Subject: Re: R8000 Indigo2
To: Izumi Tsutsui <tsutsui@ceres.dti.ne.jp>
From: Rafal Boni <rafal@pobox.com>
List: port-mips
Date: 10/08/2004 17:30:02
In message <040930033025.M0106066@mirage.ceres.dti.ne.jp>, you write: 

-> In article <BBBFF660-1241-11D9-A0D3-0005024D4123@macfinity.net>
-> timo.schoeler@macfinity.net wrote:
-> 
-> > i do have a Power Indigo2 (with MIPS R8000 :) and would *really* like 
-> > it to run NetBSD. AFAIK the IP26 (I2/R8k) is not yet supported (maybe 
-> > that nobody tried it, tho)...
-> 
-> AFAIK, there is no R8000 support in current NetBSD/mips,
-> so we have to have R8000 specific code (cache, cpuregs etc.) first.
-> If IP26 has the similar hardware with IP22/24, device support
-> should be trivial once after the CPU is supported, but I doubt it.

Last I heard, there is also no publically available documentation for
the R8000 CPU.  Last I asked this of Linux folks, I believe Ralf Baechle
said he thought the docs still existed but wasn't sure if they would ever
be released to the public due to the burden of legal review etc and the
fact that the possible interest base is very small (since the CPU was
only used by SGI internally, etc. etc.)

I spent a bit of time looking around for info on the R8k a while back
as I got a freebie R8k machine, but there isn't really much out there
other than the paper that describes the high-level design and some high-
level sales-looking literature (product briefs, specs, etc.).  As a
result, my R8k box has mostly served as spare parts for my other Indigo2
boxes and as an occasional footrest :-(

--rafal

----
Rafal Boni                                                     rafal@pobox.com
  We are all worms.  But I do believe I am a glowworm.  -- Winston Churchill