Castle announce today that it has expanded its supported OS base with Linux. In addition to RISC OS, Castle's IYONIX pc is now able to run Linux. Linux for the IYONIX pc is based upon the developments of ARM Linux, and more specifically, recent XScale support.
Linux for the IYONIX pc is supported by a port of kernel version 2.4.19, although work is already underway to support 2.5, for which changes will be contributed to ARM Linux.
The current version is very much in development, and does not yet support all of the IYONIX pc's hardware. In particular, it requires booting from an NFS or RAM Disc, but presents a usable and stable Linux system. As with ARM Linux on previous RISC OS machines, Linux is presently booted from within RISC OS.
Castle provides a pre-built kernel, patches, and bootloader for parties interested in developing or experimenting with Linux for Iyonix at: http://www.iyonix.com/linux.html
Technical support is available - please see Castle's Linux support pages at: http://www.iyonix.com/linux/support.html
The IYONIX pc is the World's first XScale™ desktop computer and is an ideal development platform for ARM® based development. Designed to run both RISC OS and Linux the IYONIX pc features an Intel® XScale™ 80321 processor based on ARM® architecture. It features extensive PCI support, USB, Serial, Gigabit networking and simple Acorn expansion slots. The IYONIX pc utilises an off-the-shelf video processor, DDR RAM, and the operating system occupies 4MB of Flash ROM.
Castle offer a variety of support packages for Linux, and hardware is available to be shipped worldwide. Full technical reference manuals and development tools for RISC OS are also available.
Castle's all-new 32-bit IYONIX pc - THE WORLD'S FIRST XSCALE DESKTOP COMPUTER - will be shown running Linux at the Wakefield RISC OS show on the 10th May 2003. IYONIX pcs will be available to purchase at this event.
For more information on the 32-bit IYONIX pc visit http://www.iyonix.com
Issued by Mike Williams on behalf of Castle Technology Ltd. (Note that the characters after 'Intel XScale' and 'ARM' in the above should show as a 'TradeMark' symbol. They may appear differently on non RISC OS machines).
NOTE FOR EDITORS:
Linux is a free Unix-type operating system originally created by Linus
Torvalds with the assistance of developers around the world. Developed under
the GNU General Public License, the source code for Linux is freely
available to everyone. Click on the link below to find out more about the
operating system that is causing a revolution in the world of computers.
http://www.linux.org