Cortex A9

nVidia won’t talk to you unless you’re going to buy 100,000 units. And I mean won’t talk: even the list of sales offices is a secret. Just read the Tegra forum to see them parrot their standard responses over and over again. And the code on their website is entirely useless for RISC OS, so no need to worry about their terms of use.

So a Tegra port would be a reverse engineering effort. Not to be taken lightly.

100,000 units […] Just read the Tegra forum to see them parrot their standard responses over and over again.

Yes, I did read some of those posts :-( They also talk about the Toradex Colibri T20, but it seems that the TRM is still unavailable. There’s also a sticky which states "[…] all hardware support is community based."

the code on their website is entirely useless for RISC OS

That’s this code, I presume. And this blog and the rest of the thread is useless too, I guess. And their official Linux release too. And eLinux?

reverse engineering effort. Not to be taken lightly.

Without nvflash, perhaps it’s not even worth contemplating.

[Edit: Here it is (courtesy of Using NVFLASH A Defacto Guide for the BRAVE). The file downloads and seems to run OK here – but perhaps it’s unrelated to what’s needed. Other possibly relevant info, and use with the Toshiba AC100.]

@Willi,

thanks for uploading your Cortex-A9 changes and the OMAP4-HAL.

Is RISC OS running stable and without problems on the Panda-Board with this version? Or are there any issues apart from the sound problem?

Amazon’s forthcoming Kindle fire tablet will ship with a TI OMAP clocked @ 1.2GHz. Sounds suspiciously like they’re using the 4430. Since they seem to have looked at RIM’s PlayBook for inspiration, that would make sense. Nice.

Is RISC OS running stable and without problems on the Panda-Board with this version? Or are there any issues apart from the sound problem?

I’m also interested in this, and in particular what kind of screen modess you’re able to get…

On the BeagleBoard, I only get 1280 × 1024, so I’m not able to use the 1920 × 1080 native resolution of my monitor.

I’ve put the OMAP4 ROM build on our download page, FYI. Completely untested back here at ROOL HQ as we don’t have the kit…

IMHO RISC OS v5.17 is running stable on my pandaboard.
I am using a DigitalTV/Monitor from LG which is capable of very low (26 Hz) horizontal frequencies.
In connection with my IGEPv2 (OMAP3) board I can use a resolution of 1920 × 1080; but on the pandaboard this is not (yet) working.
ATM I can use modes upto 1280 × 1024 C16M.

IMHO the pandaboard should be able to support resolutions at least up to 1920×1080 with 50Hz. Maybe there is still somewhere a limit (bandwidthlimit?) from the beagleboard?

Willi

What should be done with the Cortex-A8 hardware compatibility list?

• Should it be renamed to a more generic title (including a note saying tests relate to Cortex-A8 and may also apply to Cortex-A9)?
• Create a separate list?
• Amend to use separate -A8 / -A9 status columns?

Altera is planning two dual-core Cortex-A9 SoCs for 2012: 1, 2.

Perhaps the first Cortex A9-based server processor: Calxeda’s EnergyCore

Also, HP is using it to build server clusters.

Yummy: Quad-core Cortex A9 Tegra 3 tablet Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime

• Offical forum
• transformerforums.com
• Teardown
• Comparison with Galaxy Tab 10.1 / iPad 2
• Preview, including some benchmarks
• Root Linux access

F.w.i.w. I just received my pandaboard and will be starting to test OMAP4 ROM builds.
just downloaded the ROM and working on getting it to run on the panda.
Thanks for putting the OMAP4 ROM on the site!!

so far no luck in booting RISC OS on the panda board.
There is no panda.scr in !SDCreate so most likely the boot script for the Beagleboard cannot be used for Panda.
i have tried with the entry point at offset &64 but no luck either.

to be continued.

Willi sent the files needed to boot RISC OS 5 so now i have a Panda Board running RISC OS 5 :-)

Excellent!
Is it possible to have the files made available to everyone?

I’m now awaiting a s/h Eee Pad Transformer (finally decided it’d take too long to save for the newer Prime) from someone who seems to be a genuine seller on ebay. Assuming it arrives and I can do things without bricking it, I’m happy to try out any future dev stuff on it. Happy New Year, all. Here’s to the forthcoming 5.18 official release!

They’re good – we’ve had one for ages.

However!

If it doesn’t come with the keyboard you have no external USB = no keyboard or mouse…

Says the kb dock’s included :-) Had a brief play with one in a supermarket in France over Christmas – even if no RO, it’ll be very handy!

[Edit: Just getting to grips with it and checking battery charging etc. works OK. Will avoid paid apps for the mo, in the event that I need to reinstall everything and records get trashed or something – perhaps reading around Android forums will show this not to be a concern. Anyway, How to install Ubuntu looks like a good place to start, when I’m brave enough!]

A small update:
Willi helped me to get RISC OS 5 running on my panda board. The Snowball board still only runs Linux and my ASUS transformer is due to have Ubuntu installed. No word about when the origenboard will arrive.
@Trevor: we should keep in touch about the transformer and the Ubuntu install. I have a keyboard dock so typing won’t be an issue ;-)

Nice one, Jan. Good that your TF has a kb too. It’ll probably be a little while until I go for the Ubuntu install on mine.

Trevor, if you mean that if you buy Android apps and then wipe your machine, you lose the apps, don’t fear. I’ve had a few Android devices, and app purchases are part of your Android Market account. When you get a new machine, or reset an old one, the apps just go back onto it once you register your Android Market/Google account on the device.

Thanks Garry – I suspected that may be the case, but don’t have a smartphone so am a newbie to Android.

Edit: Rooting instructions vid. Mine’s a B60.

Just got my new Panda Es Rev B is there any boot files or instructions available so we can boot the latest build?? of the rom.