Development for NetBSD/ia64 is on HP's "SKI" emulator: Install the ski emulator: pkgsrc/emulators/ski. See the DESCR file for details about installing and running ski. Build the ia64 toolchain: build.sh -mia64 tools Build the bootloader: cd arch/ia64/stand/ia64/ski $TOOLDIR/bin/nbmake-ia64 The bootloader binary is arch/ia64/stand/ia64/skiload Build the kernel: build.sh -mia64 kernel=GENERIC.SKI The kernel binary is arch/ia64/compile/GENERIC.SKI/netbsd With both bootloader and kernel binaries (or softlinks to them) in the current directory, type: ski skiload This will launch the ski debugger prompt. Type 'c' to continue. This will launch the bootloader in a pseudo terminal window. Type 'boot netbsd' to boot the kernel. Have fun! Must have tasks: pmap module: Clean ups and debug. Boot Code Cleanup: clean up glue code between FreeBSD's boot code and NetBSD's standalone library. IA64 Stack unwind code: Support remaining unwind descriptor types. (See arch/ia64/unwind/TODO) Nice to have tasks: Kernel module pre-loading via the bootloader. Write a ski network driver. Enable SMP support. Pick a task you like, send mail to port-ia64@NetBSD.org to avoid duplication of work, and start hacking! Currently our focus is to make NetBSD/ia64 to run reasonably well on the ski emulator. In order to enable NetBSD to run on a real Itanium machine, further code needs to be written. Some important tasks are: The uga console driver. The bus_dma framework. device drivers.