[ On Thu, December 4, 1997 at 01:52:27 (GMT), Brook Milligan wrote: ]
> Subject: NetBSD/i386 and single board computers
>
> I am wondering about the possibility of running NetBSD on an embedded
> single board computer.  The system would essentially consist of a 486
> processor, >8 Mb ram, serial ports, a floppy drive, and an IDE disk
> drive (perhaps a solid state disk).  Has anyone successfully done
> this?  What considerations should I be concerned with before I try to
> set this up?

We had 1.2 or thereabouts running on both P90 and 486 single-board
computers (one of each on a split backplane actually).  I don't remember
what exact model they were, but I think they were from Advantech, though
I don't really recommend them for anything high-quality....  We didn't
try the PCI bridges on them, but I don't see why there'd be any more
problems than with your average PC hardware!  ;-)

One thing I'm getting quite  interested in are  the new VME64X,  VME320,
and CompactPCI industrial  boards.  Looks like  you  can build a  decent
computer out of  CompactPCI equipment and get  good performance to boot,
and not suffer without driver support, etc., though I've also heard some
of these systems are just different enough to cause hassles with drivers
too.  VME64X  is another story  of course  and would definitely  require
driver work (though  you could probably get started  with most that have
PCI mezzanine support) but it might just have enough political advantage
over CompactPCI in the industrial and embedded computing circles to make
big inroads.  VME320   could really break some  speed  barriers and give
CompactPCI a real run if they don't keep it too proprietary.

I'd be interested in hearing if anyone has done any work with NetBSD on
any of the PC104 boards too....

-- 
							Greg A. Woods

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