The Linux/MIPS FAQ Contents: What is "Linux/MIPS"? On what hardware will it run? Is Linux/MIPS little or big endian? Is Linux/MIPS a 64 bit OS? Will it run on Multiprocessor machines? What is the state of the project? Any support/development tools available? Is there a mailing list? Can I help? What does it cost? Where can I get more information? Q) What is "Linux/MIPS"? A) Linux/MIPS is a port of the LINUX Operating System to computers equipped with MIPS processors. Linux/MIPS is based on the latest sources distributed by Linus Torvalds, the author of the original Linux/i386 kernel. Q) On what hardware will it run? A) Linux/MIPS will run on most ARC (ARC = Advanced Risc Computing) compliant systems equipped with Mips R4x00 processors. Future plans also include systems with other kinds of MIPS processors. Ports to the following systems are in progress: - Acer PICA-61 (R4400, 134/150 MHz CPU clock, up to 2 MB L2 cache, on-board video, SCSI, ethernet and serial/parallel I/O plus 5 free ISA slots) - Mips Magnum 4000PC (R4000, 100 MHz CPU clock, on-board video, SCSI, ethernet and serial/parallel I/O plus 4 free EISA slots) - Olivetti M700-10 (R4000, 100 MHz CPU clock, on-board video, SCSI, ethernet and serial/parallel I/O plus 4 free EISA slots) - DECstation 3100 (a.k.a PMAX) The ports to following systems are idle because of hardware and/or documentation problems: - Deskstation rPC44 (R4400 100 MHz CPU clock, up to 2 MB L2 cache, 5 free ISA slots) - Deskstation Tyne (R4600, 134 MHz CPU clock, up to 2 MB L2 cache, 2 free VLB and 4 free ISA slots) In the meantime many other platforms turned out to be good candidates for Linux/MIPS. Although we don't have code for Mips platforms other than the systems listed above, chances are quite good that some of the following systems will be supported in future: - Siemens/Nixdorf RM200/RM400 series - ShaBLAMM's NitroVLB cards - SGI's UltraP Pentium-replacement board - NEC RiscStation and RiscServer machines - All other ARC (ARC = Advanced Risc Computing) compliant Mips machines, even those we don't know yet, - Mips Magnum 3000 - Mips RC3230 - DECstation 3100 (with R3000 cpu) - Sony News (with R3000 cpu) Q) Is Linux/MIPS little or big endian? A) At least all of the ports to ARC systems will be little endian. However, it might be necessary to run older Mips systems, such as the Sony News and Mips RC3xxx, in big endian mode. If and how we can provide user code compatibility thru the whole Mips line hasn't been decided yet. We try to avoid endian-dependianess whereever possible. Q) Is Linux/MIPS a 64 bit OS? A) No, and for a simple reason: Linux/MIPS is based on the latest Linux/i386 sources. As long Linux/i386 is a 32bit system Linux/MIPS will it be, too. Q) Will it run on Multiprocessor machines? No, and for a simple reason: Linux/MIPS is based on the latest Linux/i386 sources. As long Linux/i386 is a single processor system Linux/MIPS will it be, too. Q) What is the state of the project? A) We have a bootstrap loader which should run on most ARC systems. A network bootloader for DECstations using the MOP protocol is under work. The current kernels based on Linux 1.2.x include drivers for console, keyboard and ramdisks. Network support is under work, and drivers for floppy and SCSI will be written soon. On the Acer, Olivetti and Mips boxes, the kernel boots from a floppy, mounts a ramdisk as root file- system and executes /bin/sh (currently ash). Launching other programs from the shell also works already, and a basic set of Unix tools will soon be available. Together with the upcoming network support and floppy and SCSI drivers, Linux/MIPS will soon be selfhosting! Q) Any support/development tools available? A) Yes. We have cross compilers, assemblers and linkers ready to use for Linux/i386, SunOs 4.1.3 and Solaris2.3 (Is anybody able to test for 2.4?). A Mips R2000/R3000 simulator (SPIM) for Linux/i386 is also ready to download. Binaries and documentation are available from following ftp sites: sunsite.unc.edu:/pub/Linux/ALPHA/mips ftp.uni-mainz.de:/pub/Linux/arch/mips ftp.waldorf-gmbh.de:/pub/linux/mips The current version is gcc 2.6.3 and binutils 2.5.2. There are patches required to both of these packages in the "src" subdirectory in the above locations. The target platform should be mips-unknown-linux. Q) Is there a mailing list? A) Yes. We created a linux-activists channel called "mips". To subscribe to this list, send a message to linux-activists-request@niksula.hut.fi with the command "X-Mn-Admin: join mips" as the first and only line. For people who are working on the port, there is a private list. Contact for further information. Q) Can I help? Sure! If you have a Mips box, please let us know. Eventually we find a way to include your box in the target list. And we would of course appreciate it, if you can spend some time into hacking kernel and/or user code. Please feel free to contact us at ! Q) What does it cost? A) Nothing, since Linux/MIPS is freely available. But the development costs -- as any development. We would appreciate any donations such as: FTP Mirror Sites (please contact ftp-admin@waldorf-gmbh.de) People doing real work Hardware (unused boards, disks etc.) Documentation about hardware details Q) Where can I get more information ? A) Please check our Web pages at http://www.waldorf-gmbh.de/waldorf/linux-mips-faq.html or send a message to linux@waldorf-gmbh.de Last update: 950717 (andy@waldorf-gmbh.de)