houchard <mlfbsd@ci0.org> Cc: freebsd-arm@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Gateworks Avila GW2348-4 Message-ID: <467DCF22.4080804@netgate.com> In-Reply-To: <20070623123726.GA43928@ci0.org> References: <20070620191432.GB12111@tirith.brixandersen.dk> <20070623123726.GA43928@ci0.org>
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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).
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