Annotation of www/sparc.html, Revision 1.28
1.3 fn 1: <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML Strict//EN">
2: <html>
1.1 deraadt 3: <head>
1.25 johns 4: <title>OpenBSD/sparc</title>
1.3 fn 5: <link rev=made href=mailto:www@openbsd.org>
6: <meta name="resource-type" content="document">
1.25 johns 7: <meta name="description" content="the OpenBSD/sparc page">
1.3 fn 8: <meta name="keywords" content="openbsd,sparc">
9: <meta name="distribution" content="global">
1.16 deraadt 10: <meta name="copyright" content="This document copyright 1996 by OpenBSD">
1.3 fn 11: </head>
12:
1.20 johns 13: <BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#23238E">
1.3 fn 14:
1.25 johns 15: <h2>OpenBSD/sparc</h2>
1.1 deraadt 16:
1.3 fn 17: <hr>
18: <h3><strong>History and Status:</strong></h3>
19:
20: <p>
1.1 deraadt 21: The original BSD4.4 port was done by Chris Torek as a contract to
22: LBL. The code was released by Chris in mid-93, and Theo de Raadt
23: worked it into shape for the NetBSD tree. Theo and Markus Wild worked
24: on improving Chris' original SunOS compatibility code into a highly
25: complete and reliable emulation. Chuck Cranor ported the sun4c code to
26: the 8KB pagesized Sun4 architecture, and Theo merged this code in a
27: way that would allow the same kernel and programs to run on either
28: sun4c or sun4 machines (unlike Sun's seperate kernel environments).
29: This last change also required a rewrite of the device configuration
1.25 johns 30: code. Just after the NetBSD/sparc 1.0 release, Peter Galbavy wrote an
31: ESP scsi device driver as a replacement for Chris' sparc-specific scsi
1.1 deraadt 32: code, this new driver unfortunately had some problems.
1.3 fn 33: </p>
1.1 deraadt 34:
35: <p>
36: At this point a conflict emerged between Theo and the other people he
37: started the NetBSD project with, and Theo was forced by the core group
38: to resign from NetBSD. After Theo left NetBSD, a few people in the
39: NetBSD group did some other things for the port: Paul Kranenburg
40: ported a floppy driver and started writing support for the 4/400.
41: Chuck spent many long hours working on the ie, xy, xd device drivers.
1.3 fn 42: </p>
1.1 deraadt 43:
44: <p>
45: Theo continued working independently, and made a number of additions:
46: P4 support, flexible boot strategy, a few graphics drivers with help
47: from John Stone, and masses of bug fixes. Many people will be most
48: interested that the ESP scsi driver has been completely replaced by
49: Theo, and that it supports disconnect/reconnect.
1.3 fn 50: </p>
1.1 deraadt 51:
52: <p>
1.25 johns 53: Work on porting OpenBSD/sparc to the sun4m platform was started by Theo,
1.7 deraadt 54: but tendonitis problems with his wrists and the problems with the NetBSD
55: core conspired, and he stopped work. Theo passed his initial sun4m work
56: to Aaron Brown of Harvard, who was paid out of Margo Seltzer's research
57: funds. This initial stuff consisted mostly of a few attempts at building
1.8 deraadt 58: pmap structure that could support all 3 MMU types efficiently. Also,
1.25 johns 59: David Miller of the Sparclinux project got a little bit involved.
1.7 deraadt 60: </p>
61:
62: <p>
1.27 downsj 63: Theo and Jason Downs merged the NetBSD sparc code back into OpenBSD, making
64: OpenBSD/sparc usable again. There are still a few OpenBSD/sparc features
65: from older source trees that need to be re-integrated; these will likely
66: surface soon.
1.3 fn 67: </p>
1.1 deraadt 68:
1.28 ! downsj 69: <hr>
! 70:
1.1 deraadt 71: <p>
1.25 johns 72: The people working the most on OpenBSD/sparc are Jason Downs, George Robbins,
1.27 downsj 73: and John Stone.
1.28 ! downsj 74: <br>
! 75: Email may be sent to the maintainers of the OpenBSD/sparc port at
! 76: <a href="mailto:sparc@openbsd.org">sparc@openbsd.org</a>.
1.6 downsj 77: </p>
78:
79: <p>
1.25 johns 80: An important note about OpenBSD/sparc is that it is designed so that
1.26 downsj 81: a single kernel can run on <b>ALL</b><sup>(1)</sup> sparc machines. Whereas
82: SunOS and Solaris have always had separate `kernel architectures', ie. sun4,
83: sun4c, and sun4m, the same `GENERIC' OpenBSD kernel will run on all the
84: supported models.
