From gnuorder at tampabay.rr.com Tue Sep 3 14:55:00 2002 From: gnuorder at tampabay.rr.com (GNUOrder) Date: Tue Sep 3 14:55:00 2002 Subject: NEW: support for the pcchips m830lr. In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <200209020432.g824WPNh005583@smtp-server6.tampabay.rr.com> Is this the new mini micro ATX board with the C3 CPU and the VIA chipset? What kind of support does that have for an LCD screen? I was looking at the VIA site and I couldn't find out if the chipset had any digital video output. One other general question, is it possible to piggyback several devices onto a PCI slot or could you add some decoding to accomplish that? GO On Wednesday 28 August 2002 11:09, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > Thanks to cwlinux.com and Andrew Ip, we now have support for the m830lr! > It is committed and in the repository. > > ron > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios From justin at street-vision.com Tue Sep 3 15:15:01 2002 From: justin at street-vision.com (Justin Cormack) Date: Tue Sep 3 15:15:01 2002 Subject: NEW: support for the pcchips m830lr. In-Reply-To: <200209020432.g824WPNh005583@smtp-server6.tampabay.rr.com> from "GNUOrder" at Sep 02, 2002 12:29:00 AM Message-ID: <200209031922.g83JMFo13122@tench.street-vision.com> > > Is this the new mini micro ATX board with the C3 CPU and the VIA chipset? No. > What kind of support does that have for an LCD screen? I was looking at the > VIA site and I couldn't find out if the chipset had any digital video output. Mine doesnt but I believe it is available as an option. > One other general question, is it possible to piggyback several devices onto > a PCI slot or could you add some decoding to accomplish that? There is some sort of riser for a second pci slot if I remember rightly. You cant just stick two devices in 1 slot. > GO > > On Wednesday 28 August 2002 11:09, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > > Thanks to cwlinux.com and Andrew Ip, we now have support for the m830lr! > > It is committed and in the repository. > > > > ron > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Linuxbios mailing list > > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > From rminnich at lanl.gov Tue Sep 3 15:19:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Tue Sep 3 15:19:01 2002 Subject: NEW: support for the pcchips m830lr. In-Reply-To: <200209020432.g824WPNh005583@smtp-server6.tampabay.rr.com> Message-ID: On Mon, 2 Sep 2002, GNUOrder wrote: > Is this the new mini micro ATX board with the C3 CPU and the VIA chipset? > What kind of support does that have for an LCD screen? I was looking at the > VIA site and I couldn't find out if the chipset had any digital video output. this is not he new micro ATX board. m830 is a 735 chipset I believe. We are however looking at the new microatx board. > One other general question, is it possible to piggyback several devices onto > a PCI slot or could you add some decoding to accomplish that? that's a bad idea I think. Would lead to un-debuggable hardware problems. ron From jbmontero at noruega.com Tue Sep 3 15:38:01 2002 From: jbmontero at noruega.com (javier montero) Date: Tue Sep 3 15:38:01 2002 Subject: Linux Bios - ViaEden mainbaord Message-ID: <20020902121319.399143968@sitemail.everyone.net> An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: not available URL: From rminnich at lanl.gov Tue Sep 3 15:39:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Tue Sep 3 15:39:00 2002 Subject: VIA EPIA now in the tree Message-ID: Notice I didn't say it was working :-) Andrew Ip has kindly contributed source for the VIA EPIA port. OK, now let's fix the 8601 code .... ron From bari at onelabs.com Tue Sep 3 15:47:01 2002 From: bari at onelabs.com (Bari Ari) Date: Tue Sep 3 15:47:01 2002 Subject: Linux Bios - ViaEden mainbaord References: <20020902121319.399143968@sitemail.everyone.net> Message-ID: <3D7513D3.7020007@onelabs.com> javier montero wrote: >Hello, > >Does any one know if Linux Bios support the mainboard of Via Technologies Via Epia ? or some body its working on that ?? > > What version of the Via Epia? Via has a few different chipsets that they list for Epia boards? Bari From rminnich at lanl.gov Tue Sep 3 15:51:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Tue Sep 3 15:51:00 2002 Subject: Linux Bios - ViaEden mainbaord In-Reply-To: <20020902121319.399143968@sitemail.everyone.net> Message-ID: On Mon, 2 Sep 2002, javier montero wrote: > Does any one know if Linux Bios support the mainboard of Via Technologies Via Epia ? or some body its working on that ?? Several of us are working on it and hope to have it going soon. ron From christer at weinigel.se Tue Sep 3 22:02:00 2002 From: christer at weinigel.se (Christer Weinigel) Date: Tue Sep 3 22:02:00 2002 Subject: NEW: support for the pcchips m830lr. In-Reply-To: <200209020432.g824WPNh005583@smtp-server6.tampabay.rr.com> References: <200209020432.g824WPNh005583@smtp-server6.tampabay.rr.com> Message-ID: <87k7m2a4ls.fsf@zoo.weinigel.se> [I tried to send this before but it got stuck in the "you're not subscribed to the list"-filter.] GNUOrder writes: > Is this the new mini micro ATX board with the C3 CPU and the VIA chipset? > What kind of support does that have for an LCD screen? I was looking at the > VIA site and I couldn't find out if the chipset had any digital video output. > One other general question, is it possible to piggyback several devices onto > a PCI slot or could you add some decoding to accomplish that? The proper way of making a PCI riser card with multiple slots is to use a card with a PCI bridge on it. Such as this: http://www.carypowder.com.tw/product/32bit_pci3202.htm This card only presents one PCI load to the motherboard and the PCI bridge can then handle the 3 PCI slots on the riser card. As long as the motherboard can provide enough power to the PCI cards this is a perfectly legal design according to the PCI specs. This is probably what you want to do. The el-cheapo way of putting more than one PCI card on a riser requires a lot of knowledge about the specific motherboard you are using. First of all, there are electrical limits (total capacitance, total loads and whatnot) that normally limits a board to about 5 PCI slots. So, with a board like this it should to be possible to just extend the wires to two slots with a passive riser card and still stay within the electrical limitations. Second, each PCI slot has a pin called IDSEL that is used for accesses to the PCI configuration space (pci_read_config_word and friends in the Linux kernel). Each slot has a unique pin, so the riser card has to "create" two IDSEL signals from somewhere. One way is to use a card such as this: http://www.carypowder.com.tw/product/32bit_pci300-32.htm I'm not 100% sure of how this card works, but a reasonable guess is that the extra wires are used to connect the IDSEL signal (and maybe power since there are so many wires) from other PCI slots, so I don't think this will work on the VIA card. Now, normally the IDSEL pins are actually connected to the address bus, so for example IDSEL of PCI slot one is connected to AD12, IDSEL of PCI slot 2 to AD13 and so on. So if you know what you are doing (i.e. know the layout of the motherboard so that you can make sure there won't be any conflicts) you could just use two free pins of the address bus to create two new IDSEL signals. So, it is possible to make a cheap passive riser card, but I doubt that it's worth the effort unless you are talking hundreds of riser cards. /Christer (now I just wonder why I like to explain these kind of things in the middle of the night) -- "Just how much can I get away with and still go to heaven?" Freelance consultant specializing in device driver programming for Linux Christer Weinigel http://www.weinigel.se From christer at weinigel.se Tue Sep 3 23:17:01 2002 From: christer at weinigel.se (Christer Weinigel) Date: Tue Sep 3 23:17:01 2002 Subject: NEW: support for the pcchips m830lr. In-Reply-To: <200209020432.g824WPNh005583@smtp-server6.tampabay.rr.com> References: <200209020432.g824WPNh005583@smtp-server6.tampabay.rr.com> Message-ID: <87n0qyaa0l.fsf@zoo.weinigel.se> GNUOrder writes: > Is this the new mini micro ATX board with the C3 CPU and the VIA chipset? > What kind of support does that have for an LCD screen? I was looking at the > VIA site and I couldn't find out if the chipset had any digital video output. > One other general question, is it possible to piggyback several devices onto > a PCI slot or could you add some decoding to accomplish that? The proper way of making a PCI riser card with multiple slots is to use a card with a PCI bridge on it. Such as this: http://www.carypowder.com.tw/product/32bit_pci3202.htm This card only presents one PCI load to the motherboard and the PCI bridge can then handle the 3 PCI slots on the riser card. As long as the motherboard can provide enough power to the PCI cards this is a perfectly legal design according to the PCI specs. This is probably what you want to do. The el-cheapo way of putting more than one PCI card on a riser requires a lot of knowledge about the specific motherboard you are using. First of all, there are electrical limits (total capacitance, total loads and whatnot) that normally limits a board to about 5 PCI slots. So, with a board like this it should to be possible to just extend the wires to two slots with a passive riser card and still stay within the electrical limitations. Second, each PCI slot has a pin called IDSEL that is used for accesses to the PCI configuration space (pci_read_config_word and friends in the Linux kernel). Each slot has a unique pin, so the riser card has to "create" two IDSEL signals from somewhere. One way is to use a card such as this: http://www.carypowder.com.tw/product/32bit_pci300-32.htm I'm not 100% sure of how this card works, but a reasonable guess is that the extra wires are used to connect the IDSEL signal (and maybe power since there are so many wires) from other PCI slots, so I don't think this will work on the VIA card. Now, normally the IDSEL pins are actually connected to the address bus, so for example IDSEL of PCI slot one is connected to AD12, IDSEL of PCI slot 2 to AD13 and so on. So if you know what you are doing (i.e. know the layout of the motherboard so that you can make sure there won't be any conflicts) you could just use two free pins of the address bus to create two new IDSEL signals. So, it is possible to make a cheap passive riser card, but I doubt that it's worth the effort unless you are talking hundreds of riser cards. /Christer (now I just wonder why I like to explain these kind of things in the middle of the night) -- "Just how much can I get away with and still go to heaven?" Freelance consultant specializing in device driver programming for Linux Christer Weinigel http://www.weinigel.se From gnuorder at tampabay.rr.com Wed Sep 4 01:43:01 2002 From: gnuorder at tampabay.rr.com (GNUOrder) Date: Wed Sep 4 01:43:01 2002 Subject: NEW: support for the pcchips m830lr. In-Reply-To: <87n0qyaa0l.fsf@zoo.weinigel.se> References: <200209020432.g824WPNh005583@smtp-server6.tampabay.rr.com> <87n0qyaa0l.fsf@zoo.weinigel.se> Message-ID: <200209040551.g845pDQu014697@smtp-server4.tampabay.rr.com> I found 2 devices like you pointed out, I was thinking more of the third way you described. They offer a riser card with 2 slots as an option. What they might have done is what some of the passive backplane systems do which is include extra IDSEL signals in unused PCI pins. How would a card like one with 2 or more NICs on it handle a regular PCI slot? I know there are a few that have 4 seperate DEC chips on them? GO From Michael.Marriott at BlackSunTechnologies.com Wed Sep 4 05:21:01 2002 From: Michael.Marriott at BlackSunTechnologies.com (Michael Marriott) Date: Wed Sep 4 05:21:01 2002 Subject: Boot a PC104 from Sandisk Compact Flash Message-ID: I am trying to get my PC104 to boot from 256 SanDisk Compact Flash Card. I have a 7GB HDD connected loaded with Redhat 7.2. I can boot from the HDD and CDROM. The HDD is /dev/hd0 the CF is /dev/hd1 I tried to build a Linux file system on the CF by mounting it at /mnt/CF and transferring all the appropriate files and directories. I guesse that's OK... I am using GRUB to choose between HDD or CF boot. I copied /boot/grub/grub.conf to /mnt/cf/boot/grub and edited appropriately Currently the PC104 boots from flash (/dev/hdc1) (but the GRUB choices only come up if the HDD is connected). The crash comes when init tries to mount /hdc1. I don't know why the system mounts / on /dev/hda4 when this is not what I setup in /etc/fstab My current thinking is that I cannot simply copy initrd to my new "root file system" because this has information in it about where to find the root file system. Is this correct? Can anyone shed some light on what I am doing wrong?? Michael Marriott From christer at weinigel.se Wed Sep 4 05:41:01 2002 From: christer at weinigel.se (Christer Weinigel) Date: Wed Sep 4 05:41:01 2002 Subject: NEW: support for the pcchips m830lr. In-Reply-To: GNUOrder's message of "Wed, 4 Sep 2002 01:47:43 -0400" References: <200209020432.g824WPNh005583@smtp-server6.tampabay.rr.com> <87n0qyaa0l.fsf@zoo.weinigel.se> <200209040551.g845pDQu014697@smtp-server4.tampabay.rr.com> Message-ID: GNUOrder writes: > How would a card like one > with 2 or more NICs on it handle a regular PCI slot? I know there are a few > that have 4 seperate DEC chips on them? All dual or quad Ethernetcards I know of have a PCI bridge on them. /Christer -- "Just how much can I get away with and still go to heaven?" Freelance consultant specializing in device driver programming for Linux Christer Weinigel http://www.weinigel.se From hamishl at dplanet.ch Wed Sep 4 06:24:01 2002 From: hamishl at dplanet.ch (Hamish Guthrie (Mail Lists)) Date: Wed Sep 4 06:24:01 2002 Subject: NEW: support for the pcchips m830lr. In-Reply-To: Message-ID: There is no reason not to be able to add more than 1 PCI device to an expansion card, the only issue is the potential for conflicts. The only reason people like Adaptec etc put a bridge on them is so that the individual devices can be accessed as sub-devices of the card on ANY PCI bus. If one is looking at making a 'special' for a particular motherboard, it really is quite simple, you just need to identify which AD lines are used by other devices on the board and then select unused AD lines for IDSEL of the new devices you want to add. The potential issue though, is that board will not necessarily work on other motherboards without conflict. Hamish > -----Original Message----- > From: linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org > [mailto:linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org]On Behalf Of Christer Weinigel > Sent: 04 September 2002 11:49 > To: gnuorder at tampabay.rr.com > Cc: linuxbios at clustermatic.org > Subject: Re: NEW: support for the pcchips m830lr. > > > GNUOrder writes: > > > How would a card like one > > with 2 or more NICs on it handle a regular PCI slot? I know > there are a few > > that have 4 seperate DEC chips on them? > > All dual or quad Ethernetcards I know of have a PCI bridge on them. > > /Christer > > -- > "Just how much can I get away with and still go to heaven?" > > Freelance consultant specializing in device driver programming for Linux > Christer Weinigel http://www.weinigel.se > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios From Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk Wed Sep 4 07:24:00 2002 From: Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk (Antony Stone) Date: Wed Sep 4 07:24:00 2002 Subject: Availability of DoC devices ? Message-ID: <200209041132.g84BW0v30870@vulcan.rissington.net> Hi. I've just joined the mailing list (and not long ago found out about LinuxBios at all). Great project. Can anyone advise me where to get hold of the Millennium DoC devices to create a LinuxBios boot chip ? I can't find anything in the FAQ or the mailing list archive (which seems surprisingly new - I thought the project had been going for quite some time ?), so I hope it's not a dumb question. My preference for where to get the devices would be: 1. UK 2. EU 3. US 3. RoW Can anyone help ? Antony. -- In science, one tries to tell people in such a way as to be understood by everyone something that no-one ever knew before. In poetry, it is the exact opposite. - Paul Dirac From pyro at linuxlabs.com Wed Sep 4 10:21:01 2002 From: pyro at linuxlabs.com (steven james) Date: Wed Sep 4 10:21:01 2002 Subject: NEW: support for the pcchips m830lr. In-Reply-To: <200209040551.g845pDQu014697@smtp-server4.tampabay.rr.com> Message-ID: Greetings, The ones I have seen use the bridge chip on the card. The NICs themselves are behind the bridge. G'day, sjames On Wed, 4 Sep 2002, GNUOrder wrote: > I found 2 devices like you pointed out, I was thinking more of the third way > you described. They offer a riser card with 2 slots as an option. What they > might have done is what some of the passive backplane systems do which is > include extra IDSEL signals in unused PCI pins. How would a card like one > with 2 or more NICs on it handle a regular PCI slot? I know there are a few > that have 4 seperate DEC chips on them? > > GO > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > -- -------------------------steven james, director of research, linux labs ... ........ ..... .... 230 peachtree st nw ste 701 the original linux labs atlanta.ga.us 30303 -since 1995 http://www.linuxlabs.com office 404.577.7747 fax 404.577.7743 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From rminnich at lanl.gov Wed Sep 4 10:57:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Wed Sep 4 10:57:01 2002 Subject: Availability of DoC devices ? In-Reply-To: <200209041132.g84BW0v30870@vulcan.rissington.net> Message-ID: On Wed, 4 Sep 2002, Antony Stone wrote: > Can anyone advise me where to get hold of the Millennium DoC devices to > create a LinuxBios boot chip ? I can't find anything in the FAQ or the > mailing list archive (which seems surprisingly new - I thought the project > had been going for quite some time ?), so I hope it's not a dumb question. it's almost three years old, but LANL was not able to manage a mailing list, so we moved it. try reptron for the DoC, www.reptron.com ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Wed Sep 4 16:30:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Wed Sep 4 16:30:01 2002 Subject: how to build the world's cheapest cluster? (fwd) Message-ID: anybody know if this is the EPIA? ron ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 04 Sep 2002 16:00:56 -0400 Subject: how to build the world's cheapest cluster? August 30, 2002 01:53 PM Via processors power sub-$200 LindowsOS PC By Tom Krazit MICROTEL COMPUTER SYSTEMS is selling a PC equipped with a C3 processor from Via Technologies and the LindowsOS operating system from Lindows.com Inc. exclusively at Walmart.com for less than $200. One of the cheapest retail desktop PCs available, the SYSMAR 710 is the first PC sold by a major U.S. retailer to contain the C3 processor from Via, a Via spokeswoman said Friday. The SYSMAR comes with an 800MHz C3 processor, 128M bytes of SDRAM (synchronous dynamic RAM), a 10G-byte hard drive, and a CD-ROM drive, and has a list price of $199.86. It does not include a monitor, modem, nor floppy disk drive, according to the Walmart.com Web site. The SYSMAR 715, which costs $218, is identical to the SYSMAR 710 but has a LAN card and a modem. The SYSMAR 715 was not available on Walmart.com at press time. Microtel also makes two other PCs for Walmart.com, the SYSMAR150 and SYSMAR151, which cost $299.84 and $399.72 respectively, and feature Microsoft's Windows XP Home edition operating system. The Windows PCs also use 800MHz C3 processors, and feature the same memory and hard drive specifications. The 151 comes with a 15-inch monitor. Walmart.com, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores, Microtel, and Lindows.com partnered to offer low-cost PCs in June, releasing eight different models that used processors from both Intel and Advanced Micro Devices, priced between $299 and $599. Via is primarily known for its chipset business, but also makes the C3 and Cyrix processors. The C3 is designed to consume small amounts of power. From bari at onelabs.com Wed Sep 4 16:56:01 2002 From: bari at onelabs.com (Bari Ari) Date: Wed Sep 4 16:56:01 2002 Subject: how to build the world's cheapest cluster? (fwd) References: Message-ID: <3D767570.9070108@onelabs.com> Here's the link : http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=1957333&cat=96356&type=19&dept=0&path=0%3A3944%3A3951%3A96356 Bari Ronald G Minnich wrote: >anybody know if this is the EPIA? > >ron > >---------- Forwarded message ---------- >Date: Wed, 04 Sep 2002 16:00:56 -0400 >Subject: how to build the world's cheapest cluster? > >August 30, 2002 01:53 PM > >Via processors power sub-$200 LindowsOS PC >By Tom Krazit > >MICROTEL COMPUTER SYSTEMS is selling a PC equipped with a C3 processor >from Via Technologies and the LindowsOS operating system from >Lindows.com Inc. exclusively at Walmart.com for less than $200. > >One of the cheapest retail desktop PCs available, the SYSMAR 710 is the >first PC sold by a major U.S. retailer to contain the C3 processor from >Via, a Via spokeswoman said Friday. The SYSMAR comes with an 800MHz C3 >processor, 128M bytes of SDRAM (synchronous dynamic RAM), a 10G-byte >hard drive, and a CD-ROM drive, and has a list price of $199.86. It does >not include a monitor, modem, nor floppy disk drive, according to the >Walmart.com Web site. > >The SYSMAR 715, which costs $218, is identical to the SYSMAR 710 but has >a LAN card and a modem. The SYSMAR 715 was not available on Walmart.com >at press time. > >Microtel also makes two other PCs for Walmart.com, the SYSMAR150 and >SYSMAR151, which cost $299.84 and $399.72 respectively, and feature >Microsoft's Windows XP Home edition operating system. The Windows PCs >also use 800MHz C3 processors, and feature the same memory and hard >drive specifications. The 151 comes with a 15-inch monitor. > >Walmart.com, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores, Microtel, and >Lindows.com partnered to offer low-cost PCs in June, releasing eight >different models that used processors from both Intel and Advanced Micro >Devices, priced between $299 and $599. > >Via is primarily known for its chipset business, but also makes the C3 >and Cyrix processors. The C3 is designed to consume small amounts of >power. > > >_______________________________________________ >Linuxbios mailing list >Linuxbios at clustermatic.org >http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > > > > From bari at onelabs.com Wed Sep 4 17:03:01 2002 From: bari at onelabs.com (Bari Ari) Date: Wed Sep 4 17:03:01 2002 Subject: how to build the world's cheapest cluster? (fwd) References: Message-ID: <3D76771B.6020608@onelabs.com> A few of the news sites mention the Apollo PLE133 chipset but I haven't seen it mentioned on the Walmart or Microtel sites. Bari Ronald G Minnich wrote: >anybody know if this is the EPIA? > >ron > >---------- Forwarded message ---------- >Date: Wed, 04 Sep 2002 16:00:56 -0400 >Subject: how to build the world's cheapest cluster? > >August 30, 2002 01:53 PM > >Via processors power sub-$200 LindowsOS PC >By Tom Krazit > >MICROTEL COMPUTER SYSTEMS is selling a PC equipped with a C3 processor >from Via Technologies and the LindowsOS operating system from >Lindows.com Inc. exclusively at Walmart.com for less than $200. > >One of the cheapest retail desktop PCs available, the SYSMAR 710 is the >first PC sold by a major U.S. retailer to contain the C3 processor from >Via, a Via spokeswoman said Friday. The SYSMAR comes with an 800MHz C3 >processor, 128M bytes of SDRAM (synchronous dynamic RAM), a 10G-byte >hard drive, and a CD-ROM drive, and has a list price of $199.86. It does >not include a monitor, modem, nor floppy disk drive, according to the >Walmart.com Web site. > >The SYSMAR 715, which costs $218, is identical to the SYSMAR 710 but has >a LAN card and a modem. The SYSMAR 715 was not available on Walmart.com >at press time. > >Microtel also makes two other PCs for Walmart.com, the SYSMAR150 and >SYSMAR151, which cost $299.84 and $399.72 respectively, and feature >Microsoft's Windows XP Home edition operating system. The Windows PCs >also use 800MHz C3 processors, and feature the same memory and hard >drive specifications. The 151 comes with a 15-inch monitor. > >Walmart.com, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores, Microtel, and >Lindows.com partnered to offer low-cost PCs in June, releasing eight >different models that used processors from both Intel and Advanced Micro >Devices, priced between $299 and $599. > >Via is primarily known for its chipset business, but also makes the C3 >and Cyrix processors. The C3 is designed to consume small amounts of >power. > > >_______________________________________________ >Linuxbios mailing list >Linuxbios at clustermatic.org >http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > > > > From sivakumar.subramani at wipro.com Thu Sep 5 04:23:01 2002 From: sivakumar.subramani at wipro.com (SIVAKUMAR SUBRAMANI) Date: Thu Sep 5 04:23:01 2002 Subject: Regarding DOC for LinuxBios. Message-ID: <00f601c2548d$1428b810$970806c0@siva> Hi, I am trying to bring up my machine with LinuxBIOS. In my machine, I have only 256 Kbytes of FLASH MEMORY for BIOS. But while reading the documents I found that we need have more than one MB (i.e., to have LinuxBIOS image file, Kernel image with patches). Do I need to have Disk on Chip of size more than 2MB in my system to have the Linuxbios working? Am I right in my conclusion? Thanks, Siva.s /------------------------------------------------/ SivaKumar.Subramani Wipro Technology, Plot No 72, Keonics Electrinic City, Hosur Main Road, Bangalore - 561229. Office Tel : +91-80-8520408 ext 6310. Home Tel : +91-80-5506650 /------------------------------------------------/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: Wipro_Disclaimer.txt URL: From rminnich at lanl.gov Thu Sep 5 10:34:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Thu Sep 5 10:34:01 2002 Subject: modprobe ich2rom Message-ID: I'm trying to figure out how to correctly set up the e7500 MTD. This includes the ICH 2 support (fixes from Eric) and the 82802ab part which is not compatible with anything but an 82802ab :=) I have MTD debugging enabled and set to level 3. 2 weird things: 1, I never get any debug output and 2, if I modprobe --node 18 ich2rom (i.e. use bproc and a slave node to insmode the ich2rom module and other things it needs). I do this kind of modprobe all the time, with DoC and other modules, so it is hard for me to believe it is a bproc issue, but you never know. The result is this: Segmentation fault And that's it. What's really weird: no dmesg output! Any hints? ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Thu Sep 5 10:51:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Thu Sep 5 10:51:00 2002 Subject: e7500 and ich2rom Message-ID: some output from printks I added: init_ich2rom Found: 0x8086 0x2480 ich2rom: set 0x4e to 0x1 ich2rom: val 0x4e IS NOW 0x1 ioremap 0xff000000 size 0x1000000 result 0xf886d000 it finds the part it sets the 0x4e register to 1 for enabling write hey! same register as the piix4e -- think this is a coincidence? it does the ioremap of the last (BIG) 16 MB of memory (WOW!) Then it does a JEDEC probe. Do JEDEC probes really work with this 82802AB part? They must have but ... Eric? ron From christer at weinigel.se Thu Sep 5 10:53:00 2002 From: christer at weinigel.se (Christer Weinigel) Date: Thu Sep 5 10:53:00 2002 Subject: Need help with LinuxBIOS speech Message-ID: <20020905150117.E9842F5B@acolyte.hack.org> Hi, it looks as if I might have to jump in and hold a 30 minute speech about LinuxBIOS at a conference here in Stockholm since the original speaker can't make it. I have about a week to prepare. *panics* The information I have about this so far is: > Target audience: Hardware designers, driver programmers, kernel > programmers but also people interested in faster startup times in > their embedded systems. (possible) things to talk about: > - What is a BIOS and especially, LinuxBIOS? > - What are the main benefits in using LinuxBIOS? > - What chipsets are supported by LinuxBIOS today? > - How does the Linux boot system work? > - How does a common x86-based board work? > - How does the initialization sequence work. > - What are the steps involved in creating a LinuxBIOS for this board? Points that I do need help with are: > - What is a BIOS and especially, LinuxBIOS? I think I need a short introduction to LinuxBIOS and also a short history of where it came from. > - What are the main benefits in using LinuxBIOS? Maybe the rationale behind writing LinuxBIOS at all. > - What are the pros and cons with LinuxBIOS? Pros: Faster bootup. Tiny code. Tailored to the hardware. Written in C and uses 32 bit mode. Less buggy. Portable (in theory) across architectures so that x86 and Alpha can boot the same way. Cons: Not as flexible as a normal BIOS. Requires hardware and chipset documentation, it's hard to keep up with the hardware development.. Hard to handle PCI cards with expansion ROMs on them that expect a standard PC BIOS. > - What chipsets are supported by LinuxBIOS today? Is there a list of supported chipsets? > - How does the Linux boot system work? > - How does a common x86-based board work? > - How does the initialization sequence work. These I think I have a rather good handle on. > - What are the steps involved in creating a LinuxBIOS for this > board? I can take the SC2200 port I did as an example here. By the way, one thing I'm not sure about, what is actually stored in the LinuxBIOS table? As far as I can tell right now the only thing there is the amount of memory in the system and the kernel command line. Is there anything else? (The PIRQ table is stored in the BIOS image itself if I understand correctly). Is there anything else missing from the list that I should talk about? Any help would be appreciated. /Christer -- "Just how much can I get away with and still go to heaven?" Freelance consultant specializing in device driver programming for Linux Christer Weinigel http://www.weinigel.se From yann_stephan at hp.com Thu Sep 5 11:00:00 2002 From: yann_stephan at hp.com (STEPHAN,YANN (HP-France,ex1)) Date: Thu Sep 5 11:00:00 2002 Subject: Need help with LinuxBIOS speech Message-ID: I love this one: Less buggy <== Currently the Bios does some many things in order to support all OS, that the code is huge and still written in assembly language. I will say more debuggable than normal bios. Regards -----Original Message----- From: Christer Weinigel [mailto:christer at weinigel.se] Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2002 5:01 PM To: linuxbios at clustermatic.org Subject: Need help with LinuxBIOS speech Hi, it looks as if I might have to jump in and hold a 30 minute speech about LinuxBIOS at a conference here in Stockholm since the original speaker can't make it. I have about a week to prepare. *panics* The information I have about this so far is: > Target audience: Hardware designers, driver programmers, kernel > programmers but also people interested in faster startup times in > their embedded systems. (possible) things to talk about: > - What is a BIOS and especially, LinuxBIOS? > - What are the main benefits in using LinuxBIOS? > - What chipsets are supported by LinuxBIOS today? > - How does the Linux boot system work? > - How does a common x86-based board work? > - How does the initialization sequence work. > - What are the steps involved in creating a LinuxBIOS for this > board? Points that I do need help with are: > - What is a BIOS and especially, LinuxBIOS? I think I need a short introduction to LinuxBIOS and also a short history of where it came from. > - What are the main benefits in using LinuxBIOS? Maybe the rationale behind writing LinuxBIOS at all. > - What are the pros and cons with LinuxBIOS? Pros: Faster bootup. Tiny code. Tailored to the hardware. Written in C and uses 32 bit mode. Less buggy Portable (in theory) across architectures so that x86 and Alpha can boot the same way. Cons: Not as flexible as a normal BIOS. Requires hardware and chipset documentation, it's hard to keep up with the hardware development.. Hard to handle PCI cards with expansion ROMs on them that expect a standard PC BIOS. > - What chipsets are supported by LinuxBIOS today? Is there a list of supported chipsets? > - How does the Linux boot system work? > - How does a common x86-based board work? > - How does the initialization sequence work. These I think I have a rather good handle on. > - What are the steps involved in creating a LinuxBIOS for this > board? I can take the SC2200 port I did as an example here. By the way, one thing I'm not sure about, what is actually stored in the LinuxBIOS table? As far as I can tell right now the only thing there is the amount of memory in the system and the kernel command line. Is there anything else? (The PIRQ table is stored in the BIOS image itself if I understand correctly). Is there anything else missing from the list that I should talk about? Any help would be appreciated. /Christer -- "Just how much can I get away with and still go to heaven?" Freelance consultant specializing in device driver programming for Linux Christer Weinigel http://www.weinigel.se _______________________________________________ Linuxbios mailing list Linuxbios at clustermatic.org http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios From pyro at linuxlabs.com Thu Sep 5 11:26:01 2002 From: pyro at linuxlabs.com (steven james) Date: Thu Sep 5 11:26:01 2002 Subject: e7500 and ich2rom In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Greetings, I've been playing with this as well. Depending on the motherboard, etc. the full size of the flash may not be mapped in. It's probably worthwhile to look around in user space using /dev/mem to try to find the actual size of the mapped in portion. The flash part will respond to a JEDIC probe. G'day, sjames On Thu, 5 Sep 2002, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > > some output from printks I added: > > init_ich2rom Found: 0x8086 0x2480 > ich2rom: set 0x4e to 0x1 > ich2rom: val 0x4e IS NOW 0x1 > ioremap 0xff000000 size 0x1000000 result 0xf886d000 > > > it finds the part > it sets the 0x4e register to 1 for enabling write > hey! same register as the piix4e -- think this is a coincidence? > it does the ioremap of the last (BIG) 16 MB of memory (WOW!) > Then it does a JEDEC probe. > > Do JEDEC probes really work with this 82802AB part? > > They must have but ... Eric? > > ron > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > -- -------------------------steven james, director of research, linux labs ... ........ ..... .... 230 peachtree st nw ste 701 the original linux labs atlanta.ga.us 30303 -since 1995 http://www.linuxlabs.com office 404.577.7747 fax 404.577.7743 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From pyro at linuxlabs.com Thu Sep 5 11:33:00 2002 From: pyro at linuxlabs.com (steven james) Date: Thu Sep 5 11:33:00 2002 Subject: Need help with LinuxBIOS speech In-Reply-To: <20020905150117.E9842F5B@acolyte.hack.org> Message-ID: Greetings, Also add more reliable boot. Regular BIOS has a nasty habit of stopping at press (whatever) to continue at the first sign of trouble. No royalties Now that all in one boards are getting so cheap, the royalty for BIOS is becoming significant G'day, sjames -- -------------------------steven james, director of research, linux labs ... ........ ..... .... 230 peachtree st nw ste 701 the original linux labs atlanta.ga.us 30303 -since 1995 http://www.linuxlabs.com office 404.577.7747 fax 404.577.7743 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From rminnich at lanl.gov Thu Sep 5 16:37:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Thu Sep 5 16:37:00 2002 Subject: added simple tool Message-ID: I finally added the tool I have mentioned. It is in util/dumpdevmem and is fairly self-explanatory. It lets you figure out where the BIOS is mapped. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Thu Sep 5 16:40:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Thu Sep 5 16:40:00 2002 Subject: cvs mail Message-ID: Would anyone object to having cvs mail forwarded to this list? ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Thu Sep 5 18:15:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Thu Sep 5 18:15:01 2002 Subject: Need help with LinuxBIOS speech In-Reply-To: <20020905150117.E9842F5B@acolyte.hack.org> Message-ID: On Thu, 5 Sep 2002, Christer Weinigel wrote: > I think I need a short introduction to LinuxBIOS and also a short > history of where it came from. history: I started this project at LANL three years ago this month. The original purpose was to make clusters easier to manage. Clusters take 1 FTE per 128 nodes to manage at minimum, and that was no longer workable ca. 1999, as we envisioned clusters of 256 or 1024 or more nodes. At the same time, existing BIOSes were too stupid to be useful, and took a lot of effort to keep running -- I once had to do the "magic key" sequence to get 128 nodes to boot from CDROM. Remy Evard at Argonne got to move a keyboard and cart around to over 256 nodes to do a bios upgrade -- twice. Systems with existing BIOSes could not be used to build manageable clusters. It seemed to me that with the demise of ISA and other old PC junk, and the common use of self-describing hardware, we could build an open-source BIOS. My hope was that we could further use Linux as the bootstrap and second half of the BIOS. There were thus two key questions to ask: could Linux boot Linux, and could we write an open source BIOS? If both these questions could be answered "yes", then an open-source BIOS was practical. I spent the next few months figuring out if Linux could boot Linux. I had a fair number of core folks tell me this was impossible, but we did it anyway, and other folks have come along since and written much better systems that do the same thing (see kexec and two kernel monte and bootimg). Once we knew linux could boot linux, it was time to check out open source bioses. James Hendrix and Dale Webster found OpenBIOS and over winter break showed that our L440GX+ boards could be booted with OpenBIOS -- from a floppy, under DOS. The next few months were consumed with me trying to figure out how to get flash written on the 440GX, and then trying to figure out why DRAM did not work. Sometime that spring SiS joined the effort. The first "multi-user login" message on the web page is "New as of 5/5/00: First login, 9:15 AM MST". Also that Spring we moved the code base to FreeBIOS as it had more C and less assembly. Ca. 5/10/00 the NPS tried to burn Los Alamos down so we took a short break. From drwho8 at worldnet.att.net Thu Sep 5 19:40:01 2002 From: drwho8 at worldnet.att.net (Gregg C Levine) Date: Thu Sep 5 19:40:01 2002 Subject: cvs mail References: Message-ID: <005601c25536$a8d017c0$6d54580c@who> Hello from Gregg C Levine To quote a phrase, "Please explain.". CVS mail? What is it, Ron? If its what I think it is, then I would not mind. Gregg C Levine drwho8 at worldnet.att.net "Oh my!" The Second Doctor's nearly favorite phrase. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ronald G Minnich" To: Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2002 4:46 PM Subject: cvs mail > Would anyone object to having cvs mail forwarded to this list? > > ron > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > From rminnich at lanl.gov Thu Sep 5 19:47:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Thu Sep 5 19:47:01 2002 Subject: more on the 82802 & e7500 chipset Message-ID: OK, if I do the equivalent of: setpci -s 0:1f.0 4e.b=1 Then writes are enabled. Note you can't really do this due to a bug in the pcitools == have to do it by program. Then, if I run flash_rom, jedec_probe will get an ID of the 82802AB of vendor 89, device code AD (4 mbit part) So flash_rom I think might be able to flash this part! I have added an entry into flash_rom and will test this tomorrow. