Annotation of www/arc.html, Revision 1.48
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1.1 deraadt 3: <html>
4: <head>
5: <title>OpenBSD/arc</title>
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1.1 deraadt 7: <meta name="resource-type" content="document">
8: <meta name="description" content="the OpenBSD/arc page">
9: <meta name="keywords" content="openbsd,arc">
10: <meta name="distribution" content="global">
1.45 miod 11: <meta name="copyright" content="This document copyright 1996-2013 by OpenBSD.">
1.48 ! sthen 12: <link rel="canonical" href="http://www.openbsd.org/arc.html">
1.1 deraadt 13: </head>
14:
1.37 miod 15: <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#23238e">
16: <a href="index.html"><img alt="[OpenBSD]" height="30" width="141" src="images/smalltitle.gif" border="0"></a>
17: <p>
18: <h2><font color="#e00000">OpenBSD/arc</font></h2>
1.1 deraadt 19:
1.37 miod 20: <hr>
21:
22: <p>
1.45 miod 23: OpenBSD/arc used to run on the machines compatible with the <i>Advanced RISC
1.37 miod 24: Computing</i> specification, known as ARC machines, based on MIPS processors
25: and initially designed to run Microsoft Windows NT.
1.45 miod 26: Such machines included the long dead Acer PICA, as well other machines
1.37 miod 27: manufactured by other companies such as MIPS, Deskstation, NEC, and Olivetti.
28: </p>
29:
30: <p>
1.45 miod 31: The ARC specification is extinct, and no new ARC BIOS machines for MIPS are
32: likely to ever be manufactured.
33: Microsoft has stopped supporting MIPS platforms after NT 4.0.
34: OpenBSD/arc used to provide a good alternative to NT!
1.37 miod 35: </p>
36:
37: <p>
1.47 deraadt 38: <strong>The OpenBSD/arc port was discontinued after the 2.3 release.</strong>
1.37 miod 39: </p>
40:
41: <p>
42: There is currently no one working on bringing this port back to life.
43: The source code is still available in the CVS Attic, and code can be found in
44: NetBSD as well.
45: </p>
46:
1.44 nick 47: <a name="toc"></a>
1.37 miod 48: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><i>Table of contents</i></font></h3>
49: <p>
50: <ul>
1.40 jufi 51: <li><a href="#history">History of the port</a>
1.43 nick 52: <li><a href="#hardware">Supported hardware</a>
1.37 miod 53: <li><a href="#install">Getting and installing OpenBSD/arc</a>
54: </ul>
55: </p>
1.1 deraadt 56:
57: <hr>
1.37 miod 58: <a name="history"></a>
59: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>History:</strong></font></h3>
1.1 deraadt 60:
61: <p>
1.37 miod 62: The early history of this port is not very clear. Apparently the first work was
63: done by CMU as part of their Mach project. The initial hardware was the DEC
64: R2000/R3000-based DECstations. This code was later used by both the Sprite and
65: BSD groups. The 4.4BSD code, known as the <i><a href="pmax.html">pmax</a></i>
66: port, was made freely available in mid 1993. It was merged into the
67: NetBSD tree by a variety of people, but took several years to really become
68: stable and mature, mainly because of compiler toolchain problems.
1.1 deraadt 69: </p>
70:
71: <p>
1.9 niklas 72: Per Fogelström became familiar with the code after porting it to a
1.37 miod 73: home-built IDT R3081 based board. Subsequently he added R4400 support
74: when porting it to the MIPS R4400 Acer PICA board. Willowglen
1.1 deraadt 75: Singapore purchased a second PICA board for Theo de Raadt so that he
76: could improve the port for use as a development system for an internal
1.37 miod 77: project. Since then Theo, Per and others have completed the port.
1.1 deraadt 78: </p>
79:
80: <p>
1.37 miod 81: As a result, the code has been modified to make it more versatile, and
82: eventually support a larger range of ARC machines. Unfortunately the death
83: of this platform, as well as the lack of general availability of this hardware,
84: eventually turned people away from working on this port. Eventually, it was
85: decided to stop supporting it and remove the code from the tree.
