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Date:      Sat, 18 Apr 2009 12:45:11 -0400
From:      Chuck Robey <chuckr@telenix.org>
To:        "M. Warner Losh" <imp@bsdimp.com>
Cc:        gballet@gmail.com, tinguely@casselton.net, freebsd-arm@freebsd.org, ticso@cicely.de
Subject:   Re: Pandora
Message-ID:  <49EA0397.3020105@telenix.org>
In-Reply-To: <20090417.192613.1942083595.imp@bsdimp.com>
References:  <49E51C48.1020503@telenix.org>	<20090414.232338.1606926300.imp@bsdimp.com>	<49E79789.9050508@telenix.org> <20090417.192613.1942083595.imp@bsdimp.com>

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M. Warner Losh wrote:
> In message: <49E79789.9050508@telenix.org>
>             Chuck Robey <chuckr@telenix.org> writes:
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> : 
> : M. Warner Losh wrote:
> : > In message: <49E51C48.1020503@telenix.org>
> : >             Chuck Robey <chuckr@telenix.org> writes:
> : > Mark Tinguely wrote:
> 
> 
> OpenBSD doesn't have support for the newer ARM architectures either.
> NetBSD has some in the arm-v6 branch (I don't think it has been merged
> yet).
> 
> : I don't actually get the delivery of the Pandora for maybe 45 more
> : days, so all this time is what it may well take me to gather all the
> : info, and decide where the pieces lie that I need to modify.  Being
> : that I tend to go a bit slow, this might be a good fit for me
> : anyhow.
> 
> I think in that time you could make good progress on an armv6 port.

It's probable that I'm missing something here.  My reading so far has me firmly
in the arm-v7a processor.  You're talking about arm-v6.  I assume that this is
either an error, or a fact that the arm-v6 is very similar to arm-v7a (I am
learning the arm-v7a, not the arm-v6 yet, so this could be true), or you're just
trying to talk me into that.

In the next year, I'm looking at major surgery, and other medical fantasies that
might well get me back to work, but at the moment, I'm living in a real limited
income, and only true personal idiocy got me to buy that Pandora (that and the
fact that it's REALLY cheap).  The chance of me being able to afford a
BeagleBoard, well, that's a 50-50 in maybe 6 months, but any other device, no, I
couldn't hack the cost.  The only reasons I would consider the BeagleBoard are
because (1) (again) it's inespensive, and (2) it's a great alternate development
platform if I want to do something else totally compatible with the Pandora.
They're both arm-v7a, after all.  I'm still trying to find out about the
hardware and firmware on the Pandora.

Warner, I want a comment on this: I was thinking that, being only a single
person who's not yet an expert in this, I could probably only work on one
project at a time (meaning either going the FreeBSD way OR the OpenBSD way).  It
would feel, to me, like being a leech to ask questions on one project, if I
decide at the end to do the other.  So I was figuring I'll be forced inside
maybe the next month to pick one of the 2 as a path.  So far, since I've
actually run the OpenBSD port for the Zaurus, I was leaning that way.  I don't
honestly know too much about what's the current state of FreeBSD's arm platform.
So, my question is, am I right, do I really need to pick only one of the two
projects to work on?  Feel free to give me your personal opinions.

Or maybe I'm wrong about needing to pick only one project to work with?  That'd
be fine, if I didn't think I was spreading myself too thinly to be able to
actually produce anything in that situation.

I also want to figure out why you are talking about the arm-v6 port.  Why should
I consider arm-v6 if I'm going to have a Pandora as hardware (with a certain
possibility of a BeagleBoard), neither of them arm-v6?

I'm not wasting time yet on this, I'm reading the tech ref manuals on the
arm-v7a, and still just trying for info about the Pandora, it's really thin on
the ground so far.  I have between 1-2 months before the Pandora shows up here
(according to rumors), so this is very good research time for me.


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