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Thu Sep 5 19:49:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Thu Sep 5 19:49:01 2002 Subject: cvs mail In-Reply-To: <005601c25536$a8d017c0$6d54580c@who> Message-ID: The CVS mail would be the output from cvs for committs to linuxbios. We have this enable on several other mailing lists and it is very handy. I think the overall opinion is mixed at best, so we'll wait to see who else puts in their $.02 ron From preston.bannister at cox.net Thu Sep 5 21:37:01 2002 From: preston.bannister at cox.net (Preston L. Bannister) Date: Thu Sep 5 21:37:01 2002 Subject: cvs mail In-Reply-To: Message-ID: CVS activity can generate rather a lot of email. The usual practice is to use a different mailing list for CVS notifications. -----Original Message----- From: Ronald G Minnich Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2002 4:57 PM The CVS mail would be the output from cvs for committs to linuxbios. We have this enable on several other mailing lists and it is very handy. I think the overall opinion is mixed at best, so we'll wait to see who else puts in their $.02 From rminnich at lanl.gov Thu Sep 5 22:04:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Thu Sep 5 22:04:00 2002 Subject: cvs mail In-Reply-To: <20020905204353.C9873@www2> Message-ID: So far it looks like we should set up a separate mailing for cvs updates, so I'll try to do that next week. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Thu Sep 5 23:09:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Thu Sep 5 23:09:00 2002 Subject: 82802ab and flash_rom Message-ID: identification is fine, but erase block doesn't work. mtd just flat out won't work at all for anything. I wish these vendors would get a clue and stop making this flash programming so hard :-) more tomorrow. ron From steve at nexpath.com Thu Sep 5 23:42:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Thu Sep 5 23:42:01 2002 Subject: cvs mail In-Reply-To: Message-ID: > > The CVS mail would be the output from cvs for committs to linuxbios. We > have this enable on several other mailing lists and it is very handy. I would find it very helpful. -Steve From yann_stephan at hp.com Fri Sep 6 03:43:01 2002 From: yann_stephan at hp.com (STEPHAN,YANN (HP-France,ex1)) Date: Fri Sep 6 03:43:01 2002 Subject: 82802ab and flash_rom Message-ID: Ron, Find enclosed an example of 49LF004, this flash is 100% compatible (except for the Vendor and Device ID), but you can use the erase, program... functions In the 82802ab you have to take care of the GPIOs block, you have to unprotect the Table Lock pages by accessing the GPIOs range: {0xFFBF0002, FWH_TBL4MB}, {0xFFBE0002, FWH_TBL4MB}, {0xFFBD0002, FWH_TBL4MB}, {0xFFBC0002, FWH_TBL4MB}, {0xFFBB0002, FWH_TBL4MB}, {0xFFBA0002, FWH_TBL4MB}, {0xFFB90002, FWH_TBL4MB}, {0xFFB80002, FWH_TBL4MB}, {0xFFB70002, FWH_TBL8MB}, {0xFFB60002, FWH_TBL8MB}, {0xFFB50002, FWH_TBL8MB}, {0xFFB40002, FWH_TBL8MB}, {0xFFB30002, FWH_TBL8MB}, {0xFFB20002, FWH_TBL8MB}, {0xFFB10002, FWH_TBL8MB}, {0xFFB00002, FWH_TBL8MB}, {0xFFBC0100, FWH_GPI } <== You have 5 bits linked to 5 GPIs (most of the time it's the cpu ratio x24, x22, x20) GPIO = General Purpose Input Output (1 wire in input or output mode) If you still have an issue you have to check in the chipset, for instance for an Intel system you can check the south bridge and check the register 0x4e bResult = m_DriverInterface.hpOpenPCIDevice(0x8086, 0x2440); if (bResult != FALSE) { // Prepare the Firmware Hub for flashing bResult = m_DriverInterface.hpReadByteConfigSpace(0x4E, bValue); if (bResult != FALSE) { // Set enable bValue |= 1; bResult = m_DriverInterface.hpWriteByteConfigSpace(0x4E, bValue); } m_DriverInterface.hpClosePCIDevice(); } If still does not work check the flash protect bit on the flash, and check if the super io or the south bridge control one GPIO for the flash protection. If you don't have the layout it's difficult to find it. Regards Yann ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- Software Drivers 49LF004 4 Mbits Firmware Hub Read-Compatible Flash September 2000 Update ABOUT THE UPDATE The pseudo address of ABS_SEGMENT(A31-A16), A000h, needs to be replaced by FFFFh as part of FWH protocol use to decode memory size, cycle type, chip ID etc.. ABOUT THE SOFTWARE This application note provides software driver examples for 49LF004, 4 Mbits Firmware Hub Read-Compatible Flash with Top Boot-Block, that is designed to to be read-compatible to the Intel 82802 Firmware Hub(FWH) device for PC-BIOS application. Software driver examples used in this document utilize two programming languages: (a) high -level "C" for broad platform support and (b) optimized 8086 assembly language. In many cases, software driver routines can be inserted "as is" into the main body of code being developed by the system software developers. Extensive comments are included in each routine to describe the function of each routine. The driver in "C" language can be used with many microprocessors and microcontrollers, while the 8086 assembly language provides an optimized solution for 8086 microprocessors. ABOUT THE 49LF004 Companion product datasheets for the 49LF004 should be reviewed in conjunction with this application note for a complete understanding of the device. Both the C and 8086 assembly code in the document contain the following routines, in this order: Name Function ------------------------------------------------------------------ Check_SST_49LF004 Check manufacturer and device ID Erase_Entire_Chip Erase the contents of the entire chip Erase_One_Sector Erase a sector of 4096 bytes Erase_One_Block Erase a block of 64 Kbytes Program_One_Byte Alter data in one byte Program_One_Sector Alter data in 4096 bytes sector Check_Toggle_Ready End of internal program or erase detection using Toggle bit Check_Data_Polling End of internal program or erase detection using Data# polling "C" LANGUAGE DRIVERS /***********************************************************************/ /* Copyright Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. (SST), 1994-2000 */ /* Example "C" Language Drivers of 49LF004 4 Mbits Firmware Hub */ /* Read-Compatible Flash */ /* Nelson Wang, Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. */ /* */ /* Revision 1.1, September 6, 2000 */ /* */ /* This file requires these external "timing" routines: */ /* */ /* 1.) Delay_150_Nano_Seconds */ /* 2.) Delay_25_Milli_Seconds */ /* 3.) Delay_100_Milli_Seconds */ /***********************************************************************/ #define FALSE 0 #define TRUE 1 #define SECTOR_SIZE 4096 /* Must be 4096 bytes for 49LF004*/ #define SST_ID 0xBF /* SST Manufacturer's ID code */ #define SST_49LF004 0x58 /* SST 49LF004 device code */ typedef unsigned char BYTE; /* -------------------------------------------------------------------- */ /* EXTERNAL ROUTINES */ /* -------------------------------------------------------------------- */ extern void Delay_150_Nano_Seconds(); extern void Delay_25_Milli_Seconds(); extern void Delay_100_Milli_Seconds(); /************************************************************************/ /* PROCEDURE: Check_SST_49LF004 */ /* */ /* This procedure decides whether a physical hardware device has a */ /* SST 49LF004 4 Mbits Firmware Hub Read-Compatible Flash installed or */ /* not. */ /* Input: */ /* None */ /* */ /* Output: */ /* return TRUE: indicates a SST 49LF004 */ /* return FALSE: indicates not a SST 49LF004 */ /************************************************************************/ int Check_SST_49LF004() { BYTE far *Temp; BYTE SST_id1; BYTE SST_id2; int ReturnStatus; /* Issue the Software Product ID code to 49LF004 */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF5555; /* set up address to be FFFF:5555h */ *Temp = 0xAA; /* write data 0xAA to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF2AAA; /* set up address to be FFFF:2AAAh */ *Temp = 0x55; /* write data 0x55 to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF5555; /* set up address to be FFFF:5555h */ *Temp = 0x90; /* write data 0x90 to the address */ Delay_150_Nano_Seconds(); /* check DATABOOK for the most */ /* accurate value -- Tida */ /* Read the product ID from 49LF004 */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF0000; /* set up address to be FFFF:0000h */ SST_id1 = *Temp; /* get first ID byte */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF0001; /* set up address to be FFFF:0001h */ SST_id2 = *Temp; /* get first ID byte */ /* Determine whether there is a SST 49LF004 installed or not */ if ((SST_id1 == SST_ID) && (SST_id2 ==SST_49LF004)) ReturnStatus = TRUE; else ReturnStatus = FALSE; /* Issue the Soffware Product ID Exit code thus returning the 49LF004*/ /* to the read operating mode */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF5555; /* set up address to be FFFF:5555h */ *Temp = 0xAA; /* write data 0xAA to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF2AAA; /* set up address to be FFFF:2AAAh */ *Temp = 0x55; /* write data 0x55 to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF5555; /* set up address to be FFFF:5555h */ *Temp =0xF0; /* write data 0xF0 to the address */ Delay_150_Nano_Seconds(); /* check DATABOOK for the most */ /* accurate value -- Tida */ return (ReturnStatus); } /************************************************************************/ /* PROCEDURE: Erase_Entire_Chip (PP Mode) */ /* */ /* This procedure can be used to erase the entire chip. */ /* */ /* Input: */ /* NONE */ /* */ /* Output: */ /* NONE */ /************************************************************************/ int Erase_Entire_Chip() { BYTE far *Temp; /* Issue the Sector Erase command to 49LF004 */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF5555; /* set up address to be FFFF:5555h */ *Temp = 0xAA; /* write data 0xAA to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF2AAA; /* set up address to be FFFF:2AAAh */ *Temp = 0x55; /* write data 0x55 to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF5555; /* set up address to be FFFF:5555h */ *Temp = 0x80; /* write data 0x80 to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF5555; /* set up address to be FFFF:5555h */ *Temp = 0xAA; /* write data 0xAA to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF2AAA; /* set up address to be FFFF:2AAAh */ *Temp = 0x55; /* write data 0x55 to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF5555; /* set up address to be FFFF:5555h */ *Temp = 0x10; /* write data 0x10 to the address */ Delay_100_Milli_Seconds(); /* check DATABOOK for the most */ /* accurate value -- Tsce */ } /************************************************************************/ /* PROCEDURE: Erase_One_Sector (PP Mode) */ /* */ /* This procedure can be used to erase a total of 4096 bytes. */ /* */ /* Input: */ /* Dst DESTINATION address at which the erase operation will */ /* start. */ /* */ /* Output: */ /* NONE */ /************************************************************************/ int Erase_One_Sector(BYTE far *Dst) { BYTE far *Temp; /* Issue the Sector Erase command to 49LF004 */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF5555; /* set up address to be FFFF:5555h */ *Temp = 0xAA; /* write data 0xAA to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF2AAA; /* set up address to be FFFF:2AAAh */ *Temp = 0x55; /* write data 0x55 to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF5555; /* set up address to be FFFF:5555h */ *Temp = 0x80; /* write data 0x80 to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF5555; /* set up address to be FFFF:5555h */ *Temp = 0xAA; /* write data 0xAA to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF2AAA; /* set up address to be FFFF:2AAAh */ *Temp = 0x55; /* write data 0x55 to the address */ Temp = Dst /* set up starting address to be erased */ *Temp = 0x30; /* write data 0x30 to the address */ Delay_25_Milli_Seconds(); /* check DATABOOK for the most */ /* accurate value -- Tse */ } /************************************************************************/ /* PROCEDURE: Erase_One_Block (PP Mode) */ /* */ /* This procedure can be used to erase a total of 64 Kbytes. */ /* */ /* Input: */ /* Dst DESTINATION address at which the erase operation will */ /* start. */ /* */ /* Output: */ /* NONE */ /************************************************************************/ int Erase_One_Block(BYTE far *Dst) { BYTE far *Temp; /* Issue the Block Erase command to 49LF004 */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF5555; /* set up address to be FFFF:5555h */ *Temp = 0xAA; /* write data 0xAA to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF2AAA; /* set up address to be FFFF:2AAAh */ *Temp = 0x55; /* write data 0x55 to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF5555; /* set up address to be FFFF:5555h */ *Temp = 0x80; /* write data 0x80 to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF5555; /* set up address to be FFFF:5555h */ *Temp = 0xAA; /* write data 0xAA to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF2AAA; /* set up address to be FFFF:2AAAh */ *Temp = 0x55; /* write data 0x55 to the address */ Temp = Dst /* set up starting address to be erased */ *Temp = 0x50; /* write data 0x50 to the address */ Delay_25_Milli_Seconds(); /* check DATABOOK for the most */ /* accurate value -- Tbe */ } /************************************************************************/ /* PROCEDURE: Program_One_Byte (PP Mode) */ /* */ /* This procedure can be used to program ONE byte of date to the */ /* 49LF004. */ /* */ /* NOTE: It is mandatory that the sector containing the byte to be */ /* programmed was ERASED first. */ /* */ /* Input: */ /* SrcByte The BYTE which will be written to the 49LF004. */ /* Dst DESTINATION address which will be written with the */ /* data passed in from SrcByte */ /* */ /* Output: */ /* None */ /************************************************************************/ void Program_One_Byte (BYTE SrcByte, BYTE far *Dst) { BYTE far *SourceBuf; BYTE far *DestBuf; int Index; DestBuf = Dst; Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF5555; /* set up address to be FFFF:555h */ *Temp = 0xAA; /* write data 0xAA to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF2AAA; /* set up address to be FFFF:2AAAh */ *Temp = 0x55; /* write data 0x55 to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF5555; /* set up address to be FFFF:5555h */ *Temp = 0xA0; /* write data 0xA0 to the address */ *DestBuf = SrcByte; /* transfer the byte to destination */ Check_Toggle_Ready(DestBuf); /* wait for TOGGLE bit to get ready */ } /************************************************************************/ /* PROCEDURE: Program_One_Sector (PP Mode) */ /* */ /* This procedure can be used to program a total of 4096 bytes of data */ /* to the SST's 49LF004. */ /* */ /* Input: */ /* Src SOURCE address containing the data which will be */ /* written to the 49LF004. */ /* Dst DESTINATION address which will be written with the */ /* data passed in from Src */ /* */ /* Output: */ /* None */ /************************************************************************/ void Program_One_Sector (BYTE far *Src, BYTE far *Dst) { BYTE far *Temp; BYTE far *SourceBuf; BYTE far *DestBuf; int Index; DestBuf = Dst; Erase_One_Sector(Src); /* erase the sector first */ for (Index = 0; Index < SECTOR_SIZE; Index++) { Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF5555; /* set up address to be FFFF:555h */ *Temp = 0xAA; /* write data 0xAA to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF2AAA; /* set up address to be FFFF:2AAAh*/ *Temp = 0x55; /* write data 0x55 to the address */ Temp = (BYTE far *)0xFFFF5555; /* set up address to be FFFF:5555h*/ *Temp = 0xA0; /* write data 0xA0 to the address */ Temp = DestBuf; /* save the original Destination address */ *DestBuf++ = *SourceBuf++; /* transfer data from source to destination */ Check_Toggle_Ready(Temp); /* wait for TOGGLE bit to get ready */ } } /************************************************************************/ /* PROCEDURE: Check_Toggle_Ready (PP Mode) */ /* */ /* During the internal program cycle, any consecutive read operation */ /* on DQ6 will produce alternating 0's and 1's i.e. toggling between */ /* 0 and 1. When the program cycle is completed, DQ6 of the data will */ /* stop toggling. After the DQ6 data bit stops toggling, the device is */ /* ready for next operation. */ /* */ /* Input: */ /* Dst must already set-up by the caller */ /* */ /* Output: */ /* None */ /************************************************************************/ void Check_Toggle_Ready (BYTE far *Dst) { BYTE Loop = TRUE; BYTE PreData; BYTE CurrData; unsigned long TimeOut = 0; PreData = *Dst; PreData = PreData & 0x40; while ((TimeOut< 0x07FFFFFF) && (Loop)) { CurrData = *Dst; CurrData = CurrData & 0x40; if (PreData == CurrData) Loop = FALSE; /* ready to exit the while loop */ PreData = CurrData; TimeOut++; } } /************************************************************************/ /* PROCEDURE: Check_Data_Polling (PP Mode) */ /* */ /* During the internal program cycle, any attempt to read DQ7 of the */ /* last byte loaded during the page/byte-load cycle will receive the */ /* complement of the true data. Once the program cycle is completed, */ /* DQ7 will show true data. */ /* */ /* Input: */ /* Dst must already be set-up by the caller */ /* TrueData this is the original (true) data */ /* */ /* Output: */ /* None */ /************************************************************************/ void Check_Data_Polling (BYTE far *Dst, BYTE TrueData) { BYTE Loop = TRUE; BYTE CurrData; unsigned long TimeOut = 0; TrueData = TrueData & 0x80; while ((TimeOut< 0x07FFFFFF) && (Loop)) { CurrData = *Dst; CurrData = CurrData & 0x80; if (TrueData == CurrData) Loop = FALSE; /* ready to exit the while loop */ TimeOut++; } } 8086 ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE DRIVERS ; ====================================================================== ; Copyright Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. (SST), 1994-2000 ; EXAMPLE 8086 Assembly Language Drivers for 49LF004, 4 Mbits ; Firmware Hub Read-Compatible Flash with Top Boot-Block ; Frank Cirimele, Silicon Storage Technology, Inc. ; ; Revision 1.1, September 6, 2000 ; ; This file requires these external "timing" routines: ; ; 1.) Delay_150_Nano_Seconds ; 2.) Delay_25_Milli_Seconds ; 3.) Delay_100_Milli_Seconds ; ====================================================================== SECTOR_SIZE EQU 4096 ; Must be 4096 bytes for 49LF004 BLOCK_SIZE EQU 65536 ; Must be 64 Kbytes for 49LF004 SST_ID EQU 0BFh ; SST Manufacturer's ID code SST_49LF004 EQU 058h ; SST 49LF004 device code CHIP_ERASE_COMMAND EQU 010h SECTOR_ERASE_COMMAND EQU 030h BLOCK_ERASE_COMMAND EQU 050h ABS_SEGMENT EQU 0FFFFh extrn Delay_150_Nano_Seconds:near extrn Delay_25_Milli_Seconds:near extrn Delay_100_Milli_Seconds:near ;======================================================================= ; PROCEDURE: Check_SST_49LF004 ; ; This procedure decides whether a physical hardware device has a SST's ; 49LF004 4 Mbits Firmware Hub Read-Compatible Flash installed or not. ; ; Input: ; None ; ; Output: ; carry bit: CLEARED means a SST 49LF004 is installed ; carry bit: SET means NOT a SST 49LF004 is NOT installed ; ;======================================================================= Check_SST_49LF004 proc near push ax ; preserve registers' value push ds pushf ; save interrupt state ; It is mandatory to maintain pushf as the last push instruction. cli mov ax, ABS_SEGMENT mov ds, ax mov ds:byte ptr [5555h], 0AAh ; issue the 3-byte product ID mov ds:byte ptr [2AAAh], 055h ; command to the 49LF004 mov ds:byte ptr [5555h], 090h call Delay_150_Nano_Seconds ; insert delay = Tida mov al, ds:[0] cmp al, SST_ID ; is this a SST part? jne CSC5 ; NO, then return Carry set mov al,ds:[1] cmp al, SST_49LF004 ; Is it a 49LF004? jne CSC5 ; NO, then Non-SST part and ; set carry flag CSC4: pop ax ; get flags from stack and ax, 0FFFEh ; and clear carry flag jmp short CSC6 CSC5: pop ax ; get flags from stack or ax, 0001h ; and set carry flag ; save the result on the STACK CSC6: push ax ; return flags to stack ; ; Issue the Software Product ID Exit code thus returning the 49LF004 ; to the read operation mode. ; mov ds:byte ptr [5555h], 0AAh ; issue the 3-byte product ID mov ds:byte ptr [2AAAh], 055h ; exit command sequence to mov ds:byte ptr [5555h], 0F0h ; the 49LF004 call Delay_150_Nano_Seconds ; insert delay = Tida popf ; restore flags pop ds ; restore registers pop ax ret Check_SST_349LF004 endp ; ===================================================================== ; PROCEDURE: Erase_Entire_Chip (PP Mode) ; ; This procedure can be used to erase the entire contents of ; SST's 49LF004. ; ; Input: ; es:di points to the beginning address of the 49LF004 chip ; which will be erased. ; ; Output: ; None ; ===================================================================== Erase_Entire_Chip proc near mov es:byte ptr [5555h], 0AAh ; issue 6-byte chip mov es:byte ptr [2AAAh], 055h ; erase command sequence mov es:byte ptr [5555h], 080h mov es:byte ptr [5555h], 0AAh mov es:byte ptr [2AAAh], 055h mov es:byte ptr [5555h], CHIP_ERASE_COMMAND call Delay_100_Milli_Seconds ; insert delay = Tsce ret Erase_Entire_Chip endp ; ===================================================================== ; PROCEDURE: Erase_One_Sector (PP Mode) ; ; This procedure can be used to erase a sector, or total of 4096 bytes, ; in the SST49LF004. ; ; Input: ; es:di points to the beginning address of the "Destination" address ; which will be erased. ; ==> Note: The address MUST be on a sector boundary, ; that is, a multiple of 4096. ; ; Output: ; None ; ===================================================================== Erase_One_Sector proc near push ax ; save register mov es:byte ptr [5555h], 0AAh ; send 6-byte code for mov es:byte ptr [2AAAh], 055h ; sector erase mov es:byte ptr [5555h], 080h mov es:byte ptr [5555h], 0AAh mov es:byte ptr [2AAAh], 055h mov al, SECTOR_ERASE_COMMAND mov byte ptr es:[di], al call Delay_25_Milli_Seconds ; insert delay = Tse pop ax ; restore register ret Erase_One_Sector endp ; ===================================================================== ; PROCEDURE: Erase_One_Block (PP Mode) ; ; This procedure can be used to erase a block, or total of 64 Kbytes, ; in the SST49LF004. ; ; Input: ; es:di points to the beginning address of the "Destination" block ; which will be erased. ; ==> Note: The address MUST be on a block boundary, ; that is, a multiple of 65536. ; ; Output: ; None ; ===================================================================== Erase_One_Block proc near push ax ; save register mov es:byte ptr [5555h], 0AAh ; send 6-byte code for mov es:byte ptr [2AAAh], 055h ; sector erase mov es:byte ptr [5555h], 080h mov es:byte ptr [5555h], 0AAh mov es:byte ptr [2AAAh], 055h mov al, BLOCK_ERASE_COMMAND mov byte ptr es:[di], al call Delay_25_Milli_Seconds ; insert delay = Tbe pop ax ; restore register ret Erase_One_Block endp ; ===================================================================== ; PROCEDURE: Program_One_Byte (PP Mode) ; ; This procedure can be used to program ONE byte of data to the 49LF004. ; ; NOTE: It is necessary to first erase the sector containing the byte ; to be programmed.. ; ; ; Input: ; al BYTE which will be written into the 49LF004. ; es:di DESTINATION address which will be written with the ; data input in al. ; ; Output: ; None ; ES, DI: Contain their original values ; ===================================================================== Program_One_Byte proc near push ax ; save registers push ds mov ax, ABS_SEGMENT ; set up ds register mov ds, ax mov ds:byte ptr [5555h], 0AAh ; send 3 byte data protection mov ds:byte ptr [2AAAh], 055h ; sequence to the chip mov ds:byte ptr [5555h], 0A0h pop ds pop ax ; restore the byte to be ; programmed from stack mov byte ptr es:[di], al ; program the byte call check_Toggle_Ready ; wait for valid TOGGLE bit ret Program_One_Byte endp ; ===================================================================== ; PROCEDURE: Program_One_Sector (PP Mode) ; ; This procedure can be used to program a memory sector, or total of ; 4096 bytes, of the 49LF004. ; ; Input: ; ds:si SOURCE address containing the data which will be ; written into the 49LF004. ; es:di DESTINATION address which will be written with the ; data passed in for ds:si ; ; Output: ; None ; SI, DI: Contains their original values ; ===================================================================== Program_One_Sector proc near push ax ; save registers push di push si pushf ; preserve the "Direction" flag cld ; clear "Direction" flag to ; auto-increment SI and DI ; ; Erase the sector before programming. Each erase command will erase a total ; of 4096 bytes for the 49LF004 ; call Erase_One_Sector ; ; The following loop will program a total of 4096 bytes to the SST49LF004 ; DRP1: push ds mov ax, ABS_SEGMENT mov ds, ax mov ds:byte ptr [5555h], 0AAh ; 3 bytes of "enable protection" mov ds:byte ptr [2AAAh], 055h ; sequence to the chip mov ds:byte ptr [5555h], 0A0h pop ds lodsb ; get the byte to be programmed mov ax, di ; preserve original DI temporarily stosb ; program the byte push di ; preserve incremented DI temporarily mov di, ax ; restore original DI call check_Toggle_Ready ; wait for TOGGLE bit to get ready pop di ; retrieve the updated DI loop DRP1 ; continue program more bytes until done popf ; restore original direction flag pop si ; restore registers pop di pop ax ret Program_One_Sector endp ; ===================================================================== ; PROCEDURE: Program_One_Block (PP Mode) ; ; This procedure can be used to program a memory block, or a total of ; 64 Kbytes, of the SST49LF004. ; ; Input: ; ds:si SOURCE address containing the data which will be ; written into the SST49LF004. ; es:di DESTINATION address which will be written with the ; data passed in for ds:si ; ; Output: ; None ; SI, DI: Contains the original values ; ===================================================================== Program_One_Block proc near push ax ; save registers push bx push di push si pushf ; preserve the "Direction" flag in the FLAG ; register cld ; clear "Direction" flag in the FLAG register ; auto-increment SI, and DI ; ; Erase the block before programming. Each erase command will erase a total ; of 64 Kbytes of the SST49LF004. ; call Erase_One_Block ; ; The following loop will program a total of 64 Kbytes to SST's SST49LF004 ; mov cx, BLOCK_SIZE POB1: push ds mov ax, ABS_SEGMENT mov ds, ax mov ds:byte ptr [5555h], 0AAh ; send 3-byte SDP sequence mov ds:byte ptr [2AAAh], 055h mov ds:byte ptr [5555h], 0A0h pop ds lodsb ; get the byte to be programmed mov bx, di ; preserve DI temporarily stosb ; program the byte push di ; preserve the updated DI temporarily mov di, bx call check_Toggle_Ready ; wait for TOGGLE bit to get ready pop di ; retrieve the updated DI loop POB1 ; continue program more bytes until done popf ; restore original direction flag pop si ; restore registers pop di pop bx pop ax ret Program_One_Block endp ;====================================================================== ; PROCEDURE: Check_Toggle_Ready (PP Mode) ; ; During the internal program cycle, any consecutive read operation ; on DQ6 will produce alternating 0's and 1's, i.e. toggling between ; 0 and 1. When the program cycle is completed, the DQ6 data will ; stop toggling. After the DQ6 data stops toggling, the device is ready ; for the next operation. ; ; Input: ; es:di must already be set-up by the caller ; ; Output: ; None ;====================================================================== Check_Toggle_Ready proc near push ax ; save register mov al, es:[di] ; read a byte form the chip and al,40h ; mask out the TOGGLE bit (DQ6) CTR_Tog2: mov ah, es:[di] ; read the same byte from the chip again and ah, 40h ; mask out the TOGGLE bit (DQ6) cmp al, ah ; is DQ6 still toggling? je CTR_Tog3 ; No, then the write operation is done xchg ah, al ; YES, then continue checking... jmp short CTR_Tog2 CTR_Tog3: pop ax ; restore register ret Check_Toggle_Ready endp ;======================================================================= ; PROCEDURE: Check_Data_Polling (PP Mode) ; ; During the internal program cycle, any attempt to read DQ7 of the last ; byte loaded during the page/byte-load cycle will receive the complement ; of the true data. Once the program cycle is completed, DQ7 will show ; true data. ; ; Input: ; es:di must already be set-up by the caller ; bl contains the original (true) data ; ; Output: ; None ; ;======================================================================= Check_Data_Polling proc near push ax ; save registers push bx and bl, 80h ; mask out the DQ7 bit CDP_Tog2: mov al, es:[di] ; read a byte from the chip and al,80h ; mask out the DQ7 bit cmp al,bl ; is DQ7 still complementing? jne CDP_Tog2 pop bx ; restore registers pop ax ret Check_Data_Polling endp -----Original Message----- From: Ronald G Minnich [mailto:rminnich at lanl.gov] Sent: Friday, September 06, 2002 5:17 AM To: linuxbios at clustermatic.org Subject: 82802ab and flash_rom identification is fine, but erase block doesn't work. mtd just flat out won't work at all for anything. I wish these vendors would get a clue and stop making this flash programming so hard :-) more tomorrow. ron _______________________________________________ Linuxbios mailing list Linuxbios at clustermatic.org http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios From pyro at linuxlabs.com Fri Sep 6 09:12:01 2002 From: pyro at linuxlabs.com (steven james) Date: Fri Sep 6 09:12:01 2002 Subject: cvs mail In-Reply-To: Message-ID: I would find the CVS notices very useful. On Thu, 5 Sep 2002, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > The CVS mail would be the output from cvs for committs to linuxbios. We > have this enable on several other mailing lists and it is very handy. > > I think the overall opinion is mixed at best, so we'll wait to see who > else puts in their $.02 > > ron > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > -- -------------------------steven james, director of research, linux labs ... ........ ..... .... 230 peachtree st nw ste 701 the original linux labs atlanta.ga.us 30303 -since 1995 http://www.linuxlabs.com office 404.577.7747 fax 404.577.7743 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From pyro at linuxlabs.com Fri Sep 6 09:17:00 2002 From: pyro at linuxlabs.com (steven james) Date: Fri Sep 6 09:17:00 2002 Subject: more on the 82802 & e7500 chipset In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Greetings, A good workaround for the setpci bug is to use -d to select by device ID I believe the device is 8086:2480 G'day, sjames On Thu, 5 Sep 2002, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > > OK, if I do the equivalent of: > setpci -s 0:1f.0 4e.b=1 > > Then writes are enabled. Note you can't really do this due to a bug in the > pcitools == have to do it by program. > > Then, if I run flash_rom, jedec_probe will get an ID of the 82802AB of > > vendor 89, device code AD (4 mbit part) > > So flash_rom I think might be able to flash this part! > > I have added an entry into flash_rom and will test this tomorrow. > > ron > > > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > -- -------------------------steven james, director of research, linux labs ... ........ ..... .... 230 peachtree st nw ste 701 the original linux labs atlanta.ga.us 30303 -since 1995 http://www.linuxlabs.com office 404.577.7747 fax 404.577.7743 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From aip at cwlinux.com Fri Sep 6 09:50:01 2002 From: aip at cwlinux.com (Andrew Ip) Date: Fri Sep 6 09:50:01 2002 Subject: [PATCH] m830lr support In-Reply-To: ; from rminnich@lanl.gov on Wed, Aug 28, 2002 at 09:35:22PM -0600 References: <20020829102017.C10303@mail.cwlinux.com> Message-ID: <20020906215836.A3399@mail.cwlinux.com> Ron, I have got the images for m810 and m758lr+. These doc images support kexec and pivot_root. To speed up the boot time, ide/scsi drivers are in modules. I have also included as many modules as possible, eg xfs, jfs, reiserfs, ext3, nfs, lvm, md, evms, usb storage and firewire sbp2. Comments are welcome. Images can be downloaded at ftp://ftp.cwlinux.com/pub/downloads/linuxbios-sdk/images/docimages/cwlinux_810lmr_mb-mii.lb.tar.gz ftp://ftp.cwlinux.com/pub/downloads/linuxbios-sdk/images/docimages/cwlinux_758+_mb.lb.tar.gz (see readme for how to flash DOC) Make sure you download *_mb_* for Mighty Boot version. Have fun. -Andrew On Wed, Aug 28, 2002 at 09:35:22PM -0600, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > Andrew, I might try putting IDE modules on there. In the limit this could > be a very powerful boot environment. If I have kexec and other drivers, > this could be the path to having a motherboard which lets you load linux > on a raw IDE disk, etc. > > This board you sent me is one idea of what we wanted when we started this > project three years ago. Really neat. > > ron > -- Andrew Ip Email: aip at cwlinux.com Tel: (852) 2542 2046 Fax: (852) 2542 2036 Mobile: (852) 9201 9866 Cwlinux Limited Unit 202B 2/F Lai Cheong Factory Building, 479-479A Castle Peak Road, Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong(SAR), China. Tel: (852)2542 2046 Fax: (852)2542 2036 For public pgp key, please obtain it from http://www.keyserver.net/en. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 232 bytes Desc: not available URL: From rminnich at lanl.gov Fri Sep 6 10:09:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Fri Sep 6 10:09:00 2002 Subject: [PATCH] m830lr support In-Reply-To: <20020906215836.A3399@mail.cwlinux.com> Message-ID: that is great news andrew. Now I need to set up a machine so I can burn DoC again :-) on From rminnich at lanl.gov Fri Sep 6 10:16:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Fri Sep 6 10:16:00 2002 Subject: 82802ab and flash_rom In-Reply-To: Message-ID: 49LF004 docs say read-compatible, does it seem that writing will work too? The only reason I ask is that the erase procedure in this file does not agree with the Intel docs (I am aware that Intel docs don't always tell the full story, however). ron From steve at nexpath.com Fri Sep 6 11:11:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Fri Sep 6 11:11:01 2002 Subject: stpc-consumerII In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Ron: I have added the stpc consumer II chip and ST evaluation motherboard to the linuxbios source and propose to add it to the repository. The added code supports a video console and sets up the integrated vga into alpha mode (BIOS mode 3). The graphics mode is not supported (yet anyway). Remaining to be done is the pirq routing; I am not clear on how this is done in linuxbios. Maybe someone can point me in the right direction. I know how to do it for the stpc cpu/integrated bridge, but I don't understand how this is connected to the data structures of linux bios. Also remaining to be dealt with is the mtd device on the mobo. Right now it boots 2.2.21 fine from a floppy ( I changed the floppy code to read a track at a time; way too slow the way it was.) The following files/directories are proposd to be added: freebios/src/cpu/stpc/consumer2/Config freebios/src/cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc_cache.inc freebios/src/cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc_chip.inc freebios/src/cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc_framebuffer.inc freebios/src/cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc_ioinit.inc freebios/src/cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc_memsize.inc freebios/src/cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc_ram_init.inc freebios/src/cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc_vga.c freebios/src/include/cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc.h freebios/src/include/cpu/stpc/consumer2/vga_stpc.h freebios/src/include/pc80/vga.h freebios/src/mainboard/stpc/consumer2/Config freebios/src/mainboard/stpc/consumer2/mainboard.c freebios/src/northsouthbridge/stpc/consumer2/Config freebios/src/northsouthbridge/stpc/consumer2/nsbridge.c freebios/src/pc80/vga_load_regs.c freebios/src/pc80/beep.c freebios/src/pc80/font_8x16.c freebios/src/superio/SMC/fdc37b78x/setup_serial.inc freebios/src/superio/SMC/fdc37b78x/superio.c freebios/util/config/stpc.config The following files were modified: RCS file: /cvsroot/freebios/freebios/src/arch/i386/lib/params.c,v RCS file: /cvsroot/freebios/freebios/src/lib/floppy_subr.c,v RCS file: /cvsroot/freebios/freebios/src/lib/linuxbiosmain.c,v RCS file: /cvsroot/freebios/freebios/src/lib/video_subr.c,v RCS file: /cvsroot/freebios/freebios/src/pc80/Config,v RCS file: /cvsroot/freebios/freebios/src/rom/floppy_fill_inbuf.c,v A config option was added: VGA_HARDWARE_FIXUP. Let me know if you want to add this to the project, and the best way to get the files to you. Would it be better to wait until the mtd and pirq are working? -Steve Gehlbach From rminnich at lanl.gov Fri Sep 6 12:08:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Fri Sep 6 12:08:01 2002 Subject: stpc-consumerII In-Reply-To: Message-ID: for PIRQ, you run the program in freebios/util called getpir, which writes a file called irq_tables.c. You have to run this on the standard bios. Copy that file into the mainboard directory. In the mainboard Config file add the line: option HAVE_PIRQ_TABLE=1 and you should be fine. Try to make this go before we commit. To commit, send my a unified diff of your tree against the HEAD branch. I'll run patch and commit it. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Fri Sep 6 12:13:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Fri Sep 6 12:13:01 2002 Subject: more on the 82802 & e7500 chipset In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Fri, 6 Sep 2002, steven james wrote: > A good workaround for the setpci bug is to use -d to select by device ID > I believe the device is 8086:2480 Thanks steven that does the trick! ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Fri Sep 6 12:50:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Fri Sep 6 12:50:00 2002 Subject: flash_rom can burn 82802ab Message-ID: I just committed the changes so that flash_rom can burn the 82802ab parts. