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

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

[Balaji Ravindran]

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 :).

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)

Thanks

Balaji R

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

[Jerry Van Baren]

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>

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>

> Thanks
> Balaji R

Have fun,
gvb

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

[Florian Fainelli]

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
------------------------------

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

[Balaji Ravindran]

Hi Florian and Jerry,

Thanks for the inputs, i was actually going through the choices, and yea as
suggested Lemote seems to be a nice choice for me, and was wanting to
see distributors in the US / US shipping options.,

also i had a look at the Linksys routers that you guys mentioned, but one
question, aren't the commercial products different from those of development
versions?, I mean, when i opened up my WRT 610N, i could see that, the main
section of my router board is sealed in a steel casing(guess
heat dissipater), though i can get the specs online,

but does it have JTAG ports for debugging support? usually in production
versions, the odm's doesn't provide JTAG right? well, i couldn't see one
though.

Just curious, will we be able to get development boards of Linksys WRT
SKUs?

Thanks

Balaji R

On Sun, Mar 7, 2010 at 2:50 AM, Florian Fainelli <f.fainelli@gmail.com>wrote:

> 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
> ------------------------------
>

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

[Jerry Van Baren]

Hi Balaji,

Please don't top quote.

Balaji Ravindran wrote:
> Hi Florian and Jerry,
> 
> Thanks for the inputs, i was actually going through the choices, and yea 
> as suggested Lemote seems to be a nice choice for me, and was wanting to 
> see distributors in the US / US shipping options.,

Based on your .in email domain, I did not expect that to be a problem. :-/

> also i had a look at the Linksys routers that you guys mentioned, but 
> one question, aren't the commercial products different from those of 
> development versions?, 

There are no development versions.  That is why they are cheap. ;-)

> I mean, when i opened up my WRT 610N, i could see  that, the main
> section of my router board is sealed in a steel casing(guess heat
> dissipater), though i can get the specs online,

The metal enclosure would be a EMI shield.  This is typically needed 
over the RF sections, sometimes needed over the processor sections.  It 
may or may not cover interesting things (processor, JTAG connector, etc).

> but does it have JTAG ports for debugging support? usually in production 
> versions, the odm's doesn't provide JTAG right? well, i couldn't see one 
> though.

The JTAG port is typically pads with no connector installed.  The 
designer/developers need it for development and the manufacturer 
typically needs it for loading new boards or debugging bad boards.

Developers get boards with connectors installed (special builds or 
add-on).  Manufacturers will use a fixture with "pogo pins" to stab the 
pads directly.  You get the opportunity for showing creativity, 
ingenuity, and soldering prowess.

> Just curious, will we be able to get development boards of Linksys WRT 
> SKUs? 

No.  Linksys is in the business of selling lots of turnkey boxes, not 
development stations.  Their attitude varies between tolerance and 
unhappiness with respect to hackers repurposing their boxes.

If you are looking for development boards, the "off-the-shelf" 
repurposing that Florian and I have mentioned do not fit your desires. 
You will need to restart your search with actual eval/dev boards and 
probably pay more money.  The advantage is that you will probably get 
better help and more information from the (re)seller.  The disadvantage 
is that you will pay more and probably learn less.

> Thanks
> 
> Balaji R

Best regards,
gvb

P.S. Florian: Thanks for the added info, that was very helpful.

[snip original]

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

[Damien Dusha]

>
> 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)
>

Pure speculation, mainly because I was thinking about getting one myself,
but perhaps the Netgear WNR3500L, which also has a specific Linux port.  The
specifications are available at [1] and it appears to meet your criteria.

Has anyone used one before?  If so, what was your experience?

-- Damien


[1]
http://www.myopenrouter.com/article/13378/Features-and-Specifications-NETGEAR-WNR3500L-Open-Source-Wireless-N-Gigabit-Router/