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FreeBSD/ARM Project

Introduction

This page contains information about the FreeBSD port to the ARM architecture and hardware. Discussion of the ARM port takes place on the freebsd-arm mailing list.

Table Of Contents

• Status
• Hardware List
• What Needs To Be Done
• FreeBSD/ARM Related Links
• Mini-Install Guide
• FreeBSD/ARM mailing list

Status

ARM is officially a Tier 2 architecture, as the FreeBSD project does not provide official releases or pre-built packages for this platform due to it primarily targeting the embedded arena. However, FreeBSD/ARM is being actively developed and maintained, is well supported, and provides an excellent framework for building ARM-based systems.

FreeBSD/ARM Hardware Notes

FreeBSD should work on the i80321 based Intel XScale® devboards, which includes the IQ31244 and IQ80321 boards. Support is still minimal, covering only the CPU, PCI-X bus, em(4) Ethernet adapters, the UART and timer devices.

The i80219 XScale processor is supported, as is the EP80219 devboard.

The IXP425 is supported, as is the Avila GW2348-4 devboard.

The Atmel AT91RM9200 CPU/Microcontroller range is supported. Support is provided for the Kwikbyte KB9202 devboard range, the BWCT board and the Hot-e HL200 thin client device.

Minimal support for the StrongARM 1100 CPU is provided, but only within the limits of what Simics emulate: CPU, UART and clock. It is theoretically possible to boot on the Assabet board, the one Simics emulates; no attempts, successful or unsuccessful, have been reported.

Additionally, support for the Technologic Systems TS-7200 devboard is in the works, as is support for the Atmel AT91SAM926x CPU and the Marvell Orion ARM SoC, the Samsung S3C2XX0 range, and Cirrus Logic EP93XX CPUs.

What Needs To Be Done

• SATA support needs to be added.
• Other devices, such as watchdog, i2c and bus should be merged from NetBSD.

FreeBSD/ARM Related Links

• Brief history of ARM
• NetBSD Arm/32 project

Mini-Install guide

Olivier Houchard ([email protected]) has written a mini-install guide for the current FreeBSD source. It is available here.

FreeBSD/ARM mailing list

To subscribe to this list, send mail to <[email protected]> or visit mailman interface.

What musicians say about FreeBSD/ARM

With FreeBSD/ARM, you can enjoy the silence from running your (embedded) computer. There's even a song of that name, "Enjoy The Silence", by Depeche Mode:

All I ever wanted
All I ever needed
Is here in my ARMs
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do harm