Annotation of www/sparc.html, Revision 1.70
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:
1.50 jason 13: <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" link="#23238E">
1.3 fn 14:
1.50 jason 15: <img alt="[OpenBSD]" src="images/bsd_small.gif">
1.1 deraadt 16:
1.3 fn 17: <hr>
1.50 jason 18:
19: <p>
20: OpenBSD/sparc runs on most of the 32bit Sun SPARC workstations, including
21: the sun4, sun4c, and sun4m architectures
22: (not the 64bit <a href="sparc64.html">Ultra SPARC</a> computers).
23: The current port maintainer is
24: Jason Wright (<a href="mailto:jason@openbsd.org">jason@openbsd.org</a>).
1.56 aaron 25: Others are definitely welcome to contribute!
1.50 jason 26: </p>
27:
1.38 downsj 28: <img align=right vspace=5 hspace=5 src="images/sparc.gif">
1.37 deraadt 29: <h3><font color=#0000e0><i>Table of contents</i></font></h3>
1.29 downsj 30: <p>
31: <ul>
1.50 jason 32: <li><a href="#history">Past history of the port</a>
33: <li><a href="#status">Current status</a>
34: <li><a href="#info">Where to get it</a>
35: <li><a href="#hardware">Supported hardware list</a>
36: <li><a href="#projects">Project list</a>
1.29 downsj 37: </ul>
38: </p>
39:
40: <hr>
41: <a name=history>
1.37 deraadt 42: <h3><font color=#0000e0><strong>History:</strong></font></h3>
1.3 fn 43:
44: <p>
1.1 deraadt 45: The original BSD4.4 port was done by Chris Torek as a contract to
1.50 jason 46: LBL. The code was released by Chris in mid-1993, and Theo de Raadt
1.1 deraadt 47: worked it into shape for the NetBSD tree. Theo and Markus Wild worked
48: on improving Chris' original SunOS compatibility code into a highly
49: complete and reliable emulation. Chuck Cranor ported the sun4c code to
50: the 8KB pagesized Sun4 architecture, and Theo merged this code in a
51: way that would allow the same kernel and programs to run on either
1.64 jason 52: sun4c or sun4 machines (unlike Sun's separate kernel environments).
1.1 deraadt 53: This last change also required a rewrite of the device configuration
1.25 johns 54: code. Just after the NetBSD/sparc 1.0 release, Peter Galbavy wrote an
55: ESP scsi device driver as a replacement for Chris' sparc-specific scsi
1.50 jason 56: code, this new driver unfortunately had some problems and was eventually
57: replaced.
1.3 fn 58: </p>
1.1 deraadt 59:
60: <p>
61: At this point a conflict emerged between Theo and the other people he
62: started the NetBSD project with, and Theo was forced by the core group
63: to resign from NetBSD. After Theo left NetBSD, a few people in the
64: NetBSD group did some other things for the port: Paul Kranenburg
65: ported a floppy driver and started writing support for the 4/400.
66: Chuck spent many long hours working on the ie, xy, xd device drivers.
1.3 fn 67: </p>
1.1 deraadt 68:
69: <p>
70: Theo continued working independently, and made a number of additions:
71: P4 support, flexible boot strategy, a few graphics drivers with help
72: from John Stone, and masses of bug fixes. Many people will be most
73: interested that the ESP scsi driver has been completely replaced by
74: Theo, and that it supports disconnect/reconnect.
1.3 fn 75: </p>
1.1 deraadt 76:
77: <p>
1.25 johns 78: Work on porting OpenBSD/sparc to the sun4m platform was started by Theo,
1.36 todd 79: but tendinitis problems with his wrists and the problems with the NetBSD
1.7 deraadt 80: core conspired, and he stopped work. Theo passed his initial sun4m work
81: to Aaron Brown of Harvard, who was paid out of Margo Seltzer's research
82: funds. This initial stuff consisted mostly of a few attempts at building
1.8 deraadt 83: pmap structure that could support all 3 MMU types efficiently. Also,
1.50 jason 84: David Miller of the S/Linux project got a little bit involved.
