GP32 An Os For The Gp32


loki666 posted on Apr 1 2004 at 10:35 AM said:
wip: i talked to a guys who allready made 3 port of rtems for arm (2 arm920)...
he said we can use a linux bootloader to load rtems, so that's what we need first...
we also need a console for firsts debug... so maybe we could use a null-modem but i dont know where to find the connector for gp32 ext port... anyone know where i can find one?
an alternative would be to use the usb cable but we also need a x86 app to make de bridge i guess... maybe we could use your debug stuff mithris, i've saw something with usb cable and gdb...
i think we gonna need mr.spiv's help for all the memory and isr stuffs, may i count on you mr.spiv?

for what i've understand, there is no rtems kernel which could be booted alone... instead each app is build wih rtems directly linked with, but i've saw so dynamic loading samples so maybe it's not a real limitation...
anyway i told to the guys our general goal for this project (the target hardware and what we want to do) and asked if we could achieve such a port, he answerd "I don't see any reason why you can't."
so all we need (as allways) is time

:lol: i got promoted to GP32X Guru B) B)
Click to expand...
I have a Linux bootloader on my GP32, I'll see if I can dig up the link I got it it from (and yes, the bootloader works)

Edit:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/gp32linux
 
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Hmm... sounds very interesting... but as Tristan says... If the Linux boot loader works than maybe Linux is not far away (and if Linux is far away then it probably suffers from the same problems you would get from another OS port? ie reading writing from smc card?)...
Anyway... Why not help with the Linux port instead? it's a OS, and a pretty good one... or?
 
tristant: thank you, i was allready aware of this bootloader but thanx anyway

alexw: your right we gonna encounter the same problems as linux port (actually i've found some smc libs that could be used for the disk access, but they need some mods)
linux is good os your right too, but maybe a bit too complex for what we really need... i mean how s gonna open an apach server on his gp32??? we dont really need multiprocess for a console, just multithreadings... and the linux kernel is way much more difficult to understand

mithris... i think i'm going to open a sourceforge project for the rtems s3c2400x-bsp
using the usb cable for console would be great... do you think i would be difficult to implement a simple read/write char on usb and the small x86 app for the terminal?
 
loki: Nope, probably not at all..
That is for linux however..:D i have never done any USB stuff for windows, but i think libusb should be available for windows aswell.


---
mithris
 
Loki, OK!
I read your first post again (must have been sleeping first time around)... smaller kernel more tailored for the GP32... yep that is probably the way to go... build a OS from that would be better then having a TCP/IP stack and so on no one is using on the GP32...
My dream OS would be the AmigaOS+Workbench... ran perfectly with 512 kb memory and 512 Kb ROM + 880 Kb disk with Workbench utils...
Perfect multitasking without an MMU (ok not so nice programs crashed the system but they where few if not counting hacks and so on...) phuh... I miss that system everyday...

Anyway... sounds like a interesting project!
 
mithris: ok so lets start in this direction... im going to invest for the bootloader...
and you for the usb console stuff, its ok if the x86 app runs under linux
i'll tell you when the sourceforge project will be open
btw: have you installed the rtems dev environement?

i need some memory information... the memory area we have and what is usually stored in those areas... well anything realted to the memory map
anyone has a good link to start?
 
how much space would something like this take up?:blink:

i would be glad to help in anyway ill post a link if i can find one
 
It would actually be good to have AND Linux and RTEMS. Because, Linux has lots of drivers already, for USB things, like camera's and such, so you could hook up stuff to your USB port fairly easily, install the driver under Linux, and use it. You might even be able to connect a USB card reader to it :eek:
 
I downloaded the source etc yesterday and began looking into how much work it would be to setup that BSP stuff for GP32..
Didn't get very far though.
However, i see one problem with the USB stuff, since i'd use the firmwares USB functions, and those are mapped in the first 512k of the address space, and i have no idea how RTEMS sets up the mmu once it's running.
we also might have to do some firmware modding to take care of the exception handlers.

---
mithris
 
tristant: i took the apache server as an example... but i could take the usb example... who's gonna plug a webcam on his gp32?(not sure if its even possible) what would you do with a gp32 and a webcam? even a mouse or a keyboard... the gp32 isnt designed for those kind of uses...
linux handle too much facilities we dont need for a gaming console (ok for the card reader... but the main problem remains.... the gp32 isn't powered to act as a usb host)

diablo: for the rtems footprint... i think, at the end, we should be able to build a new bios with dynamic loading and a small applauncher

mithris: since we are going to use a bootloader, the firmware functions are still accessible... and for the execptions, enf65 (the guys who porting the gba-emu) said he found a trick to handle exceptions without firmware moddings
 
Ah, very interresting, would really like to know more about that trick..:D
 
loki666 posted on Apr 2 2004 at 08:53 AM said:
(ok for the card reader... but the main problem remains.... the gp32 isn't powered to act as a usb host)
Click to expand...
That problem is solved fairly easily, you can use either an external powersupply, you can tap 5v off the main rail (does require you to open up your GP32), or you could use the 3.3v that is supplied at pin 1 of the EXT connector, and with some electronics, transform it into 5v.
 
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About this OS you're thinking to port, has Java been ported to it? Than java programmers could get in on gp32 app/game making fun :)
 
mithris: tell me when you have the ext connector for the gp32...
i found my old eztag... i built it to flash a xilinx epld, but dont know if it's still working (in fact i never used it once)
anyway i still believe we could have a working build very quickly

have you found a way to rip the bios usb func to copy them in ram,so we could use them with rtems? or maybe we should re-implements the fcts

BenRoshi:i've saw an kvm port for rtems (thanx to me, but known by nearly noones, we allready have this :)) but midp port would be much easier on rtems
 
Haven't looked much on the USB stuff in fact.
I however doubt that the code is PIC, so it would have to be re-linked somehow.
Perhaps there is a usb device driver for s3c2400x out there somewhere, i have mostly been looking for host drivers.
 
as far as i know...
The default mapping is 1:1 to the physical memory layout..
i don't think there should be a problem to remap it..
But then, i'm no MMU wiz really might be some problem with the banks or smth.

---
mithris
 
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