[ECOS] Embedded PC SBC

[ECOS] Embedded PC SBC

[j.d.charlton]

I am using the eCos synthetic Linux build for testing and initial
development.  I looked at all of the current ports and do not believe
any of them fit my requirements. The main requirement is that it use a
standard bus such as PC-104 for adding commercial ADC/DAC and other I/O
modules. Cost is a factor.

I am leaning toward using one of the commerical embedded 386/486/586
embedded PC SBC's with ROM/FLASH/RAM options.  I am also open to MC68k
or PowerPC SBCs.  Has anyone already done a port for an embedded PC
or another platform that would meet this requirement? I prefer using
eCos to embedding linux to reduce the operating system overhead and
also to have real-time performance.

Any constructive suggestions are welcome.

--John
(919) 382-0677

Re: [ECOS] Embedded PC SBC

[Patrick O'Grady]

Hi, J.D.:

I posted an i386/PC HAL package;
http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ecos/contrib.html has a pointer to it.  The
last time I updated it was the end of October, so don't be suprised if the
eCos source code has changed quite a bit--installation might not be as
straightforward as before.  I'm actually planning on updating to the
current CVS version next week.  Look out for a bug somewhere in the mutex
handling code: I'm sure it's related to the interrupt handler code.  Stay
tuned for that fix.  But in the meantime, that package allows you to
construct a GDB stub on a floppy disk, so you just boot from that and then
connect to the debugger from COM1.  If you have any significant problems,
just e-mail questions to this list, that way everyone benefits from the
discussion.  Cheers!

-patrick
patrick@softprocess.com


On Thu, 6 Jan 2000 j.d.charlton@ieee.org wrote:

> 
> I am using the eCos synthetic Linux build for testing and initial
> development.  I looked at all of the current ports and do not believe
> any of them fit my requirements. The main requirement is that it use a
> standard bus such as PC-104 for adding commercial ADC/DAC and other I/O
> modules. Cost is a factor.
> 
> I am leaning toward using one of the commerical embedded 386/486/586
> embedded PC SBC's with ROM/FLASH/RAM options.  I am also open to MC68k
> or PowerPC SBCs.  Has anyone already done a port for an embedded PC
> or another platform that would meet this requirement? I prefer using
> eCos to embedding linux to reduce the operating system overhead and
> also to have real-time performance.
> 
> Any constructive suggestions are welcome.
> 
> --John
> (919) 382-0677
> 
> 
> 

Re: [ECOS] Embedded PC SBC

[j.d.charlton]

Patrick and ecos-discuss,

Thanks, I thought I had looked at the cygnus site more carefully,
but there it is.  I am beginning to think that RTLinux may serve my
needs a bit better for the embedded PC since I am developing a
monitor/control application in Linux. So I am looking into that also.

--John


On  7 Jan, Patrick O'Grady wrote:
> 
> Hi, J.D.:
> 
> I posted an i386/PC HAL package;
> http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ecos/contrib.html has a pointer to it.  The
> last time I updated it was the end of October, so don't be suprised if the
> eCos source code has changed quite a bit--installation might not be as
> straightforward as before.  I'm actually planning on updating to the
> current CVS version next week.  Look out for a bug somewhere in the mutex
> handling code: I'm sure it's related to the interrupt handler code.  Stay
> tuned for that fix.  But in the meantime, that package allows you to
> construct a GDB stub on a floppy disk, so you just boot from that and then
> connect to the debugger from COM1.  If you have any significant problems,
> just e-mail questions to this list, that way everyone benefits from the
> discussion.  Cheers!
> 
> -patrick
> patrick@softprocess.com
> 
> 

Re: [ECOS] Embedded PC SBC

[Gary Thomas]

In this case, perhaps you should look into EL/IX which is an effort by
Cygnus to bridge exactly this gap.
  http://sourceware.cygnus.com/elix/

On 07-Jan-00 j.d.charlton@ieee.org wrote:
> Patrick and ecos-discuss,
> 
> Thanks, I thought I had looked at the cygnus site more carefully,
> but there it is.  I am beginning to think that RTLinux may serve my
> needs a bit better for the embedded PC since I am developing a
> monitor/control application in Linux. So I am looking into that also.
> 
> --John
> 
> 
> On  7 Jan, Patrick O'Grady wrote:
>> 
>> Hi, J.D.:
>> 
>> I posted an i386/PC HAL package;
>> http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ecos/contrib.html has a pointer to it.  The
>> last time I updated it was the end of October, so don't be suprised if the
>> eCos source code has changed quite a bit--installation might not be as
>> straightforward as before.  I'm actually planning on updating to the
>> current CVS version next week.  Look out for a bug somewhere in the mutex
>> handling code: I'm sure it's related to the interrupt handler code.  Stay
>> tuned for that fix.  But in the meantime, that package allows you to
>> construct a GDB stub on a floppy disk, so you just boot from that and then
>> connect to the debugger from COM1.  If you have any significant problems,
>> just e-mail questions to this list, that way everyone benefits from the
>> discussion.  Cheers!
>> 
>> -patrick
>> patrick@softprocess.com
>> 
>> 
> 
> 

