Gentoo/MIPS Linux Hardware Requirements Joshua Kinard This document provides an overview of the status of various MIPS-based systems for installing Gentoo Linux. If you find errors or ommissions please email the maintainer or an editor. 0.3 2005-02-14 Supported/Unsupported Hardware
Items in Red are currently Unsupported in Gentoo/MIPS at this time. This means Linux does not run on this system/CPU at the current time, or the specific piece of hardware is unsupported in the kernel. Items in Blue are considered Highly Experimental at this time. This means the system can boot Linux, but either is unstable, or Gentoo/MIPS has not been tested on it yet. In regards to hardware, it means the specific piece of hardware either works to some extent, or is untested.

Legend:

  • (+) denotes Stable
  • (~) denotes Unstable/Experimental
  • (X) denotes Untested/Unsupported
If a particular system is not listed, then it's status is unknown.

 

SGI Systems (+)IndyIP22(+)R4000, (+)R4400, (+)R4600, (+)R5000(+)mips, (~)mips64(+)2.4, (~)2.6(+)o32, (X)n32, (X)n64(1), (4), (8)(+)Challenge SIP22(+)R4000, (+)R4400, (+)R4600, (+)R5000(+)mips, (~)mips64(+)2.4, (~)2.6(+)o32, (X)n32, (X)n64(1), (2), (4), (8)(+)Indigo2IP22(+)R4000, (+)R4400, (+)R4600(+)mips, (~)mips64(+)2.4, (~)2.6(+)o32, (X)n32, (X)n64(1), (3), (4), (8)(X)Indigo2 PowerIP26(X)R8000(X)mips, (X)mips64(X)2.4, (X)2.6(X)o32, (X)n32, (X)n64(~)Indigo2 ImpactIP28(~)R10000(X)mips, (~)mips64(~)2.4, (~)2.6(~)o32, (X)n32, (X)n64(1), (3), (4), (5)(+)O2IP32(+)R5000, (+)RM5200, (~)RM7000, (X)R10000, (X)R12000(X)mips, (+)mips64(X)2.4, (+)2.6(+)o32, (~)n32, (X)n64(5), (6), (8)(~)Origin 200/2000IP27(~)R10000, (~)R12000(X)mips, (~)mips64(X)2.4, (~)2.6(+)o32, (~)n32, (X)n64(~)OctaneIP30(~)R10000, (~)R12000, (X)R14000A(X)mips, (~)mips64(X)2.4, (~)2.6(~)o32, (~)n32, (X)n64(7)(X)Iris Indigo R3000IP12(X)R3000(X)mips, (X)mips64(X)2.4, (X)2.6(X)o32, (X)n32, (X)n64(X)Iris Indigo R4000IP20(X)R4000(X)mips, (X)mips64(X)2.4, (X)2.6(X)o32, (X)n32, (X)n64(X)FuelIP34(X)R14000A, (X)R16000(X)mips, (X)mips64(X)2.4, (X)2.6(X)o32, (X)n32, (X)n64(X)Origin 300IP45(X)R14000(X)mips, (X)mips64(X)2.4, (X)2.6(X)o32, (X)n32, (X)n64(X)Origin 3000IP35(X)R14000, (X)R14000A(X)mips, (X)mips64(X)2.4, (X)2.6(X)o32, (X)n32, (X)n64(X)Origin 350, TezroIP53(X)R16000(X)mips, (X)mips64(X)2.4, (X)2.6(X)o32, (X)n32, (X)n64
Systems SGI IP # CPUs Kernel Arch Kernel Ver Userland Notes

 

SGI Accessories Indy/Indigo2: XL Graphics Card (Newport)Indy/Indigo2: SGI Seeq Ethernet 10MbpsIndy/Indigo2: WD33C93 SCSIIndy/Indigo2: HAL2 Sound/AudioIndy/Indigo2: Parallel PortIndy/Indigo2: Serial PortO2: SGI MACE Ethernet 10/100MbpsO2: Adaptec AIC7880 SCSIO2: Serial PortIndigo2 ISA: Parallel Port Card (PC-Style)Indigo2 ISA: NE2000 Compatible 10Mbps NIC (RTL8019)Indy: I2C/VINO subsystem & IndyCamO2: GBE FramebufferO2: PCI SlotOctane: KeyboardOctane: Mardi Gras (MGRAS) GraphicsOctane: QLogic ISP1040B SCSIOctane: RAD1 AudioOrigin: IOC3 Ethernet 10/100MbpsOrigin: QLogic ISP1020 SCSIIndigo2 EISA: 3COM 3c597 10/100MbpsO2 PCI: ALi 5273 USB 2.0 (Req. Kernel >=2.6.8.1)Indy/Indigo2: Impact & Extreme/XZ graphics chipsetsIndy: Phobos G130 10/100Mbps NICIndigo2: GIO64 SlotsIndigo2: Phobos G160 10/100Mbps NICChallenge S: WD33C95A SCSI Adapter/RJ-45 Daughter CardO2: VICE SubsystemOctane: SMP SupportOctane: V6/V8/V10/V12 Graphics (Odyssey)
Miscellaneous (Supported)
Miscellaneous (Experimental)
Miscellaneous (Unsupported)

