Re: ARM ports

[Martin Guy <martinwguy@gmail.com>]

On 8/13/10, Mohammed Rashad <mohammedrashadkm@gmail.com> wrote:
> I would like port ARM to MINIX3. But dont know where to start. If you can
> give me a spark to start porting of ARM I will be very grateful to you. Can
> I use any simulators for porting MINIX to ARM processors. I had also
> purchased a book related to ARM7 LPC2000 series. Do I need to buy an ARM
> development board. I dont have enough money to buy an ARM development board.
> But I will buy the development board when i complete the porting of MINIX to
> ARM.

The hard work in an OS port is porting all the device drivers to a new
OS: serial port, ethernet and so on. If you choose one of the major
platforms supported by QEMU (for example, the ARM versatile range) you
will find example code to work from in Linux, in NetBSD and so on).

> May I know which simulator you used for developing linux to ARM?

I found QEMU to be very solid as a platform. You can treat it as it if
were real hardware :)

> Can you tell me what all things I need and I should do for porting MINIX to
> ARM.? I need to know how you did the porting of linux to ARM processors?

That's a big question! :) I suggest you start studying the structure
of Minix, and the sections that differ from processor to processor.

Minix only works on x86 processors :-( but http://www.minix3.org says
"Ports to ARM and PowerPC are underway." so your first move is to
check with whoever is doing these ports, to know how far they have
progressed. I am sure they will be very pleased to receive your help
and to work with you!

    M