From owner-freebsd-embedded@FreeBSD.ORG Sat Jun 7 10:49:06 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-embedded@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4EEFA106566C for ; Sat, 7 Jun 2008 10:49:06 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bms@incunabulum.net) Received: from out1.smtp.messagingengine.com (out1.smtp.messagingengine.com [66.111.4.25]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0A62A8FC15 for ; Sat, 7 Jun 2008 10:49:06 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bms@incunabulum.net) Received: from compute2.internal (compute2.internal [10.202.2.42]) by out1.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 65F98112B13; Sat, 7 Jun 2008 06:49:05 -0400 (EDT) Received: from heartbeat2.messagingengine.com ([10.202.2.161]) by compute2.internal (MEProxy); Sat, 07 Jun 2008 06:49:05 -0400 X-Sasl-enc: 6UCLB82lKgvaVL6MdUyWlRLL+ZkpXnBt4eGEnU37O4BK 1212835745 Received: from empiric.lon.incunabulum.net (unknown [81.168.51.182]) by mail.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id C977A2884A; Sat, 7 Jun 2008 06:49:04 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <484A679E.7010106@incunabulum.net> Date: Sat, 07 Jun 2008 11:49:02 +0100 From: Bruce M Simpson User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.14 (X11/20080514) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-embedded@freebsd.org X-Enigmail-Version: 0.95.6 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Low cost ARM9 SoC board - NSD100/NCB3AST X-BeenThere: freebsd-embedded@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Dedicated and Embedded Systems List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 07 Jun 2008 10:49:06 -0000 Hi, I have just made a speculative purchase of an ARM9 based device, the Emprex NSD-100 (pictures of inside case): http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2008/04/29/emprex-nsd-100-p2p-download-engine/1 The UK cost ex vat is ~35 UKP retail per unit. 8MB flash, 64MB DRAM, 2x USB2 ports and 1x 10/100 PHY. In other markets (eg. Australia) the AgeStar NCB3AST may be available, which has SATA (!), and 1 of the two USB2 ports on the SoC is configured as a device port. Though it's a bit more expensive: although there are pads for several resistors on the bottom. A friend and I popped the top off the NSD100 as soon as it came in. There is some RF shielding which needs removed to get full access. There is a single 6-pin header for the UART, and apparently no JTAG, although there are pads for several resistors on the bottom. The box definitely runs Linux of some description although the serial lines seem very noisy. A pinout which gives me the least amount of garbled text is: VCC 1 2 3 4 TX 5 6 GND ...but TX appears to be connected to the +3.3V line. My MAX232 wants 5V, but only 3.3V is available. I didn't bother checking this with a scope... It seems to be 38400 8-N-1, same as the tinyhack guy says for the NCB3AST. Drops into BusyBox on boot, and we can just make out the messages from their Linux about it being the "FA526" CPU. Both the NSD100 and NCB3AST use the Star Semiconductor Corp STR9104 system-on-chip. The NSD100 allegedly uses U-Boot firmware. Star on their website claim that the STR91xx has been purchased for use in various vendor designs: http://www.starsemi.com/vEng/index1.html ...their product line appears to be positioned competitively with Intel XScale IXP. The STR91xx appears to incorporate a licensed FA526 ARM9 IP core from Faraday Tech. Corp. I believe the on-chip network controllers are implemented in a similar way. I don't see any download links for the code which Emprex must provide, as they ship Linux in their product, to conform with the GPLv2 license. This guy claims to be working on opening up the Linux port: http://tinyhack.com/2008/05/18/hacking-ncb3ast-day-1/ There is a patch set for Linux 2.4 which adds STAR_STR9100 SoC support, and might serve as a jumping off point for starting to port FreeBSD to this device: http://tinyhack.com/files/patch-from-kernel-2.4.36.4-to-star.bz2 dmesg for a similar device is here: http://svn.openfoundry.org/usert2500/star/star_log.txt