vorange wrote:> Be it ARM, XScale, PowerPC, MIPS or any other kinda chip? > > How difficult is it to design a small prototype board that can boot an > off the shelf embedded linux distro? Its been something I've been > meaning to try but don't have enough info on how to go about it. > > Where does one begin? And how does a person build and mount these > chips onto the board when many of these chips are all BGA format? > > Questions questions everywhere and not a drop to drink!By "off the shelf" do you mean precompiled, working binary for the on-board peripherals? You're welcome to buy our Omniflash board.... http://www.jkmicro.com/products/omniflash.html If you buy a board you get a schematic. The kernel is precompiled and running on the shipped board. GPL source and binary images and configured GCC development enviroment are included with the development kit and are available separately for a small distribution fee. You can take the schematic and the software and build whatever you want. And compare your prototype's behavior to a working board. The design does not use BGA chips. Just please don't ask for a bunch of free tech support to get your board going. And no, you can't have a free schematic. The cost of a dev kit is our minimum "license fee" for the hardware design and IMHO it's a pretty good bargain.
Has anyone designed a board running embedded linux?
Started by ●February 4, 2007
Reply by ●February 5, 20072007-02-05
Reply by ●February 5, 20072007-02-05
vorange ha scritto:> Be it ARM, XScale, PowerPC, MIPS or any other kinda chip? > > How difficult is it to design a small prototype board that can boot an > off the shelf embedded linux distro? Its been something I've been > meaning to try but don't have enough info on how to go about it. > > Where does one begin? And how does a person build and mount these > chips onto the board when many of these chips are all BGA format? > > Questions questions everywhere and not a drop to drink! >Perhaps You need THIS http://www.acmesystems.it/?id=4 Emanuele -- *** YOUR ELECTRONICS OPEN SOURCE *** http://dev.emcelettronica.com ;--------------------------------------------------------- (Full Projects and resources):
Reply by ●February 5, 20072007-02-05
Emanuele wrote:>Perhaps You need THIS >http://www.acmesystems.it/?id=4Well, YOU definately need this: http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http://www.acmesystems.it/?id=4
Reply by ●February 5, 20072007-02-05
Hi Nisto, Is there any website link of CF connnector? so I can find the detail information. How much it's price ? Thanks Yanto Risto Sainio wrote:> vorange wrote: > > > Be it ARM, XScale, PowerPC, MIPS or any other kinda chip? > > > > How difficult is it to design a small prototype board that can boot an > > off the shelf embedded linux distro? Its been something I've been > > meaning to try but don't have enough info on how to go about it. > > > > Where does one begin? And how does a person build and mount these > > chips onto the board when many of these chips are all BGA format? > > > > Questions questions everywhere and not a drop to drink! > Hi > > As a electronic hobbyist I have designed two prototypes using Renesas > SH3-processor. As the 2.6-kernel already supported above mentioned > processor, it was quite straightforward. I designed the board with two > CF-connectors so that I could use CF-cards as filesystem and I still have > another slot for WLAN or GPRS. As memory I use normal SDRAM. > > > risto
Reply by ●February 5, 20072007-02-05
On Feb 5, 12:16 pm, "vorange" <orange...@yahoo.com> wrote:> On Feb 4, 8:33 am, "Arlet" <usene...@c-scape.nl> wrote: > > > The Atmel AT91SAM9260 is available in PQFP 208. It has an ARM926 core > > with MMU, and external memory interface, so it's suitable for Linux. > > Hello, > thank you for your suggestion. But is there already a > linux port for it? Really I'm looking for an SOC chip that is : >Better than "is there a linux port for it", it has *manufacturer support* for a linux port. Check out Atmel's own eval kit: http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/tools_card.asp?tool_id=3933 notice that on the page you can download a ready-to-boot linux demo (you can also download a ready-to-boot WinCE demo from the same page). The spec sheet for the eval kit includes the full schematics so you can do your own board. Atmel's trying very hard to make this chip Linux friendly. But they're mostly depending on timesys.com to do the actual customer support. Most hobbyist projects use the older AT91RM9200: http://www.ime.usp.br/~fr/sbc/ http://wiki.emqbit.com/free-ecb-at91 http://dlharmon.com/sbc.html I'm planning to use the AT91SAM9260 myself for my own linux board.
