About NetBSD/algor

NetBSD/algor is the port of NetBSD to the Algorithmics, Ltd. MIPS evaluation boards. Algorithmics was a long-time supplier of MIPS evaluation/prototyping products and expertise.

Algorithmics boards include PCI and PC-like on-board peripherals, and have a CPU daughtercard, allowing the user to evaluate a variety of MIPS CPUs.

Algorithmics boards include the PMON boot monitor/debugger. PMON is able to load the NetBSD kernel over the Centronics port (in S-record format) or over the network (in ELF format) using BOOTP/TFTP.

Algorithmics boards can generally be run in big- or little-endian mode, although NetBSD/algor currently only supports little-endian.

Release Info

• NetBSD/algor 10.0 via download
• NetBSD/algor 9.4 pre-built binary packages from pkgsrc
• NetBSD/algor 10.0 changes
• NetBSD/algor 11.0 changes

Mailing List

The NetBSD/algor mailing list, covering NetBSD's port to algor machine: [ subscribe | archive ]

Mail the NetBSD/algor port maintainer

Supported Hardware

Supported System Models

• Algorithmics P-4032
• Algorithmics P-5064

Supported Peripherals

• Algorithmics P-4032
  • On-board NCR53c810 SCSI on the PCI bus (siop(4))
  • On-board DECchip 21041 Ethernet on the PCI bus (tlp(4))
  • On-board real-time clock (mcclock(4))
  • On-board NS16550-compatible serial ports (com(4))
  • Other devices inserted into the PCI expansion slots
• Algorithmics P-5064
  • On-board NCR53c810 SCSI on the PCI bus (siop(4))
  • On-board DECchip 21143 Ethernet on the PCI bus (tlp(4))
  • On-board real-time clock on the ISA bus (mcclock(4))
  • On-board NS16550-compatible serial ports on the ISA bus (com(4))
  • On-board floppy controller on the ISA bus (fdc)
  • Other devices inserted into the PCI expansion slots

Unsupported Hardware

Not Yet Supported

• The PC keyboard controller on the P-4032. The interrupt handling code needs some work in order to support this.
• The Centronics port on the P-4032. This may, in fact, work, but the logic is apparently buggy, and the interrupts are wired up in a strange way. The device is completely untested.
• The floppy controller on the P-4032. The P-4032 floppy controller uses pseudo-DMA via a "DMA request" interrupt. Support for this function has not yet been implemented.
• The PC keyboard controller on the P-5064. The interrupt handling code needs some work in order to support this.
• The Centronics port on the P-5064. This may, in fact, work, but the logic is apparently buggy, and the interrupts are wired up in a strange way. The device is completely untested.
• The on-board PCI IDE (part of the PIIX3 southbridge) on the P-5064. The PMON firmware does not configure the IDE controller, so NetBSD sees it as "disabled". Some code will have to be added to initialize the PCI IDE controller before it can be used.
• On-board USB on the PCI bus (part of the PIIX3 southbridge) on the P-5064. The uhci driver causes a bus error when it attempts to perform DMA, and the system hangs. A bug report has been filed so that the issue can be tracked.
• Devices plugged into the ISA slot on the P-5064. The interrupt handling code needs some work in order to support this.
• Devices plugged into the PCMCIA slots on the P-5064. The interrupt handling code needs some work in order to support this.
• Algorithmic P-4000i -- this is a very old machine, with considerably different hardware than the newer Algorithmics boards. It is unlikely that NetBSD/algor will ever support this machine.
• Algorithmics P-6032 -- this is Algorithmics' latest board. Support for this model is in-progress.