doc/en/mips-requirements.xml

<?xml version='1.0' encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE guide SYSTEM "/dtd/guide.dtd">

<!-- $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/mips-requirements.xml,v 1.10 2005/07/05 09:00:46 neysx Exp $ -->

<guide link="/doc/en/mips-requirements.xml">

<title>Gentoo/MIPS Linux Hardware Requirements</title>

<author title="Author">
  <mail link="kumba@gentoo.org">Joshua Kinard</mail>
</author>

<author title="Editor">
  <mail link="redhatter@gentoo.org">Stuart Longland</mail>
</author>

<abstract>
This document provides an overview of the status of various MIPS-based systems
for installing Gentoo Linux. If you find errors or omissions please email the
maintainer or an editor.
</abstract>

<!-- The content of this document is licensed under the CC-BY-SA license -->
<!-- See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0 -->
<license />

<version>0.7</version>
<date>2005-07-05</date>

<chapter>
<title>General Requirements</title>

<section>
<title>System Requirements</title>
<body>

<p>
The exact requirements will largely depend on what you intend to use the
machine for and how you wish to go about installing Gentoo.  The following
table should give you a rough idea.
</p>

<table>
  <tr>
    <ti/>
    <th>Minimum</th>
    <th>Recommended</th>
    <th>Ideal</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>RAM:</th>
    <ti>48~64MB</ti>
    <ti>&gt;128MB</ti>
    <ti>~256MB</ti>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>HDD:</th>
    <ti>4GB</ti>
    <ti>&gt;8GB</ti>
    <ti>18GB</ti>
  </tr>
</table>

</body>

</section>
<section>
<title>A Note about serial consoles</title>
<body>

<p>
If you lack an appropriate Framebuffer, you will be required to use serial
console.  Serial console programs for linux include <c>minicom</c> and
<c>xc</c>, and for Windows, <c>HyperTerminal</c> and <c>Tera Term Pro</c>.  If
you are running Windows, and intend to use HyperTerminal, it is advised that
you seek out an updated client from the program's website instead of the one
installed by default.  An upgraded client provides much better serial support
than the default one installed by Windows.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>User Testimonies &amp; Kernel Configurations</title>
<body>

<p>
As an aid to the project, a <uri
link="http://stuartl.longlandclan.hopto.org/gentoo/mips/">hardware support
database</uri> has been set up.  This support database is intended to provide a
quick and easy way to determine how well certain configurations are supported.
The system also allows people to contribute their comments and kernel configs.
</p>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>Silicon Graphics Systems -- Stable</title>
<section>
<body>

<p>
The following systems are known to be very stable overall.  Just about all the
core hardware is supported in these systems, and there are very few outstanding
stability issues at this time.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>IP22: Indy, Indigo 2 and Challenge S</title>
<body>

<ul>
  <li>
    <b>Processor Options (Stable):</b>
    <ul>
      <li>
        <e>(on Indy and Challenge S)</e> R4000, R4400, R4600, R5000
      </li>
      <li>
        <e>(on Indigo 2)</e> R4000, R4400
      </li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Kernel Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>Linux 2.4: <e>Stable</e></li>
      <li>Linux 2.6: <e>Experimental</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Kernel Architecture Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>32-bit: <e>Stable</e></li>
      <li>64-bit: <e>Experimental</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Userland Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>o32: <e>Stable</e></li>
      <li>n32: <e>Experimental</e> (Only on Linux 2.6 R5000/RM5200)</li>
      <li>n64: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Notes:</b>
    <ol>
      <li>
        At present, only the Newport (XL) graphics framebuffer is supported in
        Linux.  Therefore on systems with other framebuffers, you will need to
        use serial console.
      </li>
      <li>
        The Challenge S has its RJ-45 connector on a daughter board (Mezz)
        linked with an unsupported SCSI adapter, a WD33C95A.  In order for this
        network connector to function, this SCSI bus needs to be activated,
        however it is not yet supported by Linux.  As a result of this, the
        Challenge S can only get network connectivity via its AUI connector.
      </li>
      <li>
        Indigo2 EISA Support is <e>highly</e> experimental.  It isn't very well
        tested and may not work with all hardware.  Hardware that it is known
        to function with is listed, and as more compatible hardware is
        discovered, it will be added.  Please note that hardware requiring DMA
        support is currently not functional.  This includes EISA/ISA-based
        soundcards.  EISA Video cards requiring an x86-compatible BIOS are also
        not functional.
      </li>
    </ol>
  </li>
</ul>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>IP32: O2</title>
<body>