Reply by ●February 6, 20072007-02-06
vorange wrote:> On Feb 4, 2:57 pm, Risto Sainio <say...@tee-online.de> wrote: >> As a electronic hobbyist I have designed two prototypes using Renesas >> SH3-processor. As the 2.6-kernel already supported above mentioned >> processor, it was quite straightforward. I designed the board with two >> CF-connectors so that I could use CF-cards as filesystem and I still have >> another slot for WLAN or GPRS. As memory I use normal SDRAM. >> >> risto > > You guys all sound like pros. > > A question : When you decided on the chip, what schematics/documents > did you refer to to build your board? What process did you go > through? Did you first work things out on a development board or did > you just go straight for the kill and build the board from > datasheets? Does Renesas offer basic/simple schematics to refer to > when building a board of your caliber? > > I'd like to download your brain to my HD when you are not busy. > > ThanksThe decision for the chip was based on the fact that Linux-kernel already had support for the CPU. There was also complete GNU crosscompiling environment available. I chose SH7729 and SH7727 CPU's as they are available in non-BGA package. I designed the board myself and it was quite straightforward since I found some application notes describing how to connect SDRAM and PCMCIA/CF. Check the documentation for those CPU's and you will see that only few additional components are needed to have a working system. regards Risto
Reply by ●February 6, 20072007-02-06
yanto wrote:> Hi Nisto, > > Is there any website link of CF connnector? so I can find the detail > information. > How much it's price ? > Thanks > Yanto >snip.. I googled with compact flash and I found the original documentation in pdf-format. risto
Reply by ●February 6, 20072007-02-06
Hi, While we (TimeSys) have a distro that's targeted primarily at commercial folks, you're welcome follow the links at Atmel's http://www.at91.com/ site and get the Linux distribution for the 9200. It's probably easier than trying to get an older kernel to work. The instructions at http://wiki.emqbit.com/how%20to%20cross-compile%20for%20the%20arm look good for creating a glibc-based cross-compiler. Regards, gene
Reply by ●February 7, 20072007-02-07
On Feb 5, 5:24 pm, Jim Stewart <jstew...@jkmicro.com> wrote:> http://www.jkmicro.com/products/omniflash.html > > If you buy a board you get a schematic. The kernel > is precompiled and running on the shipped board. GPL > source and binary images and configured GCC development > enviroment are included with the development kit and > are available separately for a small distribution fee.Its a tempting offer Jim. How about I buy the schematics first and if I can make sense of it, I'll come back and buy the board? I am an amature hobbyist designer and I've never used anything from Cirrus Logic so I don't know if I'm jumping in over my head board design wise.> You can take the schematic and the software and build > whatever you want. And compare your prototype's > behavior to a working board. The design does not use > BGA chips. Just please don't ask for a bunch of free > tech support to get your board going. And no, you > can't have a free schematic. The cost of a dev kit > is our minimum "license fee" for the hardware design > and IMHO it's a pretty good bargain.It is I'd agree.
Reply by ●February 7, 20072007-02-07
"slebetman@yahoo.com" <slebetman@gmail.com> skrev i meddelandet news:1170732571.778978.248250@l53g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...> On Feb 5, 12:16 pm, "vorange" <orange...@yahoo.com> wrote: >> On Feb 4, 8:33 am, "Arlet" <usene...@c-scape.nl> wrote: >> >> > The Atmel AT91SAM9260 is available in PQFP 208. It has an ARM926 core >> > with MMU, and external memory interface, so it's suitable for Linux. >> >> Hello, >> thank you for your suggestion. But is there already a >> linux port for it? Really I'm looking for an SOC chip that is : >> > > Better than "is there a linux port for it", it has *manufacturer > support* for a linux port. Check out Atmel's own eval kit: > > http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/tools_card.asp?tool_id=3933 > > notice that on the page you can download a ready-to-boot linux demo > (you can also download a ready-to-boot WinCE demo from the same page). > The spec sheet for the eval kit includes the full schematics so you > can do your own board. > > Atmel's trying very hard to make this chip Linux friendly. But they're > mostly depending on timesys.com to do the actual customer support. >If you want to get commercial support, you go through Timesys but the http://maxim.org.za/at91_26.html page contains the latest patches as well. You can discuss with the AT91 users at the www.arm.linux.org.uk mailing list. I think the plan is to have all the Linux support merged in the mainstream Linux Kernel. A lot of the drivers are there already. If you want to build a file system, then you can do so using my buildroot, which will build * bootstrap * U-Boot * Linux Kernel * Root file system It is available at ftp://at91dist:distrib@81.80.104.162/ -> AT91 Third Party -> Linux Host -> Buildroot. This is available as is, and not supported by Atmel. Timesys supported building your system using binary RPMs instead of having to recompile things everytime you start a new project, so if you value your time, it can easily be worth the annual license fee.> Most hobbyist projects use the older AT91RM9200: > > http://www.ime.usp.br/~fr/sbc/ > http://wiki.emqbit.com/free-ecb-at91 > http://dlharmon.com/sbc.html > > I'm planning to use the AT91SAM9260 myself for my own linux board. > >-- Best Regards, Ulf Samuelsson This is intended to be my personal opinion which may, or may not be shared by my employer Atmel Nordic AB
