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I get the impression that it's becoming easier to knock together a linux system on a custom motherboard build around ARM. I have a project where I'm trying to

by cturner 15y ago

I get the impression that it's becoming easier to knock together a linux system on a custom motherboard build around ARM. I have a project where I'm trying to get USB-to-ethernet to work for pandaboard. But I'd prefer to have two ethernet adapters on the board. If it's becoming straightforward to built these platforms, how long until you can just go to a website, click some checkboxes, and order a set with the features you want? Update: another issue. If you're running several of these things, you need multiple DC adapters plugged into the wall. This seems like waste - it would be useful to have a single power unit with multiple leads. Does anyone have ideas about getting such a unit?

justincormack 15y ago
Its not that straightforward yet, but there is a whole bunch of companies who will do much of the work if you dont want to. You can get PCBs made up in small quantities at ok costs then you need a bunch of equipment to solder chips on. For small quantities you can do it manually. Then when you are happy you can go for volume, with automated insertion. We did this some years back in a startup. But you can probably find an existing platform that has what you want if you dont want big volume. Eg this has two ethernets http://www.newit.co.uk/shop/proddetail.php?prod=DreamPlug http://www.newit.co.uk/shop/proddetail.php?prod=DreamPlug not sure what else you need. For power, you could use a pc style power supply. You can get them in lots of sizes and voltages.
mcpherrinm 15y ago
I've been looking into embedded ARM systems with ethernet lately. The Pandaboard & Beagleboard are completely out since my embedded RTOS application has no USB stack. The two boards we're dealing with are the TS7800 and the Gumstix Overo series. For you, the Overo on a Tobi Duo is a reasonable way to get dual ethernet, though it's only 100mbit. The 7800 has only a single gigabit. The abundance of embedded ARM devices is really a great thing for small projects. A small, passively cooled ARM computer can do most tasks that you'd have needed a 1U rackmount system for only a few years ago. As well, they're great for learning. Bootstrapping an operating system from nothing is far, far easier on an ARM system than an Intel/x86 one.
- eterps 15y ago
  Do you have more information or some links about OS development on ARM?
  - lgeek 15y ago
    Implementing an operating system isn't that different between the main CPU architectures. I think mcpherrinm was just saying that you have to do a lot less work than for x86, for example, in order to get a minimum of functionality. Unfortunately I don't know of any guides on implementing a toy OS on ARM. The operating systems course I've taken was a decent starting point, but it mostly deals with theory: [0]. There's also a first year ARM architecture course: [1] Another course I've taken was about ASM programming on ARM, plus programming some simple hardware[2]. I'm not sure how useful are those materials for someone not taking the courses, but they might offer a list of things to look up somewhere else. Wikipedia actually has some good background theory. Finally, you might look over the ARM port of EDK2[3]. EDK2 is a BSD-licensed implementation of UEFI[4]. It implements a lot of the functionality of a regular operating system, with the notable exception of multithreading. I find the source code of EDK2 to be easier to understand than the source of the Linux kernel. Probably because it is a lot more lightweight. You can run it on BealgeBoard, by the way. I'd say it's alpha quality software at the moment, so you might get some weird bugs. Disclaimer: I'm a CS student at Manchester University and I work on EDK2. 0: http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ugt/2010/COMP25111/ http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ugt/2010/COMP25111/ 1: http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ugt/2010/COMP15111/ http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ugt/2010/COMP15111/ 2: http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ugt/2010/COMP22712/ http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ugt/2010/COMP22712/ 3: http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/tianocore/index.php?title=EDK2 http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/tianocore/index.php?ti... 4: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Int...

by cturner 15y ago

justincormack 15y ago

Its not that straightforward yet, but there is a whole bunch of companies who will do much of the work if you dont want to. You can get PCBs made up in small quantities at ok costs then you need a bunch of equipment to solder chips on. For small quantities you can do it manually. Then when you are happy you can go for volume, with automated insertion. We did this some years back in a startup. But you can probably find an existing platform that has what you want if you dont want big volume. Eg this has two ethernets http://www.newit.co.uk/shop/proddetail.php?prod=DreamPlug http://www.newit.co.uk/shop/proddetail.php?prod=DreamPlug not sure what else you need. For power, you could use a pc style power supply. You can get them in lots of sizes and voltages.

mcpherrinm 15y ago

I've been looking into embedded ARM systems with ethernet lately. The Pandaboard & Beagleboard are completely out since my embedded RTOS application has no USB stack. The two boards we're dealing with are the TS7800 and the Gumstix Overo series. For you, the Overo on a Tobi Duo is a reasonable way to get dual ethernet, though it's only 100mbit. The 7800 has only a single gigabit. The abundance of embedded ARM devices is really a great thing for small projects. A small, passively cooled ARM computer can do most tasks that you'd have needed a 1U rackmount system for only a few years ago. As well, they're great for learning. Bootstrapping an operating system from nothing is far, far easier on an ARM system than an Intel/x86 one.

eterps 15y ago
Do you have more information or some links about OS development on ARM?
- lgeek 15y ago
  Implementing an operating system isn't that different between the main CPU architectures. I think mcpherrinm was just saying that you have to do a lot less work than for x86, for example, in order to get a minimum of functionality. Unfortunately I don't know of any guides on implementing a toy OS on ARM. The operating systems course I've taken was a decent starting point, but it mostly deals with theory: [0]. There's also a first year ARM architecture course: [1] Another course I've taken was about ASM programming on ARM, plus programming some simple hardware[2]. I'm not sure how useful are those materials for someone not taking the courses, but they might offer a list of things to look up somewhere else. Wikipedia actually has some good background theory. Finally, you might look over the ARM port of EDK2[3]. EDK2 is a BSD-licensed implementation of UEFI[4]. It implements a lot of the functionality of a regular operating system, with the notable exception of multithreading. I find the source code of EDK2 to be easier to understand than the source of the Linux kernel. Probably because it is a lot more lightweight. You can run it on BealgeBoard, by the way. I'd say it's alpha quality software at the moment, so you might get some weird bugs. Disclaimer: I'm a CS student at Manchester University and I work on EDK2. 0: http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ugt/2010/COMP25111/ http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ugt/2010/COMP25111/ 1: http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ugt/2010/COMP15111/ http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ugt/2010/COMP15111/ 2: http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ugt/2010/COMP22712/ http://www.cs.manchester.ac.uk/ugt/2010/COMP22712/ 3: http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/tianocore/index.php?title=EDK2 http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/tianocore/index.php?ti... 4: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Int...