<ul>
  <li>
    <b>Processor Options:</b>
    <ul>
      <li><b>Stable:</b> R5000, RM5200</li>
      <li><b>Experimental:</b> RM7000</li>
      <li><b>Unsupported:</b> R10000</li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Kernel Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>Linux 2.4: <e>Unsupported in Kernel</e></li>
      <li>Linux 2.6: <e>Stable</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Kernel Architecture Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>32-bit: <e>Unsupported in Kernel</e></li>
      <li>64-bit: <e>Stable</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Userland Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>o32: <e>Stable</e></li>
      <li>n32: <e>Experimental</e> (Only on Linux 2.6)</li>
      <li>n64: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Notes:</b>
    <ol>
      <li>
        The O2 RM7000 Processor support is limited in Linux currently, as it
        requires a fairly recent kernel version (&gt;2.6.7), and has several
        notable issues.  The first issue is a problem with SCSI at the moment,
        making the internal disks unusable at the current time.  The Level 3
        (Tertiary) Cache is also disabled due to there being no support for
        this cache in the linux kernel.
      </li>
      <li>
        Please be aware that this note only applies to the official SGI RM7000
        running at 350MHz, not the 600MHz RM7000 that can be assembed using an
        RM5200 board.  These "modded" CPU modules for O2 systems are not
        supported/tested, although, in theory, they should be functional, but
        may suffer from the same problems listed above.
      </li>
    </ol>
  </li>
</ul>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>Silicon Graphics Systems -- Experimental/Unstable</title>
<section>
<body>

<p>
The systems listed here are known to run Linux... <e>HOWEVER</e>, in many
cases, there are known stability issues, and major gaps in the hardware
support. In short, it will be a rough and bumpy ride.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>IP27: Origin 200 and 2000</title>
<body>

<ul>
  <li>
    <b>Processor Options <e>(Experimental)</e>:</b> R10000, R12000
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Kernel Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>Linux 2.4: <e>Unsupported in Kernel</e></li>
      <li>Linux 2.6: <e>Experimental</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Kernel Architecture Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>32-bit: <e>Unsupported in Kernel</e></li>
      <li>64-bit: <e>Experimental</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Userland Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>o32: <e>Stable</e></li>
      <li>n32: <e>Experimental</e></li>
      <li>n64: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ul>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>IP28: Indigo 2 Impact (a.k.a Indigo 2 R10k)</title>
<body>

<ul>
  <li>
    <b>Processor Options <e>(Experimental)</e>:</b> R10000
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Kernel Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>Linux 2.4: <e>Experimental</e></li>
      <li>Linux 2.6: <e>Experimental</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Kernel Architecture Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>32-bit: <e>Unsupported in Kernel</e></li>
      <li>64-bit: <e>Experimental</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Userland Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>o32: <e>Stable</e></li>
      <li>n32: <e>Experimental</e> (Only on Linux 2.6)</li>
      <li>n64: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Notes:</b>
    <ol>
      <li>
        IP28 Indigo2 Impact support (classified as an Indigo2 system w/ an
        R10000 Processor) is <e>very experimental</e>.  Most of the work is
        currently being done by Peter Fuerst who maintains patches on his <uri
        link="http://home.alphastar.de/fuerst/download.html">website</uri>.
        This kernel is <e>NOT</e> intended for stable, day-to-day use.  The
        Indigo2 IP28 system suffers from an issue known as <e>Speculative
        Execution</e>, a feature of the R10000 Processor that is problematic on
        machines that are <e>Non Cache Coherent</e>, such as the IP28 Indigo2
        and on R10000/R12000-based IP32 O2 systems.  Details on the nature of
        Speculative Execution, and the issues it poses to the Indigo2 can be
        found at the following URLs:
        <ul>
          <li>
            MIPS R10000 Microprocessor User's Manual (See <e>PDF Pages
            51-55</e>)
            <uri>http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/manuals/2000/007-2490-001/pdf/007-2490-001.pdf</uri>
          </li>
          <li>
            Post to NetBSD sgimips Mailing List on 29 Jun 2000
            <uri>http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-sgimips/2000/06/29/0006.html</uri>
          </li>
        </ul>
      </li>
    </ol>
  </li>
</ul>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>IP30: Octane</title>
<body>

<ul>
  <li><b>Processor Options (Experimental):</b> R10000, R12000, R14000A</li>
  <li>
    <b>Kernel Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>Linux 2.4: <e>Unsupported in Kernel</e></li>
      <li>Linux 2.6: <e>Experimental</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Kernel Architecture Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>32-bit: <e>Unsupported in Kernel</e></li>
      <li>64-bit: <e>Experimental</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Userland Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>o32: <e>Stable</e></li>
      <li>n32: <e>Experimental</e></li>
      <li>n64: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Notes:</b>
    <ol>
      <li>
        Octane support in Linux should be regarded as experimental. Support for
        this particular machine from SGI has been progressing quite well and
        the Linux kernel functions reasonably well. The current status for this
        system may be found on <uri
        link="http://helios.et.put.poznan.pl/~sskowron/ip30/">Stanislaw
        Skowronek's page</uri>.  Wider support in Gentoo for this system will
        be available in the future, so watch this space closely for more
        details.
      </li>
      <li>
        The serial ports on the Octane currently only support 9600 baud rate,
        8-bits, no parity, 1 stop bit.  Other baud rates do not currently work
        at present.
      </li>
    </ol>
  </li>
</ul>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>Silicon Graphics Systems -- Unsupported</title>
<section>
<body>

