Gentoo MIPS Hardware Requirements Joshua Kinard This document informs you about the supported MIPS hardware and the issues you can come across. 0.1 December 15, 2003 Supported and Unsupported Hardware
Introduction

Not many sites give you a quick overview on the supported MIPS hardware. To be able to give you an idea on how the MIPS support is progressing we will list as much hardware-information as possible. If you still have questions, don't hesitate to ask Joshua Kinard.

In the support-list, we use "[...]" with blue color to denote experimental support. Unsupported items are embraced by "(...)" and colored in red.

MIPS Systems IndyR4000, R4400, R4600, R500032-bit, [64-bit (kernel)]2.4, (2.6)Indigo2R4000, R4400, R4600, (R8000), (R10000)32-bit, [64-bit (kernel) IP22]2.4, (2.6)Challenge SR4000, R4400, R4600, R500032-bit, [64-bit (kernel)]2.4, (2.6)[O2] [R5000], [RM5200], (R10000), [R12000] [32-bit (userland)], [64-bit (kernel)](2.6), [2.6][Origin][R10000][32-bit (userland), 64-bit (kernel)][2.4], [2.6](Indigo)(Octane)(Octane2)(Fuel)(Tezro)
System CPUs Architectures Kernels
Accessories GIO32 Slots on IndyIndy I2C subsystem & IndyCamImpact & Extreme graphics chipsets (1)XL Graphics Card (Newport) [Indy & Indigo2]WD33C95A SCSI Adapter/RJ-45 Daughter Card [Challenge S] (2)GIO64 Slots on Indigo2/Challenge SPhobos G130 10/100Mbps NIC [Indy]Phobos G160 10/100Mbps NIC [Indigo2]
Supported Experimental Unsupported
(1): If you lack an appropriate Framebuffer, you will be required to use serial console. Serial console programs for linux include minicom and xc, and for Windows, HyperTerminal and Tera Term Pro. 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. (2): The Challenge S has its RJ-45 connector on a daughter board 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. ISA Parallel Port Card (PC-Style)ISA NE2000 Compatible 10Mbps NIC (RTL8019)
Supported Indogo2 EISA Slots (3)
(3): Indigo2 EISA Support is highly 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.

The maximum amount of RAM supported in the Indigo/Indy systems is 256MB, due to no HIGHMEM support in 32-bit kernels. Only a 64-bit kernel can properly detect RAM amounts greater than 256MB on these systems.

MIPS Little-Endian (mipsel) is currently being tested on a Cobalt RaQ2, however progress is currently hindered by a flaky Tulip NIC driver in the 2.4.21 mips kernels that makes running Gentoo a bit difficult. Any help in this effort is appreciated.

The Playstation 2 is a specialized MIPS system, using an R5900 MIPS processor. The support for this processor is extremely limited, and only found in the development toolchains available in the PS2 Linux Kit and via some patches available on the PS2 Linux Homepage. There was a limited amount of work done on porting Gentoo to the PS2 Linux Kit, however it is incomplete as of this writing. Those interested may visit http://playstation2-linux.com/projects/gentoo-ps2/ if they are interested in assisting or completing the port. Additional information on PS2 Compiler Toolchains can be found at http://ps2dev.sf.net/.

Gentoo/MIPS has also been installed on a SiByte BCM1250 Machine, a Big-endian, dual-processor MIPS machine. Currently, only one person to date has done this, but more people willing to test Gentoo on such hardware are welcomed to try and report results.

Minimum Requirements
  • 128MB RAM - More ram is better, as Gentoo currently uses the gcc-3.2.x and greater versions of gcc. These versions of gcc tend to consume more memory than their older 2.95.x counterparts, and on the merging of large packages, anything less than 128MB of ram could make gcc fail to compile the package, or mysteriously stop in the middle of compiliation. A recommended amount of ram is 160MB.
  • 9GB Hard Drive Space - 9GB is more or less the recommended minimum. It is enough space to install Gentoo on and leaves extra space for daily activities on the machine. Gentoo has been installed on smaller drives, the smallest being a 3.2GB drive, but it does not leave alot of room for much else.
MIPS Optimizations
CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS

Although unusual in a "requirements" document, we just don't want to hide this from you :-) Discussed in more detail below are the MIPS ISA Levels, which enable or disable certain features in the processor, depending on what ISA level the processor conforms to.

  • MIPS1 (-march=mips1) enables instructions from level 1 of the MIPS ISA. This is the default. r3000 is the default cpu-type at this ISA level.
  • MIPS2 (-march=mips2) enables instructions from level 2 of the MIPS ISA (branch likely, square root instructions). r6000 is the default cpu-type at this ISA level.
  • MIPS3 (-march=mips3) enables instructions from level 3 of the MIPS ISA (64-bit instructions). r4000 is the default cpu-type at this ISA level.
  • MIPS4 (-march=mips4) enables instructions from level 4 of the MIPS ISA (conditional move, prefetch, enhanced FPU instructions). r8000 is the default cpu-type at this ISA level.