OpenBSD/sgi

OpenBSD/sgi currently runs on the 64 bit MIPS-based SGI O2 workstations. Other 64 bit SGI systems will be supported in the future.

OpenBSD/sgi is a fully featured 64 bit port and will thus only run on systems based on 64 bit processors, i.e. R4000 and up.

Table of contents

• History of the port
• Current status
• Project list
• Supported hardware
• Getting and installing OpenBSD/sgi

History:

The OpenBSD/sgi port has its roots in the OpenBSD/arc port created early in the OpenBSD history. Arc support was rather soon discontinued due to the lack of interest and availability of decent hardware. The OpenBSD Mips support has since then been supported outside the OpenBSD project. As SGI hardware has become affordable and easy to get by, interest for an SGI port in the tree has increased. The final piece, a working 64 bit toolchain, is now available and the 64 bit SGI OpenBSD port is now available and managed in the OpenBSD source tree.

Current status:

Currently OpenBSD/sgi runs in 64 bit mode and boots multi-user on supported systems. Snapshots are made periodically as the port develops and expands.

Projects (in no particular order):

• Workaround for R10000 CPUs coherency behaviour
• X11 server support
• Larger user VM space (currently limited to 2GB)
• Support more SGI hardware like Origin 200, Octane, etc
• Support for multiprocessor systems (not NUMA)

Supported hardware:

Supported models

• O2 (aka Moosehead) with R5000, RM5200, RM7000, R10000 and R12000 CPUs. Level 2 caches are supported on all CPUs. RM7000 level 3 cache is supported.
  • Built-in Adaptec AIC-7880 SCSI (ahc)
  • Built-in Ethernet (mec)
  • Built-in serial ports (com)
  • 64 bit PCI expansion slot
  • Intel i8255x-based (except the i82556) PCI ethernet (fxp)
  • Built-in audio (mavb)

Supported peripherals

While most models support expansion via PCI many PCI devices may work. However each device has to be tested before they will be listed here as supported so if support for a particular device is wanted, suitable hardware must be made available to a developer who can test and verify functionality.

Please contact Per Fogelström if you would like more information.

Getting and installing OpenBSD/sgi:

The latest supported OpenBSD/sgi release is OpenBSD 4.1. Here are the OpenBSD/sgi 4.1 installation instructions .

Snapshots are made available from time to time, in this location as well as in a few mirrors. Here are the OpenBSD/sgi snapshot installation instructions as well.

Due to kernel stability issues on this platform with the 4.2 codebase, the 4.2 release has been skipped on this platform. These problems have been fixed since, and sgi should be part of the regular releases starting with the next release, 4.3.