<p>
Just about all of these systems are totally unsupported at the kernel level --
making a full Linux system totally impossible.  Little is known about a lot of
the systems listed here -- therefore any support in the near future is highly
unlikely.  You may wish to keep an eye on the <uri
link="http://www.linux-mips.org">Linux/MIPS website</uri> for any news of ports
-- either that, or start your own. :-)
</p>

<ul>
  <li>IP12: Iris Indigo (R3000 CPU)</li>
  <li>IP20: Iris Indigo (R4000 or R4400 CPU)</li>
  <li>IP26: Indigo 2 Power (R8000 CPU)</li>
  <li>IP34: Fuel (R14000A or R16000 CPU)</li>
  <li>IP35: Origin 3000 (R14000 or R14000A CPU)</li>
  <li>IP45: Origin 300 (R14000 CPU)</li>
  <li>IP53: Origin 350 &amp; Tezro (R16000 CPU)</li>
</ul>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>Silicon Graphics Accessories</title>
<section>
<body>

<p>
As with most systems, there is quite wide array of peripherals that one can
obtain for Silicon Graphics systems.  While a lot of these work in IRIX, Linux
support is a bit touch-and-go on some of these items.  The following table
lists the support for each device.
</p>

<table>
  <tr>
    <th>Stable Support</th>
    <th>Experimental Support</th>
    <th>Unsupported/Untested</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <ti>
      Indy/Indigo2: XL Graphics Card (Newport)<br/>
      Indy/Indigo2: SGI Seeq Ethernet 10Mbps<br/>
      Indy/Indigo2: WD33C93 SCSI<br/>
      Indy/Indigo2: HAL2 Sound/Audio<br/>
      Indy/Indigo2: Parallel Port<br/>
      Indy/Indigo2: Serial Port<br/>
      O2: SGI MACE Ethernet 10/100Mbps<br/>
      O2: Adaptec AIC7880 SCSI<br/>
      O2: Serial Port<br/>
      Indigo2 ISA: Parallel Port Card (PC-Style)<br/>
      Indigo2 ISA: NE2000 Compatible 10Mbps NIC (RTL8019)
    </ti>
    <ti>
      Indy: I2C/VINO subsystem &amp; IndyCam<br/>
      Indigo2 EISA: 3COM 3c597 10/100Mbps<br/>
      O2: GBE Framebuffer<br/>
      O2: PCI Slot<br/>
      Octane: Keyboard<br/>
      Octane: Mardi Gras (MGRAS) Graphics<br/>
      Octane: QLogic ISP1040B SCSI<br/>
      Octane: RAD1 Audio<br/>
      Octane: SMP Support<br/>
      Octane: V6/V8/V10/V12 Graphics (Odyssey)<br/>
      Origin: IOC3 Ethernet 10/100Mbps<br/>
      Origin: QLogic ISP1020 SCSI<br/>
      O2 PCI: ALi 5273 USB 2.0 (Req. Kernel &gt;=2.6.8.1)
    </ti>
    <ti>
      (1)Indy/Indigo2: Impact &amp; Extreme/XZ graphics chipsets<br/>
      Indy: Phobos G130 10/100Mbps NIC<br/>
      Indigo2: GIO64 Slots<br/>
      Indigo2: Phobos G160 10/100Mbps NIC<br/>
      Challenge S: WD33C95A SCSI Adapter/RJ-45 Daughter Card<br/>
      O2: VICE Subsystem
    </ti>
  </tr>
</table>

<note>
(1) Work has begun on porting the ImpactSR to the Indigo2 Impact (IP28)
workstation.  At the moment, it's early days, and the driver is not functional
yet, but this may change in the coming months.<br/>
Likewise with Extreme graphics... a few people were starting to look into
writing drivers for this chipset.  Nothing has been released yet, but we may
see something in the not too distant future.<br/>
We will update this page if such a driver is released.
</note>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>Cobalt Servers -- Stable</title>
<section>
<body>

<p>
The Cobalt servers are a set of machines all based around the QED RM523[01]
CPU.  They came in two varieties, the RaQ -- a rackmounted model, and the Qube,
a small desktop model (1ft. cube).  The big difference between these systems
and the SGI systems above, is that these systems are <e>little endian</e>
(<c>mipsel</c>) as opposed to <e>big endian</e> (<c>mips</c>).
</p>

<p>
These were also sold under an OEM arragement to other companies, examples of
this are the Gateway Microserver (Qube 2) and the Seagate NasRaQ (RaQ 2).
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section>
<title>Qube/Raq 2800 (a.k.a Qube/Raq 2)</title>
<body>

