Good embedded board to start with

Good embedded board to start with

[Mika Kuoppala]

Hello folks!

What would be a good board to purchase just to 
get newbie's feet wet in this embedded ppc world ?

It should be 8xx or 82xx based board and some
of these requirements filled:

	- runs ppc linux kernel without modifying source
	  (patches are ok), from 2.2.x or from 2.3.x tree

	- some rather non-complex way of booting the device
	
	- possibly serial port to easen up boot debugging
  
	- ethernet and driver for it

	- if there is such thing as 'mainstream', the 
	  more close to it this board would be, the better.

If things get much easier by buying some ppc based development
machine to compile things for the board (some mac or imac or other ppc
workstation), it is an option too.

This is just an evaluation project and we are going
to buy one board only at start. Main purpose is just to
get into embedded-ppc world and get it up and running, and
doing so gain self-confidence that ppc might be an alternative
to x86 in embedded things.

If i get it up and running, i would like to put web server
running on it, perhaps with final evaluation report on it. To
make a good demo ofcourse :) I know linux rather well on x86 
side but in ppc world only thing i have currently is motivation.

Am i totally in too deep waters with this ?

Thankyou in advance !

-- Mika <miku@iki.fi>


** Sent via the linuxppc-embedded mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/

Re: Good embedded board to start with

[Dan Malek]

Mika Kuoppala wrote:



> This is just an evaluation project and we are going
> to buy one board only at start.


People willing to sell you just a single board without
any potential future sales don't usually provide the
best experience.  People that sell production quality
boards to companies that value their development time,
want to minimize risk, and want to minimize time to
market are investing to provide the tools that allow
you to start application development within minutes of
receiving the boards.


> .... Main purpose is just to
> get into embedded-ppc world and get it up and running, and
> doing so gain self-confidence that ppc might be an alternative
> to x86 in embedded things.


Because of the volume of PPC to x86 in the market today,
many companies have proven PPC is the preferred embedded
processor.  I have personally assisted several companies
switch from x86 to PPC, so they may realize lower cost, lower
power, smaller form factor and expand their product features.
All of them used a Linux/PPC kernel that you can download
from the servers, with custom applications to suit their
requirements.


> ......I know linux rather well on x86
> side but in ppc world only thing i have currently is motivation.

Linux is Linux.  It looks the same.  On the PPC the bytes are
in their proper world order.....As are the bits, but I won't
discuss that now :-).


> Am i totally in too deep waters with this ?

I have heard of people drowning in a cup of water, but I
doubt there is anything you are doing that hasn't been
proven to work before.

It seems to me you are just going to waste time proving to
yourself that what others have done actually works.  There is
no reason to wonder any longer.  If you want to develop
products using PPC and Linux, just decide to do that and
leverage the work of others.

People trying to develop custom hardware and port all of the
software from scratch are going to be left in the dust by
companies rapidly creating new products on available production
quality hardware and software.


	-- Dan

** Sent via the linuxppc-embedded mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/

Re: Good embedded board to start with

[Graham Stoney]

Mika Kuoppala writes:
> What would be a good board to purchase just to 
> get newbie's feet wet in this embedded ppc world ?

We're using a couple of Embedded Planet CLLF boards for this kind of
evaluation/development work. They give you a nice small complete CPU subsystem
which you can plug a custom daughter card into if you've got special hardware.
No need to re-invent the wheel. The Bright Star IP Engine has an onboard FPGA
and was our second choice, but it doesn't support the 860T so we went with the
CLLF. Either one would meet the requirements you listed. There's a learning
curve but it's not steep if you already know Linux. For the most part this
stuff "just works" and the people on the mailing list are incredibly helpful.

> If things get much easier by buying some ppc based development
> machine to compile things for the board (some mac or imac or other ppc
> workstation), it is an option too.

If all other things are equal, a PPC based development machine will save you
cross-compiling and let you run the same binaries on the board, lessening your
development pain. For various reasons we've chosen to cross-develop from
Linux x86, and it's certainly still doable either way.

> Am i totally in too deep waters with this ?

No way; go for it!

Regards,
Graham

** Sent via the linuxppc-embedded mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/