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Fri Sep 6 13:23:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Fri Sep 6 13:23:00 2002 Subject: "HOT PLUG AND PLAY" Message-ID: I can confirm that "HOT PLUG AND PLAY" works with 82802ab parts, even though they have CLOCK etc. that normal flash does not. ron From hamishl at dplanet.ch Fri Sep 6 14:15:01 2002 From: hamishl at dplanet.ch (Hamish Guthrie (Mail Lists)) Date: Fri Sep 6 14:15:01 2002 Subject: stpc-consumerII In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Steve, I have done a lot of work for LinuxBIOS with all of the STPC devices and am in fact just waiting for the latest cloud of changes to filter through, and for Ron to tell me things are relatively stable before comitting. What I have been working on is a generic STPC support (there are now about 9 devices in the STPC family), which basically provides a small layer which virtualises any STPC device (after initialising super-I/O's or built-in devices to the same level) with a final jump vector in protected mode to LinxBIOS code. This little filter layer is accomplished in a maximum of about 4k of binary code and includes pre-initialisation of the PCI stuff, so a PCI routing table is not required. Your inputs though are really welcome, maybe we should pool our efforts! Regards Hamish > -----Original Message----- > From: linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org > [mailto:linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org]On Behalf Of Steve M. Gehlbach > Sent: 06 September 2002 05:25 > To: rminnich at lanl.gov > Cc: linuxbios at clustermatic.org > Subject: stpc-consumerII > > > Ron: > > I have added the stpc consumer II chip and ST evaluation > motherboard to the > linuxbios source and propose to add it to the repository. The added code > supports a video console and sets up the integrated vga into alpha mode > (BIOS mode 3). The graphics mode is not supported (yet anyway). > > Remaining to be done is the pirq routing; I am not clear on how > this is done > in linuxbios. Maybe someone can point me in the right direction. I know > how to do it for the stpc cpu/integrated bridge, but I don't > understand how > this is connected to the data structures of linux bios. > > Also remaining to be dealt with is the mtd device on the mobo. > Right now it > boots 2.2.21 fine from a floppy ( I changed the floppy code to > read a track > at a time; way too slow the way it was.) > > The following files/directories are proposd to be added: > > freebios/src/cpu/stpc/consumer2/Config > freebios/src/cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc_cache.inc > freebios/src/cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc_chip.inc > freebios/src/cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc_framebuffer.inc > freebios/src/cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc_ioinit.inc > freebios/src/cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc_memsize.inc > freebios/src/cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc_ram_init.inc > freebios/src/cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc_vga.c > > freebios/src/include/cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc.h > freebios/src/include/cpu/stpc/consumer2/vga_stpc.h > > freebios/src/include/pc80/vga.h > > freebios/src/mainboard/stpc/consumer2/Config > freebios/src/mainboard/stpc/consumer2/mainboard.c > > freebios/src/northsouthbridge/stpc/consumer2/Config > freebios/src/northsouthbridge/stpc/consumer2/nsbridge.c > > freebios/src/pc80/vga_load_regs.c > freebios/src/pc80/beep.c > freebios/src/pc80/font_8x16.c > > freebios/src/superio/SMC/fdc37b78x/setup_serial.inc > freebios/src/superio/SMC/fdc37b78x/superio.c > > freebios/util/config/stpc.config > > The following files were modified: > > RCS file: /cvsroot/freebios/freebios/src/arch/i386/lib/params.c,v > RCS file: /cvsroot/freebios/freebios/src/lib/floppy_subr.c,v > RCS file: /cvsroot/freebios/freebios/src/lib/linuxbiosmain.c,v > RCS file: /cvsroot/freebios/freebios/src/lib/video_subr.c,v > RCS file: /cvsroot/freebios/freebios/src/pc80/Config,v > RCS file: /cvsroot/freebios/freebios/src/rom/floppy_fill_inbuf.c,v > > A config option was added: VGA_HARDWARE_FIXUP. > > Let me know if you want to add this to the project, and the best > way to get > the files to you. Would it be better to wait until the mtd and pirq are > working? > > > -Steve Gehlbach > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios From rminnich at lanl.gov Fri Sep 6 14:37:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Fri Sep 6 14:37:01 2002 Subject: stpc-consumerII In-Reply-To: Message-ID: steve and hamish, do you want to resolve on what patch we need and send it in? I think this is a stable time to apply a patch. ron From steve at nexpath.com Fri Sep 6 14:58:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Fri Sep 6 14:58:01 2002 Subject: stpc-consumerII In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Hamish: Part of my reasoning in posting an intro was to find out just what was going on. I half expected to get a reply that it was already done, here's the link, etc... But I would be happy to co-ordinate in any way that makes sense. I suspect you have done a much more careful job that I, but my main interest was a video console, which does not seem to be a focus of the linuxbios project due to its prime interest in large clusters. My prime interest is in custom motherboards for embedded systems, and for my project, alpha vga is essential. The VGA (IMHO) is the hard part. Most of the code was lifted and massaged from ST and from and the original stpc/freebios archive, and the linux vga console drivers. My stpc implementation puts the stack of code in assy language after protected mode, e.g., Config (mainboard): arch i386 mainboardinit cpu/i386/entry16.inc mainboardinit cpu/i386/entry32.inc ldscript cpu/i386/entry16.lds ldscript cpu/i386/entry32.lds mainboardinit cpu/i386/reset16.inc ldscript cpu/i386/reset16.lds mainboardinit cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc_chip.inc mainboardinit cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc_ram_init.inc option SMC_BASE=0x370 mainboardinit superio/SMC/fdc37b78x/setup_serial.inc mainboardinit pc80/serial.inc mainboardinit arch/i386/lib/console.inc mainboardinit cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc_ioinit.inc mainboardinit cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc_memsize.inc mainboardinit cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc_framebuffer.inc mainboardinit cpu/stpc/consumer2/stpc_cache.inc # this links in stpc vga through displayinit() and VIDEO_CONSOLE option option VGA_HARDWARE_FIXUP=1 northsouthbridge stpc/consumer2 nsuperio SMC/fdc37b78x com1={1} floppy=1 lpt=1 keyboard=1 cpu stpc/consumer2 object mainboard.o ----------- Not sure of the best way to go about it, but obviously two different approaches pulling at each other in the archive is not good. In fact, it may be that it is best for me to hang on to what I have and let you go ahead since you have been working on it for some time, and my implementation is restricted to the consumerII only. Or I could send you a tarball of my source tree. I do think it is important to get something in the archive in the near term so others can benefit, rather than waiting until it is perfect (my philosophy anyway). Any approach that makes sense is fine to me. I just wanted to make sure I contributed what I had in the event someone was interested. -Steve > I have done a lot of work for LinuxBIOS with all of the STPC > devices and am > in fact just waiting for the latest cloud of changes to filter > through, and > for Ron to tell me things are relatively stable before comitting. What I > have been working on is a generic STPC support (there are now about 9 > devices in the STPC family), which basically provides a small layer which > virtualises any STPC device (after initialising super-I/O's or built-in > devices to the same level) with a final jump vector in protected mode to > LinxBIOS code. > > This little filter layer is accomplished in a maximum of about 4k > of binary > code and includes pre-initialisation of the PCI stuff, so a PCI routing > table is not required. > > Your inputs though are really welcome, maybe we should pool our efforts! > > Regards > > Hamish From rminnich at lanl.gov Fri Sep 6 15:24:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Fri Sep 6 15:24:01 2002 Subject: stpc-consumerII In-Reply-To: Message-ID: one thing --- we'd rather have it sooner now with imperfections -- Steve, I thought your changes looked really good. ron From steve at nexpath.com Fri Sep 6 15:50:00 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Fri Sep 6 15:50:00 2002 Subject: stpc-consumerII In-Reply-To: Message-ID: > one thing --- we'd rather have it sooner now with imperfections -- Steve, > I thought your changes looked really good. > > ron I tend to agree with "release it early and often" as long as it doesn't break other working code. If Hamish supports all stpc chips with an assy language .inc stack at the head, that could work fine with my vga code, though. Supporting all of the stpc chips is very tedious, a real "ifdef" hell. I am assuming the vga is not setup in his code, but that may not be true. It also may be true that his code could co-exist with mine fine, if it is simply an assy stack at the head. Not sure if we want to do this or not, though. I guess the keeper of the archive gets to make the decision; I have no axes to grind either way. The big defficiency in my code is that it is restricted to consumerII. Hamish and I can exchange thoughts and work to a join agreement, I guess. In the meantime, I will motor ahead. If I get to the point that I am ready to send it to you prior to a consensus, I will do that and maybe you can make a judgement at that point. -Steve From rminnich at lanl.gov Sat Sep 7 01:07:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sat Sep 7 01:07:00 2002 Subject: 82802ab support in the flash_rom utility Message-ID: A third party has verified that it works too. So if you can't get MTD to work on these crazy parts you can fall back to flash_rom ron From Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk Sat Sep 7 07:19:01 2002 From: Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk (Antony Stone) Date: Sat Sep 7 07:19:01 2002 Subject: Trouble getting started..... Message-ID: <20020907105858.YPRJ5047.mta06-svc.ntlworld.com@there> Hi. Can somebody tell me what I'm missing here please ? I've just started with LinuxBios after seeing it at the LBW workshop ten days ago, and I can't seem to get even to stage 1.... I have a PCChips M810LR motherboard, and I've fitted a ZIF socket to swap the flash Bios for a Millennium MD-2800-D08 DoC device. I've compiled a 2.4.19 kernel and modules (although I'm not sure I've done this correctly - I can't find any instructions on which MTD options I need to make this setup work), and rebooted with the new kernel. I've built the various tools I seem to need for the SiS-based motherboard. When I do this: 1. Remove Flash Bios 2. Insert DoC (brand new device, just purchased) 3. flash_on 4. modprobe doc2001 5. modprobe docprobe 6. dmesg I get this: Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID 00 found at 0xc8000 Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID 35 found at 0xca000 Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID F6 found at 0xcc000 Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID E8 found at 0xce000 Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID 97 found at 0xd0000 Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID 63 found at 0xd2000 Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xd4000 Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xd6000 Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xd8000 Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xda000 Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xdc000 Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xde000 Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xe0000 Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xe2000 Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xe4000 Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xe6000 Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xe8000 Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xea000 Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xec000 Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xee000 No recognised DiskOnChip devices found I *am* inserting the DoC the right way round :-) My /dev/mtd0 is a char device with major/minor node 90,0 Can someone suggest which I'm doing wrong, what I've missed out, or where I can look for instructions to get it right ? Thanks, Antony. Here are the relevant sections of the .config options I compiled my kernel with: # # Memory Technology Devices (MTD) # CONFIG_MTD=m # CONFIG_MTD_DEBUG is not set # CONFIG_MTD_PARTITIONS is not set # CONFIG_MTD_CONCAT is not set # CONFIG_MTD_REDBOOT_PARTS is not set CONFIG_MTD_CHAR=m CONFIG_MTD_BLOCK=m # CONFIG_MTD_BLOCK_RO is not set CONFIG_FTL=m CONFIG_NFTL=m CONFIG_NFTL_RW=y # # RAM/ROM/Flash chip drivers # CONFIG_MTD_CFI=m CONFIG_MTD_JEDECPROBE=m CONFIG_MTD_GEN_PROBE=m # CONFIG_MTD_CFI_ADV_OPTIONS is not set # CONFIG_MTD_CFI_INTELEXT is not set # CONFIG_MTD_CFI_AMDSTD is not set # CONFIG_MTD_RAM is not set # CONFIG_MTD_ROM is not set # CONFIG_MTD_ABSENT is not set # CONFIG_MTD_OBSOLETE_CHIPS is not set # CONFIG_MTD_AMDSTD is not set # CONFIG_MTD_SHARP is not set # CONFIG_MTD_JEDEC is not set # # Mapping drivers for chip access # # CONFIG_MTD_PHYSMAP is not set # CONFIG_MTD_PNC2000 is not set # CONFIG_MTD_SC520CDP is not set # CONFIG_MTD_NETSC520 is not set # CONFIG_MTD_SBC_GXX is not set # CONFIG_MTD_ELAN_104NC is not set # CONFIG_MTD_DILNETPC is not set # CONFIG_MTD_MIXMEM is not set # CONFIG_MTD_OCTAGON is not set # CONFIG_MTD_VMAX is not set # CONFIG_MTD_L440GX is not set # CONFIG_MTD_AMD766ROM is not set # CONFIG_MTD_ICH2ROM is not set # CONFIG_MTD_PCI is not set # # Self-contained MTD device drivers # # CONFIG_MTD_PMC551 is not set # CONFIG_MTD_SLRAM is not set # CONFIG_MTD_MTDRAM is not set # CONFIG_MTD_BLKMTD is not set # CONFIG_MTD_DOC1000 is not set CONFIG_MTD_DOC2000=m CONFIG_MTD_DOC2001=m CONFIG_MTD_DOCPROBE=m # CONFIG_MTD_DOCPROBE_ADVANCED is not set CONFIG_MTD_DOCPROBE_ADDRESS=0 # CONFIG_MTD_DOCPROBE_HIGH is not set # CONFIG_MTD_DOCPROBE_55AA is not set # # NAND Flash Device Drivers # # CONFIG_MTD_NAND is not set # Linuxbios Options # CONFIG_LINUXBIOS_PM=y CONFIG_LINUXBIOS_PM_SIS503=y # CONFIG_LINUXBIOS_PM_PIIX4E is not set -- Behind the counter a boy with a shaven head stared vacantly into space, a dozen spikes of microsoft protruding from the socket behind his ear. - William Gibson, Neuromancer From aip at cwlinux.com Sat Sep 7 07:41:01 2002 From: aip at cwlinux.com (Andrew Ip) Date: Sat Sep 7 07:41:01 2002 Subject: Trouble getting started..... In-Reply-To: <20020907105858.YPRJ5047.mta06-svc.ntlworld.com@there>; from Antony@Soft-Solutions.co.uk on Sat, Sep 07, 2002 at 11:58:55AM +0100 References: <20020907105858.YPRJ5047.mta06-svc.ntlworld.com@there> Message-ID: <20020907194911.A14243@mail.cwlinux.com> Antony, > Can someone suggest which I'm doing wrong, what I've missed out, or where I > can look for instructions to get it right ? > # CONFIG_MTD_DOCPROBE_HIGH is not set You may either need to enable docprobe high or type $ flash_on $ modprobe docprobe doc_config_location=0xfffc8000 -Andrew -- Andrew Ip Email: aip at cwlinux.com Tel: (852) 2542 2046 Fax: (852) 2542 2036 Mobile: (852) 9201 9866 Cwlinux Limited Unit 202B 2/F Lai Cheong Factory Building, 479-479A Castle Peak Road, Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong(SAR), China. Tel: (852)2542 2046 Fax: (852)2542 2036 For public pgp key, please obtain it from http://www.keyserver.net/en. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 232 bytes Desc: not available URL: From Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk Sat Sep 7 08:05:00 2002 From: Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk (Antony Stone) Date: Sat Sep 7 08:05:00 2002 Subject: Trouble getting started..... In-Reply-To: <20020907194911.A14243@mail.cwlinux.com> References: <20020907105858.YPRJ5047.mta06-svc.ntlworld.com@there> <20020907194911.A14243@mail.cwlinux.com> Message-ID: <20020907121329.LZKN290.mta02-svc.ntlworld.com@there> On Saturday 07 September 2002 12:49 pm, Andrew Ip wrote: > Antony, > > > Can someone suggest which I'm doing wrong, what I've missed out, or where > > I can look for instructions to get it right ? > > # CONFIG_MTD_DOCPROBE_HIGH is not set > > You may either need to enable docprobe high or type > $ flash_on > $ modprobe docprobe doc_config_location=0xfffc8000 Thanks for that. It's now working, and I've booted a kernel from DoC :-) Now to figure out how to get the keyboard working..... Incidentally, I noticed that the SiS config file for the 2.4.17 kernel was bigger than the config file for 2.4.19. So I looked at both, and found the MTD options I needed were in the 2.4.17 config file, whereas the 2.4.19 one which I'd started with has MTD turned off ! Maybe whoever maintains these config files could check that the 2.4.19 version is sensible/useful ? Leaving out the MTD stuff seems a bit odd to me... Anyway, thanks for the help. Antony. -- Anyone that's normal doesn't really achieve much. - Mark Blair, Australian rocket engineer From rminnich at lanl.gov Sat Sep 7 11:16:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sat Sep 7 11:16:01 2002 Subject: Trouble getting started..... In-Reply-To: <20020907105858.YPRJ5047.mta06-svc.ntlworld.com@there> Message-ID: you are very close. The DoC is very frustrating and has caused trouble for MTD (just ask David Woodhouse :-) You need to NOT use the "single driver" mode of DoC. So my config looks like this for the kernel # # Self-contained MTD device drivers # # CONFIG_MTD_PMC551 is not set # CONFIG_MTD_SLRAM is not set # CONFIG_MTD_MTDRAM is not set # CONFIG_MTD_DOC1000 is not set # CONFIG_MTD_DOC2000 is not set CONFIG_MTD_DOC2001=m CONFIG_MTD_DOCPROBE=m CONFIG_MTD_DOCPROBE_ADVANCED=y CONFIG_MTD_DOCPROBE_ADDRESS=0000 CONFIG_MTD_DOCPROBE_HIGH=y # CONFIG_MTD_DOCPROBE_55AA is not set And you need to UNDEFINE DOC_SINGLE_DRIVER in docprobe.c See the HOWTO /root/src/freebios/HOWTO/ALIM1631_M1535D for more info. Also, if you end up writing notes for the M810 and your kernel, and you want to send them to me, I will post them. This process is still a headache for new guys, and if you have hints for making it better I'll take them too. Thanks for your patience. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Sat Sep 7 11:23:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sat Sep 7 11:23:01 2002 Subject: Trouble getting started..... In-Reply-To: <20020907121329.LZKN290.mta02-svc.ntlworld.com@there> Message-ID: Thanks for the tip on the kernel config Antony. I will look at that too. What's wrong with the keyboard? No output at all? ron From steve at nexpath.com Sat Sep 7 11:54:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Sat Sep 7 11:54:01 2002 Subject: Trouble getting started..... In-Reply-To: Message-ID: I suspect Antony needs either "kbd-reset" on the kernel command line or "keyboard=1" in the nsuperio line in mainboard/Config. -Steve > -----Original Message----- > From: linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org > [mailto:linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org]On Behalf Of Ronald G Minnich > Sent: Saturday, September 07, 2002 8:25 AM > To: Antony Stone > Cc: LinuxBios at clustermatic.org > Subject: Re: Trouble getting started..... > > > Thanks for the tip on the kernel config Antony. I will look at that too. > > What's wrong with the keyboard? No output at all? > > ron > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > From Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk Sat Sep 7 12:55:00 2002 From: Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk (Antony Stone) Date: Sat Sep 7 12:55:00 2002 Subject: Trouble getting started..... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20020907170309.CGUY23840.mta03-svc.ntlworld.com@there> On Saturday 07 September 2002 5:16 pm, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > I suspect Antony needs either "kbd-reset" on the kernel command line or > "keyboard=1" in the nsuperio line in mainboard/Config. Thanks for the suggestions Steve, but no, neither of those (not even both together) worked. In response to Ronald's question: >?What's wrong with the keyboard? No output at all? There are two problems: 1. Several hundred messages at boot time saying: pc_keyb: controller jammed (0xFF) The messages stop after a while and the system decides there's no keyboard attached.... 2. Keyboard completely non-functional. ? Even pressing numlock doesn't toggle the light. However, for the purpose I'm interested in I'm nottoo bothered about the keyboard, and I've now got my system to the stage where it boots a kernel from DoC, allows me to log on from the serial port, and successfully initialises a wireless LAN card I have on the PCI bus, so I can also ssh in from my laptop (I use this machine as an access point for my home network). The biggest thing I'm trying to fix now is the onboard ethernet interface (SiS900) which the standard kernel driver tells me (from dmesg): sis900.c: v1.08.04 4/25/2002 PCI: Found IRQ 5 for device 00:01.1 PCI: Sharing IRQ 5 with 00:01.6 eth0: No MII transceivers found! Under the normal Bios boot, the same driver gives me: sis900.c: v1.08.04 4/25/2002 PCI: Found IRQ 12 for device 00:01.1 eth0: Realtek RTL8201 PHY transceiver found at address 1. eth0: Using transceiver found at address 1 as default eth0: SiS 900 PCI Fast Ethernet at 0xd400, IRQ 12, 00:07:95:e2:c0:b6 The motherboard is a PCChips M810LMR. Any ideas about this ? Antony. -- Anyone that's normal doesn't really achieve much. - Mark Blair, Australian rocket engineer From Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk Sat Sep 7 13:30:00 2002 From: Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk (Antony Stone) Date: Sat Sep 7 13:30:00 2002 Subject: Trouble getting started..... In-Reply-To: <20020907170309.CGUY23840.mta03-svc.ntlworld.com@there> References: <20020907170309.CGUY23840.mta03-svc.ntlworld.com@there> Message-ID: <20020907173905.GOSG25423.mta01-svc.ntlworld.com@there> On Saturday 07 September 2002 6:03 pm, Antony Stone wrote: > On Saturday 07 September 2002 5:16 pm, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > > I suspect Antony needs either "kbd-reset" on the kernel command line or > > "keyboard=1" in the nsuperio line in mainboard/Config. > > Thanks for the suggestions Steve, but no, neither of those (not even both > together) worked. Just in case it helps, I spotted the NO_KEYBOARD option in some of the other motherboard config files, so I thought "if it's not going to work, I may as well disable it, then it won't waste time trying to get it working", so I put option NO_KEYBOARD=1 into my config file, built a new image and re-flashed it, but I still get exactly the same several hundred "pc_keyb: controller jammed (0xFF)" messages at startup. However, I have noticed a discrepancy between the box the motherboard came in and the manual which was with it, and although I said previously that it was a PC-Chips M810LMR, the manual says it's actually an M810LR - if there's any other info I can provide to pin down whether this is significant please let me know. > The biggest thing I'm trying to fix now is the onboard ethernet interface > (SiS900) which the standard kernel driver tells me (from dmesg): > sis900.c: v1.08.04 4/25/2002 > PCI: Found IRQ 5 for device 00:01.1 > PCI: Sharing IRQ 5 with 00:01.6 > eth0: No MII transceivers found! > > Under the normal Bios boot, the same driver gives me: > sis900.c: v1.08.04 4/25/2002 > PCI: Found IRQ 12 for device 00:01.1 > eth0: Realtek RTL8201 PHY transceiver found at address 1. > eth0: Using transceiver found at address 1 as default > eth0: SiS 900 PCI Fast Ethernet at 0xd400, IRQ 12, 00:07:95:e2:c0:b6 Antony. -- Perfection in design is achieved not when there is nothing left to add, but rather when there is nothing left to take away. - Antoine de Saint-Exupery From rminnich at lanl.gov Sat Sep 7 15:43:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sat Sep 7 15:43:01 2002 Subject: Trouble getting started..... In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Sat, 7 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > I suspect Antony needs either "kbd-reset" on the kernel command line or > "keyboard=1" in the nsuperio line in mainboard/Config. we don't typically put that in mainboard/config because not all setups want the keyboard enabled. It should be in the config for a given build. But that's confusing. I wish for systems like the m801lmr we had configs called "desktop.example" or some such. ron From LeeCausier at GameBox.net Sun Sep 8 05:31:01 2002 From: LeeCausier at GameBox.net (Lee) Date: Sun Sep 8 05:31:01 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? Message-ID: <3D7B28B3.6080101@GameBox.net> Hi, My name is Lee and my machine has a ECS Elitegroup K7S5A motherboard. It has an AMD AthlonXP 1800+ processor and (apparently) a SiS735 chipset. It also has a 2Mb Flash EEPROM for the bios (AMIBIOS right now). Will the BIOS slot take a DoC or should I use regular replacement Flash EEPROM and is it possible to use an EEPROM/DoC with greater capacity than the current EEPROM? I'm also told I should use a Zero Insertion Force socket for the EEPROM. Do you know a UK supplier for the M-Systems DiskOnChip because I've tried Maplin Electronics' website with no avail and google UK has found little of any use. Also, where would you reccomend I get started with LinuxBIOS? Lee Causier, Signing off. From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 8 12:06:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 8 12:06:01 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: <3D7B28B3.6080101@GameBox.net> Message-ID: if you have an sis 735, cwlinux.com is a great place to start. You can actually get a motherboard from them with a linuxbios part pre-loaded. I realize you have the mainboard, you can talk to Andrew about just buying a part. ron From bari at onelabs.com Sun Sep 8 12:27:01 2002 From: bari at onelabs.com (Bari Ari) Date: Sun Sep 8 12:27:01 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? References: Message-ID: <3D7B7CD4.1060501@onelabs.com> M-Systems list these as the UK distibutors: ABACUS Polar http://www.abacus.co.uk City: Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire Contact: Craig Langley Tel: 01525-858070 Fax: 01525-858101 E-mail: clangley at abacus.co.uk Arrow Contact: Daryl Kingsbury Tel: +44- 01279 455194 Fax: +44- 01279 455045 E-mail: dkingsbury at arrowuk.com http://www.m-sys.com/content/distributors/distInfo.asp?CNTID=208&CNT=United+Kingdom Bari Ronald G Minnich wrote: >if you have an sis 735, cwlinux.com is a great place to start. You can >actually get a motherboard from them with a linuxbios part pre-loaded. > >I realize you have the mainboard, you can talk to Andrew about just buying >a part. > >ron > >_______________________________________________ >Linuxbios mailing list >Linuxbios at clustermatic.org >http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > > > > From Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk Sun Sep 8 12:43:01 2002 From: Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk (Antony Stone) Date: Sun Sep 8 12:43:01 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: <3D7B7CD4.1060501@onelabs.com> References: <3D7B7CD4.1060501@onelabs.com> Message-ID: <20020908165117.PETQ23840.mta03-svc.ntlworld.com@there> On Sunday 08 September 2002 5:37 pm, Bari Ari wrote: > M-Systems list these as the UK distibutors: > > Abacus Polar > Arrow Electronics I contacted these last week looking for the MD-2800-D08 part. Abacus gave me the name of a reseller and said they'd get them to contact me (but they didn't). In meantime I bought three DoCs from Arrow Electronics - I have my own company, so they were happy to supply me direct. I'm not sure they'd do the same for a private individual. However: 1. I believe I bought the last three MD-2800-D08 they had in stock :-) 2. They told me M-Systems are discontinuing the MD-2800 series, and replacing them with the MD-2802 series, which are "electrical and software drop-in replacements". I didn't ask what the difference between the two was. If you can't get any joy trying to find a supplier, let me know and I'll either get some through Arrow for you (if they have more) or I might part with one I've got already... Regards, Antony. -- The difference between theory and practice is that in theory there is no difference, whereas in practice there is. From ollie at sis.com.tw Sun Sep 8 20:45:01 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Sun Sep 8 20:45:01 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: <3D7B28B3.6080101@GameBox.net> References: <3D7B28B3.6080101@GameBox.net> Message-ID: <1031533122.1396.26.camel@ollie> On Sun, 2002-09-08 at 18:38, Lee wrote: > Hi, > My name is Lee and my machine has a ECS Elitegroup K7S5A > motherboard. It has an AMD AthlonXP 1800+ processor and (apparently) a > SiS735 chipset. It also has a 2Mb Flash EEPROM for the bios (AMIBIOS > right now). > One fundamental problem is that the DRAM init sequence for SiS 735 is too complex to fit in the 512 Byte IPL area of DoC. There used to be some samples of DoC millennium in TSOP package available which have 1024 Byte of IPL SRAM. I have no idea if they are still available or not. Don't ask about the new DoC Plus, we have no way to program it since M-system does not release the spec. > Will the BIOS slot take a DoC or should I use regular replacement > Flash EEPROM and is it possible to use an EEPROM/DoC with greater > capacity than the current EEPROM? I'm also told I should use a Zero > Insertion Force socket for the EEPROM. > Unless you can fix the previous problem, your only chance is a Flash EEPROM. From ollie at sis.com.tw Sun Sep 8 20:52:00 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Sun Sep 8 20:52:00 2002 Subject: Trouble getting started..... In-Reply-To: <20020907105858.YPRJ5047.mta06-svc.ntlworld.com@there> References: <20020907105858.YPRJ5047.mta06-svc.ntlworld.com@there> Message-ID: <1031533341.1396.34.camel@ollie> On Sat, 2002-09-07 at 18:58, Antony Stone wrote: > Hi. > > Can somebody tell me what I'm missing here please ? I've just started with > LinuxBios after seeing it at the LBW workshop ten days ago, and I can't seem > to get even to stage 1.... > LBW, is it the one that with mountain climbing and beer ?? > When I do this: > > 1. Remove Flash Bios > 2. Insert DoC (brand new device, just purchased) > 3. flash_on > 4. modprobe doc2001 > 5. modprobe docprobe > 6. dmesg > > I get this: > > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID 00 found at 0xc8000 > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID 35 found at 0xca000 > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID F6 found at 0xcc000 > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID E8 found at 0xce000 > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID 97 found at 0xd0000 > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID 63 found at 0xd2000 > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xd4000 > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xd6000 > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xd8000 > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xda000 > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xdc000 > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xde000 > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xe0000 > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xe2000 > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xe4000 > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xe6000 > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xe8000 > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xea000 > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xec000 > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xee000 > No recognised DiskOnChip devices found > I don't use DoC for a long time but I believe you need to enable the "probe advance" and "probe high" options. Ollie From ollie at sis.com.tw Sun Sep 8 20:57:43 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Sun Sep 8 20:57:43 2002 Subject: Trouble getting started..... In-Reply-To: <20020907121329.LZKN290.mta02-svc.ntlworld.com@there> References: <20020907105858.YPRJ5047.mta06-svc.ntlworld.com@there> <20020907194911.A14243@mail.cwlinux.com> <20020907121329.LZKN290.mta02-svc.ntlworld.com@there> Message-ID: <1031533547.1395.43.camel@ollie> On Sat, 2002-09-07 at 20:13, Antony Stone wrote: > > Incidentally, I noticed that the SiS config file for the 2.4.17 kernel was > bigger than the config file for 2.4.19. So I looked at both, and found the > MTD options I needed were in the 2.4.17 config file, whereas the 2.4.19 one > which I'd started with has MTD turned off ! > > Maybe whoever maintains these config files could check that the 2.4.19 > version is sensible/useful ? Leaving out the MTD stuff seems a bit odd to > me... > The reason that the MTD stuff is not enabled is we (SiS) has dropped DoC Millennium as our flash device/root filesysten. We turn to 256kB EEPROM and use Etherboot to load kernel from IDE Disk or Compact Flash. Ollie From LeeCausier at GameBox.net Sun Sep 8 21:48:00 2002 From: LeeCausier at GameBox.net (Lee) Date: Sun Sep 8 21:48:00 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? References: <3D7B28B3.6080101@GameBox.net> <1031533122.1396.26.camel@ollie> Message-ID: <3D7BFFB9.9090503@GameBox.net> Dear all, Thanks for the great advice, I really appreciate it. Is it possible to fit an EEPROM with a greater capacity than the current 2MB one? Also, on an unrelated issue, I noticed that when I moved from Linux kernel 2.2.19 (c/o Debian Potato) to Linux kernel 2.4.18 (c/o Debian Woody) the Penguin logo on the framebuffer device at startup no longer has a pint of bitter statically linked to it's arm :D. Any Ideas why? Lee Causier, signing off. ollie lho wrote: >On Sun, 2002-09-08 at 18:38, Lee wrote: > > >>Hi, >> My name is Lee and my machine has a ECS Elitegroup K7S5A >>motherboard. It has an AMD AthlonXP 1800+ processor and (apparently) a >>SiS735 chipset. It also has a 2Mb Flash EEPROM for the bios (AMIBIOS >>right now). >> >> >> > >One fundamental problem is that the DRAM init sequence for SiS 735 is >too complex to fit in the 512 Byte IPL area of DoC. There used to be >some samples of DoC millennium in TSOP package available which have >1024 Byte of IPL SRAM. I have no idea if they are still available or >not. Don't ask about the new DoC Plus, we have no way to program it >since M-system does not release the spec. > > > >> Will the BIOS slot take a DoC or should I use regular replacement >>Flash EEPROM and is it possible to use an EEPROM/DoC with greater >>capacity than the current EEPROM? I'm also told I should use a Zero >>Insertion Force socket for the EEPROM. >> >> >> > >Unless you can fix the previous problem, your only chance is a Flash >EEPROM. > > > >_______________________________________________ >Linuxbios mailing list >Linuxbios at clustermatic.org >http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > > > From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 8 22:16:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 8 22:16:01 2002 Subject: The DoC problem Message-ID: Anybody have a good idea in the long term about how to solve the DoC mess. I really like this sis730 mainboard with DoC. It's neat to come up in busybox and have all the power of linux available even if the disk is not yet loaded with linux. But that won't work with 735 due to more complex chipset setup. So we have to use FLASH. Then we can't have the nice startup with the kernel etc. that we get with DoC. We need big flash. But we can't just put big flash in the IDE slot -- then we can't have a disk drive! Are we really stuck with 256K forever? is there some plugin that gives us FLASH AND a DoC? ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 8 22:22:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 8 22:22:00 2002 Subject: laptop vendors friendly to linuxbios? Message-ID: The common question: when do we get linuxbios on our laptops? Anybody know a laptop vendor who might be friendly to this? ron From stuge-linuxbios at cdy.org Sun Sep 8 23:09:01 2002 From: stuge-linuxbios at cdy.org (Peter Stuge) Date: Sun Sep 8 23:09:01 2002 Subject: The DoC problem In-Reply-To: ; from rminnich@lanl.gov on Sun, Sep 08, 2002 at 08:24:35PM -0600 References: Message-ID: <20020909051610.A29634@foo.birdnet.se> On Sun, Sep 08, 2002 at 08:24:35PM -0600, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > Anybody have a good idea in the long term about how to solve the DoC mess. Maybe put the DoC on the ISA bus? Will require a special LinuxBIOS PCB but only when you really want/need DoC.. M-Systems has an AN on this, I think it's #71 or #91 but I'm not sure. //Peter From steve at nexpath.com Sun Sep 8 23:11:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Sun Sep 8 23:11:01 2002 Subject: The DoC problem In-Reply-To: Message-ID: > We need big flash. But we can't just put big flash in the IDE slot -- then > we can't have a disk drive! > > Are we really stuck with 256K forever? is there some plugin that gives us > FLASH AND a DoC? The mobo won't support two IDE devices? or is it a physical issue? -Steve From hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net Sun Sep 8 23:16:01 2002 From: hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net (Gregg C Levine) Date: Sun Sep 8 23:16:01 2002 Subject: The DoC problem In-Reply-To: <20020909051610.A29634@foo.birdnet.se> Message-ID: <000001c257b0$78b23240$7dbd580c@who> Hello again from Gregg C Levine Can't answer that one, guys, regarding which AN# the add-on board is situated at. But I can state that I've seen it mentioned on their site, and on a dealer's site. I can also attest to the fact that we are not alone with these problems, over on the Linux-MTD list, the problems are getting annoying, and people are getting obscenely lurid with their comments, but not on mail. ------------------- Gregg C Levine hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net ------------------------------------------------------------ "The Force will be with you...Always." Obi-Wan Kenobi "Use the Force, Luke."