1.15 grr 85: </p>
86:
87: <p>
1.25 johns 88: OpenBSD/sparc can be reasonably described as a continuation of the
89: NetBSD/sparc development with improvements. The current status is
1.17 johns 90: somewhere between under development and ready for general use, in that
1.15 grr 91: it does support many of the Sparc based systems and their peripherals,
92: and can be quite reliable depending on the system configuration and
93: usage.
94: </p>
95:
96: <p>
1.25 johns 97: Most of the problems are believed to stem from the wide variety of sparc
1.15 grr 98: processor and cache implementations along with their undocumented bugs,
1.24 johns 99: rather then general kernel problems.
1.15 grr 100: Feedback on which models do and do not work reliably is
101: appreciated, particularly with the newer sun4m implementations like the
102: Fujitsu TurboSparc and Ross HyperSparc based systems and upgrades.
103: </p>
104:
105: <p>
1.17 johns 106: The installation tools and process as of the 2.1 release are greatly
1.25 johns 107: improved over previous releases of OpenBSD. OpenBSD/sparc can be installed
1.17 johns 108: or upgraded via floppy boot images on sun4c and sun4m, miniroot images
109: for machines without floppies (and sun4 machines).
1.3 fn 110: </p>
111:
112: <hr>
1.1 deraadt 113: <p>
1.22 johns 114: <ul>
115: <li><a href=ftp.html>Snapshots are made available from time to time.</a>
1.25 johns 116: <li><a href=ftp://ftp2.usa.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/2.1/sparc/INSTALL.sparc>Installation information for the 2.1 release of OpenBSD/sparc</a>
1.22 johns 117: </ul>
118: </p>
1.3 fn 119:
1.22 johns 120: <p>
1.3 fn 121: <hr>
122: <h3><strong>What hardware is supported?</strong></h3>
1.1 deraadt 123:
1.25 johns 124: <h4>OpenBSD/sparc runs on the following classes of machines:</h4>
1.3 fn 125: <ul>
1.19 johns 126: <li> sun4: 4/100, 4/200, and 4/300
127: <li> sun4c: SS1, SS1+, IPC, SLC, SS2, IPX, and ELC
128: <li> sun4m: at least the LC, LX, 4, 5, 10, and 20. A few cpu
1.17 johns 129: combinations do not work reliably, as well as a few odd memory
130: configurations.
1.15 grr 131: <li> Typically it works on faithful clones of these machines
1.3 fn 132: </ul>
133: <h4>Supported devices. This list of basically declares that any `stock' sun4c
134: "sparcstation" machine will probably work; for sun4 machines one must be more
135: careful.</h4>
136: <ul>
1.19 johns 137: <li> Sun keyboard and mouse
138:
139: <li> Floppy drives:
140: <ul>
1.26 downsj 141: <li> sun4c and sun4m floppy disk drive
1.19 johns 142: </ul>
143:
144: <li> Serial ports:
145: <ul>
146: <li> ttya and ttyb on-board serial ports (can be used as console if needed)
147: <li> 4/300 ttyc and ttyd on-board serial ports
148: </ul>
149:
150:
151: <li> Audio support:
152: <ul>
153: <li> sun4c on-board audio
154: </ul>
155:
156: <li> Framebuffers:
157: <ul>
158: <li>SBus or sun4c on-board video:
159: <ul>
160: <li>bwtwo - black and white
161: <li>cgthree - 8-bit color, unaccelerated
1.26 downsj 162: <li>cgsix - 8-bit color, accelerated (GX, GX+, TGX, TGX+) Should probably work with most faithful emulations/clones of SBus cgsix.
1.19 johns 163: </ul>
164:
165: <li> 4/200 on-board bwtwo
166:
167: <li> P4 video (4/100 and 4/300):
168: <ul>
169: <li> bwtwo - black and white
170: <li> cgthree - 8-bit color, unaccelerated
171: <li> cgfour - 8-bit color, 1-bit overlay, unaccelerated
172: <li> cgsix - 8-bit color, accelerated
173: <li> cgeight - 24-bit color, 1-bit overlay, unaccelerated
174: </ul>
175:
176: <li> VME video (sun4):
177: <ul>
178: <li> cgtwo - black and white
179: <li> cgthree - 8-bit color, unaccelerated
180: <li> cgsix - 8-bit color, accelerated
181: </ul>
182: </ul>
183:
184: <li> Ethernet adapters:
185: <ul>
186: <li> on-board AMD Lance ethernet
187: <li> SBus AMD Lance ethernet cards
188: <li> on-board Intel 82586 ethernet (ie0 on 4/100 and 4/200)
189: <li> VME Intel 82586 ethernet cards
190: </ul>
191:
192: <li> SCSI controllers:
193: <ul>
194: <li> on-board "esp" SCSI controller (sun4c, sun4m, and 4/300)
195: <li> SBus "esp" SCSI controller
196: <li> VME "SUN-3"/"si" SCSI controller (polled mode only, slow)
197: <li> 4/110 "SCSI Weird"/"sw" on-board controller (slow, polled mode)
198: </ul>
199:
200: <li> SMD and other disk controllers
201: <ul>
202: <li> Xylogics 7053 VME/SMD disk controller ("xd")
203: <li> Xylogics 450/451 VME disk controller ("xy")
204: </ul>
205:
1.3 fn 206: </ul>
1.1 deraadt 207:
1.25 johns 208: <h4>OpenBSD/sparc does *not* run on these machines (yet):</h4>
1.3 fn 209: <ul>
1.19 johns 210: <li> sun4: 4/400 (lacks support for the I/O cache, and has ethernet problems)
211: <li> sun4m: older systems with Viking (TMS390Z55) processor modules without external cache chips, aka SuperCache, aka MXCC, aka PAC.