Re: [ECOS] Embedded PC SBC

[j.d.charlton]

Patrick and ecos-discuss,

I am forging ahead with the ecos i386-pc build.  I think I set
everything up the way Patrick's html files described it starting from
the ecos-1.2.1.tar distribution tree.  I am building using RedHat
6.0. I first untarred only the latest file: hal-i386-pc-19991028.tgz
I got the error below.  I decided to go back and untar the initial
release (hal-i386-pc-0.1.tar) followed by the second release 
(hal-i386-pc-19991022.tgz) and then the final version
(hal-i386-pc-19991028.tgz) just in case it was meant to be done that
way, but I still get the same error when building the gdb stub:

[charlton@marble ecos-i386-stub]$ tclsh ~/cygnus/ecos-1.2.1/packages/pkgconf.tcl \
> --target i386 \
> --platform pc \
> --startup floppy \
> --disable-kernel \
> --disable-uitron \
> --disable-libc \
> --disable-libm \
> --disable-io \
> --disable-io_serial \
> --disable-wallclock \
> --disable-watchdog
pkgconf fatal error: The file /home/charlton/cygnus/ecos-1.2.1/packages/packages \
lists a package CYGPKG_HAL_ARM_CL7211 which should be present in \
/home/charlton/cygnus/ecos-1.2.1/packages/hal/arm/cl7211. This package is missing.
[charlton@marble ecos-i386-stub]$ 

Any help is appreciated.

--John


On  7 Jan, Patrick O'Grady wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi, J.D.:
> 
> I posted an i386/PC HAL package;
> http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ecos/contrib.html has a pointer to it.  The
> last time I updated it was the end of October, so don't be suprised if the
> eCos source code has changed quite a bit--installation might not be as
> straightforward as before.  I'm actually planning on updating to the
> current CVS version next week.  Look out for a bug somewhere in the mutex
> handling code: I'm sure it's related to the interrupt handler code.  Stay
> tuned for that fix.  But in the meantime, that package allows you to
> construct a GDB stub on a floppy disk, so you just boot from that and then
> connect to the debugger from COM1.  If you have any significant problems,
> just e-mail questions to this list, that way everyone benefits from the
> discussion.  Cheers!
> 
> -patrick
> patrick@softprocess.com
> 
> 

Re: [ECOS] Embedded PC SBC

[Gary Thomas]

It looks like Patrick's files were [somewhat] based on newer files.

Try removing these lines from "packages/packages":

  package CYGPKG_HAL_ARM_CL7211 {
          alias           { "Cirrus Logic CL7211 evaluation board support" hal_arm_cl7211 arm_cl7211_hal }
          directory       hal/arm/cl7211
          include_dir     cyg/hal
          hardware
  }

Let me know if you continue to have problems.