? Obi-Wan Kenobi (This company dedicates this E-Mail to General Obi-Wan Kenobi ) (This company dedicates this E-Mail to Master Yoda ) > -----Original Message----- > From: linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org [mailto:linuxbios- > admin at clustermatic.org] On Behalf Of Peter Stuge > Sent: Sunday, September 08, 2002 11:16 PM > To: Ronald G Minnich > Cc: linuxbios at clustermatic.org > Subject: Re: The DoC problem > > On Sun, Sep 08, 2002 at 08:24:35PM -0600, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > > Anybody have a good idea in the long term about how to solve the DoC mess. > > Maybe put the DoC on the ISA bus? Will require a special LinuxBIOS PCB but > only when you really want/need DoC.. > > M-Systems has an AN on this, I think it's #71 or #91 but I'm not sure. > > > //Peter > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios From stuge-linuxbios at cdy.org Sun Sep 8 23:39:00 2002 From: stuge-linuxbios at cdy.org (Peter Stuge) Date: Sun Sep 8 23:39:00 2002 Subject: The DoC problem In-Reply-To: ; from rminnich@lanl.gov on Sun, Sep 08, 2002 at 08:24:35PM -0600 References: Message-ID: <20020909054520.B29634@foo.birdnet.se> On Sun, Sep 08, 2002 at 08:24:35PM -0600, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > Anybody have a good idea in the long term about how to solve the DoC mess. Or maybe with a DoM, Disk-on-Module, instead. That's more friendly to J R Hacker at home, who doesn't want to mess with mystery ISA cards and probably has a motherboard without ISA slots anyway. > We need big flash. But we can't just put big flash in the IDE slot -- then > we can't have a disk drive! Well, you can still have one, right? A DoM would only be either master or slave on the IDE controller.. > Are we really stuck with 256K forever? is there some plugin that gives us > FLASH AND a DoC? Unless chipsets add more address lines to the ROM bus over night, I think the solution will be a combination. The standard flash and another thing. It's a shame that it won't work out with just the flash chip though. :( If you want to construct stuff, you could make a kludge card that goes into the standard BIOS socket and multiplexes between a regular flash and a DoC, e.g. when a read at 0x0 occurs or maybe even by using some JEDEC trick, if any are available or possible, without breaking the standard. Nah.. Scratch that. The memory needs to go on to some bus somewhere. Which ones are available? (Add more, I have surely missed several.) AGP, PCI, ISA, LPC, ROM (flash socket on mobo), I2C, IDE, par/ser, USB Plug and play flash memory is only available for three of these AFAIK: ROM, IDE and USB. Maybe USB flash memory is the way to go? Do all chipsets have USB? //Peter From stuge-linuxbios at cdy.org Sun Sep 8 23:47:01 2002 From: stuge-linuxbios at cdy.org (Peter Stuge) Date: Sun Sep 8 23:47:01 2002 Subject: The DoC problem In-Reply-To: <000001c257b0$78b23240$7dbd580c@who>; from hansolofalcon@worldnet.att.net on Sun, Sep 08, 2002 at 11:24:56PM -0400 References: <20020909051610.A29634@foo.birdnet.se> <000001c257b0$78b23240$7dbd580c@who> Message-ID: <20020909055326.C29634@foo.birdnet.se> On Sun, Sep 08, 2002 at 11:24:56PM -0400, Gregg C Levine wrote: > Hello again from Gregg C Levine > Can't answer that one, guys, regarding which AN# the add-on board is > situated at. But I can state that I've seen it mentioned on their site, It was AN #031, but it's about putting a DoC Millennium on the ISA bus. //Peter From steve at nexpath.com Mon Sep 9 00:24:00 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Mon Sep 9 00:24:00 2002 Subject: The DoC problem In-Reply-To: <20020909054520.B29634@foo.birdnet.se> Message-ID: > Well, you can still have one, right? A DoM would only be either master or > slave on the IDE controller.. A CF with a CF->IDE converter (simple passive pcb) is a good way to go. Cost is less than 1/2 of DOC. I use them a lot. No special code required either. > > Are we really stuck with 256K forever? is there some plugin > that gives us > > FLASH AND a DoC? > > Unless chipsets add more address lines to the ROM bus over night, I think > the solution will be a combination. The standard flash and another thing. > The LPC bus maybe the trend, and is the best for large flash, IMHO. The TSOPs are really hard to handle, and forget about putting then in a socket. And with LPC all sizes have the same # of pins. A little slower than conventional xbus, though. I haven't seen any on off the shelf mobos, but MS Xbox has the interface (unused). Seems that most LPC parts are assuming upper 4M (FFCx xxxx) as the ROM area. -Steve From ollie at sis.com.tw Mon Sep 9 02:58:00 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Mon Sep 9 02:58:00 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: <3D7BFFB9.9090503@GameBox.net> References: <3D7B28B3.6080101@GameBox.net> <1031533122.1396.26.camel@ollie> <3D7BFFB9.9090503@GameBox.net> Message-ID: <1031555501.1396.62.camel@ollie> On Mon, 2002-09-09 at 09:56, Lee wrote: > Dear all, > Thanks for the great advice, I really appreciate it. > Is it possible to fit an EEPROM with a greater capacity than the current > 2MB one? > For current architecture, 4M bits is the limit. I have no idea about how Firmware HUB does. > Also, on an unrelated issue, I noticed that when I moved from Linux > kernel 2.2.19 (c/o Debian Potato) to Linux kernel 2.4.18 (c/o Debian > Woody) the Penguin logo on the framebuffer device at startup no longer > has a pint of bitter statically linked to it's arm :D. Any Ideas why? > The Penguin Logo does changed from 2.2.x to 2.4.x. Ollie From ollie at sis.com.tw Mon Sep 9 02:59:00 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Mon Sep 9 02:59:00 2002 Subject: The DoC problem In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1031555635.1395.65.camel@ollie> On Mon, 2002-09-09 at 10:24, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > Anybody have a good idea in the long term about how to solve the DoC mess. > > I really like this sis730 mainboard with DoC. It's neat to come up in > busybox and have all the power of linux available even if the disk is not > yet loaded with linux. But that won't work with 735 due to more complex > chipset setup. So we have to use FLASH. Then we can't have the nice > startup with the kernel etc. that we get with DoC. > > We need big flash. But we can't just put big flash in the IDE slot -- then > we can't have a disk drive! > You can put both Compact Flash and real IDE HD together. What is your problem ?? Ollie From LeeCausier at GameBox.net Mon Sep 9 03:07:00 2002 From: LeeCausier at GameBox.net (Lee) Date: Mon Sep 9 03:07:00 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? References: <3D7B28B3.6080101@GameBox.net> <1031533122.1396.26.camel@ollie> <3D7BFFB9.9090503@GameBox.net> <1031555501.1396.62.camel@ollie> Message-ID: <3D7C4A91.8060403@GameBox.net> Dear Ollie, Thanks, are you sure it's Megabits and not Megabytes? That'd be annoying. Anyway, I'm off to school now. I'll catch up with my mail later. Have a nice Day, Lee Causier. ollie lho wrote: >On Mon, 2002-09-09 at 09:56, Lee wrote: > > >>Dear all, >> Thanks for the great advice, I really appreciate it. >>Is it possible to fit an EEPROM with a greater capacity than the current >>2MB one? >> >> >> > >For current architecture, 4M bits is the limit. I have no idea about >how Firmware HUB does. > > > >>Also, on an unrelated issue, I noticed that when I moved from Linux >>kernel 2.2.19 (c/o Debian Potato) to Linux kernel 2.4.18 (c/o Debian >>Woody) the Penguin logo on the framebuffer device at startup no longer >>has a pint of bitter statically linked to it's arm :D. Any Ideas why? >> >> >> > >The Penguin Logo does changed from 2.2.x to 2.4.x. > >Ollie > > >_______________________________________________ >Linuxbios mailing list >Linuxbios at clustermatic.org >http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > > > From Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk Mon Sep 9 04:57:01 2002 From: Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk (Antony Stone) Date: Mon Sep 9 04:57:01 2002 Subject: Trouble getting started..... In-Reply-To: <1031533341.1396.34.camel@ollie> References: <20020907105858.YPRJ5047.mta06-svc.ntlworld.com@there> <1031533341.1396.34.camel@ollie> Message-ID: <20020909090604.MPM24905.mta01-svc.ntlworld.com@there> On Monday 09 September 2002 2:02 am, ollie lho wrote: > On Sat, 2002-09-07 at 18:58, Antony Stone wrote: > > Hi. > > > > Can somebody tell me what I'm missing here please ? I've just started > > with LinuxBios after seeing it at the LBW workshop ten days ago, and I > > can't seem to get even to stage 1.... > > LBW, is it the one that with mountain climbing and beer ?? Yes, that's it :-) We get together every year in a different European country, and this year we had a LinuxBios workshop during the week, which resulted in a working DoC boot on an SiS motherboard. > > Possible DiskOnChip with unknown ChipID FF found at 0xee000 > > No recognised DiskOnChip devices found > > I don't use DoC for a long time but I believe you need to enable the > "probe advance" and "probe high" options. Yes, that was the problem. Ron already gave me some help with this, and now less than 48 hours after getting a DoC device I have a working system booting from DoC (including the IDE power-on spin-up patch to make sure cold boots work too). Thanks for the help. Antony. -- Documentation is like sex: when it's good, it's very very good; when it's bad, it's still better than nothing. From hamishl at dplanet.ch Mon Sep 9 06:04:01 2002 From: hamishl at dplanet.ch (Hamish Guthrie (Mail Lists)) Date: Mon Sep 9 06:04:01 2002 Subject: The DoC problem In-Reply-To: Message-ID: I think the DoC mess is here to stay, there is one potential solution if people are insisting on having DoC, and that is to make up a little board which plugs into a BIOS socket which has both a 256k flash device and a little bit of decode logic for a DoC, as well as a DoC - if anyone is interested in this approach, I could knock together a few prototypes for a couple of $'s, but I have my reservations as to this being a permanent long-term solution for production systems. Hamish > -----Original Message----- > From: linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org > [mailto:linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org]On Behalf Of Ronald G Minnich > Sent: 09 September 2002 04:25 > To: linuxbios at clustermatic.org > Subject: The DoC problem > > > Anybody have a good idea in the long term about how to solve the DoC mess. > > I really like this sis730 mainboard with DoC. It's neat to come up in > busybox and have all the power of linux available even if the disk is not > yet loaded with linux. But that won't work with 735 due to more complex > chipset setup. So we have to use FLASH. Then we can't have the nice > startup with the kernel etc. that we get with DoC. > > We need big flash. But we can't just put big flash in the IDE slot -- then > we can't have a disk drive! > > Are we really stuck with 256K forever? is there some plugin that gives us > FLASH AND a DoC? > > ron > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios From hamishl at dplanet.ch Mon Sep 9 06:26:00 2002 From: hamishl at dplanet.ch (Hamish Guthrie (Mail Lists)) Date: Mon Sep 9 06:26:00 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: <1031555501.1396.62.camel@ollie> Message-ID: Just having had a look at one of the BIOS flash vendors - there are now devices up to 8Mbit available for both firmware hub and LPC - one vendor in particular has an 8Mbit flash device which attaches directly to LPC. I have not looked to see which chipset vendors are supporting firmware hub, but according to a bit of documentation I saw, this is aimed at the i8xx chipsets, but it appears as though there is still the 8Mbit barrier. I guess this all depends upon the application - is the application a purely embedded solution with only flash being used, or is it a case of being able to fit a kernel into the BIOS chip - for the latter case, I guess 8Mbit would be adequate. Hamish > -----Original Message----- > From: linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org > [mailto:linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org]On Behalf Of ollie lho > Sent: 09 September 2002 09:12 > To: Lee > Cc: LinuxBIOS Mailing List > Subject: Re: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? > > > On Mon, 2002-09-09 at 09:56, Lee wrote: > > Dear all, > > Thanks for the great advice, I really appreciate it. > > Is it possible to fit an EEPROM with a greater capacity than > the current > > 2MB one? > > > > For current architecture, 4M bits is the limit. I have no idea about > how Firmware HUB does. > > > Also, on an unrelated issue, I noticed that when I moved from Linux > > kernel 2.2.19 (c/o Debian Potato) to Linux kernel 2.4.18 (c/o Debian > > Woody) the Penguin logo on the framebuffer device at startup no longer > > has a pint of bitter statically linked to it's arm :D. Any Ideas why? > > > > The Penguin Logo does changed from 2.2.x to 2.4.x. > > Ollie > > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios From ollie at sis.com.tw Mon Sep 9 06:46:01 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Mon Sep 9 06:46:01 2002 Subject: The DoC problem In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1031569186.1395.82.camel@ollie> On Mon, 2002-09-09 at 18:03, Hamish Guthrie (Mail Lists) wrote: > I think the DoC mess is here to stay, there is one potential solution if > people are insisting on having DoC, and that is to make up a little board > which plugs into a BIOS socket which has both a 256k flash device and a > little bit of decode logic for a DoC, as well as a DoC - if anyone is > interested in this approach, I could knock together a few prototypes for a > couple of $'s, but I have my reservations as to this being a permanent > long-term solution for production systems. > Actually this is very easy, The DoC requires only 8kB address window, if we use a 128KB flash EEPROM for LinuxBIOS, we still have the MSB address line free to acts as Chip Select. I believe this have been done by someone in Austria (sorry, I forgot the name) before. On the other hand, we lost the beauty of "only one flash needed". Ollie From hamishl at dplanet.ch Mon Sep 9 08:00:01 2002 From: hamishl at dplanet.ch (Hamish Guthrie (Mail Lists)) Date: Mon Sep 9 08:00:01 2002 Subject: The DoC problem In-Reply-To: <1031569186.1395.82.camel@ollie> Message-ID: Ollie, THis is another approch, but the of course losing 128k of address space, which I guess is not a problem, but also, I totally agree with you, it is adding an extra flash device, which is why the original Millennium was not a bad solution, except for all of the other baggage that it brought along with itself! Hamish > -----Original Message----- > From: linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org > [mailto:linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org]On Behalf Of ollie lho > Sent: 09 September 2002 01:00 > To: hamishl at dplanet.ch > Cc: Ronald G Minnich; linuxbios at clustermatic.org > Subject: RE: The DoC problem > > > On Mon, 2002-09-09 at 18:03, Hamish Guthrie (Mail Lists) wrote: > > I think the DoC mess is here to stay, there is one potential solution if > > people are insisting on having DoC, and that is to make up a > little board > > which plugs into a BIOS socket which has both a 256k flash device and a > > little bit of decode logic for a DoC, as well as a DoC - if anyone is > > interested in this approach, I could knock together a few > prototypes for a > > couple of $'s, but I have my reservations as to this being a permanent > > long-term solution for production systems. > > > > Actually this is very easy, The DoC requires only 8kB address window, if > we use a 128KB flash EEPROM for LinuxBIOS, we still have the MSB address > line free to acts as Chip Select. I believe this have been done by > someone in Austria (sorry, I forgot the name) before. On the other > hand, we lost the beauty of "only one flash needed". > > Ollie > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 9 09:26:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 9 09:26:00 2002 Subject: The DoC problem In-Reply-To: <20020909051610.A29634@foo.birdnet.se> Message-ID: On Mon, 9 Sep 2002, Peter Stuge wrote: > Maybe put the DoC on the ISA bus? Will require a special LinuxBIOS PCB but > only when you really want/need DoC.. probably too expensive, in fact in proposals I have seen it cost more than the motherboard! ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 9 09:32:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 9 09:32:01 2002 Subject: The DoC problem In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Sun, 8 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > The mobo won't support two IDE devices? or is it a physical issue? We would need a special cable I think for the IDE-FLASh devices I have seen. but doable. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 9 09:38:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 9 09:38:00 2002 Subject: The DoC problem In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Mon, 9 Sep 2002, Hamish Guthrie (Mail Lists) wrote: > I think the DoC mess is here to stay, there is one potential solution if > people are insisting on having DoC, and that is to make up a little board > which plugs into a BIOS socket which has both a 256k flash device and a > little bit of decode logic for a DoC, as well as a DoC - if anyone is > interested in this approach, I could knock together a few prototypes for a > couple of $'s, but I have my reservations as to this being a permanent > long-term solution for production systems. > I was not clear but what I want is something that works for long-term production systems. It seems that DoC is unsuitable in the long term due to DoC limitations and M-systems lousy attitude. I'm thinking in terms of what a company like cwlinux.com could ship to users. The IDE-FLASH would have to be either slave on the primary channel or master on the secondary channel. But wouldn't a slow IDE-FLASH on either channel make the other device run slowly? I thought this used to be the rule -- the IDE bus ran only as fast as the slowest device? ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 9 10:00:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 9 10:00:00 2002 Subject: The DoC problem In-Reply-To: <1031569186.1395.82.camel@ollie> Message-ID: On 9 Sep 2002, ollie lho wrote: > Actually this is very easy, The DoC requires only 8kB address window, if > we use a 128KB flash EEPROM for LinuxBIOS, we still have the MSB address > line free to acts as Chip Select. I believe this have been done by > someone in Austria (sorry, I forgot the name) before. On the other > hand, we lost the beauty of "only one flash needed". The question is: is this a product we can purchase and does it cost less than the motherboard? ron From Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk Mon Sep 9 11:41:01 2002 From: Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk (Antony Stone) Date: Mon Sep 9 11:41:01 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? Message-ID: <200209091550.g89FoDv05714@vulcan.rissington.net> Hi. I'm using LinuxBios on an SiS630 motherboard (PC-Chips M810L). Is is essential to use the framebuffer device for video output under LinuxBios, or can I boot it into a 'standard VGA' mode ? I tried changing HAVE_FRAMEBUFFER=1 to =0 and also removing it entirely from my config file, but I just got no video output at all - the serial port told me everything else was starting up okay though. If it is essential to use the framebuffer, is there any way to change the refresh rate, because I'm using an old monitor which loses the top & bottom of the screen (it doesn't have a vertical size control :-( ) when I boot under LinuxBios. Hope someone can help, Antony. -- This is not a rehearsal. This is Real Life. From steve at nexpath.com Mon Sep 9 13:25:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Mon Sep 9 13:25:01 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: > Just having had a look at one of the BIOS flash vendors - there are now > devices up to 8Mbit available for both firmware hub and LPC - one > vendor in > particular has an 8Mbit flash device which attaches directly to LPC. ... > I guess this all depends upon the application - is the > application a purely > embedded solution with only flash being used, or is it a case of > being able > to fit a kernel into the BIOS chip - for the latter case, I guess 8Mbit > would be adequate. > Yes, the SST49LF080A- 8Mbit and it has 4bits of strap options so (it appears) you can have 16 of these. I don't know how multiport termination works on LPC, though. These parts are pretty cheap too, at least, I have the 020A and it was a little over US$1. But CF is probably better if you need lots of size, although I have also been thinking about using a raw partition on the hard disk. Has anyone tried this? The idea is to put vmlinux.bin.gz in hda1 (raw, using dd), which is say, 10MB. You know where hda1 is, just one cylinder over from the start. Then the ext2 fs is in hda2, which is the rest of the disk. The ide routines in linuxbios work fine for this, although the partition table skip-over is hardcoded and needs to be made a variable. Anyone done this already or have comments? -Steve From bari at onelabs.com Mon Sep 9 13:50:00 2002 From: bari at onelabs.com (Bari Ari) Date: Mon Sep 9 13:50:00 2002 Subject: laptop vendors friendly to linuxbios? References: Message-ID: <3D7CE18F.6060306@onelabs.com> When Banias along with the Odem and Montara chipsets are out in next years laptops http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=5320 LinuxBIOS will be available for them. Can't say much more about it it since nothing is publicly available except for maybe from the backdoor news sites. Bari Ronald G Minnich wrote: >The common question: when do we get linuxbios on our laptops? > >Anybody know a laptop vendor who might be friendly to this? > >ron > >_______________________________________________ >Linuxbios mailing list >Linuxbios at clustermatic.org >http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > > > > From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 9 15:18:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 9 15:18:00 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Mon, 9 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > But CF is probably better if you need lots of size, although I have also > been thinking about using a raw partition on the hard disk. Has anyone > tried this? The idea is to put vmlinux.bin.gz in hda1 (raw, using dd), > which is say, 10MB. You know where hda1 is, just one cylinder over from the > start. Then the ext2 fs is in hda2, which is the rest of the disk. The ide > routines in linuxbios work fine for this, although the partition table > skip-over is hardcoded and needs to be made a variable. > > Anyone done this already or have comments? yep, I've done it, it works fine. And key is Eric's code which will hunt the elf header down ... ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 9 16:58:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 9 16:58:00 2002 Subject: cs5530a ide Message-ID: Anybody out there know how to make the second IDE channel come up on this thing? On the pcm-5823 boards, the secondary IDE is never seen by Linux. I think there has to be a setting somewhere, I just don't know what! ron From steve at nexpath.com Mon Sep 9 18:09:00 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Mon Sep 9 18:09:00 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: > The idea is to put vmlinux.bin.gz in hda1 (raw, using dd), > > which is say, 10MB. You know where hda1 is, just one cylinder > over from the > > start. Then the ext2 fs is in hda2, which is the rest of the > disk. The ide > > routines in linuxbios work fine for this, although the partition table > > skip-over is hardcoded and needs to be made a variable. > > > > Anyone done this already or have comments? > > yep, I've done it, it works fine. > > And key is Eric's code which will hunt the elf header down ... > Could you be more specific about elf. I was using option BOOT_IDE which uses ide_fill_inbuf.c etc. Seems to work for a raw partition, but I have not tried the combination with the Linux ext2fs in the other partition (right now using a ramdisk loaded from a floppy as the rootfs). Are you talking about ELF_BOOT? /sg From preston.bannister at cox.net Mon Sep 9 18:16:01 2002 From: preston.bannister at cox.net (Preston L. Bannister) Date: Mon Sep 9 18:16:01 2002 Subject: The DoC problem In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Maybe there is another answer. Clearly a big-enough flash EEPROM is the optimal solution. Someone mentioned motherboard manufacturers who asked about LinuxBIOS. If a manufacturer runs an extra address line through to the flash socket, there'd be a board to sell and promote as *especially* suited for use with LinuxBIOS. Come to think of it - you might be able to help things along. I'd suggest that you prominently place on the front page of the LinuxBIOS web site a list of those motherboards well-suited for use with LinuxBIOS. That would be the list of motherboards that support 512Kbyte flash or bigger, and for which a LinuxBIOS port exists (a short list?). (Also put up dates to show what's recent). Place underneath this a contact address so a motherboard manufacturer knows exactly who to contact when they have something to add to the list. Place on another page all the other motherboards (as now). Maybe we can generate a bit of competitive pressure :). -----Original Message----- From: Ronald G Minnich Sent: Monday, September 09, 2002 6:43 AM On 9 Sep 2002, ollie lho wrote: > Actually this is very easy, The DoC requires only 8kB address window, if > we use a 128KB flash EEPROM for LinuxBIOS, we still have the MSB address > line free to acts as Chip Select. I believe this have been done by > someone in Austria (sorry, I forgot the name) before. On the other > hand, we lost the beauty of "only one flash needed". The question is: is this a product we can purchase and does it cost less than the motherboard? From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 9 18:29:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 9 18:29:00 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Mon, 9 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > > And key is Eric's code which will hunt the elf header down ... > > > > Could you be more specific about elf. I was using option BOOT_IDE which > uses ide_fill_inbuf.c etc. Seems to work for a raw partition, but I have > not tried the combination with the Linux ext2fs in the other partition > (right now using a ramdisk loaded from a floppy as the rootfs). Are you > talking about ELF_BOOT? If you put the raw ELF image in /dev/hda1, eric's code will read block after block hunting for that elf header. Point being that you can put the elfimage in /dev/hda1, and are not constrained to putting it in /dev/hda. ron From stuge-linuxbios at cdy.org Mon Sep 9 20:13:01 2002 From: stuge-linuxbios at cdy.org (Peter Stuge) Date: Mon Sep 9 20:13:01 2002 Subject: The DoC problem In-Reply-To: ; from rminnich@lanl.gov on Mon, Sep 09, 2002 at 07:34:51AM -0600 References: <20020909051610.A29634@foo.birdnet.se> Message-ID: <20020910021937.C20075@foo.birdnet.se> On Mon, Sep 09, 2002 at 07:34:51AM -0600, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > On Mon, 9 Sep 2002, Peter Stuge wrote: > > > Maybe put the DoC on the ISA bus? Will require a special LinuxBIOS PCB but > > only when you really want/need DoC.. > > probably too expensive, in fact in proposals I have seen it cost more than > the motherboard! According to the AN, it would only involve a few passive components and a simple address decoder. Shouldn't be particularly expensive if it's that simple. But I think there are better alternatives anyway. //Peter From stuge-linuxbios at cdy.org Mon Sep 9 20:40:01 2002 From: stuge-linuxbios at cdy.org (Peter Stuge) Date: Mon Sep 9 20:40:01 2002 Subject: The DoC problem In-Reply-To: ; from rminnich@lanl.gov on Mon, Sep 09, 2002 at 07:35:24AM -0600 References: Message-ID: <20020910024702.E20075@foo.birdnet.se> On Mon, Sep 09, 2002 at 07:35:24AM -0600, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > On Sun, 8 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > > > The mobo won't support two IDE devices? or is it a physical issue? > > We would need a special cable I think for the IDE-FLASh devices I have > seen. but doable. Wouldn't just a regular IDE cable, a Disk-on-Module and a gender converter work fine? (The DoM has a female connector, it's designed to plug directly into the motherboard connector, occupying one entire IDE channel.) //Peter From ollie at sis.com.tw Mon Sep 9 21:03:01 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Mon Sep 9 21:03:01 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? In-Reply-To: <200209091550.g89FoDv05714@vulcan.rissington.net> References: <200209091550.g89FoDv05714@vulcan.rissington.net> Message-ID: <1031620447.1395.93.camel@ollie> On Mon, 2002-09-09 at 23:50, Antony Stone wrote: > Hi. > > I'm using LinuxBios on an SiS630 motherboard (PC-Chips M810L). > > Is is essential to use the framebuffer device for video output under > LinuxBios, or can I boot it into a 'standard VGA' mode ? > > I tried changing HAVE_FRAMEBUFFER=1 to =0 and also removing it entirely from > my config file, but I just got no video output at all - the serial port told > me everything else was starting up okay though. > Do you want VGA frame buffer or not ?? If you want framebuffer for SiS 630, you have to enable SiSFB Lite in the SiS LinuxBIOS patch. > If it is essential to use the framebuffer, is there any way to change the > refresh rate, because I'm using an old monitor which loses the top & bottom > of the screen (it doesn't have a vertical size control :-( ) when I boot > under LinuxBios. > SiSFB Lite accept standard kernel parameter for video mode. Read linux/Documentation/fb/modedb for more detail. Ollie From ollie at sis.com.tw Mon Sep 9 21:09:00 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Mon Sep 9 21:09:00 2002 Subject: The DoC problem In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1031620746.1395.100.camel@ollie> On Mon, 2002-09-09 at 21:43, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > On 9 Sep 2002, ollie lho wrote: > > > Actually this is very easy, The DoC requires only 8kB address window, if > > we use a 128KB flash EEPROM for LinuxBIOS, we still have the MSB address > > line free to acts as Chip Select. I believe this have been done by > > someone in Austria (sorry, I forgot the name) before. On the other > > hand, we lost the beauty of "only one flash needed". > > The question is: is this a product we can purchase and does it cost less > than the motherboard? > I don't think so. The glue logic are very simple and the PCB area are minimal. In this configuration, you have another bonus that you can use DoC 2000 which is much cheaper than DoC Millennium. IIRC, Brian Stephenson has made some of this long time ago. He also sent me a schematic diagram for the "socket" he invented. Unfortunately, I can not find anything about this left since my last HD crash. It also seems that Brian Stephenson has left us and is no longer on the list. Ollie From christer at weinigel.se Mon Sep 9 21:28:00 2002 From: christer at weinigel.se (Christer Weinigel) Date: Mon Sep 9 21:28:00 2002 Subject: cs5530a ide In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <87elc2wrq0.fsf@zoo.weinigel.se> [sorry all, I managed to use the wrong From: address again, so the previous message will stick in the moderator filter again] *wakes up in the middle of the night* Ronald G Minnich writes: > Anybody out there know how to make the second IDE channel come up on this > thing? > > On the pcm-5823 boards, the secondary IDE is never seen by Linux. I think > there has to be a setting somewhere, I just don't know what! Look at how it's done in scx200/southbridge.c, it's the same as for the CS5530A. So change cx5530/southbridge.c to: // now set PCI decode pci_read_config_byte(dev, 0x5b, &b); #ifdef CX5530_PRIMARY_IDE printk_info(NAME "Enabling Primary IDE Controller\n"); b |= 1 << 3; #endif #ifdef CX5530_SECONDARY_IDE printk_info(NAME "Enabling Secondary IDE Controller\n"); b |= 1 << 4; #endif printk_info(NAME "Enabling BIOS ROM Positive Decode\n"); b |= 1 << 5; printk_debug("Set F0/0x5b to 0x%x\n", b); pci_write_config_byte(dev, 0x5b, b); /Christer *goes back to sleep* -- "Just how much can I get away with and still go to heaven?" Freelance consultant specializing in device driver programming for Linux Christer Weinigel http://www.weinigel.se From ebiederman at lnxi.com Mon Sep 9 22:34:01 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W Biederman) Date: Mon Sep 9 22:34:01 2002 Subject: The DoC problem In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Ronald G Minnich writes: > On Mon, 9 Sep 2002, Hamish Guthrie (Mail Lists) wrote: > > > I think the DoC mess is here to stay, there is one potential solution if > > people are insisting on having DoC, and that is to make up a little board > > which plugs into a BIOS socket which has both a 256k flash device and a > > little bit of decode logic for a DoC, as well as a DoC - if anyone is > > interested in this approach, I could knock together a few prototypes for a > > couple of $'s, but I have my reservations as to this being a permanent > > long-term solution for production systems. > > > > I was not clear but what I want is something that works for long-term > production systems. It seems that DoC is unsuitable in the long term due > to DoC limitations and M-systems lousy attitude. > > I'm thinking in terms of what a company like cwlinux.com could ship to > users. The IDE-FLASH would have to be either slave on the primary channel > or master on the secondary channel. But wouldn't a slow IDE-FLASH on > either channel make the other device run slowly? I thought this used to > be the rule -- the IDE bus ran only as fast as the slowest device? Long term you have to worry about the LPC bus. So pins are not an issue. 512KB is already available at a bootable address, larger chips are likely to appear as more boards move over to the LPC bus. Both Intel and AMD chipsets already support it. I don't know what recent Via chipsets do but I would be very surprised if they didn't. Etherboot proves how much functionality can be shoved into a small space. Right now I still don't need more than 64KB for a single copy of LinuxBIOS and Etherboot. So a dedicated firmware shell like busybox has plenty of room to live. I don't see not having a DOC as something to get hung up on. Eric From ebiederman at lnxi.com Mon Sep 9 22:41:00 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W Biederman) Date: Mon Sep 9 22:41:00 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Hamish Guthrie \(Mail Lists\)" writes: > Just having had a look at one of the BIOS flash vendors - there are now > devices up to 8Mbit available for both firmware hub and LPC - one vendor in > particular has an 8Mbit flash device which attaches directly to LPC. > > I have not looked to see which chipset vendors are supporting firmware hub, > but according to a bit of documentation I saw, this is aimed at the i8xx > chipsets, but it appears as though there is still the 8Mbit barrier. To be clear the firmware hub is a variant on the LPC bus. And as addresses are clocked across the LPC bus there is no theoretical ROM size limit. > I guess this all depends upon the application - is the application a purely > embedded solution with only flash being used, or is it a case of being able > to fit a kernel into the BIOS chip - for the latter case, I guess 8Mbit > would be adequate. I suspect Beoboot would be a tight fit, but that is a different problem. Eric From ebiederman at lnxi.com Mon Sep 9 22:47:00 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W Biederman) Date: Mon Sep 9 22:47:00 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Ronald G Minnich writes: > On Mon, 9 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > > > > And key is Eric's code which will hunt the elf header down ... > > > > > > > Could you be more specific about elf. I was using option BOOT_IDE which > > uses ide_fill_inbuf.c etc. Seems to work for a raw partition, but I have > > not tried the combination with the Linux ext2fs in the other partition > > (right now using a ramdisk loaded from a floppy as the rootfs). Are you > > talking about ELF_BOOT? Yes. > If you put the raw ELF image in /dev/hda1, eric's code will read block > after block hunting for that elf header. Point being that you can put the > elfimage in /dev/hda1, and are not constrained to putting it in /dev/hda. The easy solution is putting the whole image in /dev/hda1 thought it is theoretically possible to put the image on a filesystem and just setup an ELF header at the start of the disk that points to it. Etherboot also supports booting this way. And it will allow you to multiplex between a hard drive and the network. So it is definitely a good direction to look at. Eric From steve at nexpath.com Tue Sep 10 00:36:00 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Tue Sep 10 00:36:00 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: > The easy solution is putting the whole image in /dev/hda1 thought it > is theoretically possible to put the image on a filesystem and just > setup an ELF header at the start of the disk that points to it. > > Etherboot also supports booting this way. And it will allow you to > multiplex between a hard drive and the network. So it is definitely a > good direction to look at. The raw image is most appealing to me rather than a filesystem. It's simple and easy. I don't know much about ELF headers. My systems can only boot from the hdd, the network is not always in use. I was under the impression Etherboot was for only for networks. I assume Etherboot within Linuxbios is the option USE_TFTP. How does the disk/net multiplex work? I am not familiar with that. -Steve From Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk Tue Sep 10 03:47:00 2002 From: Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk (Antony Stone) Date: Tue Sep 10 03:47:00 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? In-Reply-To: <1031620447.1395.93.camel@ollie> References: <200209091550.g89FoDv05714@vulcan.rissington.net> <1031620447.1395.93.camel@ollie> Message-ID: <20020910075609.NEUK292.mta01-svc.ntlworld.com@there> On Tuesday 10 September 2002 2:14 am, ollie lho wrote: > On Mon, 2002-09-09 at 23:50, Antony Stone wrote: > > Hi. > > > > I'm using LinuxBios on an SiS630 motherboard (PC-Chips M810L). > > > > Is is essential to use the framebuffer device for video output under > > LinuxBios, or can I boot it into a 'standard VGA' mode ? > > > > I tried changing HAVE_FRAMEBUFFER=1 to =0 and also removing it entirely > > from my config file, but I just got no video output at all - the serial > > port told me everything else was starting up okay though. > > Do you want VGA frame buffer or not ?? If you want framebuffer for SiS > 630, you have to enable SiSFB Lite in the SiS LinuxBIOS patch. Yes, I can do that, and the framebuffer works fine. What I'm asking is whether I can boot LinuxBios *without* using the framebuffer device, and still get a display ? ie what you'd normally get on a 'standard' (non-LinuxBios) Linux machine if you didn't select framebuffer output. Antony. -- This email was created using 100% recycled electrons. From ollie at sis.com.tw Tue Sep 10 06:22:01 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Tue Sep 10 06:22:01 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? In-Reply-To: <20020910075609.NEUK292.mta01-svc.ntlworld.com@there> References: <200209091550.g89FoDv05714@vulcan.rissington.net> <1031620447.1395.93.camel@ollie> <20020910075609.NEUK292.mta01-svc.ntlworld.com@there> Message-ID: <1031653652.4249.1.camel@ollie> On Tue, 2002-09-10 at 15:56, Antony Stone wrote: > On Tuesday 10 September 2002 2:14 am, ollie lho wrote: > > > On Mon, 2002-09-09 at 23:50, Antony Stone wrote: > > > Hi. > > > > > > I'm using LinuxBios on an SiS630 motherboard (PC-Chips M810L). > > > > > > Is is essential to use the framebuffer device for video output under > > > LinuxBios, or can I boot it into a 'standard VGA' mode ? > > > > > > I tried changing HAVE_FRAMEBUFFER=1 to =0 and also removing it entirely > > > from my config file, but I just got no video output at all - the serial > > > port told me everything else was starting up okay though. > > > > Do you want VGA frame buffer or not ?? If you want framebuffer for SiS > > 630, you have to enable SiSFB Lite in the SiS LinuxBIOS patch. > > Yes, I can do that, and the framebuffer works fine. > > What I'm asking is whether I can boot LinuxBios *without* using the > framebuffer device, and still get a display ? ie what you'd normally get on > a 'standard' (non-LinuxBios) Linux machine if you didn't select framebuffer > output. > No. You have to use framebuffer. LinuxBIOS does not init VGA. Ollie From steve at nexpath.com Tue Sep 10 12:12:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Tue Sep 10 12:12:01 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? In-Reply-To: <1031653652.4249.1.camel@ollie> Message-ID: I am hoping to get standard alphanumeric vga setup into the linuxbios code base, as part of the stpc initialization, in the very near future. Linux assumes the vga registers are already initialized in vgacon.c (in drivers/video), and changes only a few register settings. But (hopefully) for alpha mode (not graphics!), the register settings are standard for most vga cards and the init can be done in linuxbios without a vga bios. If it turns out that this not true for most modern VGA cards (I am not sure right now), and there are extended register settings for alpha mode, then it will likely be too difficult to setup alpha mode from linux bios. Extended registers are poorly documented and can be a mess. Maybe someone knows if alphanumeric mode setup is via the standard VGA register set on most modern VGA cards. -Steve -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: winmail.dat Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 1884 bytes Desc: not available URL: From kok at surfbest.net Tue Sep 10 13:19:00 2002 From: kok at surfbest.net (Jan Kok) Date: Tue Sep 10 13:19:00 2002 Subject: The DoC problem References: Message-ID: <002d01c258ef$5f6863a0$8e8495ce@net> Hamish, what would you use for a plug to plug into the BIOS socket? I searched all over the place for a plug (or PLCC to DIP adapter for DoC) and didn't find anything useful for less than about $60 small quantity -- except for the Bios Savior device (about $30 from www.mwave.com). - Jan ----- Original Message ----- From: "Hamish Guthrie (Mail Lists)" To: "Ronald G Minnich" ; Sent: Monday, September 09, 2002 4:03 AM Subject: RE: The DoC problem > I think the DoC mess is here to stay, there is one potential solution if > people are insisting on having DoC, and that is to make up a little board > which plugs into a BIOS socket which has both a 256k flash device and a > little bit of decode logic for a DoC, as well as a DoC - if anyone is > interested in this approach, I could knock together a few prototypes for a > couple of $'s, but I have my reservations as to this being a permanent > long-term solution for production systems. > > Hamish From bari at onelabs.com Tue Sep 10 13:56:01 2002 From: bari at onelabs.com (Bari Ari) Date: Tue Sep 10 13:56:01 2002 Subject: The DoC problem References: <002d01c258ef$5f6863a0$8e8495ce@net> Message-ID: <3D7E34A0.2040407@onelabs.com> A flash adapter of this type is only economical is high volume. The BOM and assembly costs in low volumes are higher than the cost of a off the shelf motherboard unless you plan on building them yourself and your time is of no or little value. A design to page out flash memory into a small space in memory is done the way Expanded Memory was done for the old IBM-PC via page frames. Here's an example of how it could map into system memory: PC MAIN MEMORY LIM EXPANDED MEMORY -------------- ------------------- +-------------+ | | . Extended . . Memory . . up to . /+-------------+ 32M . 