Since in this thread there was expressed the wish for some non-x86 hardware to run *BSD on, I think we should pool the ideas and wishes here so that it is a central point for people to look wishes up and maybe report on actual hardware found.
For starters, I would like the following things to be part of that HW:
Nice to have would be
Architecture (in my order of preference, not neccesarily your order, but let's discuss things):
Form factor would be most likely ATX.
So, and to throw more than my hat in the ring, I'll do some things now to maybe get the ball rolling. I'll try to get some hardware designer to check his desk drawers for spare design parts for donation. In that case they (his company) would most likely do the manufacture,so they can also have their profit from it.
Ok, now let's pool ideas, requirements and ideas. Please keep in mind that there is a road map to be behind this and that there is a difference between "want" and "need". What would be a start point, what is the end goal? And yes, I also flunked that with the ECC.
Now let's hear what you need, want and are willing to do.
For starters, I would like the following things to be part of that HW:
- ECC RAM option
May come later, but needs to be part of the path so no road blocks are build by accident - SMP capable, maybe later on
See above, you can mess up your system controller logic in so many ways - Simple graphics for video, OpenGL maybe later
For starters (and for servers) - who needs more than VGA B&W or maybe 256 colors? - PCI / PCIe interfaces
Expansion is crucial, see "lessions learned" from the good old PC - USB
Did I mention "cheap expansion"? - Ethernet, 100MBit minimum
- Mass storage, SAS/SCSI/SATA
Nice to have would be
- Card reader to boot from
- OpenGL hardware
- multiple GBit interfaces
- Several CPUs with multiple cores (the Godson with 64 cores is in the queue, 4 cores are available)
Architecture (in my order of preference, not neccesarily your order, but let's discuss things):
- PowerPC/MIPS
Close tie here, I like them both a lot and have worked with them. Both come with years, no - decades, of 64 bit experience under their belt. There should be no unwanted suprises or A20 gates around. - SPARC
Same pro as above, the programming is a bit of the "dude, wt..." kind untill you get your head around register windows. Cores available as VHDL (three implementations acording to wikipedia). - ARM
While this is a nice concept, I am not sure about the scaling when it comes to server grade systems. No proven 64 bit experience to my knowledge. Maybe covered by royalties and patents. Since there is some money in the attempt to push this into the servers, an independent attempt (like ours) may attract land sharks (a.k.a. lawyers. See "patent troll").
Form factor would be most likely ATX.
So, and to throw more than my hat in the ring, I'll do some things now to maybe get the ball rolling. I'll try to get some hardware designer to check his desk drawers for spare design parts for donation. In that case they (his company) would most likely do the manufacture,so they can also have their profit from it.
Ok, now let's pool ideas, requirements and ideas. Please keep in mind that there is a road map to be behind this and that there is a difference between "want" and "need". What would be a start point, what is the end goal? And yes, I also flunked that with the ECC.
Now let's hear what you need, want and are willing to do.