On 10-Jan-00 j.d.charlton@ieee.org wrote:
> Patrick and ecos-discuss,
> 
> I am forging ahead with the ecos i386-pc build.  I think I set
> everything up the way Patrick's html files described it starting from
> the ecos-1.2.1.tar distribution tree.  I am building using RedHat
> 6.0. I first untarred only the latest file: hal-i386-pc-19991028.tgz
> I got the error below.  I decided to go back and untar the initial
> release (hal-i386-pc-0.1.tar) followed by the second release 
> (hal-i386-pc-19991022.tgz) and then the final version
> (hal-i386-pc-19991028.tgz) just in case it was meant to be done that
> way, but I still get the same error when building the gdb stub:
> 
> [charlton@marble ecos-i386-stub]$ tclsh ~/cygnus/ecos-1.2.1/packages/pkgconf.tcl \
>> --target i386 \
>> --platform pc \
>> --startup floppy \
>> --disable-kernel \
>> --disable-uitron \
>> --disable-libc \
>> --disable-libm \
>> --disable-io \
>> --disable-io_serial \
>> --disable-wallclock \
>> --disable-watchdog
> pkgconf fatal error: The file /home/charlton/cygnus/ecos-1.2.1/packages/packages \
> lists a package CYGPKG_HAL_ARM_CL7211 which should be present in \
> /home/charlton/cygnus/ecos-1.2.1/packages/hal/arm/cl7211. This package is missing.
> [charlton@marble ecos-i386-stub]$ 
> 
> Any help is appreciated.
> 
> --John
> 
> 
> On  7 Jan, Patrick O'Grady wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> Hi, J.D.:
>> 
>> I posted an i386/PC HAL package;
>> http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ecos/contrib.html has a pointer to it.  The
>> last time I updated it was the end of October, so don't be suprised if the
>> eCos source code has changed quite a bit--installation might not be as
>> straightforward as before.  I'm actually planning on updating to the
>> current CVS version next week.  Look out for a bug somewhere in the mutex
>> handling code: I'm sure it's related to the interrupt handler code.  Stay
>> tuned for that fix.  But in the meantime, that package allows you to
>> construct a GDB stub on a floppy disk, so you just boot from that and then
>> connect to the debugger from COM1.  If you have any significant problems,
>> just e-mail questions to this list, that way everyone benefits from the
>> discussion.  Cheers!
>> 
>> -patrick
>> patrick@softprocess.com
>> 
>> 
> 
> 

Re: [ECOS] Embedded PC SBC

[j.d.charlton]

I think I am making progress.  I removed the offending packages (I had
to remove about 5 total). Now I get the following error when processing
targets:

[charlton@marble ecos-i386-stub]$ tclsh ~/cygnus/ecos-1.2.1/packages/pkgconf.tcl --target i386 --platform pc --startup floppy --disable-kernel --disable-uitron --disable-libc --disable-libm --disable-io --disable-io_serial --disable-wallclock --disable-watchdog
Unexpected error while processing /home/charlton/cygnus/ecos-1.2.1/packages/targets
invalid command name "base_platform"
[charlton@marble ecos-i386-stub]$ 

--John


On 10 Jan, Gary Thomas wrote:
> 
> It looks like Patrick's files were [somewhat] based on newer files.
> 
> Try removing these lines from "packages/packages":
> 
>   package CYGPKG_HAL_ARM_CL7211 {
>           alias           { "Cirrus Logic CL7211 evaluation board support" hal_arm_cl7211 arm_cl7211_hal }
>           directory       hal/arm/cl7211
>           include_dir     cyg/hal
>           hardware
>   }
> 
> Let me know if you continue to have problems.
> 
> 
> On 10-Jan-00 j.d.charlton@ieee.org wrote:
>> Patrick and ecos-discuss,
>> 
>> I am forging ahead with the ecos i386-pc build.  I think I set
>> everything up the way Patrick's html files described it starting from
>> the ecos-1.2.1.tar distribution tree.  I am building using RedHat
>> 6.0. I first untarred only the latest file: hal-i386-pc-19991028.tgz
>> I got the error below.  I decided to go back and untar the initial
>> release (hal-i386-pc-0.1.tar) followed by the second release 
>> (hal-i386-pc-19991022.tgz) and then the final version
>> (hal-i386-pc-19991028.tgz) just in case it was meant to be done that
>> way, but I still get the same error when building the gdb stub:
>> 
>> [charlton@marble ecos-i386-stub]$ tclsh ~/cygnus/ecos-1.2.1/packages/pkgconf.tcl \
>>> --target i386 \
>>> --platform pc \
>>> --startup floppy \
>>> --disable-kernel \
>>> --disable-uitron \
>>> --disable-libc \
>>> --disable-libm \
>>> --disable-io \
>>> --disable-io_serial \
>>> --disable-wallclock \
>>> --disable-watchdog
>> pkgconf fatal error: The file /home/charlton/cygnus/ecos-1.2.1/packages/packages \
>> lists a package CYGPKG_HAL_ARM_CL7211 which should be present in \
>> /home/charlton/cygnus/ecos-1.2.1/packages/hal/arm/cl7211. This package is missing.
>> [charlton@marble ecos-i386-stub]$ 
>> 
>> Any help is appreciated.
>> 
>> --John
>> 
>> 
>> On  7 Jan, Patrick O'Grady wrote:
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Hi, J.D.:
>>> 
>>> I posted an i386/PC HAL package;
>>> http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ecos/contrib.html has a pointer to it.  The
>>> last time I updated it was the end of October, so don't be suprised if the
>>> eCos source code has changed quite a bit--installation might not be as
>>> straightforward as before.  I'm actually planning on updating to the
>>> current CVS version next week.  Look out for a bug somewhere in the mutex
>>> handling code: I'm sure it's related to the interrupt handler code.  Stay
>>> tuned for that fix.  But in the meantime, that package allows you to
>>> construct a GDB stub on a floppy disk, so you just boot from that and then
>>> connect to the debugger from COM1.  If you have any significant problems,
>>> just e-mail questions to this list, that way everyone benefits from the
>>> discussion.  Cheers!
>>> 
>>> -patrick
>>> patrick@softprocess.com
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
> 