1.7 deraadt 85: </p>
86:
87: <p>
1.27 downsj 88: Theo and Jason Downs merged the NetBSD sparc code back into OpenBSD, making
1.50 jason 89: OpenBSD/sparc usable again. Jason Wright wrote a few new SBus Ethernet
90: drivers with information from the S/Linux project and has merged a few bits
91: from NetBSD sources to improve the stability of this architecture.
92: </p>
93:
94: <p>
95: And work continues...
1.3 fn 96: </p>
1.1 deraadt 97:
1.28 downsj 98: <hr>
1.29 downsj 99: <a name=status>
1.37 deraadt 100: <h3><font color=#0000e0><strong>Current Status:</strong></font></h3>
1.28 downsj 101:
1.1 deraadt 102: <p>
1.50 jason 103: The people working the most on OpenBSD/sparc are
104: Jason Wright, Theo de Raadt, and Todd Fries.
105: </p>
106:
107: <p>
1.34 johns 108: Email may be sent to the maintainers and users of the OpenBSD/sparc port at
109: <a href="mailto:sparc@openbsd.org">sparc@openbsd.org</a>.
110: To join the OpenBSD/sparc mailing list, send a message body of <b>"help"</b>
111: to <a href="mailto:majordomo@OpenBSD.org">majordomo@OpenBSD.org</a>
1.50 jason 112: and you will receive a reply outlining all of your options.
1.6 downsj 113: </p>
114:
115: <p>
1.25 johns 116: An important note about OpenBSD/sparc is that it is designed so that
1.30 downsj 117: a single kernel can run on <b>ALL SUPPORTED</b> sparc machines. Whereas
1.26 downsj 118: SunOS and Solaris have always had separate `kernel architectures', ie. sun4,
119: sun4c, and sun4m, the same `GENERIC' OpenBSD kernel will run on all the
120: supported models.
1.15 grr 121: </p>
122:
123: <p>
1.50 jason 124: Most of the problems with OpenBSD/sparc are believed to stem from the wide
125: variety of sparc processor and cache implementations along with their
126: undocumented bugs, rather then general kernel problems.
1.15 grr 127: Feedback on which models do and do not work reliably is
128: appreciated, particularly with the newer sun4m implementations like the
129: Fujitsu TurboSparc and Ross HyperSparc based systems and upgrades.
130: </p>
131:
132: <p>
1.17 johns 133: The installation tools and process as of the 2.1 release are greatly
1.50 jason 134: improved over previous releases of OpenBSD, and more work has been done
135: with each successive release. OpenBSD/sparc can be installed
1.17 johns 136: or upgraded via floppy boot images on sun4c and sun4m, miniroot images
1.50 jason 137: for machines without floppies (and sun4 machines), as well as network
138: and diskless installs.
1.3 fn 139: </p>
140:
141: <hr>
1.29 downsj 142: <a name=info>
1.37 deraadt 143: <h3><font color=#0000e0><strong>Where to get it:</strong></font></h3>
1.29 downsj 144:
1.1 deraadt 145: <p>
1.22 johns 146: <ul>
147: <li><a href=ftp.html>Snapshots are made available from time to time.</a>
1.58 mickey 148: <li><a href=ftp://ftp3.usa.openbsd.org/pub/OpenBSD/2.4/sparc/INSTALL.sparc>Installation information for the 2.4 release of OpenBSD/sparc</a>
1.22 johns 149: </ul>
150: </p>
1.3 fn 151:
1.22 johns 152: <p>
1.3 fn 153: <hr>
1.29 downsj 154: <a name=hardware>
1.50 jason 155: <h3><font color=#0000e0><strong>Supported hardware list:</strong></font></h3>
1.1 deraadt 156:
1.25 johns 157: <h4>OpenBSD/sparc runs on the following classes of machines:</h4>
1.3 fn 158: <ul>
1.70 ! deraadt 159: <li> sun4: the VME series
! 160: <ul>
! 161: <li>4/100: Original sparc with VME. Many hardware bugs.
! 162: <li>4/200: A fairly decent VME-only machine
! 163: <li>4/300: a 25MHz VME machine with many devices built onto the main board.
! 164: In other respects, it is quite similar to the SSS1+.
