Debian MIPS Port
MIPS is one of the first RISC CPU architectures invented around 1985. It was a radical design which removed many features deemed unnecessary, since the goal was to get the best possible performance from a limited transistor count. Back then, MIPS were powerful general purpose CPUs, and very successful in that role, until they lost ground to systems based on cheap mass-produced Intel-compatible CPUs. Later on, the simple and elegant design allowed to create a wide range of low power CPUs targeted for embedded applications.
Today, MIPS is a popular architecture for embedded systems, with a strong presence in various networked devices, and spanning a range from 32-bit at 100 MHz to 64-bit at 1.2 Ghz. The current top-end is arguably the SC5832 made by SiCortex, a compact supercomputer with 5832 CPU cores dissipating 600 mW each.
The Debian 'mips' and 'mipsel' ports support a range of older workstations and servers as well as a few newer embedded devices. The Debian 'mips64el' port support the 64bit little endian CPUs(mips3? mips64r2?).
The global state of the development branch is tracked at mipsLennyReleaseRecertification.
A howto for installing a SGI Indy over network is available at NetworkBootingIndy.
External links of interest
General information about Linux/MIPS
Autobuilder graph for all architectures
Build daemons & porter boxes
Machine |
Architecture |
Sub-architecture |
Purpose |
ball.debian.org |
mips |
swarm |
buildd |
corelli.debian.org |
mips |
cavium octeon |
buildd |
lucatelli.debian.org |
mips |
cavium octeon |
buildd |
gabrielli.debian.org |
mips |
cavium octeon |
porter box |
mayr.debian.org |
mips |
swarm |
buildd (down) |
|
|
|
|
mayer.debian.org |
mipsel |
swarm |
buildd |
rem.debian.org |
mipsel |
swarm |
buildd |
monteverdi (aba) |
mipsel |
loongson 2E |
buildd |
phrixos (aba) |
mipsel |
loongson 2E |
buildd |
swarm (aurel32 |
mipsel |
swarm |
porter box |
thor (vip.moonux.org:60022) |
mips64el |
Loongson 3A |
porter box |
Known issues
Package |
Issue |
Assigned-to |
Status |
Comments |
gcc-4.4 |
Aurelien Jarno |
Solution offered |
||
openjdk-6 |
FTBFS |
|
|
Sometimes works, may depend on the buildd |
Wishlist / Possible improvements
- Add HWCAP support and/or STT_GNU_IFUNC to the GNU libc so that we can provide optimized libraries (for example MIPS32, loongson, etc...). Also add optimized versions of the string functions.
Add new kernel flavours: Octeon, Loongson 2E & 3, Routerboard