[ECOS] Re: Embedded PC SBC

[Bart Veer]

>>>>> "John" == j d charlton <j.d.charlton@ieee.org> writes:

    John> I think I am making progress.  I removed the offending packages (I had
    John> to remove about 5 total). Now I get the following error when processing
    John> targets:

    John> [charlton@marble ecos-i386-stub]$ tclsh ~/cygnus/ecos-1.2.1/packages/pkgconf.tcl --target i386 --platform pc --startup floppy --disable-kernel --disable-uitron --disable-libc --disable-libm --disable-io --disable-io_serial --disable-wallclock --disable-watchdog
    John> Unexpected error while processing /home/charlton/cygnus/ecos-1.2.1/packages/targets
    John> invalid command name "base_platform"
    John> [charlton@marble ecos-i386-stub]$ 

Looking at Patrick's release notes for the hal-i386-pc-19991028.tgz
file, that release is intended to work with the current sources as
available via anonymous CVS
( http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ecos/anoncvs.html ). The base_platform
facility was added to pkgconf.tcl and the targets file after the eCos
1.2.1 release, so trying to use that release in conjunction with 
hal-i386-pc-19991028.tgz is going to be problematical. In fact there
may be other incompatibilities as well.

You will need to either:

1) work with the current eCos anonymous CVS sources, in conjunction
   with Patrick's latest release.

or:

2) work with the eCos 1.2.1 release and Patrick's original
   i386-pc-0.1.tgz file.

I suspect the earlier problems were caused by a similar
incompatibility problem.

Bart Veer // eCos net maintainer

Re: [ECOS] Re: Embedded PC SBC

[Patrick O'Grady]

Hi, JD--

Sorry you're having so much trouble.  I'd hoped to get some time last week
to update the HAL to the current CVS version of eCos; but, of course,
that's when my customers call and want me to spend a few days out of town.  
I've tarred up my eCos source tree and posted it for you--just download
ftp://sourceware.cygnus.com/pub/ecos/contrib/hal/i386/ecos-i386.tgz , and
try the pkgconf.tcl script from there.  Let me know if that helps.

-patrick
patrick@softprocess.com



On Fri, 14 Jan 2000, Bart Veer wrote:

> >>>>> "John" == j d charlton <j.d.charlton@ieee.org> writes:
> 
>     John> I think I am making progress.  I removed the offending packages (I had
>     John> to remove about 5 total). Now I get the following error when processing
>     John> targets:
> 
>     John> [charlton@marble ecos-i386-stub]$ tclsh ~/cygnus/ecos-1.2.1/packages/pkgconf.tcl --target i386 --platform pc --startup floppy --disable-kernel --disable-uitron --disable-libc --disable-libm --disable-io --disable-io_serial --disable-wallclock --disable-watchdog
>     John> Unexpected error while processing /home/charlton/cygnus/ecos-1.2.1/packages/targets
>     John> invalid command name "base_platform"
>     John> [charlton@marble ecos-i386-stub]$ 
> 
> Looking at Patrick's release notes for the hal-i386-pc-19991028.tgz
> file, that release is intended to work with the current sources as
> available via anonymous CVS
> ( http://sourceware.cygnus.com/ecos/anoncvs.html ). The base_platform
> facility was added to pkgconf.tcl and the targets file after the eCos
> 1.2.1 release, so trying to use that release in conjunction with 
> hal-i386-pc-19991028.tgz is going to be problematical. In fact there
> may be other incompatibilities as well.
> 
> You will need to either:
> 
> 1) work with the current eCos anonymous CVS sources, in conjunction
>    with Patrick's latest release.
> 
> or:
> 
> 2) work with the eCos 1.2.1 release and Patrick's original
>    i386-pc-0.1.tgz file.
> 
> I suspect the earlier problems were caused by a similar
> incompatibility problem.
> 
> Bart Veer // eCos net maintainer
>