212: <li> sun4m: model 4/600 -- uses auxio registers, sun4m VME, I/O cache?
213: <li> sun4d: SPARC Server 1000, SPARC Center 2000 -- XD-Bus vs. M-Bus, MP issues.
214: <li> sun4u: UltraSPARC 64-bit machines.
1.1 deraadt 215: <li> It does not work on most Solbourne machines, which are quite different.
1.3 fn 216: </ul>
1.19 johns 217:
1.15 grr 218: <p>
219: OpenBSD/Sparc on the 4c/4m machines is criticaly dependent on configuration
1.25 johns 220: information returned by the openboot prom. A sparc clone that differs
1.15 grr 221: substantially from the Sun model as far as device names and properties will
222: require additional work in this area.
1.1 deraadt 223:
224: <h4>Unsupported Devices. First of all, there are MANY unsupported devices.
225: A comprehensive list can probably not be written.</h4>
1.3 fn 226: <ul>
1.19 johns 227: <li> Serial Cards:
228: <ul>
229: <li> VME mti 16-port serial card
230: <li> VME alm2 16-port serial card
231: <li> VME mcp 4-port serial card (or is it 8 port)
232: </ul>
233:
234: <li>Disk Controllers:
235: <ul>
236: <li> VME "sc" SCSI controller
237: <li> VME IPI controller
238: </ul>
239:
240: <li> Framebuffers:
241: <ul>
242: <li> VME cgfive, 8-bit color, 1-bit overlay, double-buffered, unaccelerated without GP/GP2
243: <li> VME cgnine, 24-bit color, 1-bit overlay, double-buffered, unaccelerated without GP/GP2
244: <li> VME GP/GP2 Graphics Processor (drives a cgfive or cgnine)
245: <li> SBus cgeight 24-bit color, unaccelerated (note: SBus cgeight is quite different from VME/P4 cgeight)
246: <li> SBus GS, 24-bit color, 8-bit color, overlay planes, double-buffered, 3-D acceleration (aka cgtwelve)
247: <li> SBus GT, 24-bit color, 8-bit color, overlay planes, double-buffered, 3-D acceleration (aka Graphics Tower)
248: <li> SS20 SX, 24-bit color, 8-bit color, overlay planes, potentially double-buffered, accelerated (aka cgfourteen)
249: <li> SBus ZX, 24-bit color, 8-bit color, overlay planes, double-buffered, 3-D acceleration (aka Leo)
250: </ul>
251:
1.17 johns 252: <li> SBus cards other than the standard video/scsi/ethernet listed above
1.15 grr 253: <li> On-board Audio and ISDN hardware present on some sun4m systems
1.18 johns 254: <li> sun4m floppies (OpenBSD can boot/install from them though)
1.15 grr 255: <li> Multiple Processors/Modules in sun4m systems (OpenBSD will run, but only uses one processor)
1.3 fn 256: </ul>
1.1 deraadt 257:
1.3 fn 258: <hr>
1.25 johns 259: <h3>OpenBSD/sparc Projects:</h3>
1.21 johns 260: <ul>
261: <li>Improve sun4m stability.
262: <li>Merge in useful NetBSD work.
263: <li>Start work on device drivers for unsupported framebuffers.
1.25 johns 264: <li>Bring back OpenBSD/sparc features from older code.
1.21 johns 265: </ul>
266:
267: <hr>
1.26 downsj 268: <p>
269: <sup>(1) sun4u ("Ultra") would probably not conform to this model, and have
270: it's own kernel port.</sup>
271: </p>
272: <hr>
273:
1.11 deraadt 274: <a href=plat.html><img src=back.gif border=0 alt=OpenBSD></a>
1.1 deraadt 275: <a href=mailto:www@openbsd.org>www@openbsd.org</a>
1.3 fn 276: <br>
1.28 ! downsj 277: <small>$OpenBSD: sparc.html,v 1.27 1997/06/25 19:25:20 downsj Exp $</small>
1.3 fn 278:
279: </body>
280: </html>
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