Debian GNU/Linux 6.0 on ARM

Debian GNU/Linux on ARM
http://www.debian.org/ports/arm/

On these pages you'll find information about the ongoing effort of porting Debian GNU/Linux to the ARM architecture which is often found in embedded systems.
Current Status

Debian fully supports a port to little-endian ARM. The ARM EABI (armel) port has been integrated in Debian and the old (arm) port is deprecated.

As of our latest release, Debian GNU/Linux 6.0.0, the following ARM sub-architectures are fully supported:

* iop32x: we support some IOP32x based Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices, such as the Thecus N2100, Intel SS4000 and GLAN Tank.
* ixp4xx: we support the popular Linksys NSLU2 device.
* kirkwood: we support Marvell's Kirkwood platform and we have specific support for a number of devices, including the SheevaPlug, QNAP Turbo NAS (TS-11x, TS-21x and TS-41x) and OpenRD.
* orion5x: we support Marvell's Orion platform and we have specific support for a number of devices, including the QNAP Turbo Station (TS-109, TS-209, TS-409) and HP mv2120.

General Information about ARM EABI

Please see the release notes and installation manual for more information.
Available Hardware for Debian Developers

agnesi.debian.org (arm) and agricola.debian.org (armel) are available to Debian developers for ARM porting work. The machine have development chroot environments which you can access with dchroot. Please see the machine database for more information about these machines.
Contacts
Mailing lists

The Debian ARM port mailing list is located at debian-arm@lists.debian.org. If you wish to sign up, send a message with the word "subscribe" as the subject to debian-arm-request@lists.debian.org. The list is archived at the debian-arm list archives.

It's also a good idea to sign up with the linux-arm mailing list.


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2.1. Supported Hardware

http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/armel/ch02s01.html.en#id514667

Debian does not impose hardware requirements beyond the requirements of the Linux or kFreeBSD kernel and the GNU tool-sets. Therefore, any architecture or platform to which the Linux or kFreeBSD kernel, libc, gcc, etc. have been ported, and for which a Debian port exists, can run Debian. Please refer to the Ports pages at http://www.debian.org/ports/arm/ for more details on ARM architecture systems which have been tested with Debian GNU/Linux.

Rather than attempting to describe all the different hardware configurations which are supported for ARM, this section contains general information and pointers to where additional information can be found.
2.1.1. Supported Architectures

Debian GNU/Linux 6.0 supports eleven major architectures and several variations of each architecture known as 「flavors」.
[...]

2.1.2. CPU, Main Boards, and Video Support

Each distinct ARM architecture requires its own kernel. Because of this the standard Debian distribution only supports installation on a number of the most common platforms. The Debian userland however may be used by any ARM CPU.

Most ARM CPUs may be run in either endian mode (big or little). However, the majority of current system implementation uses little-endian mode. Debian currently only supports little-endian ARM systems.

The supported platforms are:

IOP32x
Intel's I/O Processor (IOP) line is found in a number of products related to data storage and processing. Debian currently supports the IOP32x platform, featuring the IOP 80219 and 32x chips commonly found in Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices. Debian explicitly supports two such devices: the GLAN Tank from IO-Data and the Thecus N2100.

IXP4xx
The IXP4xx platform is based on Intel's XScale ARM core. Currently, only one IXP4xx based system is supported, the Linksys NSLU2. The Linksys NSLU2 (Network Storage Link for USB 2.0 Disk Drives) is a small device which allows you to easily provide storage via the network. It comes with an Ethernet connection and two USB ports to which hard drives can be connected. There is an external site with installation instructions.

Kirkwood
Kirkwood is a system on a chip (SoC) from Marvell that integrates an ARM CPU, Ethernet, SATA, USB, and other functionality in one chip. We currently support the following Kirkwood based devices: OpenRD (OpenRD-Base and OpenRD-Client), SheevaPlug and QNAP Turbo Station (TS-110, TS-119, TS-210, TS-219 and TS-219P; the TS-410 and TS-419P are not yet supported).

Orion5x
Orion is a system on a chip (SoC) from Marvell that integrates an ARM CPU, Ethernet, SATA, USB, and other functionality in one chip. There are many Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices on the market that are based on an Orion chip. We currently support the following Orion based devices: Buffalo Kurobox, HP mv2120, QNAP Turbo Station (TS-109, TS-209 and TS-409).

Versatile
The Versatile platform is emulated by QEMU and is therefore a nice way to test and run Debian on ARM if you don't have the hardware.