! 165: </ul>
! 166: <p>
! 167: <li> sun4c:
! 168: <ul>
! 169: <li>SS1: the original 20MHz sun4c
! 170: <li>SS1+: 25MHz version of the above
! 171: <li>IPC: SS1+ in a cube, with cgtree graphics builtin
! 172: <li>SLC: SS1+ built into a B&W monitor
! 173: <li>SS2: 40MHz version of the SS1
! 174: <li>IPX: SS2 in a cube, with cgsix graphics builtin
! 175: <li>ELC: SS2-performance built into a B&W monitor
! 176: </ul>
! 177: <p>
! 178: <strong>Please note that SBus DMA peripherals do not work in some
! 179: of the slots of an SS1 or SS1+</strong>.
! 180: <p>
! 181: <li> sun4m:
! 182: <ul>
! 183: <li>600MP: The original Sun4m machine. This is a mbus machine
! 184: with SBUS and VME machine.
! 185: <li>LC: 50MHz MicroSPARC-1 based machines
! 186: <li>LX: LC with a few more devices
! 187: <li>SS5: MicroSPARC-2 based machines available in 60, 70,
! 188: 85, 110, and 170 MHz versions
! 189: <li>SS4: Reduced cost version of the SS5, only available at 110MHz
! 190: <li>SS10: Pizzabox mbus-based machine. See below for
! 191: <li>SS20: Improved Pizzabox mbus-based machine
! 192: <li>CPU5V by Force Computer
! 193: <li>SPARCbook 3GX and 3GS by Tadpole.
! 194: </ul>
! 195: <p>
! 196: A few cpu combinations do not work reliably, as well as a few odd
! 197: memory configurations.
! 198: <p>
! 199: <li> Typically it works on faithful clones of these machine.
1.3 fn 200: </ul>
1.50 jason 201:
202: <h4>Supported devices</h4>
203:
204: <p> This list of basically declares that any `stock' sun4c or sun4m
205: "sparcstation" or "sparcserver" machine will probably work; for sun4 machines
206: one must be more careful.
207:
1.3 fn 208: <ul>
1.19 johns 209: <li> Sun keyboard and mouse
1.50 jason 210: <ul>
211: <li> Type 2, 3, 4, and 5 keyboards with several layouts
212: </ul>
1.19 johns 213:
214: <li> Floppy drives:
215: <ul>
1.50 jason 216: <li> sun4c and sun4m floppy disk drive
1.19 johns 217: </ul>
218:
219: <li> Serial ports:
220: <ul>
1.50 jason 221: <li> ttya and ttyb on-board serial ports (can be used as console if needed)
222: <li> 4/300 ttyc and ttyd on-board serial ports
223: <li> SBus magma serial port cards, including: 4Sp, 8Sp, 12Sp, 16Sp, LC2+1Sp,
1.43 deraadt 224: 2+1Sp, 4+1Sp, and 8+2Sp.
1.60 jason 225: <li> SBus Serial/Parallel Interfaces (SUNW,spif, 501-1931)
1.19 johns 226: </ul>
227:
228:
229: <li> Audio support:
230: <ul>
1.55 aaron 231: <li>on-board audio support for systems with AMD79C30 8-bit audio chips
1.66 jason 232: (this includes sun4c models, SPARCclassic, and 600MP)
233: <li>SUNW,CS4231 16-bit audio chips found on SPARCstation 4/5, but on-board
1.62 jason 234: audio for other sun4m systems is not supported
1.19 johns 235: </ul>
236:
237: <li> Framebuffers:
238: <ul>
1.33 downsj 239: <li>SBus, MBus and sun4c/sun4m on-board video:
1.19 johns 240: <ul>
1.50 jason 241: <li>bwtwo - black and white.
242: <li>cgthree - 8-bit color, unaccelerated.
243: <br>The cgthree driver also supports the cgRDI, an onboard
244: cgthree-like framebuffer found in some laptops.
245: <li>cgsix - 8-bit color, accelerated (GX, GX+, TGX, TGX+).
246: <br>This should work with most faithful emulations/clones of the
247: SBus cgsix.
