[LinuxBIOS] Alix boards

[Luis Correia]

Hi,

is there anyone working on LinuxBIOS for this board?

http://pcengines.ch/alix1b.htm

Thanks,
Luis Correia

[Jordan Crouse]

On 06/08/07 16:17 +0100, Luis Correia wrote:
> Hi,
>
> is there anyone working on LinuxBIOS for this board?
>
> http://pcengines.ch/alix1b.htm

The CPU and southbridge are supported.  I don't think anybody has been
working on the mainboard, though.  Looking at the chips on the board,
it looks like it might be similar to the db800 mainboard, but there
are probably some differences.

If you can get the schematics, then it should be fairly simple to get
LinuxBIOS working on this board (probably just a few changes to the
mainboard code).

Jordan

[Luis Correia]

Hi!

On 8/6/07, Jordan Crouse  wrote:
> On 06/08/07 16:17 +0100, Luis Correia wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > is there anyone working on LinuxBIOS for this board?
> >
> > http://pcengines.ch/alix1b.htm
>
> The CPU and southbridge are supported.  I don't think anybody has been
> working on the mainboard, though.  Looking at the chips on the board,
> it looks like it might be similar to the db800 mainboard, but there
> are probably some differences.
>
> If you can get the schematics, then it should be fairly simple to get
> LinuxBIOS working on this board (probably just a few changes to the
> mainboard code).

Yes, I've got some information about the board, but not the board itself.

The PCEngines engineer told me that 'someone on the US is already
working on LinuxBIOS for it'.

Therefore I asked :)
> Jordan

Answering also to Peter Stuge, yes, LPC flash add-on is possible and
will be the best way to test and develop LinuxBIOS for this particular
board :)

Luis Correia

[Peter Stuge]

On Mon, Aug 06, 2007 at 04:47:39PM +0100, Luis Correia wrote:
> > The CPU and southbridge are supported.  I don't think anybody has
> > been working on the mainboard, though.  Looking at the chips on
> > the board, it looks like it might be similar to the db800
> > mainboard, but there are probably some differences.
> >
> > If you can get the schematics, then it should be fairly simple to
> > get LinuxBIOS working on this board (probably just a few changes
> > to the mainboard code).
>
> Yes, I've got some information about the board, but not the board
> itself.

Is it possible to order them?
> The PCEngines engineer

AFAIK it's a one man show. Pascal subcontracts manufacturing of
course, but I think it's just him in the company.
> told me that 'someone on the US is already working on LinuxBIOS for
> it'.

LB is a good fit.

PC Engines also offers tinyBIOS, a somewhat commercial/somewhat open
source BIOS for embedded systems, much like Soekris offers comBIOS.
I spoke with Søren (the founder) at LinuxForum in Copenhagen in March
and I did not get the impression that he was particularly interested
in selling boards with LB. I guess there's a market for comBIOS.
> Answering also to Peter Stuge, yes, LPC flash add-on is possible
> and will be the best way to test and develop LinuxBIOS for this
> particular board :)

Aye.

//Peter

[Peter Stuge]

On Mon, Aug 06, 2007 at 04:17:13PM +0100, Luis Correia wrote:
> is there anyone working on LinuxBIOS for this board?
> http://pcengines.ch/alix1b.htm

Not that I know of. For anyone interested, amd/norwich or
artecgroup/dbe61 would be a good starting point.

The boards have a handy LPC header with an ISP signal that can be
used to disable the onboard flash chip so an external LPC flash chip
or emulator can be used instead. An adapter with just some wires is
needed to boot from Artec's LPC dongle.

//Peter