<ul>
  <li><b>Processor:</b> QED RM5231 @ 250MHz</li>
  <li>
    <b>Kernel Version Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>Linux 2.4: <e>Stable</e></li>
      <li>Linux 2.6: <e>Stable</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Kernel Architecture Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>32-bit: <e>Stable</e></li>
      <li>64-bit: <e>Highly Experimental</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Userland Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>o32: <e>Stable</e></li>
      <li>n32: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
      <li>n64: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ul>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>Cobalt Servers -- Experimental</title>
<section>
<title>Raq 2700 (a.k.a Raq 1)</title>
<body>

<ul>
  <li><b>Processor:</b> QED RM5230 @ 150MHz</li>
  <li>
    <b>Kernel Version Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>Linux 2.4: <e>Experimental</e></li>
      <li>Linux 2.6: <e>Untested In Gentoo</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Kernel Architecture Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>32-bit: <e>Experimental</e></li>
      <li>64-bit: <e>Untested In Gentoo</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Userland Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>o32: <e>Experimental</e></li>
      <li>n32: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
      <li>n64: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ul>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>

<chapter>
<title>Cobalt Servers -- Unsupported</title>
<section>
<title>Qube 2700 (a.k.a Qube 1)</title>
<body>

<p>
The Qube 2700 was the first of this whole subarchitecture.  Unfortunately, it
lacks a serial port, making installation at present, damn near impossible.
We're looking into ways we can support this system, but as none of the
developers have access to one of these machines, we have no way to test our
efforts.  You may wish to have a look at <uri
link="http://www.metzner.org/projects/qube/">Jan Metzner's page</uri> for more
information.
</p>

<ul>
  <li><b>Processor:</b> QED RM5230 @ 150MHz</li>
  <li>
    <b>Kernel Version Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>Linux 2.4: <e>Untested In Gentoo</e></li>
      <li>Linux 2.6: <e>Untested In Gentoo</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Kernel Architecture Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>32-bit: <e>Untested In Gentoo</e></li>
      <li>64-bit: <e>Untested In Gentoo</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
  <li>
    <b>Userland Support:</b>
    <ul>
      <li>o32: <e>Untested In Gentoo</e></li>
      <li>n32: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
      <li>n64: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
    </ul>
  </li>
</ul>

