ATOM support now in OpenSolaris

By David Stewart (Intel) (129 posts) on December 22, 2008 at 7:08 pm

I just got a heads up that two very interesting changes were just put back to the OpenSolaris code base, related to the Intel Atom Processor:

So the OpenSolaris kernel now has the requisite fiddly bits to not only run on an Intel Atom processor-based platform (these were actually done months ago) but also the necessary support to optimize software and drivers for Atom.

This raises some good questions:

In fact, Solaris runs in some form or another in a lot of embedded applications, and has for some years. There is absolutely nothing strange to think that this wouldn't continue. And, if Atom is successful at being used in embedded applications, it seems natural to enable Solaris to run on it.

And further, there is absolutely nothing about the Solaris footprint to prevent it from fitting on a small pretty dang small device. One of the OpenSolaris open source distros is Milax, which is a stripped down version appropriate to very small systems. According to this writing, their web site says they only need 256KB 256MB of memory to run, which is pretty darn small. (Edited to correct the memory)

But why give the ability to optimize software and drivers? Well, clearly if you want to do something of a serious nature on small devices, you need all the necessary tools.

It will be very interesting to see future developments in this space. Who do you think will build the first Atom-based Solaris or OpenSolaris embedded device?

Categories: Intel® Atom™, Mobility, Open Source

Comments (12)

December 22, 2008 8:07 PM PST


Darrin Johnson		 OpenSolaris is a great complement to the Atom based solutions especially as it emerges as a key element in netbook and embedded solutions. The addition of Atom performance counters and instructions enhances the observability existing features of OpenSolaris (e.g. powertop, dtrace, etc.). Add in very good performance, fault management, etc. you start building a pretty darn good solution not even including future OpenSolaris feature roadmap, Sun Studio suite, Java, etc.
December 23, 2008 12:17 AM PST


Che Kristo		 I can think of lots of places where OpenSolaris + Atom are a perfect fit! To begin with a low power, low cost NAS appliance would be the obvious one...
December 23, 2008 1:17 AM PST


UX-admin		 I'm just waiting for a Solaris powered PDA/Phone ala T-Mobile/Google Android product.

Just imagine carrying an Oracle/PHP or PostgreSQL PHP E-groupware UNIX server in your shirt pocket, and after being finished with a phone call, connecting your phone to the wireless network and using SSH to log in!

Wouldn't that be mindblowingly awesome?
December 23, 2008 2:05 AM PST


Vasileios Anagnostopoulos		 When I hear Atom I understand Solaris. When I hear Nano (sorry Intel) I understand Linux.
December 23, 2008 3:19 AM PST


Mika		 I'm a happy EeePC 1000h user. Getting better Atom support is a great!
December 23, 2008 6:57 PM PST


Rayson Ho		 Nice!

I only have an Eee PC 701 SD, but when I get an Atom-based netbook the enhanced Solaris support would be really useful!

Rayson

December 23, 2008 6:58 PM PST


Jim Grisanzio		 Here's a good blog in Japan (in English) about running OpenSolaris on the EeePC: http://masafumi-ohta.blogspot.com/
December 24, 2008 7:26 AM PST


Sriram Narayanan		 Nice news, Dave :)

A small correction - milax needs a min 256 MB to run and not 256 KB.

-- Sriram
December 25, 2008 4:56 PM PST


masafumi ohta		 Wow,nice to hear that:) I now checking some aprications of OpenSolaris 2008.11 distro on my Eee 901,so I will check its performace and so on on my Eee.(seeing some Flash videos they work great on my Eee 901)and I now writing installation report about OpenSolaris 2008.11 on Eee PC,if finished writting,I will upload my blog.(some people ask for writing:))

I hope to see you soon,Dave-san

-masafumi
December 25, 2008 6:37 PM PST

David Stewart (Intel)
Total Points:
8,705
Status Points:
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Black Belt
 I'm pretty far behind on comments on this post - sorry all! Apparently the notification system broke down and I didn't know that this post got picked up on The Register as well. (Always a little frantic-feeling when that happens...)

@Sriram - thanks for the correct on Milax. To be frank, I rushed this post out early one morning and this was a factual error.

@Ohta-san - nice to hear from you again! I was having some problems with the eeePC that I borrowed, I need to get it checked out when I come back from holiday in January.

@Darrin - thanks for all of your hard work and innovation!!
December 27, 2008 9:22 AM PST

masafumi_ohta
Total Points:
5
Registered User
 Dave-san,

Perhaps there are some problems using OpenSolaris on Atom-based Eee PC like Eee PC 901 or so on.
please follow the links;
http://masafumi-ohta.blogspot.com/2008/10/fantastic.html
http://masafumi-ohta.blogspot.com/2008/10/workaroundeee-901-.....em_08.html
http://masafumi-ohta.blogspot.com/2008/11/l1el2-driver-finally-works-out.html
and I finally succeed in using wifi changing Ralink 2860 internal MiniPCIe adapter for Intel 3945ABG MiniPCIe.it works good on my Eee 901.I will blog about it soon.
January 5, 2009 10:40 AM PST


James Liu		 Great stuff Dave and looking forward to even better Atom support. Over the holidays, I upgraded family systems to latest OpenSolaris bits and security fixes, including the systems that have been running up in Vancouver for months on end handling northern home land security for me. All Atom-based and proof that those economical Atom boards can reduce power and run for months and months without a hiccup. And with all intelligent indoor vacuum cleaners being the rage these days, one application I thought would have been extremely useful for embedded OpenSolaris + Atom would have been an exterior snow-ba - an automated snow plow/blower. You see, I had the grace to have survived the freezing rain through Salem to Portland last week and then the 4 ft of snow in the lower BC mainland as well - the most in 30+ years. Either we have global cooling or you folks aren't pumping out as much heat in Hillsboro like you used to. LOL!

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