[ECOS] A suitable x86 based board

[ECOS] A suitable x86 based board

[R Vamshi Krishna]

Hi all,

I have been asked to recommend a suitable board that is x86 based and runs 
Linux as well as eCos. I have gone to the homepage that says Hardware
supported, but it does not give specific boards for x86 based boards.

Can anyone please help me.
Cost of the board and the people who supply them also would be a great 
help.

-- Vamshi

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Re: [ECOS] A suitable x86 based board

[Andrew Lunn]

On Mon, Jul 11, 2005 at 03:29:58PM +0530, R Vamshi Krishna wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I have been asked to recommend a suitable board that is x86 based and runs 
> Linux as well as eCos. I have gone to the homepage that says Hardware
> supported, but it does not give specific boards for x86 based boards.
> 
> Can anyone please help me.
> Cost of the board and the people who supply them also would be a great 
> help.

eCos should work on most PC motherboards. Linux works on nearly all PC
motherboards. So why not use a PC motherboard?

        Andrew

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Re: [ECOS] A suitable x86 based board

[R Vamshi Krishna]

Yeah PC Motherboard is also fine. But what I wanted was that is it 
possible to do away with a floppy drive totally ?

We have hard-disk/usb pen drive for logging data ..
And we have ideflash.

Is it possible to have the application on the hard-drive/usb-pen drive 
/flash such that manual loading can be done away with.

Sorry if the question is too naive ..

-- Vamshi

On Mon, 11 Jul 2005, Andrew Lunn wrote:

> On Mon, Jul 11, 2005 at 03:29:58PM +0530, R Vamshi Krishna wrote:
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> I have been asked to recommend a suitable board that is x86 based and runs
>> Linux as well as eCos. I have gone to the homepage that says Hardware
>> supported, but it does not give specific boards for x86 based boards.
>>
>> Can anyone please help me.
>> Cost of the board and the people who supply them also would be a great
>> help.
>
> eCos should work on most PC motherboards. Linux works on nearly all PC
> motherboards. So why not use a PC motherboard?
>
>        Andrew
>
>

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Re: [ECOS] A suitable x86 based board

[Andrew Lunn]

On Mon, Jul 11, 2005 at 06:41:38PM +0530, R Vamshi Krishna wrote:
> 
> Yeah PC Motherboard is also fine. But what I wanted was that is it 
> possible to do away with a floppy drive totally ?
> 
> We have hard-disk/usb pen drive for logging data ..
> And we have ideflash.
> 
> Is it possible to have the application on the hard-drive/usb-pen drive 
> /flash such that manual loading can be done away with.
> 
> Sorry if the question is too naive ..

I think if you use grub on the hard disk this should be possible. I've
not done it myself though....

        Andrew

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Re: [ECOS] A suitable x86 based board

[R Vamshi Krishna]

Actually we are doing this for an small automotive, which we have been 
building. Now I think durin experiments, the hard-disk might not withstand 
the physical strain.

So is it possible to boot from usb ?

-- Vamshi

On Mon, 11 Jul 2005, Andrew Lunn wrote:

> On Mon, Jul 11, 2005 at 06:41:38PM +0530, R Vamshi Krishna wrote:
>>
>> Yeah PC Motherboard is also fine. But what I wanted was that is it
>> possible to do away with a floppy drive totally ?
>>
>> We have hard-disk/usb pen drive for logging data ..
>> And we have ideflash.
>>
>> Is it possible to have the application on the hard-drive/usb-pen drive
>> /flash such that manual loading can be done away with.
>>
>> Sorry if the question is too naive ..
>
> I think if you use grub on the hard disk this should be possible. I've
> not done it myself though....
>
>        Andrew
>
>

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Re: [ECOS] A suitable x86 based board

[Nick Garnett]

R Vamshi Krishna <vamshi@cse.iitb.ac.in> writes:

> Yeah PC Motherboard is also fine. But what I wanted was that is it
> possible to do away with a floppy drive totally ?
> 
> We have hard-disk/usb pen drive for logging data ..
> And we have ideflash.
> 
> Is it possible to have the application on the hard-drive/usb-pen drive
> /flash such that manual loading can be done away with.
> 
> Sorry if the question is too naive ..

If you install GRUB on the boot device then RedBoot can be booted from
there. If you are also booting Linux you will need it anyway. eCos
applications can also be loaded directly from GRUB.

-- 
Nick Garnett                                     eCos Kernel Architect
http://www.ecoscentric.com                The eCos and RedBoot experts


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[ECOS] LCD GUI?

[Stefan Sommerfeld]

Hi,

I'm using a 192x32 pixel dot matrix display and i'm searching for a easy to 
use GUI system. Nothing special, just printing some text or scrolling.

Is there a GUI available which easily runs with eCos?

Bye... 


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Re: [ECOS] LCD GUI?

[Andrew Lunn]

On Mon, Jul 11, 2005 at 03:30:24PM +0200, Stefan Sommerfeld wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I'm using a 192x32 pixel dot matrix display and i'm searching for a easy to 
> use GUI system. Nothing special, just printing some text or scrolling.
> 
> Is there a GUI available which easily runs with eCos?

packages/services/gfx/mw

        Andrew

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Re: [ECOS] LCD GUI?