248: <li>cgfourteen - 8-bit color (24-bit MBus accelerated card, but the
249: driver only properly emulates a cgthree).
1.69 jason 250: <li>p9100 - found in Tadpole SPARCbook 3GS and 3GX (8bit unaccelated)
251: ("pnozz")
1.50 jason 252: <li>TCX - 8-bit color (24-bit, but driver currently emulates a cgthree).
1.19 johns 253: </ul>
254:
255: <li> 4/200 on-board bwtwo
256:
257: <li> P4 video (4/100 and 4/300):
258: <ul>
1.50 jason 259: <li> bwtwo - black and white
260: <li> cgthree - 8-bit color, unaccelerated
261: <li> cgfour - 8-bit color, 1-bit overlay, unaccelerated
262: <li> cgsix - 8-bit color, accelerated
263: <li> cgeight - 24-bit color, 1-bit overlay, unaccelerated
1.19 johns 264: </ul>
265:
266: <li> VME video (sun4):
267: <ul>
1.50 jason 268: <li> cgtwo - black and white
269: <li> cgthree - 8-bit color, unaccelerated
270: <li> cgsix - 8-bit color, accelerated
1.19 johns 271: </ul>
272: </ul>
273:
274: <li> Ethernet adapters:
275: <ul>
1.50 jason 276: <li> on-board AMD Lance Ethernet
277: <li> SBus AMD Lance Ethernet cards
278: <li> SBus cards containing both AMD Lance and "esp" scsi
279: <li> on-board Intel 82586 Ethernet (ie0 on 4/100 and 4/200)
280: <li> VME Intel 82586 Ethernet cards
1.60 jason 281: <li> SBus 10/100Mbit qec+be found on Sun FastEthernet cards (SUNW,501-2655)
1.54 jason 282: (aka. Sun Fast Ethernet 1.x)
283: <li> SBus Quad 10Mbit qec+qe found on Sun Quad Ethernet cards (SUNW,595-3198)
1.67 jason 284: <li> SBus 10/100Mbit hme Ethernet cards
285: <li> SBus 10/100Mbit SunSwift SUNW,fas Ethernet+SCSI cards
286: <li> SBus Quad 10/100Mbit hme and qfe Ethernet cards
1.54 jason 287: (aka. Sun Quad Fast Ethernet 2.x)
1.19 johns 288: </ul>
289:
290: <li> SCSI controllers:
291: <ul>
1.50 jason 292: <li> on-board "esp" SCSI controller (sun4c, sun4m, and 4/300)
293: <li> SBus "esp" SCSI controller (Also works with several 3rd party
1.41 deraadt 294: esp compatible boards)
1.50 jason 295: <li> SBus cards containing both AMD Lance and "esp" scsi
296: <li> VME "SUN-3"/"si" SCSI controller (interrupt driven DMA)
297: <li> 4/110 "SCSI Weird"/"sw" on-board controller (polled DMA)
1.63 deraadt 298: <li> QSP/ISP scsi controllers (ie. "PTI,ptisp", "ptisp", "SUNW,isp" and "QLGC,isp").
1.19 johns 299: </ul>
300:
1.65 jason 301: <li> SMD and other disk controllers:
1.19 johns 302: <ul>
1.50 jason 303: <li> Xylogics 7053 VME/SMD disk controller ("xd")
304: <li> Xylogics 450/451 VME disk controller ("xy")
1.19 johns 305: </ul>
306:
1.65 jason 307: <li> Miscellaneous:
308: <ul>
309: <li> SBus Expansion Subsystem ("xbox")
1.68 jason 310: <li> Force FGA5000 VME/SBus bridge ("fga")
311: <li> Force sysconfig registers ("scf")
312: <li> Force flash memory ("flash")
1.69 jason 313: <li> Tadpole microcontroller (power/system control) ("tctrl")
1.65 jason 314: </ul>
1.3 fn 315: </ul>
1.1 deraadt 316:
1.25 johns 317: <h4>OpenBSD/sparc does *not* run on these machines (yet):</h4>
1.3 fn 318: <ul>
1.50 jason 319: <li> sun4: 4/400 (lacks support for the I/O cache, and has Ethernet problems)
320: <li> sun4m: older systems with Viking (TMS390Z55) processor modules
321: without external cache chips, aka SuperCache, aka MXCC, aka PAC.