</body>
</section>
</chapter>
</guide>
1	<?xml version='1.0' encoding="UTF-8"?>
2	<!DOCTYPE guide SYSTEM "/dtd/guide.dtd">
3
4	<!-- $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/mips-requirements.xml,v 1.10 2005/07/05 09:00:46 neysx Exp $ -->
5
6	<guide link="/doc/en/mips-requirements.xml">
7
8	<title>Gentoo/MIPS Linux Hardware Requirements</title>
9
10	<author title="Author">
11	<mail link="kumba@gentoo.org">Joshua Kinard</mail>
12	</author>
13
14	<author title="Editor">
15	<mail link="redhatter@gentoo.org">Stuart Longland</mail>
16	</author>
17
18	<abstract>
19	This document provides an overview of the status of various MIPS-based systems
20	for installing Gentoo Linux. If you find errors or omissions please email the
21	maintainer or an editor.
22	</abstract>
23
24	<!-- The content of this document is licensed under the CC-BY-SA license -->
25	<!-- See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0 -->
26	<license />
27
28	<version>0.7</version>
29	<date>2005-07-05</date>
30
31	<chapter>
32	<title>General Requirements</title>
33
34	<section>
35	<title>System Requirements</title>
36	<body>
37
38	<p>
39	The exact requirements will largely depend on what you intend to use the
40	machine for and how you wish to go about installing Gentoo. The following
41	table should give you a rough idea.
42	</p>
43
44	<table>
45	<tr>
46	<ti/>
47	<th>Minimum</th>
48	<th>Recommended</th>
49	<th>Ideal</th>
50	</tr>
51	<tr>
52	<th>RAM:</th>
53	<ti>48~64MB</ti>
54	<ti>>128MB</ti>
55	<ti>~256MB</ti>
56	</tr>
57	<tr>
58	<th>HDD:</th>
59	<ti>4GB</ti>
60	<ti>>8GB</ti>
61	<ti>18GB</ti>
62	</tr>
63	</table>
64
65	</body>
66
67	</section>
68	<section>
69	<title>A Note about serial consoles</title>
70	<body>
71
72	<p>
73	If you lack an appropriate Framebuffer, you will be required to use serial
74	console. Serial console programs for linux include <c>minicom</c> and
75	<c>xc</c>, and for Windows, <c>HyperTerminal</c> and <c>Tera Term Pro</c>. If
76	you are running Windows, and intend to use HyperTerminal, it is advised that
77	you seek out an updated client from the program's website instead of the one
78	installed by default. An upgraded client provides much better serial support
79	than the default one installed by Windows.
80	</p>
81
82	</body>
83	</section>
84	<section>
85	<title>User Testimonies & Kernel Configurations</title>
86	<body>
87
88	<p>
89	As an aid to the project, a <uri
90	link="http://stuartl.longlandclan.hopto.org/gentoo/mips/">hardware support
91	database</uri> has been set up. This support database is intended to provide a
92	quick and easy way to determine how well certain configurations are supported.
93	The system also allows people to contribute their comments and kernel configs.
94	</p>
95
96	</body>
97	</section>
98	</chapter>
99
100	<chapter>
101	<title>Silicon Graphics Systems -- Stable</title>
102	<section>
103	<body>
104
105	<p>
106	The following systems are known to be very stable overall. Just about all the
107	core hardware is supported in these systems, and there are very few outstanding
108	stability issues at this time.
109	</p>
110
111	</body>
112	</section>
113	<section>
114	<title>IP22: Indy, Indigo 2 and Challenge S</title>
115	<body>
116
117	<ul>
118	<li>
119	<b>Processor Options (Stable):</b>
120	<ul>
121	<li>
122	<e>(on Indy and Challenge S)</e> R4000, R4400, R4600, R5000
123	</li>
124	<li>
125	<e>(on Indigo 2)</e> R4000, R4400
126	</li>
127	</ul>
128	</li>
129	<li>
130	<b>Kernel Support:</b>
131	<ul>
132	<li>Linux 2.4: <e>Stable</e></li>
133	<li>Linux 2.6: <e>Experimental</e></li>
134	</ul>
135	</li>
136	<li>
137	<b>Kernel Architecture Support:</b>
138	<ul>
139	<li>32-bit: <e>Stable</e></li>
140	<li>64-bit: <e>Experimental</e></li>
141	</ul>
142	</li>
143	<li>
144	<b>Userland Support:</b>
145	<ul>
146	<li>o32: <e>Stable</e></li>
147	<li>n32: <e>Experimental</e> (Only on Linux 2.6 R5000/RM5200)</li>
148	<li>n64: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
149	</ul>
150	</li>
151	<li>
152	<b>Notes:</b>
153	<ol>
154	<li>
155	At present, only the Newport (XL) graphics framebuffer is supported in
156	Linux. Therefore on systems with other framebuffers, you will need to
157	use serial console.
158	</li>
159	<li>
160	The Challenge S has its RJ-45 connector on a daughter board (Mezz)
161	linked with an unsupported SCSI adapter, a WD33C95A. In order for this
162	network connector to function, this SCSI bus needs to be activated,
163	however it is not yet supported by Linux. As a result of this, the
164	Challenge S can only get network connectivity via its AUI connector.