1.1 deraadt 86: </p>
87:
1.37 miod 88:
89: <hr>
90: <a name="hardware"></a>
91: <h3><font color="#0000e0"><strong>Supported hardware:</strong></font></h3>
92:
1.1 deraadt 93: <p>
1.37 miod 94: <h4>Supported models</h4>
1.1 deraadt 95: </p>
96:
97: <p>
1.12 deraadt 98: <ul>
1.43 nick 99: <li>Acer Pica (150MHz R4400PC, ISA, with on-board ethernet, SCSI, video,
1.37 miod 100: and serial)
101: <li>Deskstation Tyne (133MHz R4600, ISA and VLB)
102: <li>Deskstation rPC44 (100MHz R4400PC, EISA bus)
1.42 miod 103: <li>Algorithmics R4000/R5000/R10000 evaluation boards
104: <li>Algorithmics P-4032 and P-5064 boards
1.37 miod 105: <li>NEC RiscStation
1.12 deraadt 106: </ul>
1.11 deraadt 107: </p>
1.22 johns 108:
109: <p>
1.37 miod 110: <h4>Supported peripherals</h4>
111: </p>
112:
113: <p>
1.22 johns 114: <ul>
1.37 miod 115: <li><strong>Video</strong>
1.22 johns 116: <ul>
1.41 jmc 117: <li>Built-in S3 VGA graphics adapter (PICA) (with XFree86 support)
1.37 miod 118: <li>Standard VGA graphics adapter (rPC44, Tyne)
1.22 johns 119: </ul>
1.37 miod 120: <li><strong>Keyboard</strong>
1.22 johns 121: <ul>
1.37 miod 122: <li>Standard PC compatible keyboard
1.22 johns 123: </ul>
1.37 miod 124: <li><strong>Pointing device</strong>
1.22 johns 125: <ul>
1.37 miod 126: <li>PS2 mouse (PICA)
127: <li>Serial mouse (rPC44, Tyne)
1.22 johns 128: </ul>
1.37 miod 129: <li><strong>Serial ports</strong>
1.22 johns 130: <ul>
1.37 miod 131: <li>On-board serial ports (PICA) (can not be used as a serial console)
132: <li>ISA serial ports controllers
1.22 johns 133: </ul>
1.37 miod 134: <li><strong>Parallel ports</strong>
1.22 johns 135: <ul>
1.37 miod 136: <li>On-board parallel port (PICA)
137: <li>ISA parallel ports controllers
1.22 johns 138: </ul>
1.37 miod 139: <li><strong>Floppy drive</strong>
1.22 johns 140: <ul>
1.37 miod 141: <li>ISA Floppy controller (PICA)
1.22 johns 142: </ul>
1.37 miod 143: <li><strong>Ethernet</strong>
1.22 johns 144: <ul>
1.37 miod 145: <li>on-board SONIC ethernet controller (PICA)
146: <li>3Com Etherlink boards
147: <li>NE2000 compatible ISA boards
1.22 johns 148: </ul>
1.37 miod 149: <li><strong>SCSI Controllers</strong>
1.22 johns 150: <ul>
1.37 miod 151: <li>on-board NCR53C96 SCSI controller (PICA)
152: <li>VLB Buslogic BT-440C/445C
153: <li>ISA Buslogic BT-545 SCSI controller (rPC44)
1.22 johns 154: </ul>
1.37 miod 155: <li><strong>IDE Controllers</strong>
1.22 johns 156: <ul>
1.37 miod 157: <li>ISA Western-Digital compatible IDE controllers<br>
158: <small>(bootable only on Deskstation systems)</small>
1.22 johns 159: </ul>
1.37 miod 160: <li><strong>Miscellaneous devices</strong>
1.30 imp 161: <ul>
1.37 miod 162: <li>Joystick on ISA bus
163: <li>PCI bus on Algorithmics P-4032 and P-5064 boards
1.30 imp 164: </ul>
1.22 johns 165: </ul>
166: </p>
167:
1.1 deraadt 168: <hr>
1.37 miod 169: <a name="install"></a>
170: <h3><font color="#0000e0">
171: <strong>Getting and installing OpenBSD/arc:</strong>
172: </font></h3>
1.1 deraadt 173:
174: <p>
1.37 miod 175: The last supported OpenBSD/arc release has been
176: <a href="23.html">OpenBSD 2.3</a>.
177: It is not available on ftp sites anymore, but it was available on CD.
1.1 deraadt 178: </p>
179:
180: </body>
181: </html>