# Embedded Project on Zynq: ARMv7-A.  A good idea?



## EMBAUD (Apr 7, 2016)

I am thinking about using FreeBSD for an embedded project that is coming up.

The architecture is Xilinx Zynq, which is an ARM Cortex-A9 (ARMv7-A).

Would FreeBSD be a good choice for this project?  This is a professional project and the OS needs to be rock solid when we release.   

I downloaded a SD-Card image and was able to boot FreeBSD on a development board:

http://www.skibo.net/zedbsd/

But there seems to be very little information or discussion about this platform that I can find.

Any thoughts or opinions on this topic?  How mature is the ARM port of FreeBSD?

Also, I was wondering, can I generate ELF files with the Vivado SDK, and run them at the FreeBSD command line?  

Thanks!


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## SirDice (Apr 7, 2016)

EMBAUD said:


> How mature is the ARM port of FreeBSD?


It is quite functional but ARM is still a Tier 2 platform. There's lots of work being done to get it to Tier 1 though.


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## EMBAUD (Apr 8, 2016)

Thanks for the link to that page.  Tier 2 really doesn't sound that bad.


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## SirDice (Apr 8, 2016)

No, it isn't. It just means there's no official support and no official releases. But that doesn't mean there's nothing happening. In fact there's a lot happening for ARM. There's lots more info: https://wiki.freebsd.org/FreeBSD/arm

If you're serious about developing FreeBSD on ARM I also suggest joining the freebsd-arm mailing list. There aren't a lot of developers on this board, but you can find all of them on the mailing list.


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