165	</li>
166	<li>
167	Indigo2 EISA Support is <e>highly</e> experimental. It isn't very well
168	tested and may not work with all hardware. Hardware that it is known
169	to function with is listed, and as more compatible hardware is
170	discovered, it will be added. Please note that hardware requiring DMA
171	support is currently not functional. This includes EISA/ISA-based
172	soundcards. EISA Video cards requiring an x86-compatible BIOS are also
173	not functional.
174	</li>
175	</ol>
176	</li>
177	</ul>
178
179	</body>
180	</section>
181	<section>
182	<title>IP32: O2</title>
183	<body>
184
185	<ul>
186	<li>
187	<b>Processor Options:</b>
188	<ul>
189	<li><b>Stable:</b> R5000, RM5200</li>
190	<li><b>Experimental:</b> RM7000</li>
191	<li><b>Unsupported:</b> R10000</li>
192	</ul>
193	</li>
194	<li>
195	<b>Kernel Support:</b>
196	<ul>
197	<li>Linux 2.4: <e>Unsupported in Kernel</e></li>
198	<li>Linux 2.6: <e>Stable</e></li>
199	</ul>
200	</li>
201	<li>
202	<b>Kernel Architecture Support:</b>
203	<ul>
204	<li>32-bit: <e>Unsupported in Kernel</e></li>
205	<li>64-bit: <e>Stable</e></li>
206	</ul>
207	</li>
208	<li>
209	<b>Userland Support:</b>
210	<ul>
211	<li>o32: <e>Stable</e></li>
212	<li>n32: <e>Experimental</e> (Only on Linux 2.6)</li>
213	<li>n64: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
214	</ul>
215	</li>
216	<li>
217	<b>Notes:</b>
218	<ol>
219	<li>
220	The O2 RM7000 Processor support is limited in Linux currently, as it
221	requires a fairly recent kernel version (>2.6.7), and has several
222	notable issues. The first issue is a problem with SCSI at the moment,
223	making the internal disks unusable at the current time. The Level 3
224	(Tertiary) Cache is also disabled due to there being no support for
225	this cache in the linux kernel.
226	</li>
227	<li>
228	Please be aware that this note only applies to the official SGI RM7000
229	running at 350MHz, not the 600MHz RM7000 that can be assembed using an
230	RM5200 board. These "modded" CPU modules for O2 systems are not
231	supported/tested, although, in theory, they should be functional, but
232	may suffer from the same problems listed above.
233	</li>
234	</ol>
235	</li>
236	</ul>
237
238	</body>
239	</section>
240	</chapter>
241
242	<chapter>
243	<title>Silicon Graphics Systems -- Experimental/Unstable</title>
244	<section>
245	<body>
246
247	<p>
248	The systems listed here are known to run Linux... <e>HOWEVER</e>, in many
249	cases, there are known stability issues, and major gaps in the hardware
250	support. In short, it will be a rough and bumpy ride.
251	</p>
252
253	</body>
254	</section>
255	<section>
256	<title>IP27: Origin 200 and 2000</title>
257	<body>
258
259	<ul>
260	<li>
261	<b>Processor Options <e>(Experimental)</e>:</b> R10000, R12000
262	</li>
263	<li>
264	<b>Kernel Support:</b>
265	<ul>
266	<li>Linux 2.4: <e>Unsupported in Kernel</e></li>
267	<li>Linux 2.6: <e>Experimental</e></li>
268	</ul>
269	</li>
270	<li>
271	<b>Kernel Architecture Support:</b>
272	<ul>
273	<li>32-bit: <e>Unsupported in Kernel</e></li>
274	<li>64-bit: <e>Experimental</e></li>
275	</ul>
276	</li>
277	<li>
278	<b>Userland Support:</b>
279	<ul>
280	<li>o32: <e>Stable</e></li>
281	<li>n32: <e>Experimental</e></li>
282	<li>n64: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
283	</ul>
284	</li>
285	</ul>
286
287	</body>
288	</section>
289	<section>
290	<title>IP28: Indigo 2 Impact (a.k.a Indigo 2 R10k)</title>
291	<body>
292
293	<ul>
294	<li>
295	<b>Processor Options <e>(Experimental)</e>:</b> R10000
296	</li>
297	<li>
298	<b>Kernel Support:</b>
299	<ul>
300	<li>Linux 2.4: <e>Experimental</e></li>
301	<li>Linux 2.6: <e>Experimental</e></li>
302	</ul>
303	</li>
304	<li>
305	<b>Kernel Architecture Support:</b>
306	<ul>
307	<li>32-bit: <e>Unsupported in Kernel</e></li>
308	<li>64-bit: <e>Experimental</e></li>
309	</ul>
310	</li>
311	<li>
312	<b>Userland Support:</b>
313	<ul>
314	<li>o32: <e>Stable</e></li>
315	<li>n32: <e>Experimental</e> (Only on Linux 2.6)</li>
316	<li>n64: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
317	</ul>
318	</li>
319	<li>
320	<b>Notes:</b>
321	<ol>
322	<li>
323	IP28 Indigo2 Impact support (classified as an Indigo2 system w/ an
324	R10000 Processor) is <e>very experimental</e>. Most of the work is
325	currently being done by Peter Fuerst who maintains patches on his <uri
326	link="http://home.alphastar.de/fuerst/download.html">website</uri>.
327	This kernel is <e>NOT</e> intended for stable, day-to-day use. The
328	Indigo2 IP28 system suffers from an issue known as <e>Speculative
329	Execution</e>, a feature of the R10000 Processor that is problematic on
