New Linux PowerPC development

New Linux PowerPC development

[Cindy Peters]

I am looking for some advice on the best PowerPC processor to use for a new
embedded board design. Some features that the board needs to support is a
hard drive ( i.e. IDE), 10/100BaseT Ethernet support, and a large size of
RAM (maybe about 1GByte or more). We have previously completed a design
using the MPC823 so we have the experience and the code available as far as
the initialization of the processor, boot code, ramdisk, and Linux kernel.
The MPC823, however, does not have an IDE or PCI interface for a hard disk.
We feel we would have to design an interface into an FPGA. It doesn't
support 100BaseT either. We are also looking at using either the
MPC8260/MPC8265 or the IBM 405GP. I have been browsing through the
mailing-list archives and have seen that these processors are both widely
used. I would like some feedback from people that have experience in using
these processors with Linux and what recommendations they have.

Thank you,

C. Peters
Adaptive Micro-Ware, Inc.

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AW: New Linux PowerPC development

[Stefan Roese]

Hi Cindy,

> We feel we would have to design an interface into an FPGA. It doesn't
> support 100BaseT either. We are also looking at using either the
> MPC8260/MPC8265 or the IBM 405GP. I have been browsing through the
> mailing-list archives and have seen that these processors are both widely
> used. I would like some feedback from people that have experience in using
> these processors with Linux and what recommendations they have.

We are using the IBM PPC405GP in some of our new designs and are pretty
pleased with the hardware itself. The only annoying thing is that the "free
available" Linux is still pretty buggy and old (at least 3 months or so) :-(

By the way: Dan, how are you doing with the ppc4xx merge into the linuxppc
queue?

Eventually (hopefully soon) when this problem is solved, I would recommend
the PPC405GP.

Sorry I can't say anything about the Motorola parts and their Linux support.

Stefan Roese


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Re: AW: New Linux PowerPC development

[David Updegraff]

Hi.

We also use 405GP, and have a tentatively "stable" kernel from a 2.4.2 tree.
The combination of these tools with PPCBOOT has been a really nice, open
environment to work in...


>>We feel we would have to design an interface into an FPGA. It doesn't
>>support 100BaseT either. We are also looking at using either the
>>MPC8260/MPC8265 or the IBM 405GP. I have been browsing through the
>>mailing-list archives and have seen that these processors are both widely
>>used. I would like some feedback from people that have experience in using
>>these processors with Linux and what recommendations they have.
>>
>
> We are using the IBM PPC405GP in some of our new designs and are pretty
> pleased with the hardware itself. The only annoying thing is that the "free
> available" Linux is still pretty buggy and old (at least 3 months or so) :-(
>
> By the way: Dan, how are you doing with the ppc4xx merge into the linuxppc
> queue?
>
> Eventually (hopefully soon) when this problem is solved, I would recommend
> the PPC405GP.
>
> Sorry I can't say anything about the Motorola parts and their Linux support.
>
> Stefan Roese
>
>
>



--
Dave Updegraff / dave@cray.com / 218-525-1154


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Re: New Linux PowerPC development

[Grant Erickson]

On Tue, 24 Jul 2001, Cindy Peters wrote:
> I am looking for some advice on the best PowerPC processor to use for
> a new embedded board design. Some features that the board needs to
> support is a hard drive ( i.e. IDE), 10/100BaseT Ethernet support, and
> a large size of RAM (maybe about 1GByte or more). We have previously
> completed a design using the MPC823 so we have the experience and the
> code available as far as the initialization of the processor, boot
> code, ramdisk, and Linux kernel. The MPC823, however, does not have an
> IDE or PCI interface for a hard disk. We feel we would have to design
> an interface into an FPGA. It doesn't support 100BaseT either. We are
> also looking at using either the MPC8260/MPC8265 or the IBM 405GP. I
> have been browsing through the mailing-list archives and have seen
> that these processors are both widely used. I would like some feedback
> from people that have experience in using these processors with Linux
> and what recommendations they have.

