From owner-freebsd-arch@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Aug 7 22:44:38 2005 Return-Path: X-Original-To: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Delivered-To: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5A6EF16A41F for ; Sun, 7 Aug 2005 22:44:38 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from scottl@samsco.org) Received: from pooker.samsco.org (pooker.samsco.org [168.103.85.57]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id E713E43D49 for ; Sun, 7 Aug 2005 22:44:37 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from scottl@samsco.org) Received: from [192.168.254.11] (junior.samsco.home [192.168.254.11]) (authenticated bits=0) by pooker.samsco.org (8.13.3/8.13.3) with ESMTP id j77MuY9s008741; Sun, 7 Aug 2005 16:56:34 -0600 (MDT) (envelope-from scottl@samsco.org) Message-ID: <42F68ED1.8090509@samsco.org> Date: Sun, 07 Aug 2005 16:44:33 -0600 From: Scott Long User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; FreeBSD i386; en-US; rv:1.7.8) Gecko/20050615 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Richard Pushman References: <20050807212142.46134.qmail@web30201.mail.mud.yahoo.com> In-Reply-To: <20050807212142.46134.qmail@web30201.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.8 required=3.8 tests=ALL_TRUSTED autolearn=failed version=3.0.2 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.2 (2004-11-16) on pooker.samsco.org Cc: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org Subject: Re: PA-risc platform? X-BeenThere: freebsd-arch@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Discussion related to FreeBSD architecture List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 07 Aug 2005 22:44:38 -0000 Richard Pushman wrote: > I know there's not support of any kind for the HP pa-risc machines. > What would be involved to make freebsd run on 'em? > I understand porting to a new architechure is difficult, at best. > > Thanks, > Rick Pushman > > It would be about 9-12 months of dedicated effort. However, there needs to be a compelling reason. It's quite easy to pick up a J2xx or 9000/7xx on eBay or from government surplus, but all you'll really get out of it is the equivalent performance of a Pentium or maybe Pentium2. Also, since the architecture has effectively been orphaned, there isn't a whole lot of future growth potential to keep it interesting. And there are technical hurdles like working with the closed/proprietary bootstrapping mechanisms that make it a pain. So you'll need to ask yourself if the results will justify the effort. Scott