330	machines that are <e>Non Cache Coherent</e>, such as the IP28 Indigo2
331	and on R10000/R12000-based IP32 O2 systems. Details on the nature of
332	Speculative Execution, and the issues it poses to the Indigo2 can be
333	found at the following URLs:
334	<ul>
335	<li>
336	MIPS R10000 Microprocessor User's Manual (See <e>PDF Pages
337	51-55</e>)
338	<uri>http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/manuals/2000/007-2490-001/pdf/007-2490-001.pdf</uri>
339	</li>
340	<li>
341	Post to NetBSD sgimips Mailing List on 29 Jun 2000
342	<uri>http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-sgimips/2000/06/29/0006.html</uri>
343	</li>
344	</ul>
345	</li>
346	</ol>
347	</li>
348	</ul>
349
350	</body>
351	</section>
352	<section>
353	<title>IP30: Octane</title>
354	<body>
355
356	<ul>
357	<li><b>Processor Options (Experimental):</b> R10000, R12000, R14000A</li>
358	<li>
359	<b>Kernel Support:</b>
360	<ul>
361	<li>Linux 2.4: <e>Unsupported in Kernel</e></li>
362	<li>Linux 2.6: <e>Experimental</e></li>
363	</ul>
364	</li>
365	<li>
366	<b>Kernel Architecture Support:</b>
367	<ul>
368	<li>32-bit: <e>Unsupported in Kernel</e></li>
369	<li>64-bit: <e>Experimental</e></li>
370	</ul>
371	</li>
372	<li>
373	<b>Userland Support:</b>
374	<ul>
375	<li>o32: <e>Stable</e></li>
376	<li>n32: <e>Experimental</e></li>
377	<li>n64: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
378	</ul>
379	</li>
380	<li>
381	<b>Notes:</b>
382	<ol>
383	<li>
384	Octane support in Linux should be regarded as experimental. Support for
385	this particular machine from SGI has been progressing quite well and
386	the Linux kernel functions reasonably well. The current status for this
387	system may be found on <uri
388	link="http://helios.et.put.poznan.pl/~sskowron/ip30/">Stanislaw
389	Skowronek's page</uri>. Wider support in Gentoo for this system will
390	be available in the future, so watch this space closely for more
391	details.
392	</li>
393	<li>
394	The serial ports on the Octane currently only support 9600 baud rate,
395	8-bits, no parity, 1 stop bit. Other baud rates do not currently work
396	at present.
397	</li>
398	</ol>
399	</li>
400	</ul>
401
402	</body>
403	</section>
404	</chapter>
405
406	<chapter>
407	<title>Silicon Graphics Systems -- Unsupported</title>
408	<section>
409	<body>
410
411	<p>
412	Just about all of these systems are totally unsupported at the kernel level --
413	making a full Linux system totally impossible. Little is known about a lot of
414	the systems listed here -- therefore any support in the near future is highly
415	unlikely. You may wish to keep an eye on the <uri
416	link="http://www.linux-mips.org">Linux/MIPS website</uri> for any news of ports
417	-- either that, or start your own. :-)
418	</p>
419
420	<ul>
421	<li>IP12: Iris Indigo (R3000 CPU)</li>
422	<li>IP20: Iris Indigo (R4000 or R4400 CPU)</li>
423	<li>IP26: Indigo 2 Power (R8000 CPU)</li>
424	<li>IP34: Fuel (R14000A or R16000 CPU)</li>
425	<li>IP35: Origin 3000 (R14000 or R14000A CPU)</li>
426	<li>IP45: Origin 300 (R14000 CPU)</li>
427	<li>IP53: Origin 350 & Tezro (R16000 CPU)</li>
428	</ul>
429
430	</body>
431	</section>
432	</chapter>
433
434	<chapter>
435	<title>Silicon Graphics Accessories</title>
436	<section>
437	<body>
438
439	<p>
440	As with most systems, there is quite wide array of peripherals that one can
441	obtain for Silicon Graphics systems. While a lot of these work in IRIX, Linux
442	support is a bit touch-and-go on some of these items. The following table
443	lists the support for each device.
444	</p>
445
446	<table>
447	<tr>
448	<th>Stable Support</th>
449	<th>Experimental Support</th>
450	<th>Unsupported/Untested</th>
451	</tr>
452	<tr>
453	<ti>
454	Indy/Indigo2: XL Graphics Card (Newport)<br/>
455	Indy/Indigo2: SGI Seeq Ethernet 10Mbps<br/>
456	Indy/Indigo2: WD33C93 SCSI<br/>
457	Indy/Indigo2: HAL2 Sound/Audio<br/>
458	Indy/Indigo2: Parallel Port<br/>
459	Indy/Indigo2: Serial Port<br/>
460	O2: SGI MACE Ethernet 10/100Mbps<br/>
461	O2: Adaptec AIC7880 SCSI<br/>
462	O2: Serial Port<br/>
463	Indigo2 ISA: Parallel Port Card (PC-Style)<br/>
464	Indigo2 ISA: NE2000 Compatible 10Mbps NIC (RTL8019)
465	</ti>
466	<ti>
467	Indy: I2C/VINO subsystem & IndyCam<br/>
468	Indigo2 EISA: 3COM 3c597 10/100Mbps<br/>
469	O2: GBE Framebuffer<br/>
470	O2: PCI Slot<br/>
471	Octane: Keyboard<br/>
472	Octane: Mardi Gras (MGRAS) Graphics<br/>
473	Octane: QLogic ISP1040B SCSI<br/>
474	Octane: RAD1 Audio<br/>
475	Octane: SMP Support<br/>
476	Octane: V6/V8/V10/V12 Graphics (Odyssey)<br/>
