Subject: RE: Port to Sun 386i
To: David Brownlee <abs@netbsd.org>
From: Zach Lowry <zach@zachlowry.net>
List: port-i386
Date: 06/02/2003 22:11:59
 
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: netbsd-ports-owner@netbsd.org
> [mailto:netbsd-ports-owner@netbsd.org]On Behalf Of David Brownlee
> Sent: Monday, June 02, 2003 12:18 PM
> To: Zach Lowry
> Cc: port-i386@netbsd.org; port-sun3@netbsd.org;
> netbsd-ports@netbsd.org Subject: Re: Port to Sun 386i
> 
> 
> On Mon, 2 Jun 2003, Zach Lowry wrote:
> 
> > I am soon to recieve a Sun 386i, which I notice has not been
> > ported to yet. Since for the past little bit I've been
> > acquainting myself with my Sun 3/60 and 3/80s, I feel comfortable
> > saying that I intend to port NetBSD to this unique machine.
> >
> 	Excellent news - do you know if its a 150 or 250 (the 250 had
> 	had max 16M rather than 8M and had IIRC an extra cache)

Not yet, will soon though, once I have it in my possession. :)

> 
> > I'm looking for advice, however, since I've bever done this sort
> > of thing before. Would it be best to start with the i386 port,
> > remove all devices except those explicitly available in the 386i
> > and then merge drivers for Framebuffers and the like from the
> > sun3 port? From what I understand, the normal color and B&W
> > framebuffers on the 386i correspond to the cg3 and bw2, but
> > additionally there exists a cg5 card and a VGA card for DOS
> > emulation under SunOS.
> 
> 	That would make sense - probably start with either using
> 	the PROM console or serial console to minimise the amount
> 	of driver writing to getting something booting.

That's what I plan on. In fact, I wonder how far just booting the
i386 Kernel will get...

> 
> > I'm also aware that there existed memory add-ons in the form of
> > ISA cards, could anyone clarify on these boards, and would it be
> > possible to support them?
> 
> 	I don't remember any ISA memory boards, but it _should_ be
> 	possible to support standard ISA boards, possible DMA
> 	considerations notwithstanding :)
> 
> 
> -- 
> 		David/absolute          -- www.netbsd.org: No hype 
> required --
> 
> 

Zach Lowry || Murfreesboro, TN || www.zachlowry.net
Linux / *BSD / Irix / Solaris / Apple / Unix Network Administration

Registered Linux User #264589
14 Different NetBSD-Supported Machines

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