Cindy,

I've been engaged in several PowerPC 405GP projects since IBM was at
Rev. A silicon and the hardware itself has come along nicely to date (now
at Rev. E) and has proven to have been an excellent choice in those
projects. Of particular benefit is the system integration it affords with
the PCI bridge, I2C controller, serial controller, SDRAM controller, and
Etherner MAC all on-chip.

As for software support, the GCC line (2.95.x is all I've used) and
binutils line all support the processor quite well. So, general
development should be a non-issue.

As others here have intimated, Linux support is pretty good, depending on
which kernel release you're using; however, it's still a bit bleeding edge
at this point and doesn't appear to have smoothly integrated itself into
the main PowerPC source tree. But, people are working hard on that issue
as I understand and this should fall into place in short time.

Regards,

Grant Erickson


--
 Grant Erickson                       University of Minnesota Alumni
  o mail:erick205@umn.edu                                 1996 BSEE
  o http://www.umn.edu/~erick205                          1998 MSEE


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Re: New Linux PowerPC development

[Dan Malek]

Cindy Peters wrote:

> The MPC823, however, does not have an IDE or PCI interface for a hard disk.

Sure it does.  Just use the PCMCIA.

> We feel we would have to design an interface into an FPGA.

This is also a solution many people use.  Lots less expensive and
less complex than a PCI adapter.

> .... It doesn't
> support 100BaseT either.

So, the 832 loses here :-).

> ..... We are also looking at using either the
> MPC8260/MPC8265 or the IBM 405GP.

Wow.  The 823, 405, 8260 span a huge range in performance and features
(and price).  You need to consider some other requirements to make this
decision.  If the 823 would be enough performance, you can step up to
the 860(D/T/P) and get more performance.  Depending upon the application,
the 860P can be higher performance than the 405 because it will offload
the integrated peripherals to the CPM.  The highest performance of the
bunch is the 82xx, which also includes hardware floating point, if that
is important.

> .... I would like some feedback from people that have experience in using
> these processors with Linux and what recommendations they have.

I've used them all, and they all have advantages and disadvantages.
You didn't list many requirements that would clearly show one is better
suited for your application.  Based on what you said, and past experience
with the 823, I would choose something from the 855/860 family.


	-- Dan

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Re: New Linux PowerPC development

[Ralph Blach]

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Dan,

You forgot to mention the internal full duplex PLB on the 405.  ON the
405GP,
the Ethernet, PCI, EBC and memory are connected with a full duplex PLB
64 bit bus.

Its not a performance slouch either.

Chip
Dan Malek wrote:
>
> Cindy Peters wrote:
>
> > The MPC823, however, does not have an IDE or PCI interface for a hard disk.
>
> Sure it does.  Just use the PCMCIA.
>
> > We feel we would have to design an interface into an FPGA.
>
> This is also a solution many people use.  Lots less expensive and
> less complex than a PCI adapter.
>
> > .... It doesn't
> > support 100BaseT either.
>
> So, the 832 loses here :-).
>
> > ..... We are also looking at using either the
> > MPC8260/MPC8265 or the IBM 405GP.
>
> Wow.  The 823, 405, 8260 span a huge range in performance and features
> (and price).  You need to consider some other requirements to make this
> decision.  If the 823 would be enough performance, you can step up to
> the 860(D/T/P) and get more performance.  Depending upon the application,
> the 860P can be higher performance than the 405 because it will offload
> the integrated peripherals to the CPM.  The highest performance of the
> bunch is the 82xx, which also includes hardware floating point, if that
> is important.
>
> > .... I would like some feedback from people that have experience in using
> > these processors with Linux and what recommendations they have.
>
> I've used them all, and they all have advantages and disadvantages.
> You didn't list many requirements that would clearly show one is better
> suited for your application.  Based on what you said, and past experience
> with the 823, I would choose something from the 855/860 family.
>
>         -- Dan
>

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