MIPS Malta
The MIPS Malta is an ATX form factor evaluation board made by MIPS Technologies. It supports a large variety of processor options; common processor types are 4Kc, 4KEc, 5Kc or a 24Kc core.
Hardware
The Malta board has an Intel 82371AB PIIX4 (aka Southbridge) which provides the following:
- 2 PCI IDE controllers. One controller is dedicated to the CompactFLASH socket.
- USB 1.1 Host Bridge
- Two i8259 IAC controllers
- One i8254 timer
- One MC146818 style RTC and CMOS controller
On the PIIX4 PCI bus there are the following devices:
- Super I/O chip which provides:
- 16550 compatible DUART
- LPT port
- Floppy controller
- PS/2 keyboard and mouse
- Cirrus Logic CS4281 AC'97 audio codec with AMR riser
- Am79c970 PCnet-PCI Ethernet controller
CBUS
On the Malta and topologically very close to the CPU there is the CBUS. CBUS is a simple bus. Among other things on the CBUS there is a 16550 UART. This arrangement allows RS-232 output even before other hardware has been configured. This UART has been added for debug purposes only. As such it's normally used and accessible only through a header. Nevertheless Linux supports this UART making it accessible as /dev/ttyS2.
Core cards
Malta board may be equipped with various "core cards". A core card includes a CPU, a system controller (aka Northbridge) and SDRAM module.
| CoreCard | CORID | CPUs | Controller |
|---|---|---|---|
| QED5261 | 0 | QED RM5261 | GT64120 |
| CoreLV | 1 | MIPS32 4K, MIPS64 5K | GT64120 |
| CoreBonito64 | 2 | QED RM5261, RM7061A | Bonito64 |
| Core20K | 3 | MIPS64 20Kc, MIPS64 25Kf | Bonito64 |
| CoreFPGA | 4 | MIPS32 4K, MIPS64 5K | GT64120 |
| CoreMSC | 5 | . | . |
| CoreEMUL | 6 | . | . |
| CoreFPGA2 | 7 | . | MIPS SOC-it 101 |
| CoreFPGAR2 | 8 | . | GT64120 |
| CoreFPGA3 | 9 | . | MIPS SOC-it 101 |
Firmware
Malta uses YAMON for its firmware. YAMON determines various Core card models and their endianness automatically. The YAMON image contains Big and Little endian parts and "magic" code to determine the current endian.
There is RedBoot port to Malta too.
Linux support
The MIPS Malta board is fully supported by mainline Linux kernels.
Emulation
Malta board is the most popular platform for MIPS full-system emulation.
GXemul supports MIPS Malta CoreLV (CoreID=1) well enough to run unmodified Linux 2.4 and 2.6 kernels (except PCI and LAN stuff).
QEMU also support MIPS Malta architecture.
- OVPWorld MIPS Homepage OVPsim simulates the MIPS Malta platform.
- Virtutech Simics Developer also emulates Malta.
External links
- Malta Development Board Malta Development Board
- NetBSD evbmips port
- Debian precompiled kernels and HOWTO.
- LynuxWorks BSPs for MIPS Malta
- TimeSys BSPs for MIPS Malta
