Open Boot PROM (OBP) source ?
I have seen requests for Open Boot PROM (OBP) source code for
OpenSPARC T1. The OBP binary is already published for OpenSPARC T1
with SAM and Legion simulators.
If the OBP source is made available, what is the potential use of
this source code: Is it needed for reference only or
for use with simulator or with the real hardware ? Anybody planning
to change OBP or add new I/O devices in OBP ?
If you are planning to do OpenSPARC T1 based FPGA or silicon implementation,
would you use OBP or create your own BIOS like firmware ? Anybody working
on BIOS for OpenSPARC T1 ?
Any ideas or comments are welcome.
[673 byte] By [
OpenSparc] at [2007-11-26 6:32:39]
# 1
I would love to have the OpenBoot code. Up to now, I am using PROLL (http://people.redhat.com/zaitcev/linux/). PROLL is a sun4m OpenBoot.
The problem with PROLL is that only old hardware is supported (sun4m), and basic
things like a forth emulator are not included.
If I get the sourcecode for the OPB, I would use for the following projects:
-QEMU (http://fabrice.bellard.free.fr/qemu/) sun4u (maybe sun4v) support. QEMU works
with sun4m (PROLL), but it still does not work with sun4u because of lack of OBP.
-SCOORE. At UCSC, the MASC (http://masc.soe.ucsc.edu) research group is
developing a new SPARC processor. We target FPGA boards (altera). To boot the
CPU we can use a small dummy code like in the Leon3 (www.gaisler.com) processor
or we can use an OPB. We would prefer the OPB much more. Otherwise, we need to "twick" the Linux kernel.
# 3
we have been looking for some open firmware implementation on powerpc board and others. obp seems to be the only open source one available (slof is far from an implementation) and apple's is closed source.
is it reasonable and valuable to port obp to other hardware based on the facts that firmware are very hardware dependent? would that be easier than writing completely new one?
Thanks very much
yanyh at 2007-7-6 14:32:17 >
