Date: Sat, 23 May 1998 10:47:04 +0100 (BST) From: Doug Rabson <dfr@nlsystems.com> To: current@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: FreeBSD/alpha kernel status report Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.95q.980523102727.15699C-100000@herring.nlsystems.com>
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I have been working on porting the FreeBSD kernel to the alpha platform over the last couple of weeks and since I have made significant progress, it seems time for a status report. I have been developing using the excellent SimOS simulator. This software simulates a CPU plus devices and provides an invaluable debugging interface. The alpha version of SimOS emulates something vaguely like an AlphaServer 8200. People interested in using SimOS should be aware that the alpha emulator will only work on an alpha platform and will probably only build on DUX. I have hacked it to build on Linux/alpha (NetBSD won't boot on my machine <sigh>). Currently I have a kernel which boots under the simulator for quite a distance before it eventually panics in vfs_mountrootfs. It actually makes it into DDB and disassembles the instruction after the breakpoint in Debugger() before crashing and burning :-). The next step is to add device support for the various devices in the simulator with the aim of getting the system to single user mode. Since the alpha platform has a significantly more complex bus structure than the PC, I have decided to use the bus/device framework which I prototyped last year. Hopefully, this can form the base of a wider driver renovation project for the PC platform which badly needs it. Lastly, does anyone on the list know a decent UK distributor of alpha systems? I will soon need an alpha scratch box when my port is ready for booting an actual physical machine. Preferably any system which I acquire will be able to boot NetBSD/alpha. -- Doug Rabson Mail: dfr@nlsystems.com Nonlinear Systems Ltd. Phone: +44 181 951 1891 Fax: +44 181 381 1039 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-current" in the body of the message
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