Pegasos

This article is about the computer platform. For the mythical horse, see Pegasus.
Genesi Open Desktop Workstation, built around the Pegasos II

Pegasos is a MicroATX motherboard powered by a PowerPC 750CXe or PowerPC 7447 microprocessor, featuring three PCI slots, one AGP slot, two Ethernet ports (10/100/1000 & 10/100), USB, DDR, AC'97 sound, and FireWire. Like the PowerPC Macintosh counterparts, it boots via Open Firmware.

For hard disk drive booting the Open Firmware implementation called SmartFirmware requires an RDB boot partition that contains either an affs1 or ext2 partition.[1][2] Note that any changes to the ext2 on-disc format may prevent booting. It is, however possible to add some ext3 features so long as the volume can still be recognized as ext2.

The Pegasos was sold by Genesi USA, Inc., and designed by their research and design partner bplan GmbH based in Frankfurt, Germany.

There are two versions of the system: The Pegasos I and the Pegasos II.

Pegasos I

The Pegasos I supports the IBM Microprocessor 750CXe CPU (G3), has 100 Mbit/s Ethernet onboard and uses registered 168-pin PC133 SDR-SDRAM. It was discontinued after a hardware bug in the MAI Logic ArticiaS northbridge was discovered. Later versions of the Pegasos I came with a hardware fix which was designated "April". Further improvements were made in an "April 2" design which solved further problems. It has been replaced by the Pegasos II.

Pegasos II

Pegasos 2nd version (G4), inner view

The Pegasos II uses a Marvell Discovery II MV64361 northbridge, removing the need for the "April" chipset fix on the previous model, and additionally offers integrated Gigabit LAN and DDR support, and the ability to use the Freescale "G4" processor line.

The 750CXe (G3) CPU boards do not require a cooling fan, and thus has been marketed as "cool computing". The current G4 boards are based around the Freescale MPC7447 chip with a small fan. Passive cooling solutions are possible and sold with the "Home Media and Communication System", which is based on Pegasos II G4.

Genesi discontinued production of the Pegasos II in 2006, as the result of new European Union legislation requiring the use of more expensive and lead-free solder[3] under the Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS).

Open Desktop Workstation

The Open Desktop Workstation, or ODW, is a standardized version of the Pegasos II. It was the first open source based PowerPC computer and gave PowerPC a host/target development environment. Genesi has released the complete specifications (design and component listing) free of charge. The ODW-derived Home Media Center won the Best in Show award at the Freescale Technology Forum in 2005,[4] have an ATI certification,[5] and a "Ready for IBM Technology" certification.[6]

Specification

Operating system support

Several operating systems run on the Pegasos Platform. Genesi is very eager to support any efforts to port and optimize operating systems or applications for their computers.

Firmware

IKARUS low level console

Press Esc at a serial console (115200 baud) while booting.

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References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-10-02. Retrieved 2009-05-12.
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-02-26. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
  3. ↑ Proven, Liam (2007-01-03). "The Amiga is dead. Long live the Amiga!". Archived from the original on 2009-02-24. Retrieved 2009-02-18.
  4. ↑ "Freescale Technology Forum Best of Show winner exemplifies cool, innovative technology". Freescale.com. 2005-06-21. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  5. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2007-02-15.
  6. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-02-03. Retrieved 2007-02-15.
  7. ↑ "Power Developer • pegasos2 2gb ram ? - Page 2". Powerdeveloper.org. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  8. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-02-22. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
  9. ↑ "NetBSD/ofppc". De.netbsd.org. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  10. ↑ "OpenBSD/pegasos". Openbsd.org. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  11. ↑ "'Re: Pegasos (Dale's Side of the Story)' - MARC". Marc.info. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
  12. ↑ "QNX Partners". Qnx.com. Retrieved 2016-07-17.
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