From owner-freebsd-ppc@FreeBSD.ORG Mon May 26 16:52:38 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-ppc@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 92DB437B401 for ; Mon, 26 May 2003 16:52:38 -0700 (PDT) Received: from dommail.onthenet.com.au (dommail.OntheNet.com.au [203.13.70.57]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 83A7343F75 for ; Mon, 26 May 2003 16:52:37 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from grehan@freebsd.org) Received: from freebsd.org (CPE-203-45-236-129.qld.bigpond.net.au [203.45.236.129]) by dommail.onthenet.com.au (Mirapoint Messaging Server MOS 3.2.4-GA) with ESMTP id AAD38876 (AUTH peterg@ptree32.com.au); Tue, 27 May 2003 09:52:31 +1000 (EST) Sender: grehan@dommail.onthenet.com.au Message-ID: <3ED2A8C5.2E19EA11@freebsd.org> Date: Tue, 27 May 2003 09:52:37 +1000 From: Peter Grehan X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.79 [en] (X11; U; Linux 2.2.14-12 i686) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Silverton Aron-C1710C References: <4D87884B6A6D4E438A8592BCC9C85DCA091D2222@il02exm06.corp.mot.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit cc: "'freebsd-ppc@freebsd.org'" Subject: Re: Porting to Compact PCI X-BeenThere: freebsd-ppc@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Porting FreeBSD to the PowerPC List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 26 May 2003 23:52:38 -0000 Hi Aron, > 1. Boot Linux using U-Boot on this board. I suspect this will be an easy step. > 2. Try U-Boot and FreeBSD. I think that this will require a bunch of > U-Boot specific stuff as well as some board specific drivers that could also > be merged with FreeBSD-PowerPC. This should also firm up FreeBSD support in > general under U-Boot. The main issue with U-Boot is that it doesn't export a low-level driver interface, which the loader really wants to see. The alternative is to implement polled-mode drivers in loader, which is really replicating what U-Boot already does, so I think the best path is to extend U-Boot's "syscall" interface to allow access to it's existing driver code. > 3. Once U-Boot gets to the point where it is trying to boot a FreeBSD > kernel, plug away at the Harrier ASIC, Flash memory, and any other > peripheral support needed by the board and merge with FreeBSD-PowerPC. The > MCIP805 programmer's manual contains a good list of components and has links > to additional documentation. The PPC port is currently way too tied to OpenFirmware, but it's always been known that this has to be split out. Another issue is JFFS2 support in FreeBSD, which is what U-Boot uses for it's flash filesystem. This would probably involve ext2fs-like copyright issues. > Let me know what everybody thinks. It's an excellent plan, and will help to realise the ultimate goal of the PPC port which was embedded systems. It is very handy to have a fast G4 Mac for native builds though :-) later, Peter.