I believe the VM is, at base, compiling C code against an OS - not a chip
set.  So, given C compiler for BSD, it should just compile and run.

The COG VM, where they do machine level JITting, though, that requires
knowledge of the chip used.

-Chris


On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 2:37 PM, Bert Freudenberg <bert at freudenbergs.de>wrote:

>
>
> On 08.11.2012, at 23:29, Open Slate <openslateproj at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 2:11 AM, Bert Freudenberg <bert at freudenbergs.de>wrote:
>
>> On 2012-11-07, at 22:39, Open Slate <openslateproj at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > I just saw where the FreeBSD foundation has awarded a grant to have the
>> OS ported to the Genesi Efika MX Smartbook portable computer. I would like
>> to get Squeak running on this platform. Also looking at their MX53 as the
>> core of a self-made project. I am concerned that the hardware is
>> underpowered, 800MHz Freescale i.MX515 CPU and 512MB RAM. I see where the
>> new OLPC uses 1GB RAM. If we assume that the FreeBSD port will be on par
>> with the available Linux OS in terms of RAM requirements and performance,
>> is this enough juice to provide an acceptable level of performance in
>> Squeak?
>>
>> The RPi has only 256 MB of RAM and Squeak runs fine under Linux (they do
>> not use GNOME or KDE but a less memory-hungry environment, LXDE).
>>
>> The main problem is display speed. Since the display has lots of pixels,
>> and Morphic isn't exactly frugal about screen updates, we end up copying a
>> ton of pixel data around.
>>
>> > How difficult would it be to port the existing FreeBSD vm, which is
>> Intel based, to the Freescale CPU? (
>> http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=i.MX515)
>>
>> Should Just Work.
>>
>> - Bert -
>>
>>
>>
>>
> Yeah, I've given up on Gnome. Currently using Enlightenment on my desktop
> but that would not be good on a tablet. Sounds like Squeak has not become
> blotted as hardware specs expanded. That's good.
>
> Why would the port "just work?" Does the Freescale chip execute i86
> instruction set? (I feel like I am in over my head here.) My thinking is
> that the ARM chip will require its own vm, then an image will "just work."
>
>
>
> Compiling the unix VM should just work, as others have pointed out. And
> since BSD ports are source-based, that should Just Work, too.
>
> - Bert -
>
>
>
>
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