 

Notes on SGI Machines (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 (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. (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. (4) The IP22 Serial Driver is non-functional in the 2.6 kernel, so while the 2.6 kernel will boot on IP22 systems, if you lack an appropriate framebuffer, then you will be unable to see any output on the main console. Hopefully this driver will be fixed soon. (5) IP28 Indigo2 Impact support (classified as an Indigo2 system w/ an R10000 Processor) is very experimental. Most of the work is currently being done by Peter Fuerst, and he maintains patches on his website at http://home.alphastar.de/fuerst/download.html. This kernel is NOT intended for stable, day-to-day use. The Indigo2 IP28 system suffers from an issue known as Speculative Execution, a feature of the R10000 Processor that is problematic on machines that are Non Cache Coherent, 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:
1. MIPS R10000 Microprocessor User's Manual (See PDF Pages 51-55) - http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/manuals/2000/007-2490-001/pdf/007-2490-001.pdf
2. Post to NetBSD sgimips Mailing List on 29 Jun 2000 - http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-sgimips/2000/06/29/0006.html (6) The O2 RM7000 Processor support is limited in Linux currently, as it requires a fairly recent kernel version (>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.

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. (7) Octane support in Linux shoul 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 here: http://helios.et.put.poznan.pl/~sskowron/ip30/. Wider support in Gentoo for this system will be available in the future, so watch this space closely for more details. (8) The maximum amount of RAM supported in the Indy, Challenge S, Indigo2 (not Power or Impact), and O2 systems is 256MB, due to no HIGHMEM support the Linux kernel. Only a 64-bit kernel w/ HIGHMEM support can properly detect RAM amounts greater than 256MB on these systems. However, do note that using HIGHMEM does incur a performance hit, so it should only be used when necessary.

 

Cobalt Microserver Systems (~)RaQ 1(~)RM5230/150MHz(~)mipsel, (X)mips64el(~)2.4, (X)2.6(~)o32, (X)n32, (X)n64(+)RaQ 2(+)RM5231/250MHz(+)mipsel, (X)mips64el(+)2.4, (+)2.6(+)o32, (X)n32, (X)n64(X)Qube 2700 (a.k.a. Qube 1)(X)RM5230/150MHz(X)mipsel, (X)mips64el(X)2.4, (X)2.6(X)o32, (X)n32, (X)n64(+)Qube 2800 (a.k.a. Qube 2)(+)RM5231/250MHz(+)mipsel, (X)mips64el(+)2.4, (+)2.6(+)o32, (X)n32, (X)n64(~)Seagate NASRaQ(~)RM5231/???(~)mipsel, (X)mips64el(~)2.4, (X)2.6(~)o32, (X)n32, (X)n64(+)Gateway Microserver (rebadged Qube 2)(+)RM5231/250MHz(+)mipsel, (X)mips64el(+)2.4, (+)2.6(+)o32, (X)n32, (X)n64
Systems CPU Kernel Arch Kernel Ver Userland
Cobalt support is still in testing phases, and the documentation is incomplete and has not yet been fully integrated into this guide, nor into the Gentoo Handbook. Gentoo does run on these systems, and installation stages may be found in the experimental/mips folder on your nearest mirror. Expect many neat things for Cobalt machines in the coming months. 2.6 has been tested to boot on the Cobalt RaQ2 and Qube2 systems, however booting this kernel requires the use of a new bootloader (called colo) that can either replace the original Cobalt bootloader in the system's flash chip, or the new boot loader can be chain loaded, or booted by the old bootloader. Those interested in learning more about this new bootloader may visit the webpage of its author, who also maintains several 2.4/2.6 patchsets for these machines. The webpage can be found here: http://www.colonel-panic.org/cobalt-mips/. This new bootloader is available in the portage tree as sys-boot/colo.

 

Other Notes The Playstation 2 is a specialized MIPS system, using an R5900 MIPS processor (EmotionEngine) manufactured by Toshiba. 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://www.ps2dev.org/. 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 Recommended 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.