Re: Porting NetBSD to MIPS-based Ingenic X1000 series

[Mike Yang <reimu%sudomaker.com@localhost>]

Hi Martin,

On 7/22/22 02:27, Martin Husemann wrote:
> On Fri, Jul 22, 2022 at 01:50:25AM +0800, Mike Yang wrote:
> 
>> Hello everybody.
> 
>> I want to port NetBSD to the MIPS-based Ingenic X1000
>> series, which is a close relative to the already-supported JZ4780 (CI20
>> board). After a few source code tweaks, I'm able to boot the 9.2 kernel
>> on the hardware. However it got stuck after probing some of the
>> devices.
> 
> Sounds cool - do you have any pointers to developement boards?

We can offer a limited amount of free development boards with free shipping, including the X1000E (64MB RAM) and X1501 (8MB RAM + 2MB NOR).

For now, you can find the datasheets (they're open to everyone, but somehow Ingenic has a careless webmaster) in our "X1501 Pico SoM" project page: https://hackaday.io/project/185562-x1501-pico-som#menu-files . It would be great for us to advertise the capability to run NetBSD on this platform.

All the X1000 series (X1000, X1000E, X1021(EOL), X1500, X1501, X1800(EOL), X1830(EOL)) share the same silicon die. The only differences are the size of the DRAM KGD and number of pins connected to outside.

We also want to port NetBSD to the X2000 series and the JZ4775, maybe in the future. Also unfortunately, the JZ4780 is already EOL.

> 
>> 2. Early resource initialization for different processors.
>>
>> Currently the `evbmips/ingenic/machdep.c` is hardcoded to use 48MHz crystal, UART0 as boot console, and 1GB RAM. We need to enable the users to specify these parameters in some sort of config file, or preferably, FDT. What's the preferred way?
> 
> FDT is the prefered way, but the CI20 support is older and never has been 
> adapted.
>>> 5. NetBSD's policy of GPL code.
>>
>> Support for the Ingenic SoC series is more mature in Linux. Are GPL
>> code derivatives allowed in NetBSD? Do I have to clean-room them?
> 
> No GPL code in the kernel.


Thanks for the info.

> 
> Martin


I think it might also be necessary to clarify our motivation. We are a open source hardware vendor and has a few products based on the Ingenic SoCs, for its extremely high power efficiency. Our products are being used by both makers/hobbyists and commercial/industrial customers. Unlike most hardware vendors, we provide newest software to our customers, and we're willing to contribute to open source software. Recently we learned that Linux is known to remove support for hardware platforms that are "not actively maintained", and nobody really knows their standards. Also their MIPS architecture maintainer refused to add support for the new power saving features of the X1000 series without being reasonable. So, we are choosing NetBSD for its better community. The great portability of NetBSD is also very helpful.


Thank you!


Regards,
Mike Yang