Re: NetBSD 5.0.1 Support for the TS7200

On 05/02/2010, Craig Kulesa <ckulesa%as.arizona.edu@localhost> wrote:

Has anyone been able to get 5.0.1 installed and running on the TS7200?

I have NetBSD 4.0 and 5.0.1 running on several TS7200's for various lab
purposes. I haven't yet seen the startup panic that Ken mentioned. Weird.

If you have the 8 MB Flash version of the board, you can use the minimal kernel image (gzimg-TS7200_0x60660000) that I use at:
http://loke.as.arizona.edu/~ckulesa/binaries/NetBSD/

I don't have an INSTALL image handy right now, but I'll upload one next time I do a build. In the meantime, you can use the NetBSD 3.x INSTALL image to do a functional network install of 5.0.1 (userland, just change the FTP directory), and then drop this gzimg into flash to make it self-booting. I actually did this once!

I've had great fun with these boards -- we have one operating at the highest, most isolated point on the Antarctic plateau, running a small astronomical instrument[*] and using the Iridium satellite network for communications. Most recently, we've flown two of them on the first test flight of a stratospheric balloon-borne astronomical experiment[**]. They've survived continuous operation at -40 to -80C in Antarctica, and the nasty near-vacuum environment at 125,000 feet (35 km) altitude on the balloon. NetBSD has been running them beautifully, with generally fewer hiccups than I had with the stock Linux (2.4) that shipped with them. Pretty nifty!

Craig Kulesa
ckulesa%as.arizona.edu@localhost
Univ. of Arizona

* http://mcba11.phys.unsw.edu.au/~plato/plato.html
(see "Instruments" --> "PreHEAT")

** http://stratocat.com.ar/fichas-e/2009/FSU-20091015.htm
http://loke.as.arizona.edu/~ckulesa/binaries/STO/