16M on the . // | | . '286, . / / | | . 4096M on . / / | Expanded | . the '386 . / / | Memory | | | / / | | 1M +-------------+ / / | Divided | | | / / | into 16K | 960K +-------------+ / | logical | | Page Frame | / | pages | | 12*16K | / | | | Physical | / | | | Pages | / | | 768K +-------------+\ / . . | | / . . 640K +-------------+/ \ . . | Page Frame | \ . . | 24*16K | \ | | | Physical | \ | | | Pages | \ | | | | \ | | 256K +-------------+ \ | | | | \ \ | | | | \ \ | | | | \ \ | | 0 +-------------+ \ \ | | \ \ | | \ \ | | \ \| | \+-------------+ 0 The example shows how expanded memory gives you up to a 32M to map into up to 36 16K pages in the positions shown above. If anyone wants schematics I can dig through some Orcads from the 80's and pass em along ;) Bari Jan Kok wrote: >Hamish, what would you use for a plug to plug into the BIOS socket? I >searched all over the place for a plug (or PLCC to DIP adapter for DoC) and >didn't find anything useful for less than about $60 small quantity -- except >for the Bios Savior device (about $30 from www.mwave.com). > >- Jan > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Hamish Guthrie (Mail Lists)" >To: "Ronald G Minnich" ; >Sent: Monday, September 09, 2002 4:03 AM >Subject: RE: The DoC problem > > > > >>I think the DoC mess is here to stay, there is one potential solution if >>people are insisting on having DoC, and that is to make up a little board >>which plugs into a BIOS socket which has both a 256k flash device and a >>little bit of decode logic for a DoC, as well as a DoC - if anyone is >>interested in this approach, I could knock together a few prototypes for a >>couple of $'s, but I have my reservations as to this being a permanent >>long-term solution for production systems. >> >>Hamish >> >> > > >_______________________________________________ >Linuxbios mailing list >Linuxbios at clustermatic.org >http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > > > > From LeeCausier at GameBox.net Tue Sep 10 14:02:00 2002 From: LeeCausier at GameBox.net (Lee) Date: Tue Sep 10 14:02:00 2002 Subject: The DoC problem References: <002d01c258ef$5f6863a0$8e8495ce@net> Message-ID: <3D7E358B.60900@GameBox.net> Use two rows of header pins. Lee Causier, with Radio H.E.L.L. (Helping Engineers Live Longer), signing off. Jan Kok wrote: >Hamish, what would you use for a plug to plug into the BIOS socket? I >searched all over the place for a plug (or PLCC to DIP adapter for DoC) and >didn't find anything useful for less than about $60 small quantity -- except >for the Bios Savior device (about $30 from www.mwave.com). > >- Jan > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Hamish Guthrie (Mail Lists)" >To: "Ronald G Minnich" ; >Sent: Monday, September 09, 2002 4:03 AM >Subject: RE: The DoC problem > > > > >>I think the DoC mess is here to stay, there is one potential solution if >>people are insisting on having DoC, and that is to make up a little board >>which plugs into a BIOS socket which has both a 256k flash device and a >>little bit of decode logic for a DoC, as well as a DoC - if anyone is >>interested in this approach, I could knock together a few prototypes for a >>couple of $'s, but I have my reservations as to this being a permanent >>long-term solution for production systems. >> >>Hamish >> >> > > >_______________________________________________ >Linuxbios mailing list >Linuxbios at clustermatic.org >http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > > > From bari at onelabs.com Tue Sep 10 14:07:45 2002 From: bari at onelabs.com (Bari Ari) Date: Tue Sep 10 14:07:45 2002 Subject: The DoC problem References: <002d01c258ef$5f6863a0$8e8495ce@net> <3D7E34A0.2040407@onelabs.com> Message-ID: <3D7E3624.1020409@onelabs.com> Bari Ari wrote: > A flash adapter of this type is only economical is high volume. The > BOM and assembly costs in low volumes are higher than the cost of a > off the shelf motherboard unless you plan on building them yourself > and your time is of no or little value. > > A design to page out flash memory into a small space in memory is done > the way Expanded Memory was done for the old IBM-PC via page frames. > > Here's an example of how it could map into system memory: > > PC MAIN MEMORY LIM EXPANDED MEMORY -------------- ------------------- > > +-------------+ | | . Extended . . Memory . . up to . /+-------------+ > 32M . 16M on the . // | | . '286, . / / | | . 4096M on . / / | > Expanded | . the '386 . / / | Memory | | | / / | | 1M +-------------+ > / / | Divided | | | / / | into 16K | 960K +-------------+ / | logical > | | Page Frame | / | pages | | 12*16K | / | | | Physical | / | | | > Pages | / | | 768K +-------------+\ / . . | | / . . 640K > +-------------+/ \ . . | Page Frame | \ . . | 24*16K | \ | | | > Physical | \ | | | Pages | \ | | | | \ | | 256K +-------------+ \ | | > | | \ \ | | | | \ \ | | | | \ \ | | 0 +-------------+ \ \ | | \ \ | | > \ \ | | \ \| | \+-------------+ 0 > Sorry, the ascii drawing didn't format right, so here's a link for a drawing and an article on expanded memory: http://www.eeng.brad.ac.uk/help/.dos/.expextmem.html Bari From LeeCausier at GameBox.net Tue Sep 10 14:14:01 2002 From: LeeCausier at GameBox.net (Lee) Date: Tue Sep 10 14:14:01 2002 Subject: Do I smell a bulkbuy? Message-ID: <3D7E37BC.7010902@GameBox.net> Dear all, I think I see a bulkbuy on the horizon. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2052117210 - Magtek Card Reader. The original sale said 40 available (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2052616875&rd=1) and there should be plenty left, though I haven't asked. I am interested in these and I think it sounds like an opportunity. What do you guys say? Lee Causier, over and out. From LeeCausier at GameBox.net Tue Sep 10 14:20:00 2002 From: LeeCausier at GameBox.net (Lee) Date: Tue Sep 10 14:20:00 2002 Subject: Sorry Guys - Re: Do I smell a bulkbuy? References: <3D7E37BC.7010902@GameBox.net> Message-ID: <3D7E39DA.7040801@GameBox.net> Dear all, Oopsee, sorry for the mistake, meant to post to ukha_d and ukha_buy, not linuxbios and ukha_d. Sorry. Lee Causier. Lee wrote: > Dear all, > I think I see a bulkbuy on the horizon. > http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2052117210 - > Magtek Card Reader. The original sale said 40 available > (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2052616875&rd=1) > and there should be plenty left, though I haven't asked. I am > interested in these and I think it sounds like an opportunity. What do > you guys say? > > Lee Causier, over and out. > > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > From kok at surfbest.net Tue Sep 10 14:38:00 2002 From: kok at surfbest.net (Jan Kok) Date: Tue Sep 10 14:38:00 2002 Subject: The DoC problem References: <002d01c258ef$5f6863a0$8e8495ce@net> <3D7E358B.60900@GameBox.net> Message-ID: <007301c258fa$6cbd2a80$8e8495ce@net> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Lee" To: "LinuxBIOS Mailing List" Sent: Tuesday, September 10, 2002 12:10 PM Subject: Re: The DoC problem > Use two rows of header pins. Yes, if your motherboard has a DIP socket for the BIOS flash chip. I think Augat or someone makes plugs with a double row of small round pins that are intended to plug into DIP sockets, and don't cause damage to the socket like square header pins do. But what about motherboards with PLCC sockets? Any cheap PLCC plugs or PLCC to DIP adapters available? - Jan > > Lee Causier, with Radio H.E.L.L. (Helping Engineers Live Longer), > signing off. > > Jan Kok wrote: > > >Hamish, what would you use for a plug to plug into the BIOS socket? I > >searched all over the place for a plug (or PLCC to DIP adapter for DoC) and > >didn't find anything useful for less than about $60 small quantity -- except > >for the Bios Savior device (about $30 from www.mwave.com). > > > >- Jan > > > >----- Original Message ----- > >From: "Hamish Guthrie (Mail Lists)" > >To: "Ronald G Minnich" ; > >Sent: Monday, September 09, 2002 4:03 AM > >Subject: RE: The DoC problem > > > > > > > > > >>I think the DoC mess is here to stay, there is one potential solution if > >>people are insisting on having DoC, and that is to make up a little board > >>which plugs into a BIOS socket which has both a 256k flash device and a > >>little bit of decode logic for a DoC, as well as a DoC - if anyone is > >>interested in this approach, I could knock together a few prototypes for a > >>couple of $'s, but I have my reservations as to this being a permanent > >>long-term solution for production systems. > >> > >>Hamish > >> > >> > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > >Linuxbios mailing list > >Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > >http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > From rminnich at lanl.gov Tue Sep 10 16:43:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Tue Sep 10 16:43:00 2002 Subject: cs5530a ide In-Reply-To: <87hegywrsf.fsf@zoo.weinigel.se> Message-ID: On 10 Sep 2002, Christer Weinigel wrote: > *wakes up in the middle of the night* thus proving you are more productive in your sleep than I am wide awake. Anyway, IDE Compact flash now works on the pcm-5823! I committed support. ron From ollie at sis.com.tw Tue Sep 10 21:15:00 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Tue Sep 10 21:15:00 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1031706760.1203.3.camel@ollie> On Wed, 2002-09-11 at 00:27, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > I am hoping to get standard alphanumeric vga setup into the linuxbios code > base, as part of the stpc initialization, in the very near future. Linux > assumes the vga registers are already initialized in vgacon.c (in > drivers/video), and changes only a few register settings. But (hopefully) > for alpha mode (not graphics!), the register settings are standard for most > vga cards and the init can be done in linuxbios without a vga bios. If it > turns out that this not true for most modern VGA cards (I am not sure right > now), and there are extended register settings for alpha mode, then it will > likely be too difficult to setup alpha mode from linux bios. Extended > registers are poorly documented and can be a mess. > > Maybe someone knows if alphanumeric mode setup is via the standard VGA > register set on most modern VGA cards. > I am afraid your are wrong. For modern VGA cards, there is actually no alphanumeric mode. These alphanumeric mode were simulated by BIOS or drivers. The worst thing, if you have no documents about these extended registers, you have no way to drive the clock gen for Dot clock, Hsync, Vsync. Ollie > -Steve From ian.castle at coldcomfortfarm.net Wed Sep 11 00:52:00 2002 From: ian.castle at coldcomfortfarm.net (Ian Castle) Date: Wed Sep 11 00:52:00 2002 Subject: Need help with LinuxBIOS speech In-Reply-To: <20020905150117.E9842F5B@acolyte.hack.org> References: <20020905150117.E9842F5B@acolyte.hack.org> Message-ID: <1031255461.8073.17.camel@kerberos.sunnyroyd.coldcomfortfarm.org> On Thu, 2002-09-05 at 16:01, Christer Weinigel wrote: > Cons: > > Not as flexible as a normal BIOS. I know what you mean ;-), but I don't think this is quite the right thing to say... as a key point of LinuxBIOS is its flexibility... ... If you want to be able to boot without a VGA card.. ... If you want to be able to preserve kernel state information over reboots etc. ....LinuxBIOS is flexible from the developer's standpoint... However, LinuxBIOS is immature - it doesn't support as much hardware/boot devices as a "traditional" BIOS. So, given an inflexible feature set (boot typically from any local device via a local VGA screen/keyboard to run your mainstream desktop operating system) a traditional BIOS is quite flexible about what hardware you can boot from and what motherboards it supports.... ..Anyway, I think linuxBIOS is "flexible" compared with a traditional BIOS, but has, currently, less support for the available hardware i.e immature. Hope that helps! Ian. From agnew at cs.umd.edu Wed Sep 11 00:53:26 2002 From: agnew at cs.umd.edu (Adam Agnew) Date: Wed Sep 11 00:53:26 2002 Subject: cvs mail In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <20020905171006.U1549-100000@www.missl.cs.umd.edu> not at all here. perhaps we could get it all tagged [CVS] in the subject line though? On Thu, 5 Sep 2002, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > Would anyone object to having cvs mail forwarded to this list? > > ron > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > From wingel at acolyte.hack.org Wed Sep 11 00:54:25 2002 From: wingel at acolyte.hack.org (Christer Weinigel) Date: Wed Sep 11 00:54:25 2002 Subject: cs5530a ide In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <87hegywrsf.fsf@zoo.weinigel.se> *wakes up in the middle of the night* Ronald G Minnich writes: > Anybody out there know how to make the second IDE channel come up on this > thing? > > On the pcm-5823 boards, the secondary IDE is never seen by Linux. I think > there has to be a setting somewhere, I just don't know what! Look at how it's done in scx200/southbridge.c, it's the same as for the CS5530A. So change cx5530/southbridge.c to: // now set PCI decode pci_read_config_byte(dev, 0x5b, &b); #ifdef CX5530_PRIMARY_IDE printk_info(NAME "Enabling Primary IDE Controller\n"); b |= 1 << 3; #endif #ifdef CX5530_SECONDARY_IDE printk_info(NAME "Enabling Secondary IDE Controller\n"); b |= 1 << 4; #endif printk_info(NAME "Enabling BIOS ROM Positive Decode\n"); b |= 1 << 5; printk_debug("Set F0/0x5b to 0x%x\n", b); pci_write_config_byte(dev, 0x5b, b); /Christer *goes back to sleep* -- "Just how much can I get away with and still go to heaven?" Freelance consultant specializing in device driver programming for Linux Christer Weinigel http://www.weinigel.se From steve at nexpath.com Wed Sep 11 02:00:00 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Wed Sep 11 02:00:00 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? In-Reply-To: <1031706760.1203.3.camel@ollie> Message-ID: > > Maybe someone knows if alphanumeric mode setup is via the standard VGA > > register set on most modern VGA cards. > > > > I am afraid your are wrong. For modern VGA cards, there is actually no > alphanumeric mode. These alphanumeric mode were simulated by BIOS or > drivers. The worst thing, if you have no documents about these extended > registers, you have no way to drive the clock gen for Dot clock, Hsync, > Vsync. Are you saying that it is not possible to use a text console with Linux (vgacon.c) with modern VGA cards (BIOS mode 3)? Only framebuffer? Or are you saying that without extra information (ie, the BIOS or the manuals) you can't init it into mode 3? I don't understand your answer. I thought most vga cards were register compatible with the legacy VGA register set, only that there were a lot of other (sometimes secret) things to setup. Is this wrong? Fortunately regular vga cards are not very important to me, actually, I am really most interested in integrated chipsets, such as the stpc and the via apollo ple133 northbridge, both of which are legacy VGA register compatible. They have a lot of other registers to setup, of course, but at least the problem is reduced if you have the standard register setup code already done. And of course the documentation is complete and not a secret. I am only interested in text mode right now. -Steve From Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk Wed Sep 11 03:18:01 2002 From: Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk (Antony Stone) Date: Wed Sep 11 03:18:01 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20020911072654.YZXZ287.mta02-svc.ntlworld.com@there> On Wednesday 11 September 2002 7:22 am, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > > > Maybe someone knows if alphanumeric mode setup is via the standard VGA > > > register set on most modern VGA cards. > > > > I am afraid you are wrong. For modern VGA cards, there is actually no > > alphanumeric mode. These alphanumeric mode were simulated by BIOS or > > drivers. The worst thing, if you have no documents about these extended > > registers, you have no way to drive the clock gen for Dot clock, Hsync, > > Vsync. > > Are you saying that it is not possible to use a text console with Linux > (vgacon.c) with modern VGA cards (BIOS mode 3)? Only framebuffer? Or are > you saying that without extra information (ie, the BIOS or the manuals) you > can't init it into mode 3? I don't understand your answer. > > I thought most vga cards were register compatible with the legacy VGA > register set, only that there were a lot of other (sometimes secret) things > to setup. Is this wrong? Forgive my ignorance, but isn't this what the Bios chip on the VGA card itself is for (in the case where you have a physical card plugged into the motherboard, and not an all-in-one integrated motherboard chipset) ? I mean, surely that's the reason why, when you turn on a 'standard' PC with a normal graphics card and a normal Bios, you see the starup messages for the graphics card *first*, and *then* you see the Bios logo and config screen....? Couldn't LinuxBios simply call the appropriate init code in a graphics card Bios in order to get a text console, and then carry on afterwards in the same way a normal boot loader would ? Antony. -- 90% of network problems are routing problems. 9 of the remaining 10% are routing problems in the other direction. The remaining 1% might be something else, but check the routing anyway. From Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk Wed Sep 11 03:46:01 2002 From: Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk (Antony Stone) Date: Wed Sep 11 03:46:01 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20020911075524.FJFB295.mta06-svc.ntlworld.com@there> On Wednesday 11 September 2002 7:22 am, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > > > Maybe someone knows if alphanumeric mode setup is via the standard VGA > > > register set on most modern VGA cards. > > > > I am afraid your are wrong. For modern VGA cards, there is actually no > > alphanumeric mode. These alphanumeric mode were simulated by BIOS or > > drivers. The worst thing, if you have no documents about these extended > > registers, you have no way to drive the clock gen for Dot clock, Hsync, > > Vsync. > > Are you saying that it is not possible to use a text console with Linux > (vgacon.c) with modern VGA cards (BIOS mode 3)? Only framebuffer? Or are > you saying that without extra information (ie, the BIOS or the manuals) you > can't init it into mode 3? Excuse the second posting to this thread so soon after my last, but I've found a far more succinct way of expressing my point: If I go out and buy the latest whizz-bang graphics card, just released onto the market, and plug it into my three year old PC, whose designers knew nothing abut today's graphics cards, I expect to see a text console screen when I turn it on. This means one of two things. Either: 1. there's a standard way for the motherboard Bios to initialise _any_ graphics card, so it can initialise a new one it's never heard of before (and presumably LinuxBios could do the same), or: 2. there's a standard init call to the bios chip on the graphics card, which knows how to set up that particular model, which again LinuxBios could perform in exactly the same way when it starts up ? Is there a flaw somewhere in my reasoning ? Antony. -- Behind the counter a boy with a shaven head stared vacantly into space, a dozen spikes of microsoft protruding from the socket behind his ear. - William Gibson, Neuromancer From adam at www.missl.cs.umd.edu Wed Sep 11 03:53:00 2002 From: adam at www.missl.cs.umd.edu (Adam Sulmicki) Date: Wed Sep 11 03:53:00 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? In-Reply-To: <20020911075524.FJFB295.mta06-svc.ntlworld.com@there> Message-ID: <20020911040050.J19209-100000@www.missl.cs.umd.edu> > 1. there's a standard way for the motherboard Bios to initialise _any_ > graphics card, so it can initialise a new one it's never heard of before (and > presumably LinuxBios could do the same), or: this is what is the case. BIOS has notion of "extensions", which just piece of firmware on each card put into extension slot (ISA,PCI,etc). bios will just jump to that (in 16 bit mode) and execute it. -- Adam http://www.eax.com The Supreme Headquarters of the 32 bit registers From stuge-linuxbios at cdy.org Wed Sep 11 04:02:00 2002 From: stuge-linuxbios at cdy.org (Peter Stuge) Date: Wed Sep 11 04:02:00 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? In-Reply-To: ; from steve@nexpath.com on Tue, Sep 10, 2002 at 11:22:58PM -0700 References: <1031706760.1203.3.camel@ollie> Message-ID: <20020911100930.A15104@foo.birdnet.se> On Tue, Sep 10, 2002 at 11:22:58PM -0700, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > > > Maybe someone knows if alphanumeric mode setup is via the standard VGA > > > register set on most modern VGA cards. > > > > > > > I am afraid your are wrong. For modern VGA cards, there is actually no > > alphanumeric mode. These alphanumeric mode were simulated by BIOS or > > drivers. The worst thing, if you have no documents about these extended > > registers, you have no way to drive the clock gen for Dot clock, Hsync, > > Vsync. > > Are you saying that it is not possible to use a text console with Linux > (vgacon.c) with modern VGA cards (BIOS mode 3)? Only framebuffer? Or are you > saying that without extra information (ie, the BIOS or the manuals) you > can't init it into mode 3? I don't understand your answer. > > I thought most vga cards were register compatible with the legacy VGA > register set, only that there were a lot of other (sometimes secret) things > to setup. Is this wrong? That's Ollie's point AFAICS. > Fortunately regular vga cards are not very important to me, actually, I am > really most interested in integrated chipsets, such as the stpc and the via > apollo ple133 northbridge, both of which are legacy VGA register > compatible. In this case, when the chips really ARE VGA compatible, of course you can program the neccessary registers with appropriate values and get the expected results. You could try this for all graphics chips, just for fun. With a little luck it will work better than we expect. You will want to dump the VGA registers on a running system, and of course you're interested in 0x3c0, 0-0x14 at 0x3c0:0x3c0, 0x3c3, 0-4 at 0x3c4:0x3c5, 0x3c6-0x3c9, 0-8 at 0x3ce:0x3cf and 0-0x14 at 0x3d4:0x3d5. One number above is just the port, a-b at x:y means registers a through b at port y after index is written to port x. Good luck with this. :) //Peter From stuge-linuxbios at cdy.org Wed Sep 11 04:17:01 2002 From: stuge-linuxbios at cdy.org (Peter Stuge) Date: Wed Sep 11 04:17:01 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? In-Reply-To: <20020911075524.FJFB295.mta06-svc.ntlworld.com@there>; from Antony@Soft-Solutions.co.uk on Wed, Sep 11, 2002 at 08:55:21AM +0100 References: <20020911075524.FJFB295.mta06-svc.ntlworld.com@there> Message-ID: <20020911102350.B15104@foo.birdnet.se> On Wed, Sep 11, 2002 at 08:55:21AM +0100, Antony Stone wrote: > > 1. there's a standard way for the motherboard Bios to initialise _any_ > graphics card, so it can initialise a new one it's never heard of before (and > presumably LinuxBios could do the same), or: This is the case. The way you reset a VGA card is to far call the real mode address 0xc000:3. This is what the system BIOS does pretty early on, before saying anything to anyone looking at the screen. Try starting debug.exe in MS-DOS and enter a 100 call c000:3 retn g q > Is there a flaw somewhere in my reasoning ? Unfortunately, yes. The problem is that video BIOSes run in real mode and tend to rely on legacy system BIOS services. These _can_ be rewritten but noone on this list is very interested in doing so because it is a LOT of work that might never be worthwhile anyway. On the other hand, if it DOES get written it might also be used for booting other, legacy, operating systems like MS-DOS or maybe older Windows systems, both of these cases have been mentioned on the list, but I do not believe either has very high priority. Why need for textmode? Why not just use the framebuffer? Try playing with the old package SVGATextMode too. //Peter From stepan at suse.de Wed Sep 11 06:04:00 2002 From: stepan at suse.de (Stefan Reinauer) Date: Wed Sep 11 06:04:00 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? In-Reply-To: <20020911072654.YZXZ287.mta02-svc.ntlworld.com@there> References: <20020911072654.YZXZ287.mta02-svc.ntlworld.com@there> Message-ID: <20020911101316.GA17075@suse.de> * Antony Stone [020911 09:26]: > Forgive my ignorance, but isn't this what the Bios chip on the VGA card > itself is for (in the case where you have a physical card plugged into the > motherboard, and not an all-in-one integrated motherboard chipset) ? exactly. > I mean, surely that's the reason why, when you turn on a 'standard' PC with a > normal graphics card and a normal Bios, you see the starup messages for the > graphics card *first*, and *then* you see the Bios logo and config screen....? the system bios has no way of user notification/interaction before vga is initialized. When PCI/AGP is initialized, all expansion cards containing an option rom are initialized by executing their initialization functions. > Couldn't LinuxBios simply call the appropriate init code in a graphics card > Bios in order to get a text console, and then carry on afterwards in the same > way a normal boot loader would ? There's already code in linuxbios to do something like this. (as well as a userspace emulation program, which is kind of incomplete) The problem is that you have to emulate quite some legacy pc bios functionality to be able to do this. As that's all 16bit code (and LinuxBIOS is completely 32bit) this is not always trivial. Stefan -- The x86 isn't all that complex - it just doesn't make a lot of sense. -- Mike Johnson, Leader of 80x86 Design at AMD Microprocessor Report (1994) From bari at onelabs.com Wed Sep 11 10:21:01 2002 From: bari at onelabs.com (Bari Ari) Date: Wed Sep 11 10:21:01 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? References: <20020911072654.YZXZ287.mta02-svc.ntlworld.com@there> <20020911101316.GA17075@suse.de> Message-ID: <3D7F53F1.5090307@onelabs.com> Stefan Reinauer wrote: >Is there a flaw somewhere in my reasoning ? > > Unfortunately, yes. The problem is that video BIOSes run in real mode and tend to rely on legacy system BIOS services. These _can_ be rewritten but noone on this list is very interested in doing so because it is a LOT of work that might never be worthwhile anyway. On the other hand, if it DOES get written it might also be used for booting other, legacy, operating systems like MS-DOS or maybe older Windows systems, both of these cases have been mentioned on the list, but I do not believe either has very high priority. >>Couldn't LinuxBios simply call the appropriate init code in a graphics card >>Bios in order to get a text console, and then carry on afterwards in the same >>way a normal boot loader would ? >> >> > >There's already code in linuxbios to do something like this. (as well as >a userspace emulation program, which is kind of incomplete) >The problem is that you have to emulate quite some legacy pc bios >functionality to be able to do this. As that's all 16bit code (and >LinuxBIOS is completely 32bit) this is not always trivial. > There's quite a bit of work going on that will support this over at: http://www.missl.cs.umd.edu/Projects/sebos/winint/ Windowz and VGA support isn't very high priority for many on this list that mainly work with clusters but there is a great deal of interest in embedded and industrial computing for an open source BIOS that can support VGA and legacy operating systems. For many embedded projects the costs of securing source code and the royalty payments for a legacy spaghetti-code BIOSes are higher than the hardware development costs. Bari From rminnich at lanl.gov Wed Sep 11 10:36:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Wed Sep 11 10:36:01 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? In-Reply-To: <20020911072654.YZXZ287.mta02-svc.ntlworld.com@there> Message-ID: On Wed, 11 Sep 2002, Antony Stone wrote: > Couldn't LinuxBios simply call the appropriate init code in a graphics card > Bios in order to get a text console, and then carry on afterwards in the same > way a normal boot loader would ? see vgabios support in linuxbios. We can do that. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Wed Sep 11 10:38:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Wed Sep 11 10:38:00 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? In-Reply-To: <20020911075524.FJFB295.mta06-svc.ntlworld.com@there> Message-ID: On Wed, 11 Sep 2002, Antony Stone wrote: > 1. there's a standard way for the motherboard Bios to initialise _any_ > graphics card, so it can initialise a new one it's never heard of before (and > presumably LinuxBios could do the same), or: we already can do this, see the vgabios stuff. > 2. there's a standard init call to the bios chip on the graphics card, which > knows how to set up that particular model, which again LinuxBios could > perform in exactly the same way when it starts up ? yes. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Wed Sep 11 10:40:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Wed Sep 11 10:40:00 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? In-Reply-To: <20020911102350.B15104@foo.birdnet.se> Message-ID: On Wed, 11 Sep 2002, Peter Stuge wrote: > This is the case. The way you reset a VGA card is to far call the real mode > address 0xc000:3. This is what the system BIOS does pretty early on, before > saying anything to anyone looking at the screen. Try starting debug.exe in > MS-DOS and enter > a 100 > call c000:3 > retn > > g > q yes. we have code in linuxbios and a user-mode emulator to do this. > Unfortunately, yes. > The problem is that video BIOSes run in real mode and tend to rely on legacy > system BIOS services. I've done bits of it. ron From steve at nexpath.com Wed Sep 11 11:58:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Wed Sep 11 11:58:01 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? In-Reply-To: <20020911100930.A15104@foo.birdnet.se> Message-ID: > > Fortunately regular vga cards are not very important to me, > actually, I am > > really most interested in integrated chipsets, such as the stpc > and the via > > apollo ple133 northbridge, both of which are legacy VGA register > > compatible. > > In this case, when the chips really ARE VGA compatible, of course you can > program the neccessary registers with appropriate values and get the > expected results. You could try this for all graphics chips, > just for fun. > With a little luck it will work better than we expect. > > You will want to dump the VGA registers on a running system, and of course > you're interested in 0x3c0, 0-0x14 at 0x3c0:0x3c0, 0x3c3, 0-4 at 0x3c4:0x3c5, > 0x3c6-0x3c9, 0-8 at 0x3ce:0x3cf and 0-0x14 at 0x3d4:0x3d5. Thanks, I have done a fair amount of vga register progamming with the stpc, and have the scars to prove it. For the other comments.... I think fb vga is okay as well, but, I need some kind of vga up very early in the boot process for my application. I believe the fb enable in linuxbios is a vga bios call (not sure about this, someone correct me if I have that wrong), so this code is not helpful for integrated chipsets. Text vga is also a little simpler to interface from rom. The reason for vga, BTW, is that some embedded products require a screen for user setup or diagnosis. It is a major support hassle to try and talk a non-technical user through hooking up a serial console to their Windows machine. A web browser interface is the next best thing, for the non-technical user, but if they have network problems the sure thing is to hook up a vga monitor. Anyone can do that, these days, even your Aunt Millie. So I think the bottom line to my Q's is that any vga register code I contribute for the stpc (or the ple133) might be useful for other integrated chipsets, to the extent they have legacy register compatibility, but is unlikely to be useful for much of anything else. Thanks to all for the helpful replies. -Steve From ollie at sis.com.tw Wed Sep 11 20:42:00 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Wed Sep 11 20:42:00 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? In-Reply-To: <20020911075524.FJFB295.mta06-svc.ntlworld.com@there> References: <20020911075524.FJFB295.mta06-svc.ntlworld.com@there> Message-ID: <1031791711.1199.7.camel@ollie> On Wed, 2002-09-11 at 15:55, Antony Stone wrote: > On Wednesday 11 September 2002 7:22 am, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > > > > > Maybe someone knows if alphanumeric mode setup is via the standard VGA > > > > register set on most modern VGA cards. > > > > > > I am afraid your are wrong. For modern VGA cards, there is actually no > > > alphanumeric mode. These alphanumeric mode were simulated by BIOS or > > > drivers. The worst thing, if you have no documents about these extended > > > registers, you have no way to drive the clock gen for Dot clock, Hsync, > > > Vsync. > > > > Are you saying that it is not possible to use a text console with Linux > > (vgacon.c) with modern VGA cards (BIOS mode 3)? Only framebuffer? Or are > > you saying that without extra information (ie, the BIOS or the manuals) you > > can't init it into mode 3? > > Excuse the second posting to this thread so soon after my last, but I've > found a far more succinct way of expressing my point: > > If I go out and buy the latest whizz-bang graphics card, just released onto > the market, and plug it into my three year old PC, whose designers knew > nothing abut today's graphics cards, I expect to see a text console screen > when I turn it on. > > This means one of two things. Either: > > 1. there's a standard way for the motherboard Bios to initialise _any_ > graphics card, so it can initialise a new one it's never heard of before (and > presumably LinuxBios could do the same), or: > Yes. > 2. there's a standard init call to the bios chip on the graphics card, which > knows how to set up that particular model, which again LinuxBios could > perform in exactly the same way when it starts up ? > Yes. > Is there a flaw somewhere in my reasoning ? > The flaw is the these standard are "Legacy BIOS standard". You have to provide various legacy BIOS functions since these VGA BIOS/init stuff will call back to system BIOS. LinuxBIOS just doest not or incompletely support these functions. Ollie From ollie at sis.com.tw Wed Sep 11 21:01:00 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Wed Sep 11 21:01:00 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? In-Reply-To: <20020911100930.A15104@foo.birdnet.se> References: <1031706760.1203.3.camel@ollie> <20020911100930.A15104@foo.birdnet.se> Message-ID: <1031792022.1203.12.camel@ollie> On Wed, 2002-09-11 at 16:09, Peter Stuge wrote: > On Tue, Sep 10, 2002 at 11:22:58PM -0700, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > > > > Maybe someone knows if alphanumeric mode setup is via the standard VGA > > > > register set on most modern VGA cards. > > > > > > > > > > I am afraid your are wrong. For modern VGA cards, there is actually no > > > alphanumeric mode. These alphanumeric mode were simulated by BIOS or > > > drivers. The worst thing, if you have no documents about these extended > > > registers, you have no way to drive the clock gen for Dot clock, Hsync, > > > Vsync. > > > > Are you saying that it is not possible to use a text console with Linux > > (vgacon.c) with modern VGA cards (BIOS mode 3)? Only framebuffer? Or are you > > saying that without extra information (ie, the BIOS or the manuals) you > > can't init it into mode 3? I don't understand your answer. > > > > I thought most vga cards were register compatible with the legacy VGA > > register set, only that there were a lot of other (sometimes secret) things > > to setup. Is this wrong? > > That's Ollie's point AFAICS. > What is AFAICS ?? > > > Fortunately regular vga cards are not very important to me, actually, I am > > really most interested in integrated chipsets, such as the stpc and the via > > apollo ple133 northbridge, both of which are legacy VGA register > > compatible. > > In this case, when the chips really ARE VGA compatible, of course you can > program the neccessary registers with appropriate values and get the > expected results. You could try this for all graphics chips, just for fun. > With a little luck it will work better than we expect. > > You will want to dump the VGA registers on a running system, and of course > you're interested in 0x3c0, 0-0x14 at 0x3c0:0x3c0, 0x3c3, 0-4 at 0x3c4:0x3c5, > 0x3c6-0x3c9, 0-8 at 0x3ce:0x3cf and 0-0x14 at 0x3d4:0x3d5. > The catch is, for most cases, you have to program those "non-standard" undocumented extended register first then these Standard VGA registers become "Standard". You can try it anyway. Ollie From ebiederman at lnxi.com Wed Sep 11 21:43:01 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W. Biederman) Date: Wed Sep 11 21:43:01 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? In-Reply-To: <1031792022.1203.12.camel@ollie> References: <1031706760.1203.3.camel@ollie> <20020911100930.A15104@foo.birdnet.se> <1031792022.1203.12.camel@ollie> Message-ID: ollie lho writes: > > What is AFAICS ?? As Far As I Can See > > The catch is, for most cases, you have to program those "non-standard" > undocumented extended register first then these Standard VGA registers > become "Standard". You can try it anyway. Ollie I haven't looked but do you know if there is anything comparable to the memory initialization hassels LinuxBIOS has to go through? Or has your experience been just dumping the correct values in the correct registers? The other catch that I have seen is that in addition to requiring BIOS services, the some vga init roms also assume that some legacy hardware is present. Eric From ollie at sis.com.tw Wed Sep 11 22:50:01 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Wed Sep 11 22:50:01 2002 Subject: Framebuffer or standard VGA ? In-Reply-To: References: <1031706760.1203.3.camel@ollie> <20020911100930.A15104@foo.birdnet.se> <1031792022.1203.12.camel@ollie> Message-ID: <1031798876.5437.8.camel@ollie> On Thu, 2002-09-12 at 09:51, Eric W. Biederman wrote: > ollie lho writes: > > > > What is AFAICS ?? > > As Far As I Can See > > > > The catch is, for most cases, you have to program those "non-standard" > > undocumented extended register first then these Standard VGA registers > > become "Standard". You can try it anyway. > > Ollie I haven't looked but do you know if there is anything comparable to > the