[Gary Thomas]

On Mon, 2005-07-11 at 16:06 +0200, Andrew Lunn wrote:
> On Mon, Jul 11, 2005 at 03:30:24PM +0200, Stefan Sommerfeld wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > I'm using a 192x32 pixel dot matrix display and i'm searching for a easy to 
> > use GUI system. Nothing special, just printing some text or scrolling.
> > 
> > Is there a GUI available which easily runs with eCos?
> 
> packages/services/gfx/mw

Note: MicroWindows is a bit heavy, albeit pretty complete GUI.

You could also look at the various low level LCD drivers, e.g.
  .../hal/arm/edb7xxx/current/src/lcd_support.c
  (there are many other similar ones)
These can easily be adapted to provide just simple text output
to an LCD, etc.

-- 
------------------------------------------------------------
Gary Thomas                 |  Consulting for the
MLB Associates              |    Embedded world
------------------------------------------------------------


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Re: [ECOS] LCD GUI?

[Stefan Sommerfeld]

Hi,
>>
>> I'm using a 192x32 pixel dot matrix display and i'm searching for a easy 
>> to
>> use GUI system. Nothing special, just printing some text or scrolling.
>>
>> Is there a GUI available which easily runs with eCos?
>
> packages/services/gfx/mw
>
I already saw this, but didn't look into it. Isn't this a bit to heavy? I 
just need some text to display and no windows.

Bye... 


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[ECOS] Re: A suitable x86 based board

[Grant Edwards]

In gmane.os.ecos.general, you wrote:

> Yeah PC Motherboard is also fine. But what I wanted was that
> is it possible to do away with a floppy drive totally ?

Just don't install one?  About half of my Linux boxes don't
have floppy disk drives.

> We have hard-disk/usb pen drive for logging data .. And we
> have ideflash.

OK.

>
> Is it possible to have the application on the
> hard-drive/usb-pen drive /flash such that manual loading can
> be done away with.

I don't understand teh question.  Assuming it _is_ a question.

-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow!  I just had my entire
                                  at               INTESTINAL TRACT coated
                               visi.com            with TEFLON!

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[ECOS] Re: A suitable x86 based board

[Grant Edwards]

In gmane.os.ecos.general, you wrote:

> Actually we are doing this for an small automotive, which we
> have been building. Now I think durin experiments, the
> hard-disk might not withstand the physical strain.
>
> So is it possible to boot from usb ?

That depends on the BIOS.  On newer boards it usually is.

-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow!  GOOD-NIGHT,
                                  at               everybody... Now I have to
                               visi.com            go administer FIRST-AID to
                                                   mypet LEISURE SUIT!!

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Re: [ECOS] LCD GUI?

[Savin Zlobec]

Stefan Sommerfeld wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm using a 192x32 pixel dot matrix display and i'm searching for a 
> easy to use GUI system. Nothing special, just printing some text or 
> scrolling.
>
> Is there a GUI available which easily runs with eCos?

Take a look at http://www.elatec.si/pw-041020.tgz - it is a lightweight 
windowing graphic library.
(with eCos synthetic driver included)

savin

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Re: [ECOS] Re: A suitable x86 based board

[R. Vamshi Krishna]

Grant Edwards wrote:

>In gmane.os.ecos.general, you wrote:
>
>  
>
>>Yeah PC Motherboard is also fine. But what I wanted was that
>>is it possible to do away with a floppy drive totally ?
>>    
>>
>
>Just don't install one?  About half of my Linux boxes don't
>have floppy disk drives.
>
>  
>
>>We have hard-disk/usb pen drive for logging data .. And we
>>have ideflash.
>>    
>>
>
>OK.
>
>  
>
>>Is it possible to have the application on the
>>hard-drive/usb-pen drive /flash such that manual loading can
>>be done away with.
>>    
>>
>
>I don't understand teh question.  Assuming it _is_ a question.
>  
>
What I meant was that so far with i386 PC as target I had been booting 
using FLOPPY + Redboot.

Can I do away with the floppy drive and boot the pc/board and load the 
application using ideflash and/or
usb pendrive ??
-- Vamshi


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[ECOS] Re: A suitable x86 based board

[Grant Edwards]

In gmane.os.ecos.general, you wrote:

> What I meant was that so far with i386 PC as target I had been booting 
> using FLOPPY + Redboot.
>
> Can I do away with the floppy drive and boot the pc/board and
> load the application using ideflash and/or usb pendrive ??

You can boot from anything your BIOS supports booting from.  If
your flash memory emulates an IDE disk drive, then you should
be able to boot from it.  If your BIOS supports booting from
USB mass-storage devices, then you can boot from the pen drive.

-- 
Grant Edwards                   grante             Yow!  I OWN six pink
                                  at               HIPPOS!!
                               visi.com            

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Re: [ECOS] Re: A suitable x86 based board

[Frank Pagliughi]

R. Vamshi Krishna wrote:

> Grant Edwards wrote:
>
>> In gmane.os.ecos.general, you wrote:
>>
>>  
>>
>>> Yeah PC Motherboard is also fine. But what I wanted was that
>>> is it possible to do away with a floppy drive totally ?
>>>   
>>
>>
>> Just don't install one?  About half of my Linux boxes don't
>> have floppy disk drives.
>>
>>  
>>
>>> We have hard-disk/usb pen drive for logging data .. And we
>>> have ideflash.
>>>   
>>
>>
>> OK.
>>
>>  
>>
>>> Is it possible to have the application on the
>>> hard-drive/usb-pen drive /flash such that manual loading can
>>> be done away with.
>>>   
>>
>>
>> I don't understand teh question.  Assuming it _is_ a question.
>>  
>>
> What I meant was that so far with i386 PC as target I had been booting 
> using FLOPPY + Redboot.
>
> Can I do away with the floppy drive and boot the pc/board and load the 
> application using ideflash and/or
> usb pendrive ??
> -- Vamshi
>
>
I've been using eCos and Linux on a number of different PC/104 boards, 
which are small format, somewhat  hardened, and fully PC compatible. 
There are dozens of manufacturers of motherboards, and I have 
successfully tested eCos & Linux on boards from WinSystems and Tri-M, 
and assume it should work on boards from any reputable manufacturer.

When you have eCos in mind, one thing to look for at is the Ethernet 
controller. Many of the embedded boards come with an I82559ER (or 
similar) controller. This works out-of-the-box with eCos. You'd be 
forced to write a device driver for most of the other controllers.

For Linux, a thing to watch is the processor. Many of the lower to 
mid-cost boards ship with the AMD SC520 processor. This works fine, but 
appears as a 486 to Linux. Since many desktop distributions now ship for 
Pentiums, you  will need to recompile the kernel, or look toward an 
embedded distribution. You'd probably want to do one or the other anyway.

Booting is the biggest headache. Most boards come with a standard IDE 
connector, but it's more common to embed a device with a DiskOnChip 
(DOC) or IDE-based Compact Flash. CF chips are MUCH easier to deal with 
because they appear to be IDE drives to the OS. You can load GRUB onto 
either, but it takes some patching/compiling to get it onto a DiskOnChip.

A few years back a patch appeared to get RedBoot to boot from a 
DiskOnChip or IDE drive, but never made it into the eCos mainline. I've 
used the patch sucessfully to boot off either the DOC or an IDE-CF 
drive. The patch is still available at:
    www.elsis.si/ecos/
but it only applies cleanly to the old source tree (around May 2002).

For using a DOC, it's a bit of a Catch-22. You need to install Linux on 
the embedded board, with the kernel recompiled to support MTD devices. 
Only then can you access the partitions on the DOC.

Frank Pagliughi




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Re: [ECOS] Re: A suitable x86 based board

[Frank Pagliughi]

R. Vamshi Krishna wrote:

> Grant Edwards wrote:
>
>> In gmane.os.ecos.general, you wrote:
>>
>>  
>>
>>> Yeah PC Motherboard is also fine. But what I wanted was that
>>> is it possible to do away with a floppy drive totally ?
>>>   
>>
>>
>> Just don't install one?  About half of my Linux boxes don't
>> have floppy disk drives.
>>
>>  
>>
>>> We have hard-disk/usb pen drive for logging data .. And we
>>> have ideflash.
>>>   
>>
>>
>> OK.
>>
>>  
>>
>>> Is it possible to have the application on the
>>> hard-drive/usb-pen drive /flash such that manual loading can
>>> be done away with.
>>>   
>>
>>
>> I don't understand teh question.  Assuming it _is_ a question.
>>  
>>
> What I meant was that so far with i386 PC as target I had been booting 
> using FLOPPY + Redboot.
>
> Can I do away with the floppy drive and boot the pc/board and load the 
> application using ideflash and/or
> usb pendrive ??
> -- Vamshi
>
>
Oops, I almost forgot....

There's another way to boot eCos applications on an i386/PC: from DOS!

There's an open-source DOS extender that's part of the OSLib project, by 
Luca Abeni. It's Multiboot compliant, so it can launch eCos executables 
if they're compiled correctly. It's called eXtender, and can be found at:

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=14468&package_id=13845

The idea I tried is not to use the extender to get in and out of DOS, 
but to boot into eCos at power-up and never return. I haven't done too 
much with it, but initial tests have worked well. I was mainly trying to 
get around the headaches of using eCos from the DiskOnChip.

To use it, just compile eCos for GRUB startup type and select "Load into 
higher memory" (CYGHWR_HAL_I386_PC_LOAD_HIGH -> true). This will create 
a Multiboot compliant application and place it in a suitable memory area 
for the extender. (Note that there's a recent patch to eCos to allow you 
to use Load High with GRUB startup for just this purpose).

Then load something like DOS, RomDOS, or FreeDOS onto the DiskOnChip and 
make an autoexec.bat file that launches your eCos app, using the extender.

Frank Pagliughi


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