NetBSD/arc

About NetBSD/arc

NetBSD/arc is a port of NetBSD to the MIPS processor based computers which comply wih the Advanced RISC Computing (ARC) specification put together by the Advanced Computing Environment (ACE) Consortium in the early 1990's, as an alternative to Intel-based PC's.

This port originally started as NetBSD/pica port made by Per Fogelström, and supersedes it. This port is also based on efforts done in OpenBSD/arc.

Earlier pre-ARC MIPS machines are supported by the NetBSD/mipsco port.

The portmaster is collecting detailed information on as many ARC implementation variations as possible. An explanation of how to get internal details using Windows NT is available.

NetBSD/arc News

2005-04-18: Native bootloader: A native bootloader which can load ELF kernels has been committed so that ECOFF kernel binaries are no longer required to boot NetBSD/arc.

Archive of NetBSD/arc news items

Supported System Models

Acer PICA
MIPS Magnum 4000 (comconsole only)
NEC Image RISCstation (OEM of PICA)
NEC Express RISCserver (NEC-R96)
NEC RISCserver 2200 (NEC-R96)
NEC RISCstation 2200 (NEC-R94)
NEC RISCstation 2250 (NEC-RD94)
NEC Express5800/230 R4400 PCI (NEC-JC94)
NEC Express5800/240 R4400 EISA (NEC-J96A)
DeskStation Tyne (unstable yet)

Supported Peripherals

SONIC ethernet interface (sn)
NCR 53C94 SCSI controller (asc)
floppy disk controller (fdc)
Jazz VGA console (vga) (PICA and Image RISCstation)
ISA VGA console (vga) (RISCserver 2200 and Express5800/240 R4400 EISA)
TGA frame buffer (tga) (RISCstation 2250 and Express5800/230 R4400 PCI)
16x50 serial interface (com)
NCR 53c700 SCSI controller (oosiop) (Express5800/240 R4400 EISA, RISCserver 2200 and RISCstation 22x0)
NCR 53c710 SCSI controller (osiop) (Express5800/230 R4400 PCI)

Not Yet Supported

Models / Devices / Functions:

DeskStation rPC44 (needs hardware)
SNI RM200/300/400/600 (Linux/MIPS sources might help)
NEC Express5800/230 R10000 PCI (NEC-J95) (needs chipset info)
NEC RISCserver 4200 (NEC-R98) (needs chipset info)
Olivetti M700
EISA devices (ISA devices on EISA should work though)
ISA DMA devices (including Buslogic SCSI) on Tyne
VXL frame buffer (Magnum and RISCstation 2200)
AD1848 audio

To support new machines, please send info about your ARC machine.

NetBSD/arc Information

Mailing Lists

The NetBSD/arc mailing list, covering NetBSD's port to MIPS based PCs with ARM firmware:
[ subscribe | archive ]
The NetBSD/mips mailing list, covering all of the MIPS-based NetBSD ports:
[ subscribe | archive ]

Current Releases

NetBSD/arc 9.2 via FTP
NetBSD/arc 9.2 Install Notes
NetBSD/arc 5.1 pre-built binary packages via the NetBSD Packages Collection
NetBSD 9.2 release announcement
NetBSD/arc changes to 9.0
changes from NetBSD 8.0 to NetBSD 9.0
NetBSD FTP Mirror sites
NetBSD on CD-ROM