477	Origin: IOC3 Ethernet 10/100Mbps<br/>
478	Origin: QLogic ISP1020 SCSI<br/>
479	O2 PCI: ALi 5273 USB 2.0 (Req. Kernel >=2.6.8.1)
480	</ti>
481	<ti>
482	(1)Indy/Indigo2: Impact & Extreme/XZ graphics chipsets<br/>
483	Indy: Phobos G130 10/100Mbps NIC<br/>
484	Indigo2: GIO64 Slots<br/>
485	Indigo2: Phobos G160 10/100Mbps NIC<br/>
486	Challenge S: WD33C95A SCSI Adapter/RJ-45 Daughter Card<br/>
487	O2: VICE Subsystem
488	</ti>
489	</tr>
490	</table>
491
492	<note>
493	(1) Work has begun on porting the ImpactSR to the Indigo2 Impact (IP28)
494	workstation. At the moment, it's early days, and the driver is not functional
495	yet, but this may change in the coming months.<br/>
496	Likewise with Extreme graphics... a few people were starting to look into
497	writing drivers for this chipset. Nothing has been released yet, but we may
498	see something in the not too distant future.<br/>
499	We will update this page if such a driver is released.
500	</note>
501
502	</body>
503	</section>
504	</chapter>
505
506	<chapter>
507	<title>Cobalt Servers -- Stable</title>
508	<section>
509	<body>
510
511	<p>
512	The Cobalt servers are a set of machines all based around the QED RM523[01]
513	CPU. They came in two varieties, the RaQ -- a rackmounted model, and the Qube,
514	a small desktop model (1ft. cube). The big difference between these systems
515	and the SGI systems above, is that these systems are <e>little endian</e>
516	(<c>mipsel</c>) as opposed to <e>big endian</e> (<c>mips</c>).
517	</p>
518
519	<p>
520	These were also sold under an OEM arragement to other companies, examples of
521	this are the Gateway Microserver (Qube 2) and the Seagate NasRaQ (RaQ 2).
522	</p>
523
524	</body>
525	</section>
526	<section>
527	<title>Qube/Raq 2800 (a.k.a Qube/Raq 2)</title>
528	<body>
529
530	<ul>
531	<li><b>Processor:</b> QED RM5231 @ 250MHz</li>
532	<li>
533	<b>Kernel Version Support:</b>
534	<ul>
535	<li>Linux 2.4: <e>Stable</e></li>
536	<li>Linux 2.6: <e>Stable</e></li>
537	</ul>
538	</li>
539	<li>
540	<b>Kernel Architecture Support:</b>
541	<ul>
542	<li>32-bit: <e>Stable</e></li>
543	<li>64-bit: <e>Highly Experimental</e></li>
544	</ul>
545	</li>
546	<li>
547	<b>Userland Support:</b>
548	<ul>
549	<li>o32: <e>Stable</e></li>
550	<li>n32: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
551	<li>n64: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
552	</ul>
553	</li>
554	</ul>
555
556	</body>
557	</section>
558	</chapter>
559
560	<chapter>
561	<title>Cobalt Servers -- Experimental</title>
562	<section>
563	<title>Raq 2700 (a.k.a Raq 1)</title>
564	<body>
565
566	<ul>
567	<li><b>Processor:</b> QED RM5230 @ 150MHz</li>
568	<li>
569	<b>Kernel Version Support:</b>
570	<ul>
571	<li>Linux 2.4: <e>Experimental</e></li>
572	<li>Linux 2.6: <e>Untested In Gentoo</e></li>
573	</ul>
574	</li>
575	<li>
576	<b>Kernel Architecture Support:</b>
577	<ul>
578	<li>32-bit: <e>Experimental</e></li>
579	<li>64-bit: <e>Untested In Gentoo</e></li>
580	</ul>
581	</li>
582	<li>
583	<b>Userland Support:</b>
584	<ul>
585	<li>o32: <e>Experimental</e></li>
586	<li>n32: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
587	<li>n64: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
588	</ul>
589	</li>
590	</ul>
591
592	</body>
593	</section>
594	</chapter>
595
596	<chapter>
597	<title>Cobalt Servers -- Unsupported</title>
598	<section>
599	<title>Qube 2700 (a.k.a Qube 1)</title>
600	<body>
601
602	<p>
603	The Qube 2700 was the first of this whole subarchitecture. Unfortunately, it
604	lacks a serial port, making installation at present, damn near impossible.
605	We're looking into ways we can support this system, but as none of the
606	developers have access to one of these machines, we have no way to test our
607	efforts. You may wish to have a look at <uri
608	link="http://www.metzner.org/projects/qube/">Jan Metzner's page</uri> for more
609	information.
610	</p>
611
612	<ul>
613	<li><b>Processor:</b> QED RM5230 @ 150MHz</li>
614	<li>
615	<b>Kernel Version Support:</b>
616	<ul>
617	<li>Linux 2.4: <e>Untested In Gentoo</e></li>
618	<li>Linux 2.6: <e>Untested In Gentoo</e></li>
619	</ul>
620	</li>
621	<li>
622	<b>Kernel Architecture Support:</b>
623	<ul>
624	<li>32-bit: <e>Untested In Gentoo</e></li>
625	<li>64-bit: <e>Untested In Gentoo</e></li>
626	</ul>
627	</li>
628	<li>
629	<b>Userland Support:</b>
630	<ul>
631	<li>o32: <e>Untested In Gentoo</e></li>
632	<li>n32: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
633	<li>n64: <e>Not Available In Gentoo</e></li>
634	</ul>
635	</li>
636	</ul>
637
638	</body>
639	</section>
640	</chapter>
641	</guide>