Re: [ECOS] need help getting started with eCos for Intel 386EX!!

[Bart Veer <bartv at redhat dot com>]

>>>>> "Maarten" == mkruger  <mkruger@ziton.com> writes:

    Maarten> We are using a custom designed board with a 386EX
    Maarten> processor, 512K RAM and 1MB code flash to control one of
    Maarten> our products (it is a high-volume product, which is why
    Maarten> we do NOT use an off-the-shelf PC card - the board is
    Maarten> completely our own design)

    Maarten> Up to now we have not been using an operating system and
    Maarten> I would like to know :

    Maarten> 1) can eCos be configured for our existing processor and
    Maarten> memory chips? (386EX, 512K DRAM, 1MB flash)

It will not work off the shelf, some porting effort will be needed.

The eCos x86 support comes in two parts, the Linux synthetic target
and the port to standard PC's. The former is not applicable to your
system. The latter can provide a starting point, but will not just
work. It assumes that the PC has a ROM BIOS which will take care of
initialization, load an eCos application off floppy, etc. For your
target hardware you will have to do a platform port and provide
alternative initialization code specific to that hardware. For more
details of what is involved please see the eCos documentation and
especially Jesper's porting guide,
http://sources.redhat.com/ecos/docs-latest/porting/index.html

You should be aware that both the synthetic target port and the
standard PC port were contributed, and currently these are not fully
supported by Red Hat.

    Maarten> 2) does eCos support the 386EX (the web site seems a bit
    Maarten> ambiguous about this)

I remember seeing some 386-specific code in the PC port, relating to
floating point units and the like. I do not know how extensive the
support is, you would have to look at the x86 HAL's for more
information. 

    Maarten> 3) is there some tutorial that can show me how to do this
    Maarten> (I've downloaded eCos and all its manuals, but I still
    Maarten> feel quite 'lost' - I've had little exposure to Linux and
    Maarten> embedded OSes...)

    Maarten> Any help will be greatly appreciated!!  :-)))

Pick an existing target, e.g. a simulator or the PC target, and work
your way through the appropriate Getting Started guide and then the
User's Guide. http://sources.redhat.com/ecos/docs-latest/
These should get you to the point where you can develop and run simple
applications with eCos, and then you can move on to the remaining
documentation. The Getting Started guide is intended as a fairly basic
tutorial.

Bart Veer // eCos net maintainer