322: <li> sun4m: with Ross HyperSparc processor modules
323: <li> sun4d: SPARC Server 1000, SPARC Center 2000 -- XD-Bus vs. M-Bus,
324: MP issues.
325: <li> sun4u (<a href="sparc64.html">sparc64</a>): UltraSPARC 64-bit machines.
326: <li> It does not work on most Solbourne machines, which are quite different.
1.3 fn 327: </ul>
1.19 johns 328:
1.15 grr 329: <p>
1.50 jason 330: OpenBSD/sparc on the 4c/4m machines is critically dependent on configuration
331: information returned by the OpenBoot PROM. A sparc clone that differs
1.15 grr 332: substantially from the Sun model as far as device names and properties will
333: require additional work in this area.
1.1 deraadt 334:
335: <h4>Unsupported Devices. First of all, there are MANY unsupported devices.
336: A comprehensive list can probably not be written.</h4>
1.3 fn 337: <ul>
1.50 jason 338: <li> Serial Cards:
1.19 johns 339: <ul>
1.50 jason 340: <li> VME mti 16-port serial card
341: <li> VME alm2 16-port serial card
342: <li> VME mcp 4-port serial card (or is it 8 port)
1.19 johns 343: </ul>
344:
1.50 jason 345: <li>Disk Controllers:
1.19 johns 346: <ul>
1.50 jason 347: <li> VME "sc" SCSI controller
348: <li> VME IPI controller
1.19 johns 349: </ul>
350:
1.50 jason 351: <li> Framebuffers:
1.19 johns 352: <ul>
1.50 jason 353: <li> VME cgfive, 8-bit color, 1-bit overlay, double-buffered,
354: unaccelerated without GP/GP2
355: <li> VME cgnine, 24-bit color, 1-bit overlay, double-buffered,
356: unaccelerated without GP/GP2
357: <li> VME GP/GP2 Graphics Processor (drives a cgfive or cgnine)
358: <li> SBus cgeight 24-bit color, unaccelerated
359: (note: SBus cgeight is quite different from VME/P4 cgeight)
360: <li> SBus GS, 24-bit color, 8-bit color, overlay planes, double-buffered,
361: 3-D acceleration (aka cgtwelve)
362: <li> SBus GT, 24-bit color, 8-bit color, overlay planes, double-buffered,
363: 3-D acceleration (aka Graphics Tower)
364: <li> SBus ZX, 24-bit color, 8-bit color, overlay planes, double-buffered,
365: 3-D acceleration (aka Leo)
366: </ul>
367:
368: <li> SBus cards other those listed above
369: <li> On-board Audio and ISDN hardware present on some sun4m systems
1.66 jason 370: (LX,ZX, SPARCstation 10/20)
1.50 jason 371: <li> Multiple Processors/Modules in sun4m systems
372: (OpenBSD will not currently boot on machines with multiple processors.)
1.57 deraadt 373:
374: <li>SUNW,bpp (parallel port driver)
375: <li>FAS scsi controllers
376: <li>FDDI cards
1.3 fn 377: </ul>
1.1 deraadt 378:
1.3 fn 379: <hr>
1.29 downsj 380: <a name=projects>
1.50 jason 381: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Project list:</font></h3>
1.21 johns 382: <ul>
1.50 jason 383: <li>Merge in useful NetBSD work.
384: <li>Start work on device drivers for unsupported framebuffers.
1.21 johns 385: </ul>
386:
387: <hr>
1.26 downsj 388:
1.44 pauls 389: <a href=plat.html><img height=24 width=24 src=back.gif border=0 alt=OpenBSD></a>
1.1 deraadt 390: <a href=mailto:www@openbsd.org>www@openbsd.org</a>
1.3 fn 391: <br>
1.70 ! deraadt 392: <small>$OpenBSD: sparc.html,v 1.69 1999/09/07 04:04:04 jason Exp $</small>
1.3 fn 393:
394: </body>
395: </html>