Setup and Equipment needed for Linux on PowerPC

Setup and Equipment needed for Linux on PowerPC

[Linux Lurker]

I'm trying to setup a shop to produce customized
Linux Kernels on the PowerPC. What are my
choices for the development box and what are
the best burners and chips. What disribution of Linux
is the best for PowerPC?


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Re: Setup and Equipment needed for Linux on PowerPC

[clark]

At 06:03 PM 1/7/01 -0800, you wrote:

>I'm trying to setup a shop to produce customized
>Linux Kernels on the PowerPC. What are my
>choices for the development box and what are
>the best burners and chips. What disribution of Linux
>is the best for PowerPC?
>
>

Hello Lurker,

         For developement many people use ordinary PC although, I have
heard of a few people using Macs and one lucky person using a Sun
workstation. (Note: All running Linux).

         For an embedded target you'll probably want a developement board
that is already supported by your distribution's kernel. A few common ones
supported are Motorola 's MBX860, Embedded Planet's RPX, BrightStar
Engineering. Check the particular distribution you want to use before you
buy. Stay Away From The Motorola Fads Boards!

         As far as distributions go there are many to choose from but I
suggest you stay away from ones that charge royalties. A few that don't
Hard Hat Linux,  Red Hat's Embedded Dev Kit. I belive Wolfgang Denk who
frequently answers questions on this list has his own distribution CD for
sale available at http://www.denx.de .

         Burrner? do you mean In Circuit Emulator (ICE) or debugger? If so
I have heard that the Abatron BDI2000 is the way to go. Most others don't
work after the MMU is turned on.

         To answer your question of what are the best chips. It depends on
what you are trying to do and if cost is an issue (Speed is just a matter
of money).

         If you intend to create a custom board check out motorola's and
IBM's web pages on embedded PPC processors and pick one that suits your
needs. Then find out if anyone else has used it and how it worked for them.
Then decide if you still want to use it. For developement of the boot rom I
recommend looking at the ppcboot project at http://ppcboot.sourceforge.net/ .

         here are some helpfull links

http://www.mvista.com/

http://members.nbci.com/greyhams/linux/PowerPC-Embedded-HOWTO.html

http://e-www.motorola.com/webapp/sps/prod_cat/taxonomy.jsp?catId=M934304420796

http://www.embeddedplanet.com/

http://linuxppc.org/

         Good Luck
                 Conn Clark
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Conn Clark
Engineering Stooge				clark@esteem.com
Electronic Systems Technology Inc.		www.esteem.com

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"clark@esteem.com" Copyright 2000 all rights reserved. May not be sold or
used for advertisements.


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Re: Setup and Equipment needed for Linux on PowerPC

[Wolfgang Denk]

In message <5.0.0.25.1.20010108084955.00a7beb0@pop.esteem.com> Conn Clark wrote:
>
>          As far as distributions go there are many to choose from but I
> suggest you stay away from ones that charge royalties. A few that don't
> Hard Hat Linux,  Red Hat's Embedded Dev Kit. I belive Wolfgang Denk who
> frequently answers questions on this list has his own distribution CD for
> sale available at http://www.denx.de .

Right. We also have the build scripts used to generate it on our FTP server.

And we also have TQM8xxL (half credit card sized!) based  development
systems, with PPCBoot and Linux preinstalled. And we support the Open
Source / nearly free hardware BDM-Debugger project BDM4GDB.

>          Burrner? do you mean In Circuit Emulator (ICE) or debugger? If so
> I have heard that the Abatron BDI2000 is the way to go. Most others don't
> work after the MMU is turned on.

Correct. Or check the BDM4GDB project at SourceForge. If  you  cannot
build  the  parallel port adapter yourself, we offer small numbers at
production cost (<$50).

Hope thishelps,

Wolfgang Denk

--
Software Engineering:  Embedded and Realtime Systems,  Embedded Linux
Phone: (+49)-8142-4596-87  Fax: (+49)-8142-4596-88  Email: wd@denx.de
"Virtual" means never knowing where your next byte is coming from.

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Re: Setup and Equipment needed for Linux on PowerPC

[Kirk Lee]

Hello:
>                   For  an  embedded  target  you'll  probably  want  a  developement  board
> that  is  already  supported  by  your  distribution's  kernel.  A  few  common  ones
> supported  are  Motorola  's  MBX860,  Embedded  Planet's  RPX,  BrightStar
> Engineering.  Check  the  particular  distribution  you  want  to  use  before  you
> buy.  Stay  Away  From  The  Motorola  Fads  Boards!

  We are looking for a evaluation board for
  MPC855 or MPC857.

  Could you tell me why staying away from
  Motorola Fads boards?
  Does Fads have any terrible defects??

  Thanks

  kirk


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