440EP and Linux and MontaVista

Wed Nov 10 05:27:37 EST 2004

I posted some somewhat disparaging remarks about the cost of MontaVista
440EP Linux, and the quality of a previous dist. we got from them. Time
to set the record a bit straighter, after talking to the nice folks
there, and with our Linux guy here.  I wouldn't want to leave my earlier
post as the final word...

1. The ARM port we got did work (I said it didn't...), but our Linux guy
thought it low quality.  In MontaVista's defence, however, this was a
long, long time ago (5? years). MontaVista (and the rest of us) have
evolved a lot since then - I'm sure their current ARM port works just
dandy.

2. 25K for a company planning to sell 100K or 1M units is a small price
to have a stable, well supported OS.  Our problem is that we don't have
those volumes to ammortize the cost over, and we are a cash starved
startup. And we chose a processor which is not well supported yet, and
really had a wrench thrown in the works when IBM sold it to AMCC,
because it probably stalled Linux on that processor for 6 - 12 months
(AMCC only just recently hired a director of software for there 4xx
embedded processor division, so I expect that all this will get
straightened out with funding Timesys, etc., but unfortunately too late
for us. We need Linux now.)

For us, it appears most cost effective to pay to port existing drivers
to the 440EP. We need better RT performance than vanilla 2.6, so we will
also port RTAI.  From this, we expect a stable OS with better than 2.6
performance, but we will have to support it ourselves. Although we are
still in discussion with Timesys, so we may work something out there
yet.

Anyways, the bottom line remains that the cost of entry into Linux the
440EP processor is much higher than other Motorola, Intel, AMD, etc.
processors. I knew we were in for bumps when IBM sold the division, but
the processor has some unique features and performance that we couldn't
live without. I'm hoping that a bit of kicking and screaming will bring
AMCC up to par with the other guys...

Rick

Ps. No, MontaVista didn't threaten to sue me ;) I just don't like
leaving remarks around that are attributed to me that probably need
further explanation in order not to mislead.

And this way lets me send more missiles in areas I'm not thrilled with,
because people will understand that I am not just somebody who likes to
flame needlessly.  It's all about making things better.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: linuxppc-embedded-bounces at ozlabs.org [mailto:linuxppc-embedded-
> bounces at ozlabs.org] On Behalf Of linuxppc-embedded-request at ozlabs.org
> Sent: November 8, 2004 5:00 PM
> To: linuxppc-embedded at ozlabs.org
> Subject: Linuxppc-embedded Digest, Vol 3, Issue 10
> 
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> 
> Today's Topics:
> 
>    1. Re: [BUG] IBM440GX works too slow under nfsroot (Eugene
Surovegin)
>    2. How much easier makes owning a BDI2000 things? (Peter Asemann)
>    3. RE: How much easier makes owning a BDI2000 things?
>       (VanBaren, Gerald (AGRE))
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2004 18:55:04 -0800
> From: Eugene Surovegin <ebs at ebshome.net>
> Subject: Re: [BUG] IBM440GX works too slow under nfsroot
> To: Gerhard Jaeger <g.jaeger at sysgo.com>
> Cc: linuxppc-embedded at ozlabs.org
> Message-ID: <20041108025504.GA4112 at gate.ebshome.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> On Mon, Oct 25, 2004 at 08:47:00AM +0200, Gerhard Jaeger wrote:
> > > If there is an interest, I can make a patch against current 2.4 BK
> > > tree, but this will take some time (I'm a little swamped right
now).
> >
> > of course there's some interest, at least by me ;) Would be great if
> you'll
> > find some time for that.
> 
> Patch against current 2.4 BK is available at
http://kernel.ebshome.net.
> Quick tested on Ebony & Ocotea.
> 
> --
> Eugene
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 08 Nov 2004 15:33:40 +0100
> From: Peter Asemann <peter.asemann at web.de>
> Subject: How much easier makes owning a BDI2000 things?
> To: linuxppc-embedded at ozlabs.org
> Message-ID: <418F83C4.5000109 at web.de>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
> 
> The tutorials in the web I read about getting custom hardware running
> suggest that having some BDI-thing like an Abatron BDI2000 is a really
> good idea.
> 
> Actually I need some arguments to have such a device bought. How much
> easier does it make things?
> 
> Peter Asemann
> 
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 3
> Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2004 07:44:05 -0700
> From: "VanBaren, Gerald (AGRE)" <Gerald.VanBaren at smiths-aerospace.com>
> Subject: RE: How much easier makes owning a BDI2000 things?
> To: "Peter Asemann" <peter.asemann at web.de>,
> 	<linuxppc-embedded at ozlabs.org>
> Message-ID:
>
<065ACD8E84315E4394C835E398C8D5EB9E9DA2 at COSSMGMBX02.email.corp.tld>
> Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: linuxppc-embedded-bounces at ozlabs.org
> > [mailto:linuxppc-embedded-bounces at ozlabs.org] On Behalf Of
> > Peter Asemann
> > Sent: Monday, November 08, 2004 9:34 AM
> > To: linuxppc-embedded at ozlabs.org
> > Subject: How much easier makes owning a BDI2000 things?
> >
> > The tutorials in the web I read about getting custom hardware
> > running suggest that having some BDI-thing like an Abatron
> > BDI2000 is a really good idea.
> >
> > Actually I need some arguments to have such a device bought.
> > How much easier does it make things?
> >
> > Peter Asemann
> 
> 42 times easier.
> 
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