memory initialization hassels LinuxBIOS has to go through? Or has > your experience been just dumping the correct values in the correct > registers? > It depends, I think. For integrated VGA like SiS', it is not necessary to do Video DRAM init/sizing so a stupid save/restore procedure is sufficient to turn VGA to correct mode. (well, there are still two problems, 1. you have to know where are these registers, 2. sometimes the 'sequence' of save/restore does matter). But for standalone VGA chips with its own DRAM, it requires almost the same hassles as system DRAM. Ollie From gnuorder at tampabay.rr.com Thu Sep 12 03:46:00 2002 From: gnuorder at tampabay.rr.com (GNUOrder) Date: Thu Sep 12 03:46:00 2002 Subject: The DoC problem In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <200209120755.g8C7tfQu025802@smtp-server4.tampabay.rr.com> I've always thought it would be a good idea to rig up some sort of flash that emulates a floppy for the floppy interface. I dont know if it would be practical or not but it would be an unused device, at least one unit should be free in most computers. Also the drivers for the floppy aren't likely to change with the next generation of kernel. It will at least fit the kernel and busybox but I'm sure it could hold a lot more with some tricks. GO On Sunday 08 September 2002 22:24, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > Anybody have a good idea in the long term about how to solve the DoC mess. > > I really like this sis730 mainboard with DoC. It's neat to come up in > busybox and have all the power of linux available even if the disk is not > yet loaded with linux. But that won't work with 735 due to more complex > chipset setup. So we have to use FLASH. Then we can't have the nice > startup with the kernel etc. that we get with DoC. > > We need big flash. But we can't just put big flash in the IDE slot -- then > we can't have a disk drive! > > Are we really stuck with 256K forever? is there some plugin that gives us > FLASH AND a DoC? > > ron > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios From Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk Fri Sep 13 09:32:01 2002 From: Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk (Antony Stone) Date: Fri Sep 13 09:32:01 2002 Subject: fdisk DoC ? Message-ID: <200209131341.g8DDfgv11530@vulcan.rissington.net> Hi. Having successfully got LinuxBios to boot from a DoC device, I'm now trying to move on to having a root file system in the DoC as well, so I can do away with the hard disk altogether... I'm trying to follow the instructions in the LinuxBios FAQ for "How do I put a filesystem on DoC?" and I can't seem to get the DoC partitioned... if I do: ./nftl_format /dev/mtd0 2097152 6291456 as the example shows, then the format appears to go okay, but when I modprobe nftl I get in dmesg: NFTL Media Headers at 0x0 and 0x100000 disagree. Could not find valid boot record. Could not mount NFTL device and fdisk won't recognise /dev/nftla Alternatively, though, if I run nftl_format without any offset or size parameters: ./nftl_format /dev/mtd0 again it appears to go okay, and when I modprobe nftl I get a successful /dev/nftla which fdisk *can* format. However, if I do that, how do I get my LinuxBios boot kernel into the DoC as well as the root file system ? I'm using an 8Mbyte DoC MD-2800-D08 and Linux kernel 2.4.19 Anyone know what I'm doing wrong ? Antony. -- If at first you don't succeed, destroy all the evidence that you tried. From steve at nexpath.com Fri Sep 13 12:42:00 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Fri Sep 13 12:42:00 2002 Subject: how to build the world's cheapest cluster? (fwd) In-Reply-To: <3D76771B.6020608@onelabs.com> Message-ID: > A few of the news sites mention the Apollo PLE133 chipset but I haven't > seen it mentioned on the Walmart or Microtel sites. > > Bari > > Ronald G Minnich wrote: > > >anybody know if this is the EPIA? > > > >ron It is a Giga-byte mobo, the GA-6VEML: http://tw.giga-byte.com/products/products.htm. Apparently it can only be ordered from Walmart's web site, at least, that's the way I got mine. Comes with a keyboard, mouse, and speakers, $199.86 + shipping and tax. -Steve > > > >---------- Forwarded message ---------- > >Date: Wed, 04 Sep 2002 16:00:56 -0400 > >Subject: how to build the world's cheapest cluster? > > > >August 30, 2002 01:53 PM > > > >Via processors power sub-$200 LindowsOS PC > >By Tom Krazit > > > >MICROTEL COMPUTER SYSTEMS is selling a PC equipped with a C3 processor > >from Via Technologies and the LindowsOS operating system from > >Lindows.com Inc. exclusively at Walmart.com for less than $200. > > > >One of the cheapest retail desktop PCs available, the SYSMAR 710 is the > >first PC sold by a major U.S. retailer to contain the C3 processor from > >Via, a Via spokeswoman said Friday. The SYSMAR comes with an 800MHz C3 > >processor, 128M bytes of SDRAM (synchronous dynamic RAM), a 10G-byte > >hard drive, and a CD-ROM drive, and has a list price of $199.86. It does > >not include a monitor, modem, nor floppy disk drive, according to the > >Walmart.com Web site. > > > >The SYSMAR 715, which costs $218, is identical to the SYSMAR 710 but has > >a LAN card and a modem. The SYSMAR 715 was not available on Walmart.com > >at press time. > > > >Microtel also makes two other PCs for Walmart.com, the SYSMAR150 and > >SYSMAR151, which cost $299.84 and $399.72 respectively, and feature > >Microsoft's Windows XP Home edition operating system. The Windows PCs > >also use 800MHz C3 processors, and feature the same memory and hard > >drive specifications. The 151 comes with a 15-inch monitor. > > > >Walmart.com, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wal-Mart Stores, Microtel, and > >Lindows.com partnered to offer low-cost PCs in June, releasing eight > >different models that used processors from both Intel and Advanced Micro > >Devices, priced between $299 and $599. > > > >Via is primarily known for its chipset business, but also makes the C3 > >and Cyrix processors. The C3 is designed to consume small amounts of > >power. > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > >Linuxbios mailing list > >Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > >http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > From sivakumar.subramani at wipro.com Fri Sep 13 22:48:00 2002 From: sivakumar.subramani at wipro.com (SIVAKUMAR SUBRAMANI) Date: Fri Sep 13 22:48:00 2002 Subject: Need help with LinuxBIOS speech In-Reply-To: <1031255461.8073.17.camel@kerberos.sunnyroyd.coldcomfortfarm.org> Message-ID: <003701c25b9a$ee6c2070$970806c0@siva> Hi, Even I am planning to give a speech on LinuxBIOS. I found that some of the recent mail on this thread is useful for my preparation. Also when I was reading the HOWTO documents, I found that we need to burn Linux Kernel image along with the linuxbios image on DOC chip. If that is the case, Is there is any way to support for other Operating system (or) other flavor of unix system to use LinuxBIOS? What are the standard interface / Supports we expect from those operating system? PLEASE IGNORE THE ATTACHEMENT.... Thanks, Siva.s -----Original Message----- From: linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org [mailto:linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org] On Behalf Of Ian Castle Sent: Friday, September 06, 2002 1:21 AM To: Christer Weinigel Cc: linuxbios at clustermatic.org Subject: Re: Need help with LinuxBIOS speech On Thu, 2002-09-05 at 16:01, Christer Weinigel wrote: > Cons: > > Not as flexible as a normal BIOS. I know what you mean ;-), but I don't think this is quite the right thing to say... as a key point of LinuxBIOS is its flexibility... ... If you want to be able to boot without a VGA card.. ... If you want to be able to preserve kernel state information over reboots etc. ....LinuxBIOS is flexible from the developer's standpoint... However, LinuxBIOS is immature - it doesn't support as much hardware/boot devices as a "traditional" BIOS. So, given an inflexible feature set (boot typically from any local device via a local VGA screen/keyboard to run your mainstream desktop operating system) a traditional BIOS is quite flexible about what hardware you can boot from and what motherboards it supports.... ..Anyway, I think linuxBIOS is "flexible" compared with a traditional BIOS, but has, currently, less support for the available hardware i.e immature. Hope that helps! Ian. _______________________________________________ Linuxbios mailing list Linuxbios at clustermatic.org http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: Wipro_Disclaimer.txt URL: From alesan at manoweb.com Sat Sep 14 10:07:00 2002 From: alesan at manoweb.com (Alessio Sangalli) Date: Sat Sep 14 10:07:00 2002 Subject: motherboard for vdr system Message-ID: <3D83452A.1070408@manoweb.com> Hi. I would like to buy a motherboard for a VDR system: http://www.cadsoft.de/people/kls/vdr This software uses DVB cards to receive digital television and transforms your PC in a powerful videorecorder - dvd player - divx mp3 etc etc etc As you can imagine, a very fast boot would be very appreciate, making it possible to completely replace a standalone digital receiver. I watched around and I found a shop selling PC-CHIPS motherboards. I need an AGP slot, and two or more PCI slots for DVB-cards, plus ethernet etc. I have a bit of fear the 815 is very limited in expansion, perhaps the 830 is better for me. Do you have any advice about motherboards? I've read archive mailing list and all but I still need some more informations. Will I be able to directly boot my own linux kernel, with IDE, XFS etc support? I need a hard-disk anyway, to record movies and load vdr software, etc. bye and thank you! as From rminnich at lanl.gov Sat Sep 14 17:36:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sat Sep 14 17:36:01 2002 Subject: Need help with LinuxBIOS speech In-Reply-To: <003701c25b9a$ee6c2070$970806c0@siva> Message-ID: We have burned both 9load and plan9 here. The key thing is that we need to get other OSes to use the linuxbios tables, and to start doing their own IRQ setup -- plan 9 is deficient in this respect. ro From steve at nexpath.com Sun Sep 15 00:56:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Sun Sep 15 00:56:01 2002 Subject: Via EPIA In-Reply-To: Message-ID: I am working to load linuxbios on the Via EPIA Mini-ITX motherboard. It has the Via vt8601a northbridge and the vt8231 southbridge. If anyone else is working on this (or has already done it) I would like to share code/information. I have some questions I hope someone knows the answer to. Has the vt8231 code in Linuxbios ever been used (southbridge.c)? It appears to make calls to "intel_conf_read_byte" that do not link, although they appear to be standard PCI config calls that could easily be replaced with the code in the 82c686. Does anyone know if the vt8231 is approximately the 82C686 + Ethernet (rhine 86c100a)? The ISA bridge (func 0) and power mgmnt (func 4) device ids do not match, however. The brief datasheet for the 82C686 is on the Via web site but I cannot find it for the vt8231. Anyone have a copy or know where I can get one? Is Via helpful in providing data for the linuxbios project? Fortunately they do provide the datasheet for the vt8601a northbridge with all the vga registers detailed, although it was not on the usual datasheet page. Thanks in advance for any information anyone can provide. -Steve From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 15 01:32:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 15 01:32:01 2002 Subject: Via EPIA In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Sat, 14 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > Has the vt8231 code in Linuxbios ever been used (southbridge.c)? A very long time ago it did work. But then the 82c686 came along and we moved to that. I have had all these chips working at one point, but the 8601 was really tough to get totally working, so we decided to let it alone until there was more interest. I am glad to see your interest. There were some bad bugs in the 8601 which I hope are fixed. ron From nick-linuxbios at bostonimportcenter.com Sun Sep 15 01:46:00 2002 From: nick-linuxbios at bostonimportcenter.com (Nicholas Mistry) Date: Sun Sep 15 01:46:00 2002 Subject: Linuxbios for VIA EPIA motherboards? Message-ID: <2155.63.209.225.42.1032069392.squirrel@65.85.27.130> I was wondering what is the status of the support on VIA EPIA motherboards w/ LinuxBIOS. I have dug through the archives quite a bit, and found that there has been someintrest w/ supporting the boards. Unfortunately i have not found any information as to howfar along it has gone. Thanks -Nick From Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk Sun Sep 15 07:42:00 2002 From: Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk (Antony Stone) Date: Sun Sep 15 07:42:00 2002 Subject: fdisk DoC ? In-Reply-To: <20020914124110.GA26774@reliant.bit63.org> References: <200209131341.g8DDfgv11530@vulcan.rissington.net> <20020914124110.GA26774@reliant.bit63.org> Message-ID: <20020915115210.YHHN287.mta02-svc.ntlworld.com@there> On Saturday 14 September 2002 1:41 pm, Clark Rawlins wrote: > On Fri, Sep 13, 2002 at 02:41:14PM +0100, Antony Stone wrote: > > Hi. > > > > Having successfully got LinuxBios to boot from a DoC device, I'm now > > trying to move on to having a root file system in the DoC as well, so I > > can do away with the hard disk altogether... > > > > I'm trying to follow the instructions in the LinuxBios FAQ for "How do I > > put a filesystem on DoC?" and I can't seem to get the DoC partitioned... > > > cwlinux uses: > nftl_format /dev/mtd0 0x100000 > erase /dev/mtd0 128 > dd conv=notrunc if=docipl of=/dev/mtd0 > dd conv=notrunc if=docipl of=/dev/mtd0 seek=1 > dd conv=notrunc if=linuxbios.block of=/dev/mtd0 seek=2 > dd conv=notrunc if=linux.bin.gz.block of=/dev/mtd0 seek=128 > sfdisk /dev/nftla < partition > dd if=fsimage of=/dev/nftla1 > > Where partition is: > # partition table of /dev/nftla > unit: sectors > > /dev/nftla1 : start= 1, size= 14265, Id=83 > /dev/nftla2 : start= 0, size= 0, Id= 0 > /dev/nftla3 : start= 0, size= 0, Id= 0 > /dev/nftla4 : start= 0, size= 0, Id= 0 Thanks Clark - that worked a treat :-) I now have bootable kernel + 7Mbyte partition without using a hard disk. Has anyone here tried playing with Linux From Scratch http://www.linuxfromscratch.org to build the system to go into the root fs ? Antony. -- Having been asked to provide a reference for this man, I can confidently state that you will be very lucky indeed if you can get him to work for you. From steve at nexpath.com Sun Sep 15 12:33:00 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Sun Sep 15 12:33:00 2002 Subject: Via EPIA In-Reply-To: Message-ID: > A very long time ago it did work. But then the 82c686 came along and we > moved to that. I thought that was the case. The 82c686 has the appearance of "improved" code from the 8231. Yet the 8231 seems to be a more inclusive chipset (ie, includes the network) than the 82c686 so I thought this was odd. Usually chips evolve to more functionality, not less. Of course, I am partly guessing, since I can't seem to find even a marketing thumbnail of the 8231 features on the Via web site. Via suffers from marketing name diarrhea for chipset collections, in my view. It's interesting that in the Walmart $199 computer, Gigabyte uses the 82c686 and a Realtek lan chip instead of the 8231. -Steve From steve at nexpath.com Sun Sep 15 12:43:00 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Sun Sep 15 12:43:00 2002 Subject: Linuxbios for VIA EPIA motherboards? In-Reply-To: <2155.63.209.225.42.1032069392.squirrel@65.85.27.130> Message-ID: > I was wondering what is the status of the support on VIA EPIA motherboards > w/ > LinuxBIOS. > > I have dug through the archives quite a bit, and found that there has > been > someintrest w/ supporting the boards. Unfortunately i have not found > any > information as to howfar along it has gone. > > Thanks > > -Nick Well, I'm going to dive into it and will pass my code along when I have it working. It appears Etherboot supports the Lan interface, at least the device ids match, so that is good news. -Steve From ebiederman at lnxi.com Sun Sep 15 15:49:01 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W. Biederman) Date: Sun Sep 15 15:49:01 2002 Subject: Need help with LinuxBIOS speech In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "STEPHAN,YANN (HP-France,ex1)" writes: > I love this one: > > Less buggy <== Currently the Bios does some many things in order to > support all OS, that the code is huge and still written in assembly > language. > > > I will say more debuggable than normal bios. If you have something that will log the serial console output it is also immensely more debuggable. The key is that the serial port is trivial and can be initialized before ram. In fact before just about everything else. There are two great challenges when debugging a BIOS. 1) Identical hardware works differently. 2) Hardware bugs get to be worked around in software. A classic case of identical hardware working differently is many times hardware designers do not initial registers (like pci bars) at reset and just clamp onto whatever value they floated to. This has caused the LinuxBIOS pci code to think rw BARS are readonly. This kind of thing is annoying as the problem only shows up in the when you have a large number of systems using LinuxBIOS. With the supermicro p4dpr in the MCR cluster I am currently tracking a number of issues that don't reproduce on every motherboard, and are actually workarounds for hardware bugs. After small scale testing the most efficient way for me to track and see if a bug has been fixed is to flash the BIOS onto the cluster. Then I can review the serial console boot logs and see where/how the BIOS hung to see how well my fixes worked. The most interesting fix relates to the intel P64H2 and it's errata of a race between a good power signal and a clock signal. When it gets the clock signal before it gets good power the pci busses do strange things. Typicall locking up when scanning the pci bus, but not always. The initial work around was to reboot the machine multiple times hopeing to avoid the race. Just recently I was able to implement the intel recommended work around which involved stopping and starting the reference clock. The pll that generates the reference clock is accessible on the smbus but it's interface on the i2c bus is buggy. So I had to add code to detect when the pll's i2c interface was not responding and continue on with life. The proper function of this code I have been able to verify with serial console log messages. In addition when there is bad hardware or a BIOS issue the bug report isn't that the node refuses to boot. The bug report is that the node dies doing X. Which much much easier to start with when debugging a problem. Eric From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 15 15:49:33 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 15 15:49:33 2002 Subject: Via EPIA In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Sun, 15 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > I thought that was the case. The 82c686 has the appearance of "improved" > code from the 8231. Yet the 8231 seems to be a more inclusive chipset (ie, > includes the network) than the 82c686 so I thought this was odd. Usually > chips evolve to more functionality, not less. Of course, I am partly > guessing, since I can't seem to find even a marketing thumbnail of the 8231 > features on the Via web site. Via suffers from marketing name diarrhea for > chipset collections, in my view. I think the chipset is older. Possibly the 686 + realtek was cheaper than the 8231. ron From ebiederman at lnxi.com Sun Sep 15 15:58:00 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W. Biederman) Date: Sun Sep 15 15:58:00 2002 Subject: Need help with LinuxBIOS speech In-Reply-To: <003701c25b9a$ee6c2070$970806c0@siva> References: <003701c25b9a$ee6c2070$970806c0@siva> Message-ID: "SIVAKUMAR SUBRAMANI" writes: > Hi, > > Even I am planning to give a speech on LinuxBIOS. > I found that some of the recent mail on this thread is useful for my > preparation. > Also when I was reading the HOWTO documents, I found that we need to > burn Linux Kernel image along with the linuxbios image on DOC chip. If > that is the case, Is there is any way to support for other Operating > system (or) other flavor of unix system to use LinuxBIOS? What are the > standard interface / Supports we expect from those operating system? Knowing what the architecture is might help here. Essentially LinuxBIOS is split into 2 pieces. 1) LinuxBIOS 2) A bootloader. The core of LinuxBIOS just initializes and sets up hardwre. The hardware setup is communicated to everything else through the LinuxBIOS table which is loaded at a fixed location early in ram. After that the bootloader is loaded. Currently the bootloader can be the final Linux kernel to run. A linux kernel for booting linux from linux or etherboot. (And not the code copied from etherbooot in the LinuxBIOS source tree). The bootloader is formatted as a static ELF executable. And is loaded normally from a rom chip. The bootloaders that LinuxBIOS has are not limited to static ELF executables but that is pretty much the one common type they will all accept. Grumble about beoboot Grumble. So any operating system that can be formated as a static ELF executable, and can be trained to read the LinuxBIOS table instead of making BIOS calls can be used with LinuxBIOS. Eric From christer at weinigel.se Sun Sep 15 18:39:01 2002 From: christer at weinigel.se (Christer Weinigel) Date: Sun Sep 15 18:39:01 2002 Subject: Need help with LinuxBIOS speech In-Reply-To: Christer Weinigel's message of "Thu, 5 Sep 2002 17:01:17 +0200 (CEST)" References: <20020905150117.E9842F5B@acolyte.hack.org> Message-ID: Hi again, I'm late as usual, but here are some slides that I'm planning to use for the presentation tomorrow. Any comments? Any glaring errors? http://zoo.weinigel.se/slides.pdf I'm actually a bit nervous, my spoken english is rather rusty and I haven't been talking in front of an audience in years... /Christer (off to sleep) -- "Just how much can I get away with and still go to heaven?" Freelance consultant specializing in device driver programming for Linux Christer Weinigel http://www.weinigel.se From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 15 18:58:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 15 18:58:00 2002 Subject: Need help with LinuxBIOS speech In-Reply-To: Message-ID: One thing that I am hoping an open source BIOS might get us to is less buggy hardware. The bugginess of this PC hardware is really amazing. The bugginess has persisted because the vendors know they can hide all the ugly problems in the BIOS. These problems lead to memory running slow, weird PCI bus problems, and other failures. Open source BIOSes reveal the ugly bugs. Possibly this will make the hardware vendors more responsible. We can certainly hope so. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 15 18:59:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 15 18:59:00 2002 Subject: Need help with LinuxBIOS speech In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On 15 Sep 2002, Eric W. Biederman wrote: > Currently the bootloader can be the final Linux kernel to run. A > linux kernel for booting linux from linux or etherboot. (And not the > code copied from etherbooot in the LinuxBIOS source tree). let's not forget 9load, a truly neat bootloader from the Plan 9 guys. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 15 19:05:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 15 19:05:01 2002 Subject: Need help with LinuxBIOS speech In-Reply-To: Message-ID: I like the slides a lot. can we put them on our web site at some point? thanks ron From ebiederman at lnxi.com Sun Sep 15 22:32:00 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W. Biederman) Date: Sun Sep 15 22:32:00 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Steve M. Gehlbach" writes: > > The easy solution is putting the whole image in /dev/hda1 thought it > > is theoretically possible to put the image on a filesystem and just > > setup an ELF header at the start of the disk that points to it. > > > > Etherboot also supports booting this way. And it will allow you to > > multiplex between a hard drive and the network. So it is definitely a > > good direction to look at. > > The raw image is most appealing to me rather than a filesystem. It's simple > and easy. I don't know much about ELF headers. > > My systems can only boot from the hdd, the network is not always in use. I > was under the impression Etherboot was for only for networks. I assume > Etherboot within Linuxbios is the option USE_TFTP. Nope the external etherboot project. > How does the disk/net multiplex work? I am not familiar with that. You have never set the boot order in the BIOS? Roughly you have a booloader that can boot off of either the hard driver or the network. Eric From ebiederman at lnxi.com Sun Sep 15 22:49:00 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W. Biederman) Date: Sun Sep 15 22:49:00 2002 Subject: Need help with LinuxBIOS speech In-Reply-To: References: <20020905150117.E9842F5B@acolyte.hack.org> Message-ID: Christer Weinigel writes: > Hi again, > > I'm late as usual, but here are some slides that I'm planning to use > for the presentation tomorrow. Any comments? Any glaring errors? One additional point. A neat feature of LinuxBIOS (is that I can write 2 copies of it into a ROM chip). Which allows me to do incremental tests without a ROM emulator, or having to worry about phsically swapping out my ROM chip. Not everyone has it but it can be quite handy. > http://zoo.weinigel.se/slides.pdf > > I'm actually a bit nervous, my spoken english is rather rusty and I > haven't been talking in front of an audience in years... From ollie at sis.com.tw Sun Sep 15 22:54:01 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Sun Sep 15 22:54:01 2002 Subject: Need help with LinuxBIOS speech In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1032144460.1135.5.camel@ollie> On Mon, 2002-09-16 at 07:08, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > One thing that I am hoping an open source BIOS might get us to is less > buggy hardware. The bugginess of this PC hardware is really amazing. The > bugginess has persisted because the vendors know they can hide all the > ugly problems in the BIOS. These problems lead to memory running slow, > weird PCI bus problems, and other failures. > > Open source BIOSes reveal the ugly bugs. Possibly this will make the > hardware vendors more responsible. We can certainly hope so. > I doubt. From what I have seen, vendors just go the other way. It is really bad for PR (from marketing dept. point of view) if Open Source projects finding out that your HW is buggy. This is why now most PC chipset vendor don't release register specs now. Ollie From steve at nexpath.com Sun Sep 15 23:51:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Sun Sep 15 23:51:01 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: > > My systems can only boot from the hdd, the network is not > always in use. I > > was under the impression Etherboot was for only for networks. I assume > > Etherboot within Linuxbios is the option USE_TFTP. > > Nope the external etherboot project. Thanks, within 5-10 minutes of trying TFTP I figured out it that wasn't it. A kind soul sent me an email pointing me to the URL of Etherboot. I was not previously familiar with the project. > > How does the disk/net multiplex work? I am not familiar with that. > > You have never set the boot order in the BIOS? > Roughly you have a booloader that can boot off of either the hard > driver or > the network. I guess my question was more about the mechanics of doing it. Is it possible to multiplex without a BIOS, completely within a (no PC-BIOS) Etherboot started from linuxbios? And if the answer is yes, then how do you specify the disk, partition, and what is the format, etc. -Steve From ebiederman at lnxi.com Mon Sep 16 01:21:00 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W. Biederman) Date: Mon Sep 16 01:21:00 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Steve M. Gehlbach" writes: > > > How does the disk/net multiplex work? I am not familiar with that. > > > > You have never set the boot order in the BIOS? > > Roughly you have a booloader that can boot off of either the hard > > driver or > > the network. > > I guess my question was more about the mechanics of doing it. Is it > possible to multiplex without a BIOS, completely within a (no PC-BIOS) > Etherboot started from linuxbios? Yes. At least in the current development version. 5.1.2+ > And if the answer is yes, then how do you > specify the disk, partition, and what is the format, etc. It depends. The code is still maturing so all of the details have not been worked out. My prefered way of doing it is to scan the first 8K for an ELF header and to find the rest of the image from the pointers within that header. If there is nothing on one disk etherboot will continue looking at other possible boot devices. For the time being I just put a partition at the start of the disk right after the partition table and everything works. Likely a better way to manage this so you can multiple kernels on the hard drive will evolve. There are some other development version that have been thrown around by Ollie Lho and Adam Agnew that actually includes a partition and a a filesystem parser. Personally I don't think those are necessary in the firmware, but people who think otherwise are free to implement it. The code structure in etherboot is now clean enough it should fit in cleanly. Mostly I think there is a very large difference between code that resides in firmware that as a matter of policy you don't want to update, and you want very simple so you can reuse and verify it is correct. And code that you read off of a hard drive that is easy to update and replace without chance of killing your computer. And I do not believe it is appropriate for the system rom to set such a precedent, when alternatives exist. But it is all a policy matter and in the long run I will go with whatever works. Eric From ollie at sis.com.tw Mon Sep 16 01:59:00 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Mon Sep 16 01:59:00 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1032155198.1115.10.camel@ollie> On Mon, 2002-09-16 at 13:30, Eric W. Biederman wrote: > "Steve M. Gehlbach" writes: > > > > > How does the disk/net multiplex work? I am not familiar with that. > > > > > > You have never set the boot order in the BIOS? > > > Roughly you have a booloader that can boot off of either the hard > > > driver or > > > the network. > > > > I guess my question was more about the mechanics of doing it. Is it > > possible to multiplex without a BIOS, completely within a (no PC-BIOS) > > Etherboot started from linuxbios? > > Yes. At least in the current development version. 5.1.2+ > > > And if the answer is yes, then how do you > > specify the disk, partition, and what is the format, etc. > > There are some other development version that have been thrown around > by Ollie Lho and Adam Agnew that actually includes a partition and a a > filesystem parser. Personally I don't think those are necessary in > the firmware, but people who think otherwise are free to implement it. > The code structure in etherboot is now clean enough it should fit in > cleanly. > We have an internal version of Etherboot which contains some code from GRUB. The GRUB code let us put kernel image on a filesystem and the way to specify the patch to kernel is the same as GRUB. Ollie From stepan at suse.de Mon Sep 16 07:09:00 2002 From: stepan at suse.de (Stefan Reinauer) Date: Mon Sep 16 07:09:00 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: <1032155198.1115.10.camel@ollie>; from ollie@sis.com.tw on Mon, Sep 16, 2002 at 01:46:36PM +0800 References: <1032155198.1115.10.camel@ollie> Message-ID: <20020916131903.A25890@suse.de> * ollie lho [020916 07:46]: > We have an internal version of Etherboot which contains some code from > GRUB. The GRUB code let us put kernel image on a filesystem and the way > to specify the patch to kernel is the same as GRUB. Are your patches available somewhere? Stefan -- The x86 isn't all that complex - it just doesn't make a lot of sense. -- Mike Johnson, Leader of 80x86 Design at AMD Microprocessor Report (1994) From christer at weinigel.se Mon Sep 16 18:39:00 2002 From: christer at weinigel.se (Christer Weinigel) Date: Mon Sep 16 18:39:00 2002 Subject: Need help with LinuxBIOS speech In-Reply-To: Ronald G Minnich's message of "Sun, 15 Sep 2002 17:15:20 -0600 (MDT)" References: Message-ID: Ronald G Minnich writes: > I like the slides a lot. > > can we put them on our web site at some point? Yes, of course. I think I'd like to put a little advertisment for my consulting business on each side (just my mail address and a link to my web page). I have actually written most of the presentation in a more verbose format, so I think that could be a better thing to put on the web. I'll try to clean this up a bit and post a link to it. The presentation went rather well I think, I managed to stay within the allocated time and think I managed to talk about most things that I wanted to. But the presentation was a bit of a disappointment, only five people showed up, a casualty of this being a rather specialized conference (Real time and Embedded Computing Conference) and that I had the absolutely last slot of the day when most people had already left; most other presentations seemed to have about 10 attendants. I did get a presentation out of it though and it sounds as if I might do a presentation at a couple of academic computer societies for friends so this could be rather fun. /Christer -- "Just how much can I get away with and still go to heaven?" Freelance consultant specializing in device driver programming for Linux Christer Weinigel http://www.weinigel.se From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 16 18:52:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 16 18:52:01 2002 Subject: Need help with LinuxBIOS speech In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On 17 Sep 2002, Christer Weinigel wrote: > Yes, of course. I think I'd like to put a little advertisment for my > consulting business on each side (just my mail address and a link to > my web page). no problem for me. ron From ebiederman at lnxi.com Mon Sep 16 19:28:00 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W Biederman) Date: Mon Sep 16 19:28:00 2002 Subject: General LinuxBIOS Questions In-Reply-To: <3D865C30.7070103@bellsouth.net> References: <3D8653A9.3090902@bellsouth.net> <3D865C30.7070103@bellsouth.net> Message-ID: We are down to questions that are definitely appropriate for the list. "Jeffrey B. Layton" writes: > Eric W Biederman wrote: > > >"Jeffrey B. Layton" writes: > > > > > >>Could you > >>list some pros and cons for a prospective customer that > >>is thinking about switching to LinuxBIOS but they are > >>used to the regular old BIOS? > >> > > > >The quick list. > > > >Pros: > >Better serial console support. > >Better debuggability. > >Better manageability. (You can do everything under Linux) > >Quick boot times. > >Has been tested on big (1000 node) clusters. > >Vendors care about cluster issues. > >You get the source. > > > >Cons: > >Boots differently. > >Harder to find people supporting it. > > > > I've got a question about the serial console support and the better > manageability. With LinuxBIOS can you put BIOS messages > across the network to the master node from power on? Or do > you have to wait until you get to Lilo (and then use something > like netconsole in the kernel)? You can do serial from power on. Over the network is a more interesting problem, and hasn't been fully solved yet. Currently I connect the serial port to a box with a lot of serial ports, and that box is network accessible. NIC hardware is noticeably more complex than serial ports so getting a network console going from power on is still an open issue. I don't know that it has been tested much yet. > As for the manageability issue. How is the cluster more manageable > with LinuxBIOS (I'm not being argumentative, but rather curious)? > > For example, if I have a cluster that's pretty stable where I don't lose > many nodes and I don't need to change the BIOS at all, then what > does LinuxBIOS give me in terms of manageability? Manageability is really about when things fail, and have problems, not when they work. But even when things are mostly working you can set your BIOS options the very first time from Linux, and trust they are getting set the same as every other node. You get a reliable network boot, with etherboot. You get a fast boot. You get messages over the serial console from power on. Maybe some of these things are only really annoying when the don't exist and you have lots of hardware. For me I like the ability to do a full install including flashing the BIOS on 350 nodes in under 10 minutes. But manageability comes down to the fact that the little things are getting fixed in LinuxBIOS so it is not a pain to work with, after the learning curve. Eric From ollie at sis.com.tw Mon Sep 16 20:42:00 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Mon Sep 16 20:42:00 2002 Subject: General LinuxBIOS Questions In-Reply-To: References: <3D8653A9.3090902@bellsouth.net> <3D865C30.7070103@bellsouth.net> Message-ID: <1032223069.1135.29.camel@ollie> On Tue, 2002-09-17 at 07:38, Eric W Biederman wrote: > > You can do serial from power on. Over the network is a more > interesting problem, and hasn't been fully solved yet. Currently I > connect the serial port to a box with a lot of serial ports, and > that box is network accessible. > Eric, Do you know if there is an KVM switch equivalent for serial port ?? How do you monitor multiple LinuxBIOS boxes except using many minicom ?? > > Maybe some of these things are only really annoying when the don't > exist and you have lots of hardware. For me I like the ability > to do a full install including flashing the BIOS on 350 nodes in under > 10 minutes. > How do you connect these 350 nodes "physically" to you console ?? Do you need many consoles or is there any think like "hub" the LAN ?? Ollie From ebiederman at lnxi.com Mon Sep 16 20:51:01 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W Biederman) Date: Mon Sep 16 20:51:01 2002 Subject: General LinuxBIOS Questions In-Reply-To: <1032223069.1135.29.camel@ollie> References: <3D8653A9.3090902@bellsouth.net> <3D865C30.7070103@bellsouth.net> <1032223069.1135.29.camel@ollie> Message-ID: ollie lho writes: > On Tue, 2002-09-17 at 07:38, Eric W Biederman wrote: > > > > You can do serial from power on. Over the network is a more > > interesting problem, and hasn't been fully solved yet. Currently I > > connect the serial port to a box with a lot of serial ports, and > > that box is network accessible. > > > > Eric, > Do you know if there is an KVM switch equivalent for serial > port ?? Yes. Usually I believe they are called serial concentrators. We have a device here designed to be used with clusters called the icebox. It combines the serial concentrator function, and the power management functionality, into one device. > How do you monitor multiple LinuxBIOS boxes except using many > minicom ?? I open multiple telnet connections to the icebox. > > Maybe some of these things are only really annoying when the don't > > exist and you have lots of hardware. For me I like the ability > > to do a full install including flashing the BIOS on 350 nodes in under > > 10 minutes. > > > > How do you connect these 350 nodes "physically" to you console ?? Do you > need many consoles or is there any think like "hub" the LAN ?? A network accessible device that is accept serial cables like a hub on the LAN. And it plugs into the LAN. It is really convinient when you are debugging those BIOS problems that only affect a small percent of your nodes. I can sit at my desk and work on machines that are miles away, or I can write a script that will cold boot the machine all night long to test booting. Eric From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 16 21:45:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 16 21:45:00 2002 Subject: General LinuxBIOS Questions In-Reply-To: <1032223069.1135.29.camel@ollie> Message-ID: On 17 Sep 2002, ollie lho wrote: > Do you know if there is an KVM switch equivalent for serial > port ?? How do you monitor multiple LinuxBIOS boxes except using many > minicom ?? The heck with that! Use my netconsole device. I have been using this for months and it is really wonderful. I can even catch kernel "oops" messages. ron From aip at cwlinux.com Mon Sep 16 21:46:00 2002 From: aip at cwlinux.com (Andrew Ip) Date: Mon Sep 16 21:46:00 2002 Subject: PCCHIPS M787CL+v3.0 support Message-ID: <20020917095652.A5069@mail.cwlinux.com> Hi, I just got a M787CL+ v3.0(http://www.pcchips.com.tw/M787cl+v30.html) which is as the same as m758lt+ with VIA C3 1GHZ. It works with m758lt+ config without any problem, and it costs only US$15 more than m758lt+. I think it is a very nice alternative to EPIA. -Andrew -- Andrew Ip Email: aip at cwlinux.com Tel: (852) 2542 2046 Fax: (852) 2542 2036 Mobile: (852) 9201 9866 Cwlinux Limited Unit 202B 2/F Lai Cheong Factory Building, 479-479A Castle Peak Road, Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong(SAR), China. Tel: (852)2542 2046 Fax: (852)2542 2036 For public pgp key, please obtain it from http://www.keyserver.net/en. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 232 bytes Desc: not available URL: From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 16 21:48:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 16 21:48:00 2002 Subject: General LinuxBIOS Questions In-Reply-To: Message-ID: oops, missed this message and sent a reply to a reply! On 16 Sep 2002, Eric W Biederman wrote: > NIC hardware is noticeably more complex than serial ports so getting > a network console going from power on is still an open issue. I don't > know that it has been tested much yet. we're going to try this using myrinet hardware. I.e. a very simple control program on the NIC that will give us "serial port" in linuxbios for the very early startup. ron From ebiederman at lnxi.com Mon Sep 16 22:50:00 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W Biederman) Date: Mon Sep 16 22:50:00 2002 Subject: General LinuxBIOS Questions In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Ronald G Minnich writes: > oops, missed this message and sent a reply to a reply! > > On 16 Sep 2002, Eric W Biederman wrote: > > > NIC hardware is noticeably more complex than serial ports so getting > > a network console going from power on is still an open issue. I don't > > know that it has been tested much yet. > > we're going to try this using myrinet hardware. I.e. a very simple control > program on the NIC that will give us "serial port" in linuxbios for the > very early startup. Sounds good. And I guess with hardware like myrinet with it's own processor and ram you can do a lot of interesting things. Right now the serial port hardware has the advantage on PC's in that it is on the same bus as the rom chip. The one part of the machine that is alive and working at power on. I could not debug my P64H2 pci lockup fix with anything on the pci bus. And I cannot use any NIC that uses DMA until the Ram is initialized. The bottleneck is both DMA'ing from ROM which might be possible, and getting the MAC address (or equivalent) into some place you can DMA from. If I had to work with a simple chipset with very little redundancy then I guess a serial port would not have a real advantage. But while my best option are Intels 12 dozen hub monsters I like having a console on the most reliable path. This is a BIOS developer perspective. But it is so cool to have some one else tell you where your BIOS locks up do to hardware bugs. Today there is a mature serial port infrastructure that works well, and I really like it. I suspect I will like network consoles if I ever get beyond debugging BIOS issues. And I certainly support network consoles. Has anyone else on the list had to fix problems where components with the same part number do not behave identically, but the both components were behaving correctly? Eric From garlick at llnl.gov Mon Sep 16 23:58:00 2002 From: garlick at llnl.gov (Jim Garlick) Date: Mon Sep 16 23:58:00 2002 Subject: General LinuxBIOS Questions In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Mon, 16 Sep 2002, Eric W Biederman wrote: > ollie lho writes: > > > How do you monitor multiple LinuxBIOS boxes except using many > > minicom ?? > > I open multiple telnet connections to the icebox. Here is a utility that manages interactive console sessions and logging via that type of device: http://www.llnl.gov/linux/conman/ Jim From steve at nexpath.com Tue Sep 17 00:18:00 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Tue Sep 17 00:18:00 2002 Subject: PCCHIPS M787CL+v3.0 support In-Reply-To: <20020917095652.A5069@mail.cwlinux.com> Message-ID: > I just got a M787CL+ v3.0(http://www.pcchips.com.tw/M787cl+v30.html) > which is as the same as m758lt+ with VIA C3 1GHZ. It works with > m758lt+ config > without any problem, and it costs only US$15 more than m758lt+. > I think it is > a very nice alternative to EPIA. > > -Andrew Great Andrew, thanks. Very economical alternative and it has a floppy connector which the EPIA does not have. Do you know if it is possible to get the datasheet on the Sis630E chipset? If I use this I need to setup the vga. I see there is a Linux driver, but I don't know if I it has enough setup without a PC-BIOS init first. Also do you know if the LPC interface is brought out to a header or connector? -Steve From ollie at sis.com.tw Tue Sep 17 00:44:01 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Tue Sep 17 00:44:01 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: <20020916131903.A25890@suse.de> References: <1032155198.1115.10.camel@ollie> <20020916131903.A25890@suse.de> Message-ID: <1032237611.1135.34.camel@ollie> On Mon, 2002-09-16 at 19:19, Stefan Reinauer wrote: > * ollie lho [020916 07:46]: > > We have an internal version of Etherboot which contains some code from > > GRUB. The GRUB code let us put kernel image on a filesystem and the way > > to specify the patch to kernel is the same as GRUB. > > Are your patches available somewhere? > I will send you the .tgz in another mail. Ollie From ollie at sis.com.tw Tue Sep 17 00:49:00 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Tue Sep 17 00:49:00 2002 Subject: PCCHIPS M787CL+v3.0 support In-Reply-To: <20020917095652.A5069@mail.cwlinux.com> References: <20020917095652.A5069@mail.cwlinux.com> Message-ID: <1032237829.1135.39.camel@ollie> On Tue, 2002-09-17 at 09:56, Andrew Ip wrote: > Hi, > > I just got a M787CL+ v3.0(http://www.pcchips.com.tw/M787cl+v30.html) > which is as the same as m758lt+ with VIA C3 1GHZ. It works with m758lt+ config > without any problem, and it costs only US$15 more than m758lt+. I think it is > a very nice alternative to EPIA. > How much is it exactly (with C3 CUP) ?? Ollie From ollie at sis.com.tw Tue Sep 17 00:51:01 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Tue Sep 17 00:51:01 2002 Subject: PCCHIPS M787CL+v3.0 support In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1032237534.1135.32.camel@ollie> On Tue, 2002-09-17 at 12:41, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > > I just got a M787CL+ v3.0(http://www.pcchips.com.tw/M787cl+v30.html) > > which is as the same as m758lt+ with VIA C3 1GHZ. It works with > > m758lt+ config > > without any problem, and it costs only US$15 more than m758lt+. > > I think it is > > a very nice alternative to EPIA. > > > > -Andrew > > Great Andrew, thanks. Very economical alternative and it has a floppy > connector which the EPIA does not have. > > Do you know if it is possible to get the datasheet on the Sis630E chipset? > If I use this I need to setup the vga. I see there is a Linux driver, but I > don't know if I it has enough setup without a PC-BIOS init first. > You have to sign NDA to get the register spec. What kind of VGA init are you going to do ?? Ollie From steve at nexpath.com Tue Sep 17 01:15:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Tue Sep 17 01:15:01 2002 Subject: PCCHIPS M787CL+v3.0 support In-Reply-To: <1032237534.1135.32.camel@ollie> Message-ID: > > Do you know if it is possible to get the datasheet on the > Sis630E chipset? > > If I use this I need to setup the vga. I see there is a Linux > driver, but I > > don't know if I it has enough setup without a PC-BIOS init first. > > > > You have to sign NDA to get the register spec. What kind of VGA init are > you going to do ?? > > Ollie > Just need to init to 80 x 25 color text. Load an 8x16 font and write attribute/char data at 0xB8000 in the standard fashion. That's it. I can get a register dump from the board with the mobo and PC-BIOS, assuming in alpha mode it has legacy CRTC, Sequencer, Attribute, Graphics, etc in the standard locations. But I need to know the extended register settings to enable access to these from power on. And any extended DCLK register locations/settings required. Any help you can give would be appreciated. I don't have a problem with an NDA unless is prevents publishing the source code. -Steve From aip at cwlinux.com Tue Sep 17 01:24:01 2002 From: aip at cwlinux.com (Andrew Ip) Date: Tue Sep 17 01:24:01 2002 Subject: PCCHIPS M787CL+v3.0 support In-Reply-To: <1032237829.1135.39.camel@ollie>; from ollie@sis.com.tw on Tue, Sep 17, 2002 at 12:43:49PM +0800 References: <20020917095652.A5069@mail.cwlinux.com> <1032237829.1135.39.camel@ollie> Message-ID: <20020917133405.A7278@mail.cwlinux.com> > How much is it exactly (with C3 CUP) ?? About US$70 MB+CPU -Andrew -- Andrew Ip Email: aip at cwlinux.com Tel: (852) 2542 2046 Fax: (852) 2542 2036 Mobile: (852) 9201 9866 Cwlinux Limited Unit 202B 2/F Lai Cheong Factory Building, 479-479A Castle Peak Road, Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Tel: (852)2542 2046 Fax: (852)2542 2036 For public pgp key, please obtain it from http://www.keyserver.net/en. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 232 bytes Desc: not available URL: From ollie at sis.com.tw Tue Sep 17 01:51:01 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Tue Sep 17 01:51:01 2002 Subject: PCCHIPS M787CL+v3.0 support In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1032241074.1135.42.camel@ollie> On Tue, 2002-09-17 at 13:39, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > > > Do you know if it is possible to get the datasheet on the > > Sis630E chipset? > > > If I use this I need to setup the vga. I see there is a Linux > > driver, but I > > > don't know if I it has enough setup without a PC-BIOS init first. > > > > > > > You have to sign NDA to get the register spec. What kind of VGA init are > > you going to do ?? > > > > Ollie > > > > Just need to init to 80 x 25 color text. Load an 8x16 font and write > attribute/char data at 0xB8000 in the standard fashion. That's it. > > I can get a register dump from the board with the mobo and PC-BIOS, assuming > in alpha mode it has legacy CRTC, Sequencer, Attribute, Graphics, etc in the > standard locations. But I need to know the extended register settings to > enable access to these from power on. And any extended DCLK register > locations/settings required. > Do you have the source code of TIARA project ?? They have done the same stuff. Ollie From ebiederman at lnxi.com Tue Sep 17 02:14:00 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W Biederman) Date: Tue Sep 17 02:14:00 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: <1032237611.1135.34.camel@ollie> References: <1032155198.1115.10.camel@ollie> <20020916131903.A25890@suse.de> <1032237611.1135.34.camel@ollie> Message-ID: ollie lho writes: > On Mon, 2002-09-16 at 19:19, Stefan Reinauer wrote: > > * ollie lho [020916 07:46]: > > > We have an internal version of Etherboot which contains some code from > > > GRUB. The GRUB code let us put kernel image on a filesystem and the way > > > to specify the patch to kernel is the same as GRUB. > > > > Are your patches available somewhere? > > > > I will send you the .tgz in another mail. Is this stuff useful enough to merge with the stock etherboot? Eric From steve at nexpath.com Tue Sep 17 02:15:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Tue Sep 17 02:15:01 2002 Subject: PCCHIPS M787CL+v3.0 support In-Reply-To: <1032241074.1135.42.camel@ollie> Message-ID: > > Just need to init to 80 x 25 color text. Load an 8x16 font and write > > attribute/char data at 0xB8000 in the standard fashion. That's it. > > > > I can get a register dump from the board with the mobo and > PC-BIOS, assuming > > in alpha mode it has legacy CRTC, Sequencer, Attribute, > Graphics, etc in the > > standard locations. But I need to know the extended register > settings to > > enable access to these from power on. And any extended DCLK register > > locations/settings required. > > > > Do you have the source code of TIARA project ?? They have done the same > stuff. > > Ollie Thanks, I'll look into it. -Steve From ollie at sis.com.tw Tue Sep 17 02:26:01 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Tue Sep 17 02:26:01 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: References: <1032155198.1115.10.camel@ollie> <20020916131903.A25890@suse.de> <1032237611.1135.34.camel@ollie> Message-ID: <1032243554.1115.53.camel@ollie> On Tue, 2002-09-17 at 14:24, Eric W Biederman wrote: > ollie lho writes: > > > On Mon, 2002-09-16 at 19:19, Stefan Reinauer wrote: > > > * ollie lho [020916 07:46]: > > > > We have an internal version of Etherboot which contains some code from > > > > GRUB. The GRUB code let us put kernel image on a filesystem and the way > > > > to specify the patch to kernel is the same as GRUB. > > > > > > Are your patches available somewhere? > > > > > > > I will send you the .tgz in another mail. > > Is this stuff useful enough to merge with the stock etherboot? > IMHO, booting from kernel image on filesystem is more similar to what average end-user used to than booting from a boot partition. I have no idea if this makes it useful enough. Ollie From rminnich at lanl.gov Tue Sep 17 09:17:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Tue Sep 17 09:17:00 2002 Subject: General LinuxBIOS Questions In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On 16 Sep 2002, Eric W Biederman wrote: > Has anyone else on the list had to fix problems where components with > the same part number do not behave identically, but the both > components were behaving correctly? we have a bunch of compaq SP 750 nodes. Same part # right down to the chips. But depending on whether the chips are korean- or phillipine-made, you get a 10% difference in PCI bandwidth from Myrinet. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Tue Sep 17 09:19:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Tue Sep 17 09:19:01 2002 Subject: PCCHIPS M787CL+v3.0 support In-Reply-To: Message-ID: anybody know about comparative performance of the via 8601 and sis 630E? ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Tue Sep 17 09:21:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Tue Sep 17 09:21:01 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: <1032243554.1115.53.camel@ollie> Message-ID: On 17 Sep 2002, ollie lho wrote: > IMHO, booting from kernel image on filesystem is more similar to what > average end-user used to than booting from a boot partition. I have no > idea if this makes it useful enough. I agree with you here. Interestingly enough the 9load program now understands the native Plan 9 file system, kfs. No more FAT partitions. ron From kbferre at sandia.gov Tue Sep 17 12:15:00 2002 From: kbferre at sandia.gov (Kurt B Ferreira) Date: Tue Sep 17 12:15:00 2002 Subject: LInuxBIOS on Compaq ds10 Message-ID: <3D87568C.5010908@sandia.gov> All, Quick question here. I am going to be trying my luck at LinuxBIOS on a Compaq ds10L here and I was wondering if I require anything besides the code in the current CVS image. On a first look it seemed that some fo the source has not been checked in for the alpha, but that maybe my newness with the project. Thanks much Kurt From rminnich at lanl.gov Tue Sep 17 12:29:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Tue Sep 17 12:29:01 2002 Subject: LInuxBIOS on Compaq ds10 In-Reply-To: <3D87568C.5010908@sandia.gov> Message-ID: On Tue, 17 Sep 2002, Kurt B Ferreira wrote: > I am going to be trying my luck at LinuxBIOS on a Compaq ds10L here and > I was wondering if I require anything besides the code in the current > CVS image. On a first look it seemed that some fo the source has not > been checked in for the alpha, but that maybe my newness with the project. ouch. linuxbios on the ds10 died and nobody's had any inclination to put it back alive again. I can get you my "last known good" source tree however. ron From kbferre at sandia.gov Tue Sep 17 12:37:01 2002 From: kbferre at sandia.gov (Kurt B Ferreira) Date: Tue Sep 17 12:37:01 2002 Subject: LInuxBIOS on Compaq ds10 References: Message-ID: <3D875BAD.3000307@sandia.gov> hello Ronald G Minnich wrote: >On Tue, 17 Sep 2002, Kurt B Ferreira wrote: > > >ouch. linuxbios on the ds10 died and nobody's had any inclination to put >it back alive again. > Encouraging ;). Know why (EOL for Alpha would be my guess)? > >I can get you my "last known good" source tree however. > That would be great if I could get that. Thanks for your quick response kurt From rminnich at lanl.gov Tue Sep 17 12:44:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Tue Sep 17 12:44:01 2002 Subject: LInuxBIOS on Compaq ds10 In-Reply-To: <3D875BAD.3000307@sandia.gov> Message-ID: On Tue, 17 Sep 2002, Kurt B Ferreira wrote: > >ouch. linuxbios on the ds10 died and nobody's had any inclination to put > >it back alive again. > > > Encouraging ;). Know why (EOL for Alpha would be my guess)? EOL. Compaq never really showed that much interest, then killed the Alpha, so people lost interest. I think our next non-x86 target will be PPC. A pity as the Alpha was a nice machine. too bad. ron From kbferre at sandia.gov Tue Sep 17 12:55:01 2002 From: kbferre at sandia.gov (Kurt B Ferreira) Date: Tue Sep 17 12:55:01 2002 Subject: LInuxBIOS on Compaq ds10 References: Message-ID: <3D875FEB.4080502@sandia.gov> Ronald G Minnich wrote >I think our next non-x86 target will be PPC. > Interesting. Outside of SNL, that is something I would probably be interested in. >A pity as the Alpha was a nice machine. too bad. > Agreed thanx kurt From laytonjb at bellsouth.net Tue Sep 17 16:21:00 2002 From: laytonjb at bellsouth.net (Jeffrey B. Layton) Date: Tue Sep 17 16:21:00 2002 Subject: General LinuxBIOS Questions References: Message-ID: <3D8791BE.60505@bellsouth.net> Ronald G Minnich wrote: >On 17 Sep 2002, ollie lho wrote: > > > >> Do you know if there is an KVM switch equivalent for serial >>port ?? How do you monitor multiple LinuxBIOS boxes except using many >>minicom ?? >> >> Ron, Could you post the netconsole patch for a recent kernel somewhere so I can try it? Thanks! Jeff >The heck with that! Use my netconsole device. I have been using this for >months and it is really wonderful. I can even catch kernel "oops" >messages. > >ron > >_______________________________________________ >Linuxbios mailing list >Linuxbios at clustermatic.org >http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > > > From rminnich at lanl.gov Tue Sep 17 16:24:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Tue Sep 17 16:24:00 2002 Subject: General LinuxBIOS Questions In-Reply-To: <3D8791BE.60505@bellsouth.net> Message-ID: There are two versions. The "known good" version is a module. You insmod it with parameters just like the original. It doesn't actually start logging over IP until you open the device -- this is for systems where the module might get loaded before IP is ready. The second version has one additional wrinkle: it sends out broadcast MAC packets until IP is ready (i.e. until you open it) then sends out over IP. The second version is not well tested. But you can have that one if you wish. Let me know. ron From ebiederman at lnxi.com Tue Sep 17 16:25:01 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W Biederman) Date: Tue Sep 17 16:25:01 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Ronald G Minnich writes: > On 17 Sep 2002, ollie lho wrote: > > > IMHO, booting from kernel image on filesystem is more similar to what > > average end-user used to than booting from a boot partition. I have no > > idea if this makes it useful enough. > > I agree with you here. I also do. Ultimately putting kernels onto a filesystem that needs to be the interface. The question is what is the most maintainable route to get there. I run on the assumption that for general purpose machines, I want to limit flashing the BIOS as much as possible. For an embedded or special purpose machine it is not a problem to build everything to know your local filesystem and partition types. For a more general purpose configuration, it potentially becomes a support problem. Which is why I am leery of putting the entire bootloader functionality into the firmware. I definitely can not give every one beoboot for example because my largest customers disagree about wanting it. Anyway this looks like time will tell we don't have so much development energy flying around that if we don't agree we will have 10 incompatible versions. We should be able to each use what works for them and then compare notes. > Interestingly enough the 9load program now understands the native Plan 9 > file system, kfs. No more FAT partitions. Nice. But has it stopped supporting FAT so all of the users who used FAT are in trouble? Eric From rminnich at lanl.gov Tue Sep 17 16:29:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Tue Sep 17 16:29:00 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On 17 Sep 2002, Eric W Biederman wrote: > > Interestingly enough the 9load program now understands the native Plan 9 > > file system, kfs. No more FAT partitions. > > Nice. But has it stopped supporting FAT so all of the users who used > FAT are in trouble? no. I wonder if in the year 2500 people will still write code for FAT. Using quantum computers of course. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Tue Sep 17 16:29:07 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Tue Sep 17 16:29:07 2002 Subject: building MP tables Message-ID: Well I need (for the first time) to build an MP table. Actually just modify one. The ideal case is that somebody write a program like getpir that just dumps the current MP table. Anybody have one :-) ron From davej at suse.de Tue Sep 17 17:34:00 2002 From: davej at suse.de (Dave Jones) Date: Tue Sep 17 17:34:00 2002 Subject: building MP tables In-Reply-To: ; from rminnich@lanl.gov on Tue, Sep 17, 2002 at 02:40:03PM -0600 References: Message-ID: <20020917234449.A19137@suse.de> On Tue, Sep 17, 2002 at 02:40:03PM -0600, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > Well I need (for the first time) to build an MP table. Actually just > modify one. > > The ideal case is that somebody write a program like getpir that just > dumps the current MP table. Anybody have one :-) 'mptable' should do the trick. A quick googling turned up.. http://orange.kame.net/dev/cvsweb.cgi/src/usr.sbin/mptable/Attic/mptable.c?rev=1.2&cvsroot=kame-freebsd-30 Dave -- | Dave Jones. http://www.codemonkey.org.uk | SuSE Labs From rminnich at lanl.gov Tue Sep 17 19:26:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Tue Sep 17 19:26:00 2002 Subject: building MP tables In-Reply-To: <20020917234449.A19137@suse.de> Message-ID: On Tue, 17 Sep 2002, Dave Jones wrote: > 'mptable' should do the trick. A quick googling turned up.. > http://orange.kame.net/dev/cvsweb.cgi/src/usr.sbin/mptable/Attic/mptable.c?rev=1.2&cvsroot=kame-freebsd-30 thanks that did it. I will now munge this to create an mptable.c usable for linuxbios. ron From gnuorder at tampabay.rr.com Wed Sep 18 03:13:01 2002 From: gnuorder at tampabay.rr.com (GNUOrder) Date: Wed Sep 18 03:13:01 2002 Subject: getting DMA to work (non-linux bios related) Message-ID: <200209180723.g8I7Nl2O007926@smtp-server3.tampabay.rr.com> I was working on trying to get this box to turn on DMA for the drives and we get an error: We used the stock 2.4.18-3smp kernel from redhat 7.3 and also 2.4.19 from source. The motherboard is a dual P4 tyan, I didn't catch the model number. We double checked the DMA settings and enabled an ugly hack (their term), still no go. From what it looks like, there is something with the ide controller at boot time that prevents the kernel from being able to set DMA. From garlick at llnl.gov Wed Sep 18 09:06:00 2002 From: garlick at llnl.gov (Jim Garlick) Date: Wed Sep 18 09:06:00 2002 Subject: getting DMA to work (non-linux bios related) In-Reply-To: <200209180723.g8I7Nl2O007926@smtp-server3.tampabay.rr.com> Message-ID: We had this exact problem on E7000-based Supermicro motherboards. It is a hardware problem with the way the motherboard initializes the P64H2 PCI controller on power-up that requires a BIOS workaround. (Intel improperly documented the requirements when the motherboards were designed, then after the fact issued an update to the P64H2 specification). We were able to get a new BIOS from supermicro that fixes this. Linux Networx (Eric) is also doing LinuxBIOS for these boards and has the workaround implemented as well. Jim On Wed, 18 Sep 2002, GNUOrder wrote: > I was working on trying to get this box to turn on DMA for the drives and we > get an error: We used the stock 2.4.18-3smp kernel from redhat 7.3 and also > 2.4.19 from source. The motherboard is a dual P4 tyan, I didn't catch the > model number. > > We double checked the DMA settings and enabled an ugly hack (their term), > still no go. From what it looks like, there is something with the ide > controller at boot time that prevents the kernel from being able to set DMA. > > >From lspci: 00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801CA IDE U100 (rev 02) > >From dmesg: PCI: Device 00:1f.1 not available because of resource collisions > ICH3: (ide_setup_pci_device:) Could not enable device. > > Does this look like a problem with BIOS or could this chipset be one that > linux doesn't fully support yet? The customer bought it and had it sent to > the server farm that will be hosting it so its not available to either of us. > Yes, I know, why aren't we using scsi for a server. I would if I could. > > GO > > [root at taenaria root]# hdparm -d1 /dev/hda > /dev/hda: > setting using_dma to 1 (on) > HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted > using_dma = 0 (off) > [root at taenaria root]# > <[GNU]Order> type lspci > [root at taenaria root]# lspci > 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. e7500 DRAM Controller (rev 02) > 00:02.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. e7500 HI_B Virtual PCI-to-PCI Bridge > (F0) (rev 02) > 00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801CA/CAM USB (Hub (rev 02) > 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BA/CA PCI Bridge (rev 42) > 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801CA ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev 02) > 00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801CA IDE U100 (rev 02) > 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801CA/CAM SMBus (rev 02) > 01:02.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Rage XL (rev > 27) > 01:03.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82557/8/9 [Ethernet Pro 100] > (rev 0c) > 02:1c.0 PIC: Intel Corp. 82870P2 P64H2 I/OxAPIC (rev 03) > 02:1d.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82870P2 P64H2 Hub PCI Bridge (rev 03) > 02:1e.0 PIC: Intel Corp. 82870P2 P64H2 I/OxAPIC (rev 03) > 02:1f.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82870P2 P64H2 Hub PCI Bridge (rev 03) > 04:01.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82544EI Gigabit Ethernet > Controller (rev 02) > PCI: Device 00:1f.1 not available because of resource collisions > ICH3: (ide_setup_pci_device:) Could not enable device. > <[GNU]Order> with lspci you got that last error? > no, that was out of the dmesg > <[GNU]Order> oh > Just reprinting for reference. > <[GNU]Order> the resource collisions one too? > yes > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > From rminnich at lanl.gov Wed Sep 18 09:58:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Wed Sep 18 09:58:01 2002 Subject: util/mptable/mptable.c Message-ID: This now creates code that can be compiled into linuxbios. I have tested building with it but can't try running it just yet. I will test it later today but wanted to put it out for comments and corrections. The code is still ugly, I need to format it, but wanted to let people see it. It is adopted from a freebsd base. I ripped out getopt as getopt now varies too much: it has options on freebsd that appear not to exist on linux. ron From gnuorder at tampabay.rr.com Wed Sep 18 12:33:00 2002 From: gnuorder at tampabay.rr.com (GNUOrder) Date: Wed Sep 18 12:33:00 2002 Subject: getting DMA to work (non-linux bios related) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <200209181643.g8IGhxu7027213@smtp-server6.tampabay.rr.com> Yes, it looks like a new BIOS addresses this problem. One more question, is there a way to write the new BIOS out from linux on this motherboard? I'm pretty sure its the Tyan Thunder i7500 (S2720). It uses amiflash.zip. GO On Wednesday 18 September 2002 09:16, Jim Garlick wrote: > We had this exact problem on E7000-based Supermicro motherboards. > It is a hardware problem with the way the motherboard initializes the > P64H2 PCI controller on power-up that requires a BIOS workaround. > (Intel improperly documented the requirements when the motherboards were > designed, then after the fact issued an update to the P64H2 specification). > > We were able to get a new BIOS from supermicro that fixes this. > Linux Networx (Eric) is also doing LinuxBIOS for these boards and has the > workaround implemented as well. > > Jim > > On Wed, 18 Sep 2002, GNUOrder wrote: > > I was working on trying to get this box to turn on DMA for the drives and > > we get an error: We used the stock 2.4.18-3smp kernel from redhat 7.3 > > and also 2.4.19 from source. The motherboard is a dual P4 tyan, I didn't > > catch the model number. > > > > We double checked the DMA settings and enabled an ugly hack (their term), > > still no go. From what it looks like, there is something with the ide > > controller at boot time that prevents the kernel from being able to set > > DMA. > > > > >From lspci: 00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801CA IDE U100 (rev 02) > > >From dmesg: PCI: Device 00:1f.1 not available because of resource > > > collisions > > > > ICH3: (ide_setup_pci_device:) Could not enable > > device. > > > > Does this look like a problem with BIOS or could this chipset be one that > > linux doesn't fully support yet? The customer bought it and had it sent > > to the server farm that will be hosting it so its not available to either > > of us. Yes, I know, why aren't we using scsi for a server. I would if I > > could. > > > > GO > > > > [root at taenaria root]# hdparm -d1 /dev/hda > > /dev/hda: > > setting using_dma to 1 (on) > > HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted > > using_dma = 0 (off) > > [root at taenaria root]# > > <[GNU]Order> type lspci > > [root at taenaria root]# lspci > > 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corp. e7500 DRAM Controller (rev 02) > > 00:02.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. e7500 HI_B Virtual PCI-to-PCI > > Bridge (F0) (rev 02) > > 00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corp. 82801CA/CAM USB (Hub (rev > > 02) 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82801BA/CA PCI Bridge (rev > > 42) 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corp. 82801CA ISA Bridge (LPC) (rev > > 02) 00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corp. 82801CA IDE U100 (rev 02) > > 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corp. 82801CA/CAM SMBus (rev 02) > > 01:02.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Rage XL > > (rev 27) > > 01:03.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82557/8/9 [Ethernet Pro > > 100] (rev 0c) > > 02:1c.0 PIC: Intel Corp. 82870P2 P64H2 I/OxAPIC (rev 03) > > 02:1d.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82870P2 P64H2 Hub PCI Bridge (rev > > 03) 02:1e.0 PIC: Intel Corp. 82870P2 P64H2 I/OxAPIC (rev 03) > > 02:1f.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corp. 82870P2 P64H2 Hub PCI Bridge (rev > > 03) 04:01.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corp. 82544EI Gigabit > > Ethernet Controller (rev 02) > > PCI: Device 00:1f.1 not available because of resource collisions > > ICH3: (ide_setup_pci_device:) Could not enable device. > > <[GNU]Order> with lspci you got that last error? > > no, that was out of the dmesg > > <[GNU]Order> oh > > Just reprinting for reference. > > <[GNU]Order> the resource collisions one too? > > yes > > _______________________________________________ > > Linuxbios mailing list > > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios From rminnich at lanl.gov Wed Sep 18 13:11:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Wed Sep 18 13:11:00 2002 Subject: getting DMA to work (non-linux bios related) In-Reply-To: <200209181643.g8IGhxu7027213@smtp-server6.tampabay.rr.com> Message-ID: On Wed, 18 Sep 2002, GNUOrder wrote: > Yes, it looks like a new BIOS addresses this problem. One more question, is > there a way to write the new BIOS out from linux on this motherboard? I'm > pretty sure its the Tyan Thunder i7500 (S2720). It uses amiflash.zip. if you get a romimage the flash_rom utility can write from linux. Before running flash_rom you have to do this: setpci -d 8086:2480 4e.b=1 to enable flash writes. then just flash_rom ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Wed Sep 18 14:34:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Wed Sep 18 14:34:01 2002 Subject: latest greatest memtest86.ebi Message-ID: What's the absolute path to the absolute latest greatest memtest? I'm trying to see if my smartcore problem is a memory config problem. ron From ebiederman at lnxi.com Wed Sep 18 15:20:01 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W Biederman) Date: Wed Sep 18 15:20:01 2002 Subject: Any UK DiskOnChip Retailers? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Ronald G Minnich writes: > On 17 Sep 2002, Eric W Biederman wrote: > > > > Interestingly enough the 9load program now understands the native Plan 9 > > > file system, kfs. No more FAT partitions. > > > > Nice. But has it stopped supporting FAT so all of the users who used > > FAT are in trouble? > > no. I wonder if in the year 2500 people will still write code for FAT. > > Using quantum computers of course. No. I'm pretty certain the spec will be in machine comprehensible form and the computers will write the code in 2500 :) Eric From rminnich at lanl.gov Wed Sep 18 18:49:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Wed Sep 18 18:49:01 2002 Subject: one more memtest question Message-ID: Looks like linuxbios support is in there. Has anyone built from 3.0 for linuxbios? I am assuming you can just built memtest (it's an elf) and use that as a payload for linuxbios. ron From ebiederman at lnxi.com Wed Sep 18 18:59:01 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W Biederman) Date: Wed Sep 18 18:59:01 2002 Subject: one more memtest question In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Ronald G Minnich writes: > Looks like linuxbios support is in there. > > Has anyone built from 3.0 for linuxbios? > > I am assuming you can just built memtest (it's an elf) and use that as a > payload for linuxbios. Yep. Eric From rminnich at lanl.gov Wed Sep 18 19:00:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Wed Sep 18 19:00:00 2002 Subject: mptable tested and working Message-ID: I just tested the mptable utility. There is a bit of a hack in there for IOAPICs, but it basically does the right thing for the supermicro p4dpe I'm working with. So the most recent, tested on one motherboard version, is now committed. It generates C code that looks identical (mostly) to the mptable.c code in other directories. ron From ebiederman at lnxi.com Wed Sep 18 19:06:00 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W Biederman) Date: Wed Sep 18 19:06:00 2002 Subject: one more memtest question In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Ronald G Minnich writes: > Looks like linuxbios support is in there. > > Has anyone built from 3.0 for linuxbios? > > I am assuming you can just built memtest (it's an elf) and use that as a > payload for linuxbios. You need to enable serial port support if you need it I believe it is off by default. Eric From steve at nexpath.com Thu Sep 19 02:48:00 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Thu Sep 19 02:48:00 2002 Subject: pcchips m787cl+ problems In-Reply-To: Message-ID: I have been trying to bring up linuxbios on the m787cl+ motherboard and can't get very far. This has the sis630e chipset and I used the m758 configuration as a start. The boot fails at the copy of linuxbios from rom to ram. Fortunately the serial port works and I put in some tests and basically it acts like ram is not there. An additional odd result is that it resets after about 5-10 seconds on a regular beat as if there is a watchdog timer or something. Anyone have any ideas? -Steve From rminnich at lanl.gov Thu Sep 19 10:08:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Thu Sep 19 10:08:00 2002 Subject: pcchips m787cl+ problems In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Thu, 19 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > I have been trying to bring up linuxbios on the m787cl+ motherboard and > can't get very far. This has the sis630e chipset and I used the m758 > configuration as a start. The boot fails at the copy of linuxbios from rom > to ram. Fortunately the serial port works and I put in some tests and > basically it acts like ram is not there. An additional odd result is that > it resets after about 5-10 seconds on a regular beat as if there is a > watchdog timer or something. I think you need to run a user-mode SPD reading program under Linux under normal bios and make sure SPD bus is readable. Some vendors have two I2C busses on their motherboard and you have to do something special to get to SPD (e.g. ASUS). Check out the watchdog disable code. Some motherboards wire up the 630 watchdog, others do not. In particular, the MS7308E has a watchdog timer connected up and the mainboard code turns it off. ron From steve at nexpath.com Thu Sep 19 16:49:00 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Thu Sep 19 16:49:00 2002 Subject: pcchips m787cl+ problems In-Reply-To: Message-ID: > I think you need to run a user-mode SPD reading program under Linux under > normal bios and make sure SPD bus is readable. Some vendors have two I2C > busses on their motherboard and you have to do something special to get to > SPD (e.g. ASUS). > > Check out the watchdog disable code. Some motherboards wire up the 630 > watchdog, others do not. In particular, the MS7308E has a watchdog timer > connected up and the mainboard code turns it off. > Yes, thanks, the code in ipl.S was not being included, which reads the spds and does some other important chipset setup for the sis630. This code is a little odd when booting from flash, since it is (apparently) setup to run in real mode at a hardcoded address in flash, prior to the rest of the startup code. I changed it to run in 32-bit mode and put it in the .inc stack after the console setup and now the motherboard works. -Steve From sivakumar.subramani at wipro.com Fri Sep 20 03:27:01 2002 From: sivakumar.subramani at wipro.com (SIVAKUMAR SUBRAMANI) Date: Fri Sep 20 03:27:01 2002 Subject: General LinuxBIOS Questions In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <004b01c26079$0d960500$970806c0@siva> Hi, I am in the process of porting the Linux BIOS code for my system. The Specification of my system is as follow: Main board: Intel vc15. SuperIO : SMSC LPC47M192 Northbridge: Intel 845 MCH (DDR support) Southbridge: Intel 82801BA (ICH2) I have added source code to support the above mentioned component as per the specification of corresponding component. I have built the Linux BIOS image also. I need to test the code. Before that I want to know, whether I need to apply any patches to the Linux kernel. I am using 2.4.18 version of Linux kernel. I am planning to boot the kernel from IDE disk. "Please ignore the attachment!!!" Thanks, Siva.s -----Original Message----- From: linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org [mailto:linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org] On Behalf Of Ronald G Minnich Sent: Tuesday, September 17, 2002 7:28 AM To: Eric W Biederman Cc: Jeffrey B. Layton; LinuxBIOS Subject: Re: General LinuxBIOS Questions oops, missed this message and sent a reply to a reply! On 16 Sep 2002, Eric W Biederman wrote: > NIC hardware is noticeably more complex than serial ports so getting > a network console going from power on is still an open issue. I don't > know that it has been tested much yet. we're going to try this using myrinet hardware. I.e. a very simple control program on the NIC that will give us "serial port" in linuxbios for the very early startup. ron _______________________________________________ Linuxbios mailing list Linuxbios at clustermatic.org http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: Wipro_Disclaimer.txt URL: From justin at street-vision.com Fri Sep 20 07:27:00 2002 From: justin at street-vision.com (Justin Cormack) Date: Fri Sep 20 07:27:00 2002 Subject: PCchips ES8m Message-ID: <200209201137.g8KBbmY00847@tench.street-vision.com> Does anyone know anything about this? http://www.pcchips.com.tw/ES8m.html it appears to be SiS 5598 chipset, similar size to the VIA EPIA. No idea what type of performance the RiSE MP6 has. Is there Linuxbios support? (Ollie?) Is it actually shipping? Justin From rminnich at lanl.gov Fri Sep 20 10:16:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Fri Sep 20 10:16:01 2002 Subject: General LinuxBIOS Questions In-Reply-To: <004b01c26079$0d960500$970806c0@siva> Message-ID: On Fri, 20 Sep 2002, SIVAKUMAR SUBRAMANI wrote: > Before that I want to know, whether I need to apply any patches to the > Linux kernel. I am using 2.4.18 version of Linux kernel. I am planning > to boot the kernel from IDE disk. I always test with unpatched kernels the first time, to see if there are unresolved linuxbios issues. ron From adam.r.hunt at gmx.net Fri Sep 20 17:06:01 2002 From: adam.r.hunt at gmx.net (Adam Hunt) Date: Fri Sep 20 17:06:01 2002 Subject: BIOS Tweaking? Message-ID: <8284.1031863339@www13.gmx.net> A link on Slashdot to an article at Ars Technica (http://arstechnica.com/guide/building/bios/bios-1.html) about BIOS tweaking got me thinking. Is it possible to modify things things the BIOS has traditionally initialized. Thinks like CAS timing, RAS-to-CAS, and even things like clocking options like processor and PCI multipliers. --adam -- GMX - Die Kommunikationsplattform im Internet. http://www.gmx.net From nick at mistry.com Fri Sep 20 17:12:19 2002 From: nick at mistry.com (Nicholas Mistry) Date: Fri Sep 20 17:12:19 2002 Subject: Linuxbios for VIA EPIA motherboards? Message-ID: <1386.63.209.225.42.1032044531.squirrel@65.85.27.130> I was wondering what is the status of the support on VIA EPIA motherboards w/ LinuxBIOS. I have dug through the archives quite a bit, and found that there has been someintrest w/ supporting the boards. Unfortunately i have not found any information as to howfar along it has gone. Thanks -Nick From wingel at acolyte.hack.org Fri Sep 20 17:17:42 2002 From: wingel at acolyte.hack.org (Christer Weinigel) Date: Fri Sep 20 17:17:42 2002 Subject: General LinuxBIOS Questions In-Reply-To: ollie lho's message of "17 Sep 2002 08:37:49 +0800" References: <3D8653A9.3090902@bellsouth.net> <3D865C30.7070103@bellsouth.net> <1032223069.1135.29.camel@ollie> Message-ID: ollie lho writes: > On Tue, 2002-09-17 at 07:38, Eric W Biederman wrote: > > interesting problem, and hasn't been fully solved yet. Currently I > > connect the serial port to a box with a lot of serial ports, and > > that box is network accessible. > > > > Do you know if there is an KVM switch equivalent for serial > port ?? How do you monitor multiple LinuxBIOS boxes except using many > minicom ?? You get a terminal server such as a Cyclades: http://www.cyclades.com/products/ts_series.php The nice thing about a serial port is that it is realistic to always log everything even from a large amount of machines. So it's quite possible to build a central monitoring application that automatically records oopses that appear on an serial console and forward them to the system administrator, and with the logs the system administrator could see what actions led up to the oops. > How do you connect these 350 nodes "physically" to you console ?? Do you > need many consoles or is there any think like "hub" the LAN ?? With 32-port terminal servers thats just a dozen of them. /Christer -- "Just how much can I get away with and still go to heaven?" Freelance consultant specializing in device driver programming for Linux Christer Weinigel http://www.weinigel.se From rminnich at lanl.gov Fri Sep 20 19:03:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Fri Sep 20 19:03:01 2002 Subject: BIOS Tweaking? In-Reply-To: <8284.1031863339@www13.gmx.net> Message-ID: On Thu, 12 Sep 2002, Adam Hunt wrote: > A link on Slashdot to an article at Ars Technica > (http://arstechnica.com/guide/building/bios/bios-1.html) about BIOS > tweaking got me thinking. Is it possible to modify things things the > BIOS has traditionally initialized. Thinks like CAS timing, > RAS-to-CAS, and even things like clocking options like processor and > PCI multipliers. sure. We do that all the time. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Fri Sep 20 20:23:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Fri Sep 20 20:23:00 2002 Subject: Linuxbios for VIA EPIA motherboards? In-Reply-To: <1386.63.209.225.42.1032044531.squirrel@65.85.27.130> Message-ID: On Sat, 14 Sep 2002, Nicholas Mistry wrote: > I was wondering what is the status of the support on VIA EPIA motherboards w/ > LinuxBIOS. a couple of us are looking at it, but it will still be a month or so. ron From stuge-linuxbios at cdy.org Sat Sep 21 01:51:01 2002 From: stuge-linuxbios at cdy.org (Peter Stuge) Date: Sat Sep 21 01:51:01 2002 Subject: Modern GPU programming Message-ID: <20020921080152.A27911@foo.birdnet.se> Hi! I found this on the sourceforge page about xbox-linux. It briefly discusses the capabilities of a modern graphics processing unit, specifically the nVidia model found in Xboxes. It also shows how to set up 80x25 text mode on these chips. This should be useful information for the LinuxBIOS project as well. http://xbox-linux.sourceforge.net/articles.php?aid=2002181091439 Basically it contains this code: void crtcout(unsigned char reg, unsigned char data) { /* a single 16 bit access might also work */ _asm { mov al, reg mov ebx, 0xFD6013d4 mov [ebx], al mov al, data mov 1[ebx], al } } void settextmode() { crtcout(0x00, 0x5F); crtcout(0x01, 0x4F); crtcout(0x04, 0x54); crtcout(0x05, 0x80); crtcout(0x07, 0x1F); crtcout(0x10, 0x9C); crtcout(0x17, 0xA3); } crtcout() uses MMIO to access the CRTC registers since legacy IO is disabled in the Xbox. The MMIO memory region is programmed into the GPU by the BIOS. (0xFD000000 with vanilla Xbox kernel) However, the offset of the CRTC in this memory region is "magic" and probably only known by the chipset manufacturer, unless reverse engineered. The web page also mentions the need to set up a font on that particular hardware, however most PC graphics cards should already have a font onboard, right? Anyway, I thought this might be of interest to members of this list. //Peter From justin at street-vision.com Sat Sep 21 13:04:00 2002 From: justin at street-vision.com (Justin Cormack) Date: Sat Sep 21 13:04:00 2002 Subject: Linuxbios for VIA EPIA motherboards? In-Reply-To: from "Ronald G Minnich" at Sep 20, 2002 06:34:46 PM Message-ID: <200209211714.g8LHEPh03207@tench.street-vision.com> > > On Sat, 14 Sep 2002, Nicholas Mistry wrote: > > > I was wondering what is the status of the support on VIA EPIA motherboards w/ > > LinuxBIOS. > > a couple of us are looking at it, but it will still be a month or so. Who has actually managed to do what so far? I might have some time to work on it, and I have a bunch of them. Is anything in cvs? Justin From angelo-arifi at cogeco.ca Sat Sep 21 15:34:00 2002 From: angelo-arifi at cogeco.ca (Angelo Arifi) Date: Sat Sep 21 15:34:00 2002 Subject: My system? Message-ID: <000801c261a7$dc1d0fc0$65041d09@blackbird> Can I flash my BIOS? I was looking for a BIOS replacment since my default BIOS plain sux, compare to some other bioses, anywho, so i stumbled across the beowulf project got me interested since I do alot of 3d rendering and heard of clustering before. Then I stumbled across of LinuxBios and my 'childhood dream' was true, booting directly not having a shitty old ancient 8bit looky BIOS. Erm, so ya I read a little bit here and there. And it would seem on the status page that my motherboard is NOT supported :/ I have currently a Linux/windows dual, not sure how that would all work i have yet to read lots but is my motherboard the Asus P4-TE supported? ----------------------------------- Angelo "Gigatron" Arifi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From nick-linuxbios at bostonimportcenter.com Sat Sep 21 17:28:01 2002 From: nick-linuxbios at bostonimportcenter.com (Nicholas Mistry) Date: Sat Sep 21 17:28:01 2002 Subject: DOC on EPIA-800 motherboard Message-ID: <1106.216.41.39.87.1032644350.squirrel@65.85.27.130> After reading over my manual, i discovered that the EPIA-800 has a DOC option. After looking onthe motherboard, it seems that all that is required is a surface mount flash chip. Anyone know what kind of chip can be used here? And how does one access it? I have a few 32 or 64 Mbit Intel flash chips laying around from my Assabet days. It would be nice to drop one of those on,and take advantage of it. -N From rminnich at lanl.gov Sat Sep 21 23:39:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sat Sep 21 23:39:01 2002 Subject: Linuxbios for VIA EPIA motherboards? In-Reply-To: <200209211714.g8LHEPh03207@tench.street-vision.com> Message-ID: On Sat, 21 Sep 2002, Justin Cormack wrote: > Who has actually managed to do what so far? I might have some time to > work on it, and I have a bunch of them. Is anything in cvs? yes there is a mainboard set up in cvs. I had this chipset working a few years ago, but it was somewhat buggy -- or else the motherboard was. Let's hope the new one will work well. It sure looks like a nice piece of hardware. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Sat Sep 21 23:44:59 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sat Sep 21 23:44:59 2002 Subject: My system? In-Reply-To: <000801c261a7$dc1d0fc0$65041d09@blackbird> Message-ID: send an lspci and we will be able to tell. Thanks ron From steve at nexpath.com Sun Sep 22 02:10:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Sun Sep 22 02:10:01 2002 Subject: sis630 mac address In-Reply-To: Message-ID: My pcchips m787cl+ with the sis630e chipset started reporting a 00:00..00 mac address. It was working at first, but somewhere in the process of debugging I started getting all zeros. I looked thorough the linuxbios and the sis900.c driver, and I think everything is being setup correctly. I even wrote a small program to read the eeprom directly (rather than the APC cmos), following the code in the sis driver, and I always read zeroes. I cannot ever seem to get a 1 on DO (b1 of IO reg 0x2008). I put the orig bios back in and booted Linux and same result, so I am pretty sure the eeprom got erased (or is dead). Anybody (ollie?) know if there is a way to re-write the eeprom? The ifconfig command will set the mac to any value but it doesn't last through reboots, and I did not see any code in the driver that appears to write to the eeprom. The bios that came with the board does not seem to have a way to set it either. BTW, I have the text mode vga going on this mobo if anyone is interested in the code. I was able to use my stpc vga code with only a few changes. -Steve From tkarthikbalaguru at yahoo.co.in Sun Sep 22 10:47:01 2002 From: tkarthikbalaguru at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Karthik=20Bala=20Guru?=) Date: Sun Sep 22 10:47:01 2002 Subject: port into x86 HOWTO ? Message-ID: <20020922145812.97139.qmail@web8201.mail.in.yahoo.com> Hi, Actually i am trying to port rtlinux into a x86 board . that board has our own BIOS . the BIOS supports only upto 200 KB memory . I have RTlinux ported into a floppy to around 500 KB. I am ready to port into that X86 board , but our BIOS's drawback makes me to wait till the BIOS is made to support upto atleast 800 KB. and this is about to consume many weeks. I came across LINUXBIOS ..... Will this able to replace the BIOS problem that i have with porting into the X86 baord ?? How to start with ??? Some clear steps plz ..... ????? Do i require a MONITOR prg ? Is it possible to port my minimised RTlinux into the X86 board with the use of linuxbios ????? Help me out ! karthik bala guru Yahoo! Properties Special Buy, sell, rent...your flat, or even post an ad -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From tkarthikbalaguru at yahoo.co.in Sun Sep 22 10:53:00 2002 From: tkarthikbalaguru at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Karthik=20Bala=20Guru?=) Date: Sun Sep 22 10:53:00 2002 Subject: porting rtlinux into x86 ?? Message-ID: <20020922150300.22182.qmail@web8203.mail.in.yahoo.com> Hi, Actually i am trying to port rtlinux into a x86 board . that board has our own BIOS . the BIOS supports only upto 200 KB memory . I have RTlinux ported into a floppy to around 500 KB. I am ready to port into that X86 board , but our BIOS's drawback makes me to wait till the BIOS is made to support upto atleast 800 KB. and this is about to consume many weeks. I came across LINUXBIOS ..... Will this able to replace the BIOS problem that i have with porting into the X86 baord ?? How to start with ??? Some clear steps plz ..... ????? Do i require a MONITOR prg ? Is it possible to port my minimised RTlinux into the X86 board with the use of linuxbios ????? Help me out ! karthik bala guru ________________________________________________________________________ Missed your favourite TV serial last night? Try the new, Yahoo! TV. visit http://in.tv.yahoo.com From pyro at linuxlabs.com Sun Sep 22 11:39:01 2002 From: pyro at linuxlabs.com (steven james) Date: Sun Sep 22 11:39:01 2002 Subject: sis630 mac address In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Greetings, AFAIK, on the 630e, the MAC address is actually stored in CMOS at index 9-14. I'm not sure how that came to be zeroed, but if you put it back there, all will be well. The regular BIOS sets that during POST. G'day, sjames On Sat, 21 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > My pcchips m787cl+ with the sis630e chipset started reporting a 00:00..00 > mac address. It was working at first, but somewhere in the process of > debugging I started getting all zeros. > > I looked thorough the linuxbios and the sis900.c driver, and I think > everything is being setup correctly. I even wrote a small program to read > the eeprom directly (rather than the APC cmos), following the code in the > sis driver, and I always read zeroes. I cannot ever seem to get a 1 on DO > (b1 of IO reg 0x2008). > > I put the orig bios back in and booted Linux and same result, so I am pretty > sure the eeprom got erased (or is dead). > > Anybody (ollie?) know if there is a way to re-write the eeprom? The > ifconfig command will set the mac to any value but it doesn't last through > reboots, and I did not see any code in the driver that appears to write to > the eeprom. > > The bios that came with the board does not seem to have a way to set it > either. > > BTW, I have the text mode vga going on this mobo if anyone is interested in > the code. I was able to use my stpc vga code with only a few changes. > > -Steve > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > -- -------------------------steven james, director of research, linux labs ... ........ ..... .... 230 peachtree st nw ste 701 the original linux labs atlanta.ga.us 30303 -since 1995 http://www.linuxlabs.com office 404.577.7747 fax 404.577.7743 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From alesan at manoweb.com Sun Sep 22 11:45:00 2002 From: alesan at manoweb.com (Alessio Sangalli) Date: Sun Sep 22 11:45:00 2002 Subject: motherboard for vdr system Message-ID: <3D8DE7D5.8060804@manoweb.com> Hi, I've sent this mail september 14th, but I didn't see it on the mailing list.... I try to re-send it, thank you Hi. I would like to buy a motherboard for a VDR system: http://www.cadsoft.de/people/kls/vdr This software uses DVB cards to receive digital television and transforms your PC in a powerful videorecorder - dvd player - divx mp3 etc etc etc As you can imagine, a very fast boot would be very appreciate, making it possible to completely replace a standalone digital receiver. I watched around and I found a shop selling PC-CHIPS motherboards. I need an AGP slot, and two or more PCI slots for DVB-cards, plus ethernet etc. I have a bit of fear the 815 is very limited in expansion, perhaps the 830 is better for me. Do you have any advice about motherboards? I also found a page (http://www.stud.fernuni-hagen.de/q3998142/pcchips/aka.html) where there are the pc-chips equivalents; nowadays I can very easily find ECS products which are the very same of pcchips 830 etc. I've read archive mailing list and all but I still need some more informations. Will I be able to directly boot my own linux kernel, with IDE, XFS etc support? I need a hard-disk anyway, to record movies and load vdr software, etc. bye and thank you! as From angelo-arifi at cogeco.ca Sun Sep 22 11:51:01 2002 From: angelo-arifi at cogeco.ca (Angelo Arifi) Date: Sun Sep 22 11:51:01 2002 Subject: My system's LCPI report Message-ID: <001701c26251$5f726240$65041d09@blackbird> Ok I did lspci -vv on my baby and well i saved the output in a text, and of course it is attached :) Also how would this function, knowing that i have linux and windows dual boot now, if i flashed my BIOS it would boot into linux only right? (ya i'd say right? lol hence the 'linuxbios' heh) Thanks guys, i find this project VERY interesting, i wish i had another computer to experiment on as well. ----------------------------------- Angelo "Gigatron" Arifi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- An embedded and charset-unspecified text was scrubbed... Name: lspci.txt URL: From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 22 11:56:29 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 22 11:56:29 2002 Subject: sis630 mac address In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Sat, 21 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > My pcchips m787cl+ with the sis630e chipset started reporting a 00:00..00 > mac address. It was working at first, but somewhere in the process of > debugging I started getting all zeros. I am pretty sure you won't find an eeprom. PC chips has a habit of storing MAC address in CMOS to save the eeprom cost on the motherboard. Matsonic ms7308e does this too. At some point your cmos probably got zerod. Bad thing the vendors do is store MAC address in cmos. Zero cmos, zero mac address. They copy the MAC address from flash to cmos if cmos is 0. The idea is, if cmos is 0, the BIOS copies the MAC address from CMOS to flash. If the cmos is 0 not, the BIOS doesn't do anything. Thus, MAC address is stored in BOTH flash and CMOS. That's why they tell you to NEVER interrupt a BIOS update ... you can lose the MAC address. This amazingly fragile scheme is becoming more and more common. It is becoming clear that we need a cmos.c for each mainboard, which does the mainboard-specific cmos functions. too bad. > The bios that came with the board does not seem to have a way to set it > either. That makes sense. Part of the flash upgrade (from what I have seen) is to load the MAC from CMOS to BIOS ... no MAC in CMOS, no MAC address in Flash. > BTW, I have the text mode vga going on this mobo if anyone is interested in > the code. I was able to use my stpc vga code with only a few changes. Very interesting, how does it fit in to linuxbios? Is it mainboard-independent or ... ron From hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net Sun Sep 22 12:02:05 2002 From: hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net (Gregg C Levine) Date: Sun Sep 22 12:02:05 2002 Subject: motherboard for vdr system In-Reply-To: <3D8DE7D5.8060804@manoweb.com> Message-ID: <000601c26252$14e6b720$8a72580c@who> Hello from Gregg C Levine Actually, yes it was posted to the list, and I did read it. You do understand the theme behind this mail list, don't you? It concerns itself with the idea that the legacy bios on a machine can be replaced with something that will boot straight into Linux, even faster then the legacy bios, it replaced. (And that's my opinion only, Ron.) If I remember correctly there are a few SiS based boards out there, which have an alternate form of video output, which is composite video based, but I don't remember which ones. Can you repost your message, but in simpler terms? I think everyone else missed it, because of its original phrasing. ------------------- Gregg C Levine hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net ------------------------------------------------------------ "The Force will be with you...Always." Obi-Wan Kenobi "Use the Force, Luke."? Obi-Wan Kenobi (This company dedicates this E-Mail to General Obi-Wan Kenobi ) (This company dedicates this E-Mail to Master Yoda ) > -----Original Message----- > From: linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org [mailto:linuxbios- > admin at clustermatic.org] On Behalf Of Alessio Sangalli > Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2002 11:55 AM > To: linuxbios at clustermatic.org > Subject: motherboard for vdr system > > Hi, I've sent this mail september 14th, but I didn't see it on the > mailing list.... I try to re-send it, thank you > > > > Hi. I would like to buy a motherboard for a VDR system: > http://www.cadsoft.de/people/kls/vdr > > This software uses DVB cards to receive digital television and > transforms your PC in a powerful videorecorder - dvd player - divx mp3 > etc etc etc > > As you can imagine, a very fast boot would be very appreciate, making it > possible to completely replace a standalone digital receiver. > > I watched around and I found a shop selling PC-CHIPS motherboards. I > need an AGP slot, and two or more PCI slots for DVB-cards, plus ethernet > etc. I have a bit of fear the 815 is very limited in expansion, perhaps > the 830 is better for me. Do you have any advice about motherboards? I > also found a page > (http://www.stud.fernuni-hagen.de/q3998142/pcchips/aka.html) where there > are the pc-chips equivalents; nowadays I can very easily find ECS > products which are the very same of pcchips 830 etc. > > I've read archive mailing list and all but I still need some more > informations. Will I be able to directly boot my own linux kernel, with > IDE, XFS etc support? I need a hard-disk anyway, to record movies and > load vdr software, etc. > > bye and thank you! > as > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios From bari at onelabs.com Sun Sep 22 12:18:00 2002 From: bari at onelabs.com (Bari Ari) Date: Sun Sep 22 12:18:00 2002 Subject: sis630 mac address References: Message-ID: <3D8DF05E.1010603@onelabs.com> Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: >My pcchips m787cl+ with the sis630e chipset started reporting a 00:00..00 >mac address. It was working at first, but somewhere in the process of >debugging I started getting all zeros. > >I looked thorough the linuxbios and the sis900.c driver, and I think >everything is being setup correctly. I even wrote a small program to read >the eeprom directly (rather than the APC cmos), following the code in the >sis driver, and I always read zeroes. I cannot ever seem to get a 1 on DO >(b1 of IO reg 0x2008). > >I put the orig bios back in and booted Linux and same result, so I am pretty >sure the eeprom got erased (or is dead). > >Anybody (ollie?) know if there is a way to re-write the eeprom? The >ifconfig command will set the mac to any value but it doesn't last through >reboots, and I did not see any code in the driver that appears to write to >the eeprom. > > > The utils and instructions for programing the eeprom with the SiS 900 can be found at: ftp://sis55X:sis55x at ftp3.sis.com.tw/SiS900/utility/ Bari From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 22 12:23:22 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 22 12:23:22 2002 Subject: port into x86 HOWTO ? In-Reply-To: <20020922145812.97139.qmail@web8201.mail.in.yahoo.com> Message-ID: What do you mean by x86? 8086? You need to give much more detail than you have given. What chipset? Can you run lspci? ron From steve at nexpath.com Sun Sep 22 13:01:00 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Sun Sep 22 13:01:00 2002 Subject: sis630 mac address In-Reply-To: <3D8DF05E.1010603@onelabs.com> Message-ID: > The utils and instructions for programing the eeprom with the SiS 900 > can be found at: > > ftp://sis55X:sis55x at ftp3.sis.com.tw/SiS900/utility/ > > Bari Thanks for the link; very useful info. -Steve From preston.bannister at cox.net Sun Sep 22 13:30:00 2002 From: preston.bannister at cox.net (Preston L. Bannister) Date: Sun Sep 22 13:30:00 2002 Subject: LinuxBIOS and your TV? (was: motherboard for vdr system) In-Reply-To: <000601c26252$14e6b720$8a72580c@who> Message-ID: This is way too cool :). http://www.cadsoft.de/people/kls/vdr The fact this is built from off-the-shelf components is *very* interesting. Click the remote to turn on your TV (and the attached computer) and the first thing you see is the LinuxBIOS boot message. Microsoft would be delighted :). The set-top box that came from my cable TV company is slow, and the interface poorly designed. Innovation is slow to non-existant. It's bad enough I'd considered ditching the service. This flips things entirely around. Ditch the floppy drive and the funky LED interface. Add a DVD or DVD-recorder drive, both for software reload (if needed) and to play movies. Connect the box to your home network. Now you can control your recorder from anywhere in the house (or anywhere on the Internet). You can monitor and control the programs your kids watch :). Fast boot is desirable. Booting Linux from flash would be nice but not essential, given you would have a hard disk. You'd be looking to boot from CD (for software reload) or hard disk. Maybe the questions Alessio could have better asked would be: Which BIOS/boot loader would be most suitable? and then: Which suitable small motherboard is supported and readily available? ( I too was unclear Alessio was asking :). --- Preston L. Bannister http://members.cox.net/preston.bannister/ pbannister on Yahoo Messenger From aod at unisys.com.br Sun Sep 22 14:59:01 2002 From: aod at unisys.com.br (Andre Dias) Date: Sun Sep 22 14:59:01 2002 Subject: sis630 mac address Message-ID: <4.3.0.20020922160710.023e8d28@mail.unisys.com.br> >Anybody (ollie?) know if there is a way to re-write the eeprom? The >ifconfig command will set the mac to any value but it doesn't last through >reboots, and I did not see any code in the driver that appears to write to >the eeprom. There is a dos utility in pcchips.com site to reprogram the mac address. andre http://usuarios.uninet.com.br/~aod ---------------------------------------------- From alesan at manoweb.com Sun Sep 22 15:18:00 2002 From: alesan at manoweb.com (Alessio Sangalli) Date: Sun Sep 22 15:18:00 2002 Subject: motherboard for vdr system References: <000601c26252$14e6b720$8a72580c@who> Message-ID: <3D8E0AFC.9070709@manoweb.com> Gregg C Levine wrote: > Hello from Gregg C Levine Hi! > Actually, yes it was posted to the list, and I did read it. You do Sorry, perhaps I missed it with any answer to it. That's because it was sent immediately after my subscription? Who knows. > understand the theme behind this mail list, don't you? It concerns > itself with the idea that the legacy bios on a machine can be replaced > with something that will boot straight into Linux, even faster then the > legacy bios, it replaced. Ja. To make the things clear there was a period in my life where I used to program the ASM of various processors and interact directly with bios services at the good old DOS days hehe. The problem is that I didn't find much docs on the website; from when I posted the first time I've dovloaded the CVS and read few docs there, and I can understand much better now - and ask more precisely. > remember correctly there are a few SiS based boards out there, which > have an alternate form of video output, which is composite video based, > but I don't remember which ones. Can you repost your message, but in nope, I don't need it; the DVB cards can receive from satellite (or from a DVD) and they have an integrated hardware decoder with rgb video output that performs very well. The linux drivers are perfect and have more features that the windows ones (!). I don't actually need a graphic card for this system, as I have this pc near the tv ands no keyboard/monitor; however I woud like an AGP slot for future expansions. > simpler terms? I think everyone else missed it, because of its original > phrasing. ok. I'll describe my system in detail and explain what I need and what I hope linuxbios will be able to give me. Hardware: motherboard with an AMD duron cpu, 128MB pc133 sdram; 80GB hdd (necessary for the storage of the recordings; the size of the system software, including DVB drivers and the VDR application is few MBs); DVD drive; serial port with home-made infrared LIRC receiver. And, of course, two DVB PCI cards. Software: I have a simple (Slackware) linux installation, with no X nor unnecessary applications; when the systems boots up it a script is started from rc.local and loads the drivers and fires up the VDR program. Now I can use it my tv "on screen display" as output and an infrared remote control as input. It's perfect, VDR can even program the nvram of the motherboard to turn on the pc immediately before a recording (think you're out at work and want to record a cool tv-show or something) and then shutdown again the system. As you can see I need no special hardware or so, very simple: a serial port, a PCI bus, a ide interface for hdd and dvd. Now, one of the most boring drawbacks of this system is the slow boot up time; even if linux itself is not so slow to startup, all the legacy bios time make the system boot in no less than 40-50 seconds! I hope that installing linuxbios I will be able to boot much faster. Now I want to understand, that if I can really put my kernel image, with ide and xfs support (xfs is a filesystem suitable for very large data files like the ones made by an audio/video recording, that's why I use it) into the flash memory of my motherboard, or only a small linux that boots another kenrnel image (or a boot loader like LILO) found on the hard disk, exactly like a traditional BIOS. What exactly is the famous 'disk on chip'? Will I be able to program the startup of the computer at a particular time or shutdown it by software? And, an advice for a good amd motherboard with no particular setup-problems; I saw the pc-chips / ECS ones that are quite cheap and generally avaiable, with good features (such as integrated ethernet or similar); can I go with one of those, or will I end up to debug ASM code with a PCI analyzer?? eheh thank you, I hope I've been clearer now! bye as From steve at nexpath.com Sun Sep 22 15:23:14 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Sun Sep 22 15:23:14 2002 Subject: sis630 mac address In-Reply-To: Message-ID: > AFAIK, on the 630e, the MAC address is actually stored in CMOS at index > 9-14. I'm not sure how that came to be zeroed, but if you put it back > there, all will be well. The regular BIOS sets that during POST. > > G'day, > sjames > Thanks, you are correct, except the BIOS stubbornly refuses to reset it now. I have zeroed the cmos (using the jumper) several times, and pressed F2(? I think) to set default values, but still a zero. It's interesting the the M787cl+, after a zero cmos, doesn't boot on the first poweron, have to then poweroff and try again. Oh well, budget board, budget bios I guess. Another argument for Linuxbios. -Steve From ebiederman at lnxi.com Sun Sep 22 15:29:00 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W. Biederman) Date: Sun Sep 22 15:29:00 2002 Subject: sis630 mac address In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Ronald G Minnich writes: > That's why they tell you to NEVER interrupt a BIOS update ... you can lose > the MAC address. This amazingly fragile scheme is becoming more and more > common. Well that and you can kill your system 10 other ways as well. Killing a BIOS update is fragile. Though with a little care it can be made fairly robust. > It is becoming clear that we need a cmos.c for each mainboard, which does > the mainboard-specific cmos functions. too bad. A lot of this can be fairly motherboard independent with just the list of where it lives changing from board to board. Something that came up while I was trying to figure out how to support multiple baud rates with the same binary build of LinuxBIOS, is the idea to have an area set aside in the rom image that is the size of the cmos, and has the default CMOS settings. And then anytime a checksum would fail or if we decide not to look at the CMOS at all, we consult this area. And it can use a common generic code base. The we just need to set up the flash uptility to copy this into the image before it is flashed into the ROM. The nice thing is that we can uses this for things like motherboard serial numbers or the ipv6 DHCP DUID that they want for DHCP. Eric From ebiederman at lnxi.com Sun Sep 22 15:35:01 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W. Biederman) Date: Sun Sep 22 15:35:01 2002 Subject: getting DMA to work (non-linux bios related) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Ronald G Minnich writes: > On Wed, 18 Sep 2002, GNUOrder wrote: > > > Yes, it looks like a new BIOS addresses this problem. One more question, is > > there a way to write the new BIOS out from linux on this motherboard? I'm > > pretty sure its the Tyan Thunder i7500 (S2720). It uses amiflash.zip. > > if you get a romimage the flash_rom utility can write from linux. > > Before running flash_rom you have to do this: > setpci -d 8086:2480 4e.b=1 > to enable flash writes. > > then just flash_rom Be very, very careful with this. Writing the rom is easy. Finding and setting all of the stupid CMOS type parameters in the romimage is a much more difficult proposition. Which means the board will probably still require a little bit of keyboard and video attention once you are done. Eric From steve at nexpath.com Sun Sep 22 15:57:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Sun Sep 22 15:57:01 2002 Subject: sis630 mac address In-Reply-To: Message-ID: > I am pretty sure you won't find an eeprom. PC chips has a habit of storing > MAC address in CMOS to save the eeprom cost on the motherboard. Matsonic > ms7308e does this too. At some point your cmos probably got zerod. Bad > thing the vendors do is store MAC address in cmos. Zero cmos, zero mac > address. > > They copy the MAC address from flash to cmos if cmos is 0. The idea is, if > cmos is 0, the BIOS copies the MAC address from CMOS to flash. If the cmos > is 0 not, the BIOS doesn't do anything. Thus, MAC address is stored in > BOTH flash and CMOS. > > That's why they tell you to NEVER interrupt a BIOS update ... you can lose > the MAC address. This amazingly fragile scheme is becoming more and more > common. > > It is becoming clear that we need a cmos.c for each mainboard, which does > the mainboard-specific cmos functions. too bad. Well, you and Steven are correct. Not sure why the mfr bios refuses to reset it. Apparently the sis630 has the capability to support an eeprom, but it is not installed on this mobo. I saw a small soic part 21C8L2K from TI and assumed this was an eeprom. Apparently not, it appears to connect to the cpu and neither TI nor the entire web have ever heard of this part. The 630e has a feature to "autoload" the eeprom to the cmos, and this function is being triggered in the linuxbios code that ollie wrote, so I assumed the part was on the board. Not so. Clearly the cmos only approach is much less robust. So I wrote a small user space program to reset the cmos and that works. Thanks to ollie and the folks at sis for the sis900.c driver in the linux code for an example. The mac addr registers are otherwise somewhat undocumented, but appear to be in what sis calls the "APC registers". As Steven points out, they are at cmos 0x70,0x71; index 9-14. But you have to expose them to the cmos by writing a 1 to b6 of reg 0x48 of the ISA bridge (LPC interface) (-d 1039:0008) first. Otherwise you are reading or clobbering rtc and status bytes of std cmos I think. > > BTW, I have the text mode vga going on this mobo if anyone is > interested in > > the code. I was able to use my stpc vga code with only a few changes. > > Very interesting, how does it fit in to linuxbios? Is it > mainboard-independent or ... > > ron Three files, replacing video_subr.c, and adding ./include/pc80/vga.h and ./pc80/vga_load_regs.c. These are pc generic, and a then a chip specific file ./northsouthbridge/sis/630/sis630_vga.c. Then some code is added to southbridge.c to call the vga init function. Originally I had called the init function in display_init(), but it turns out for the sis630 this is too early in the process. The pci-pci brige that exposes the legacy vga regs is not ready until the pci init process is complete. So the vga init has to be done later than I would like in final southbridge fixup, but it comes up so fast that the monitor is not ready yet anyway. Oh, and there is there is setting b3 of reg 0x3e of bus 0, device 2 (-d 1039:0001, AGP) or the vga legacy registers won't show up either. Thanks to a kind anonymous soul who set me the 630 data sheet or I would have been dead in the water on this one. Ollie is really helpful but sis as a company hasn't responded to my requests for an nda/datasheet, and posts on the web indicate this is the norm. Actually almost all of the code is generic, I think, but when I first wrote it I wasn't sure how to break it up. Until I see a few vga parts I won't be confident of where the generic/chip specific dividing line should be. -Steve From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 22 21:08:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 22 21:08:00 2002 Subject: My system's LCPI report In-Reply-To: <001701c26251$5f726240$65041d09@blackbird> Message-ID: sorry, I do not think the 82850 is supported by anyone. No, we do not support windows boots from linuxbios. But vmware is a better way to go anyway. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 22 21:15:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 22 21:15:00 2002 Subject: getting DMA to work (non-linux bios related) In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On 22 Sep 2002, Eric W. Biederman wrote: > