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I've been trying to learn embedded software development for some time (been doing software for almost 15 years, 10 in Java, plus good knowledge of C/C++/X86 Asm from College.) Started playing with a PIC-based evaluation board just for kicks.

Where I work, there is a dept. they have some openings on embedded systems from time to time. One of the things they look for is experience with PowerPC architecture.

I've looked over the interweebz for cheap evaluation boards with PowerPC chips, but all I've found are boards between $400-$1000 and above. I wonder if there is a cheap way to learn embedded systems on a PowerPC architecture since I've seen evaluation boards for other architectures for a fraction of that price range.

Or, if an eval. board is not available at affordable prices, at least a cheap platform in which to practice programming in PowerPC assembly (even if it's not embedded.)

Anyone that could pitch some suggestions?

Oh, and if you could recommend some books on PowerPC architecture and programming, that'd be great, too.

animuson
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luis.espinal
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5 Answers5

5

Just get an old PowerPC Mac, anything from an old System 7 machine to whenever they stopped selling PowerPC ones.

http://www.google.com/products?q=g3+mac&hl=en&aq=f

http://www.google.com/products?q=original+imac&hl=en&aq=f

pib
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  • Good suggestion - you can either run Mac OS X and use Xcode for development or alternatively there are various Linux distros which will run on a PPC Mac (I would suggest Yellow Dog). – Paul R Jan 23 '10 at 08:49
  • Thanks! I'm going with this suggestion, and I'm currently bidding for a Apple G4. It's a lot cheaper than a board, and with much more power (I can always use another linux server.) I wish I could have found a board, though, since there are things on embedded programming that I need to explore. But at least I will have a cheap platform with which to program in PowerPC assembly. Thanks! – luis.espinal Jan 24 '10 at 06:26
  • A tips for buying 2nd hand macs: Buy sub GHz machines with the memory you need, unless you absolutely sure it is common DDR,DDR2. Here 2nd hands PPC Mac Mini's 1.25GHz go for about Eur 200, with 512MB and a 40 or 80 GB HD. – Marco van de Voort Jan 24 '10 at 17:30
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You could go the emulation route. I run qemu-ppc to test out my compiler:

[~/ecc/ellcc/test/source] main% cat write.c
int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
    write(1, "hello world\n", sizeof("hello world\n") - 1);
}
[~/ecc/ellcc/test/source] main% ~/ecc/ellcc/bin/powerpc-elf-ecc write.c
[~/ecc/ellcc/test/source] main% ~/ecc/ellcc/bin/qemu-ppc a.out
hello world
[~/ecc/ellcc/test/source] main%

There's no reason you couldn't do assembly programming with it. qemu-ppc emulates a ppc Linux process. qemu-system-ppc emulates a powerpc system (it can boot Linux). I'm hoping to use that for stand-alone targets also but i haven't gotten that far, yet.

Richard Pennington
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    Thanks Richard. I will try using qemu for assembly as soon as I get home. If I can find a cheap powerpc board, that'd be even greater since that will help me learn the basic nuances of doing embedded work with them. Thanks! – luis.espinal Jan 22 '10 at 23:35
2

I don't know as far as evaluation boards, but the Gamecube and Wii both run PowerPC processors. You can usually pick up a Gamecube used for $30, and there is a workable linux distribution and plenty of information at the GamecubeLinux Wiki

kersny
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2

+1 to the PPC Mac... that will be by far the most convenient way.

Or, if you want something new that you could use as a router, the Routerboard 600 series are PowerPC based: http://routerboard.com/index.php?showProduct=55

Andrew McGregor
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2

I have a MPC5125 board from Freescale - it cost me USD169, and comes pre-installed with Linux kernel, and linux kernel development on this board is available easily from the web.

http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=MPC5125

http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=TWR-MPC5125-KIT

and development resources are located at Timesys (can download source codes without paying for add-on services - click on download BSP):

https://linuxlink.timesys.com/docs/gsg/mpc5125_twr

Peter Teoh
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  • Where you able to get a tool chain and cross compiler for the MPC5125? I just bought one, but I'm having a lot of trouble finding tools to work with it because Timesys no longer fully supports it. And Freescale just tells me to talk to Timesys. :) – GrandAdmiral Jul 25 '13 at 20:29
  • Generally read here: http://tthtlc.wordpress.com/2014/02/25/tool-chain-for-the-twr-mpc5125/ In particular read this: https://community.freescale.com/message/342028#342028 – Peter Teoh Feb 25 '14 at 08:19
  • That answer is actually from me. The original question was closed, so I didn't think to post the answer in the comments once I figured it out. Thanks for doing so. I hope it helps other people. – GrandAdmiral Feb 25 '14 at 15:07
  • definitely it helped me, and thanks for your answer too. as for being closed, it is just the opinion of one person. any questions is always an opportunity to learn, and so is every answer. great knowing you! – Peter Teoh Feb 25 '14 at 15:54