x86 Baremetal

Discussion in 'UDOO X86' started by PopeGregoryIX, May 25, 2017.

  1. PopeGregoryIX

    PopeGregoryIX New Member

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    Hi,

    I haven't followed UDoo for a while but have a Quad here. I'm really interested by the X86 as I'm much more familiar with x86 baremetal programming than ARM.

    I already have a minimal kernel that runs on a PC, but I'd just like to make sure that the hardware on the UDoo x86 is well enough documented that I will be able to write drivers. I'm especially concerned about the USB stack / video. I have EHCI drivers for my PC kernel, but need to know that I'll be able to do the same for UDoo.

    Cheers,
    Adam
     
  2. ccs_hello

    ccs_hello UDOOer

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    Adam,

    You'll next xHCI driver.
    BTW in your view, what would constitute the baremetal? Minimum bootloader (e.g., coreboot, libreboot), strip-down Linux kernel, some sort of realtime microkernel (e.g., VxWorks), specialized kernel (e.g., vSphere), or others?
    (I assume you don't care about Intel HD graphics driver...)

    ccs_hello
     
  3. PopeGregoryIX

    PopeGregoryIX New Member

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    Hi,

    Thanks for the reply.

    As far as I'm concerned, "baremetal" means my own kernel, which I already have working on PC (both i686 and x86-64). I don't mind using someone else's bootloader - I currently use GRUB2 but am happy to use anything. I can write my own minimal Intel graphics driver as they are fairly well documented.

    Essentially, I guess I'm asking whether any of the hardware on this board is undocumented. As long as datasheets / specs exist for everything, I can work out the rest myself :)

    Thanks again,
    Adam

    Edit: That's good re: xHCI too - it sounds like at the very least, my custom kernel should be able to access USB and Video with already documented open interfaces.
     
  4. waltervl

    waltervl UDOOer

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  5. PopeGregoryIX

    PopeGregoryIX New Member

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    Thanks. It looks like its a fairly standard UEFI BIOS with ACPI tables, so happy days! I can find all the ports and MMIO information through there. UDoo X86 (pre-)ordered!

    Cheers,
    Adam
     

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