Subject: Re: IP26
To: Matt Miller <idiot@slack.net>
From: Rafal Boni <rafal.boni@eDial.com>
List: port-sgimips
Date: 07/23/2001 14:36:40
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In message <20010723142514.B21894@slack.net>, you write:
-> Is there any work being done on a port for IP26 (POWER Indigo2)? I was
-> so excited to check in today and see Indigo2 that I didn't notice it was
-> for IP22 til after my happy dance.
An IP26 port will be Real Hard, for the following reasons:
(1) I believe between the ARCS PROM and the CPU, a 64-bit kernel
is required to boot on the IP26. Although I think there has
been some thought given to a full 64-bit MIPS port, the current
NetBSD kernel code only runs in 32-bit mode, and I doubt that
this will change soon.
(2) The R8000 CPU is quite different from any of the preceding
or following MIPS CPUs. It has a different TLB, different
cache interface, ... and the killer:
(3) There is no manual for the R8000 currently available, as
it was (AFAIK) only used in various SGI-internal projects
like the Power Indigo2 and Power Challenge boxes.
That said, I have an R8000 box as well (picked it up today, actually!),
and it'd be a neat thing to get NetBSD running on from the hack value
POV, but I wouldn't expect it anytime soon, if at all.
--rafal
----
Rafal Boni rafal.boni@eDial.com
PGP key C7D3024C, print EA49 160D F5E4 C46A 9E91 524E 11E0 7133 C7D3 024C
Need to get a hold of me? http://800.edial.com/rafal.boni@eDial.com
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