[U-Boot] Any good __LOW COST__ MIPS SBC suggestion please

[Florian Fainelli <f.fainelli@gmail.com>]

Le samedi 6 mars 2010 21:42:52, Jerry Van Baren a ?crit :
> Hi Balaji,
> 
> Balaji Ravindran wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I'm hunting for a __LOW COST__ MIPS/PPC SBC, something like TS-7200(but
> > it is for ARM). Could anyone please suggest me a good one, that you guys
> > have come across.
> > My purpose is only for general driver development, and developing some
> > MIPS / PPC porting skills.
> >
> > Also another true intension is, i have couple of 2600$$ BDI3000 JTAG
> > debuggers for PPC and MIPS, lying idle in my office, and want to make
> > some good use out of it :).
> 
> Lucky dude.  :-)
> 
> > I was looking in the "Boards" directory to hunt for any MIPS based SBC
> > boards, but found it hard to search.
> >
> > It will be nice, if its an SBC, and it has atleast 64/128 MB SDRAM, and
> > 16/32 MB flash, USB support, (i can;t expect a super fast processor, but
> > a decent one like 166/200 Mhz should be ok)
> 
> Two off-the-wall thoughts would be to use QEMU (the ultimate in low
> cost) or a MIPS-based wireless/firewall/router.  A fair number of the
> cheap ones use versions of the Realtek SoC processor, which is MIPS
> architecture:
>    <http://www.linux-mips.org/wiki/Realtek_SOC>

This is actually a really bad choice, unless you start using Realtek WiSoCs 
(RT30xx/RT28xx). RTL8186 and RTL8651B are using a Lexra core, which is famous 
for not having 4 patented instructions (lwl, lwr, swl and swr), which 
therefore requires a different toolchain. Also the Linux support is just non-
existent. Finally they use a brain-dead bootloader called ROME which only 
allows a couple of actions to be performed.

More seriously, buy a WRT160NL or WRT54GL from Linksys, which is equally cheap 
as those Realtek devices.

> 
> As another possibility, you may be able to pick up a Lemote computer
> which uses the Loongson processor:
>    <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loongson>
>    <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemote>

This is a much better choice :)
-- 
Cordialement, Florian Fainelli
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