KolibriOS:the smallest/fastest OS for eBox-3350MX/Roboard
KolibriOS:the smallest/fastest OS for eBox-3350MX/Roboard
by yogev_ezra
Mon Jun 06, 2011 5:23 am
Do you want to win your robot tournament with RoBoard? If the answer is "Yes", then you should try this Operating System: KolibriOS - http://www.kolibrios.org 
It is written 90% in Assembly, has a fully-featured GUI, and still fits in 1.44MB floppy image. Open-source, freeware, distributed under GPL license. On Vortex86DX CPU (the one used in RoBoard) it boots from power-on till working system in less than 10 seconds. More information is available on KolibriOS wiki: http://wiki.kolibrios.org/wiki/Main_Page
Work on porting KolibriOS to Vortex86 SoC is already in progress, but you still can help and are invited to do so!
So far we have R6040 network card working, RDC R3010 HD Audio (the one used in Vortex86MX) working. We are looking for people who would like to test the system on their RoBoard, as well as help us write the drivers for the Servos / GPIO / I2C / PWM etc.
I have written an introductory article here: http://www.deviceonchip.com/index.php?o ... &Itemid=85 (and also instructions to install a working KolibriOS image).
You are welcome to post any questions and comments in this thread, but also invited to write them on KolibriOS developers forum: http://board.kolibrios.org/index.php The forum members mostly speak Russian, but if you write your question in English, then someone will reply you in English as well
Ideally, KolibriOS can run even inside RoBoard / eBox BIOS (it has enough space for that), but we need RoBoard manufacturer cooperation for doing that (BIOS includes a "Virtual Floppy" support that can be installed inside BIOS flash chip, but we cannot figure out how to use this option and the manufacturer did not wish to answer us
) So maybe now, after this post, there will be enough people interested so that manufacturer will answer 
It is written 90% in Assembly, has a fully-featured GUI, and still fits in 1.44MB floppy image. Open-source, freeware, distributed under GPL license. On Vortex86DX CPU (the one used in RoBoard) it boots from power-on till working system in less than 10 seconds. More information is available on KolibriOS wiki: http://wiki.kolibrios.org/wiki/Main_Page
Work on porting KolibriOS to Vortex86 SoC is already in progress, but you still can help and are invited to do so!
So far we have R6040 network card working, RDC R3010 HD Audio (the one used in Vortex86MX) working. We are looking for people who would like to test the system on their RoBoard, as well as help us write the drivers for the Servos / GPIO / I2C / PWM etc.
I have written an introductory article here: http://www.deviceonchip.com/index.php?o ... &Itemid=85 (and also instructions to install a working KolibriOS image).
You are welcome to post any questions and comments in this thread, but also invited to write them on KolibriOS developers forum: http://board.kolibrios.org/index.php The forum members mostly speak Russian, but if you write your question in English, then someone will reply you in English as well
Ideally, KolibriOS can run even inside RoBoard / eBox BIOS (it has enough space for that), but we need RoBoard manufacturer cooperation for doing that (BIOS includes a "Virtual Floppy" support that can be installed inside BIOS flash chip, but we cannot figure out how to use this option and the manufacturer did not wish to answer us
) So maybe now, after this post, there will be enough people interested so that manufacturer will answer Last edited by yogev_ezra on Sun Jul 17, 2011 10:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.
by limor
Mon Jun 06, 2011 12:41 pm
Hi Yogev
Sounds like an exciting adventure to write an operating system.
How would you compare the Kolibrios to OpenWRT ?
What are the advantages of Kolibrios over a slimmed down Linux in a robotics application?
Can you please post some links or examples of how to use the APIs to talk to the I/O peripherals on the RoBoard (in some high level language).
Also, how are interrupts handled (ex: a byte ready to be read from the UART), how do you read from the A/D ? etc.
Sounds like an exciting adventure to write an operating system.
How would you compare the Kolibrios to OpenWRT ?
What are the advantages of Kolibrios over a slimmed down Linux in a robotics application?
Can you please post some links or examples of how to use the APIs to talk to the I/O peripherals on the RoBoard (in some high level language).
Also, how are interrupts handled (ex: a byte ready to be read from the UART), how do you read from the A/D ? etc.
by yogev_ezra
Mon Jun 06, 2011 1:11 pm
Well, in a few words, KolibriOS is faster than OpenWRT, needs less disk space, and HAS A GUI (so it can be as user-friendly as Windows XP, while still working very fast). On the other hand, KolibriOS will work only on x86 systems, while OpenWRT can work on ADM / BroadCom / ARM and various other CPUs.
For any technical questions on API, I/O etc., it is better if you register to http://board.kolibrios.org/index.php and post your questions there (in "Embedded Solutions" forum or in "English" forum). This is because I am not a programmer myself (well, I do have a B.Sc. in Computer Science but I am more a QA / Integrator / Support person / designer than programmer). My personal contribution to KolibriOS is sponsoring the project with free hardware and advertising it in non-Russian-speaking communities.
For any technical questions on API, I/O etc., it is better if you register to http://board.kolibrios.org/index.php and post your questions there (in "Embedded Solutions" forum or in "English" forum). This is because I am not a programmer myself (well, I do have a B.Sc. in Computer Science but I am more a QA / Integrator / Support person / designer than programmer). My personal contribution to KolibriOS is sponsoring the project with free hardware and advertising it in non-Russian-speaking communities.
by roboard
Tue Jun 07, 2011 4:34 am
Hi yogev_ezra,
very great work!
The "Virtual Floppy" needs a special BIOS to enable, and needs a special tool to format. If you need the both BIOS & tool for testing, please email to tech@roboard.com.
very great work!
The "Virtual Floppy" needs a special BIOS to enable, and needs a special tool to format. If you need the both BIOS & tool for testing, please email to tech@roboard.com.
by yogev_ezra
Sun Jul 17, 2011 10:25 pm
I've posted a YouTube video of eBox-3350MX running KolibriOS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaoIiMFRmN8
Later I will also provide the installation instructions
Later I will also provide the installation instructions