Hi Ken,
On 03.05.2008 00:56, Ken.Fuchs@bench.com wrote:
Intel Atom:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silverthorne_(CPU)
http://download.intel.com/design/chipsets/embedded/prodbrf/319544.pdf
http://download.intel.com/design/chipsets/embedded/datashts/319535.pdf
Intel SCH US15W (combined northbridge, southbridge and graphics):
http://download.intel.com/design/chipsets/embedded/prodbrf/319545.pdf
http://download.intel.com/design/chipsets/embedded/datashts/319537.pdf
Intel's "reference design" for these two is called the "Menlow" platform. For more Intel codename definitions concerning Mobile Internet Devices (MID), see:
http://softwareblogs.intel.com/2008/04/01/atom-101-deciphering-the-intel -codewords-around-mids/
Comments:
Assuming that technical documentation is available for Atom/Poulsbo, is it feasible to port coreboot (aka LinuxBIOS) to Atom/Poulsbo?
Yes, if real technical documentation is available. The northbridge datasheet you posted mentions nothing about RAM init, so while we could bring up the processor and possibly a serial console, RAM init will be impossible unless you find actual RAM init documentation. Intel has such documentation, but they only give it to you if you have a very good business case (and even then it could take a year until you get the docs).
Given that this port will support both a new processor and a new single support chip (as opposed to a northbridge and southbridge chipset), what kind of development effort might be required?
To be honest, I fear that doing the whole package (if you have all the needed docs) can take you roughly six months or more, depending on your firmware experience.
Is anyone else interested in such a port?
We (coreboot developers) are certainly interested in such a port and the EEEPC guys are interested in Intel mobile stuff as well.
Any suggestions and comments are welcome.
My first suggestion would be to investigate if you can find a matching platform from AMD. While Intel docs are difficult to get and sometimes even wrong, AMD provides fast access to good documentation and they even employ a few excellent engineers who work on coreboot and contribute all of their code (they contributed Barcelona processor support at the time it became available commercially). That's why I recommend AMD. Besides that, saying "we chose AMD because of coreboot" helps those nice AMD guys to justify and strengthen the development effort they invest into coreboot and everyone benefits.
Regards, Carl-Daniel