[Arm-netbook] ARM port(s) BoF at DebConf

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 6:35 PM, Steve McIntyre <steve at einval.com> wrote:
> [ Please note the cross-post and Reply-To ]

 ... which is debian-arm [arm-netbooks cc'd to keep people there informed]


> buildds
> =======
>
> Both armel and armhf are doing well, covering ~96% of the archive. We
> don't have any ARM server hardware yet, so we're stuck using
> development boards as build machines. They work, but they're a PITA
> for hosting and they're not designed for 24x7 usage like we're doing
> so they're not that reliable. armel currently using a load of Marvell
> Feroceon dev boards (v5), armhf on Freescale imx53 dev boards. Both
> sets of machines are limited in terms of memory, meaning the common
> large C++ apps are painful to build - linking in swap!

 rright.  many thanks to the person on arm-netbooks who found that the
netgear ReadyNAS boxes can take standard DDR3 SO-DIMMs.
 apparently there are lots of people who have been upgrading them from
the pathetic 256mb they come with to at least 1gb, with some degree of
success:

  http://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=110&t=49254

 however the discussion goes on to point out that the manufacturers
often have the RAM ICs changed out from under them but don't tell
anyone, just release the same RAM module with the same product number
but with different timing specs.

 the readynas duo v2 specs say, bless 'em, it's an "ARM processor from
marvell".  http://www.readynas.com/?p=6167 however a bit more
searching (thank you to gordan) it's apparently a 1.6ghz marvell CPU
that has at least fully main-lined linux kernel support in upstream
kernel.org.

 the nice thing about the readynas boxes is that they have gigabit
ethernet and 2 stonking SATA-II interfaces.

 searching, searching... achh fiinally, reghardware has an article
which actually says which ARM CPU it is.  why the f*** netgear
couldn't be bothered to put that on their own tech specs i really
don't know.  http://www.reghardware.com/2012/01/18/review_netgear_readynas_duo_v2_network_attached_storage/

 ok hooray, it's an 88F6282, aka armada-300.  right.  so the product
brief is downloadable here:
http://www.marvell.com/embedded-processors/armada-300/

 and it says it's a "Sheeva", whatever that is, and it says it's only
a 16-bit DDR3 interface, which means it's going to be rather painful
to use _but_ nothing like as bad as having to do linker phases in
swap.

 anyway, there you go: readynas duo v2.  actually available, actually
being sold in reasonable volume, actually having mainline linux kernel
support, actually taking standard DDR3 SO-DIMMs although it's
anybody's guess as to which ones will work, so you'll just have to
experiment.  it'd be good to know what works.

 /peace

l.