Re: Multi-processor?

On Wed, 7 May 2003, Anthony Hilton wrote:

> In <URL:news:local.netbsd.acorn32> on Wed 07 May, Ben Harris wrote:
> > In article <[email protected]> you write:
> > >I saw on Drobe yesterday, and in csa.announce today that Simtec have a
> > >clearance sale (see http://www.simtec.co.uk/products/clearance/) inculding
> > >Hydra multi-processor cards for ukp50 (+VAT and carriage).
> > >
> > >Can NetBSD/acorn32 make use of multi processors using the Hydra card?
> >
> > No.  Well, if you use code from the bjh21-hydra branch, you might be able
> > to spin up the slave processors and run some kernel code on them, but
> > that's about it.
>
> There are better ways to spend 50 quid on ARM kit then.

Yep.  Don't forget that you need CPU cards as well (though mine were only
a quid a throw).

> Is hydra capable of takin SA-110 processor cards or is it tied to ARM6/7
> processors?

I believe that the last versions of the Hydra FPGAs support SA-110s, but
making them work with NetBSD would be even harder because they've got
write-back caches (and ISTR they don't work quite right in write-through
mode).

> How about Kinetic cards?

Again, I expect they'd work, but you'd then have /n/ CPUs each with
their own memory, but sharing an I/O system.  Not really an SMP at all,
and certainly not something NetBSD can currently run on.

-- 
Ben Harris                                                   <[email protected]>
Portmaster, NetBSD/acorn26           <URL:http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/acorn26/>