Active Oberon on ARM CPUs

[n***@absamail.co.za]

In about two weeks, I'm going to work again on a project which uses the
ARM version of AOS. At that time, I will provide an image that runs on
XScale PXA25x/PXA26x CPUs (maybe also others, I'm not sure) and the
corresponding sources for those who are interested. I'm going to
announce the availability of these files on this list.

Yes very interested, but this would be a much bigger task than porting
ETH-oberon or AOS to a standard PC.

Since I've resisted examining the [family of] ARM CPU[s] architecture,
I don't even know how/where a boot/reset code would run.

Apart from any AOS considerations, where would one get
documentation for the boot/load method. Which I'd want
to test, in a minimum way first.
And is your proposed system applicable to multiple hardware
configurations - yet ?

I see that linux/slackware/arm seems to be initially working
on an old [still available] arm-pc, which seems the best idea
for a development system. But the final aim must be to run
portable [minimal current consumption] device[s] ?

As a previous writer noted, porting to the 'game boy' would
be interesting.

Thanks,

==Chris Glur.

[n***@absamail.co.za]

Post by n***@absamail.co.za
Yes very interested, but this would be a much bigger task than porting
ETH-oberon or AOS to a standard PC.
AOS/Bluebottle on ARM has existed for almost 6 years now as I have originally
ported the (x86) AOS to a DNARD computer with a StrongARM processor. If you're
http://aces.snu.ac.kr/~bernhard/bluebottle/armaos/01.ETH.Egger.ARMAos.pdf
http://aces.snu.ac.kr/~bernhard/bluebottle/armaos/ARMRelease.zip

01.ETH.Egger.ARMAos.pdf is very impressive and I appreciate the effort to keep
compatability with ETH-OAS's x86 work, to get 'leaverage'.

Presently under linux, ARMRelease.zip tells: Archive: a.zip
End-of-central-directory signature not found. Either this file is not
a zipfile, or it constitutes one disk of a multi-part archive. In the
latter case the central directory and zipfile comment will be found on
the last disk(s) of this archive.

But I'll investigate the *.zip further.

I don't know what hardware to get.
I'd want to take a successive refinement approach, eg.:
- hex code a minimal loop which confirms eg. that input to port1 is echoed out to port2
- perhaps confirm that the ample linux/gcc tools can produce something
- and only then start building minimal AOS 'confirmatory utilities' and documenting
them for use of later collaborators.

Post by n***@absamail.co.za

Post by n***@absamail.co.za
Apart from any AOS considerations, where would one get
documentation for the boot/load method. Which I'd want
to test, in a minimum way first.

I suggest you have a look at the bootup code in wear.AosSysSrc.zip, specifically
wearARM.Relocator.Mod and ARM.AosBoot.Mod. Those are the two modules that bring
the board into a specific state. The kernel above is +/- the same for all boards
(except device drivers, of course)

Are these files in the ARMRelease.zip ?

Post by n***@absamail.co.za
Since I have left, ETH has been working on new ARM-based projects, so you might
want to wait for Sven's release. However, since documenting stuff is not one of
the strong sides of us, you might wanna have a look at my diploma thesis to get
an idea what's going on.

Thanks,

== Chris Glur.