From owner-freebsd-current@FreeBSD.ORG Mon Dec 11 11:14:01 2006 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [69.147.83.52]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5A5F516A529 for ; Mon, 11 Dec 2006 11:14:01 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from gavin.atkinson@ury.york.ac.uk) Received: from mail-gw4.york.ac.uk (mail-gw4.york.ac.uk [144.32.128.249]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D54C94402D for ; Mon, 11 Dec 2006 11:05:48 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from gavin.atkinson@ury.york.ac.uk) Received: from buffy.york.ac.uk (buffy-128.york.ac.uk [144.32.128.160]) by mail-gw4.york.ac.uk (8.13.6/8.13.6) with ESMTP id kBBB6v0g020819; Mon, 11 Dec 2006 11:06:57 GMT Received: from buffy.york.ac.uk (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by buffy.york.ac.uk (8.13.8/8.13.6) with ESMTP id kBBB6ueb006662; Mon, 11 Dec 2006 11:06:56 GMT (envelope-from gavin.atkinson@ury.york.ac.uk) Received: (from ga9@localhost) by buffy.york.ac.uk (8.13.8/8.13.6/Submit) id kBBB6uOB006661; Mon, 11 Dec 2006 11:06:56 GMT (envelope-from gavin.atkinson@ury.york.ac.uk) X-Authentication-Warning: buffy.york.ac.uk: ga9 set sender to gavin.atkinson@ury.york.ac.uk using -f From: Gavin Atkinson To: Eprha Carvajal In-Reply-To: References: Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 11:06:56 +0000 Message-Id: <1165835216.1373.9.camel@buffy.york.ac.uk> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Evolution 2.6.1 FreeBSD GNOME Team Port X-York-MailScanner: Found to be clean X-York-MailScanner-From: gavin.atkinson@ury.york.ac.uk Cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: New Challenges ( FreeBSD on PS3 ) X-BeenThere: freebsd-current@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussions about the use of FreeBSD-current List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 11:14:01 -0000 On Mon, 2006-12-11 at 00:11 -0400, Eprha Carvajal wrote: > I was wondering if anyone though of installing FreeBSD in a PS3, i'm sure > there are some big challanges there. This is something I've been looking at for a few days. As already mentioned, a Cell is basically a dual threaded POWER chip, so I suspect FreeBSD/ppc is the place to start, as these processors are quite similar. You can ignore the SPEs for now. As I understand it, PS3 uses OpenFirmware, so you may be able to get it booting over the network and stuff easily, depending on how complete the implementation is. A Cell emulator exists, so access to real hardware may not be necessary. Although, it may be worthwhile somebody able to speak for FreeBSD approaching IBM and trying to get one of their Cell-based blade servers, for testing. I'm guessing it will be a lot easier, and more beneficial in the long run to start there than start with a PS3. Linux code is at http://lxr.linux.no/source/arch/powerpc/platforms/cell/?v=2.6.18 Gavin