Re: gEDA-user: uClinux

[Charles Lepple <clepple@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 1/23/06, John Doty <jpd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On Jan 23, 2006, at 8:21 PM, Hal2000 wrote:
>
> > I dunno - the ARM seems kind of cool. If it can't handle the DSP I
> > need, my backup plan is to put it into an FPGA.  Oh yeah, there's
> > an ARM ref board, but it costs $450 (although I can get a loaner
> > for 30 days).  The Blackfin has an eval board for $150.  I'm def. a
> > cheapskate, so I like the blackfin board - but I'm not letting that
> > make my mind up.
>
> Lots of different ARM eval boards around. I've been playing a little
> with an Atmel AT91EB40A ($198 from Digi-Key). Unfortunately the
> customer has, for the moment anyway, lost interest in that line of
> development...

bear in mind that the EB40A processor has an ARM7 core (no MMU, and
probably not enough on-board memory to run uClinux). To get an MMU,
you need an ARM920T or better.

I vaguely recall that the Blackfin has basic memory protection,
similar to the MPU on an ARM940T. It's probably enough to protect
against stray null pointers and other common
shoot-yourself-in-the-foot techniques.

A couple of years ago, ARM reference literature started referring to
cores that had Java bytecode support. Have any of you seen an actual
production processor that has this, or a JVM that can take advantage
of it? Just curious...

--
- Charles Lepple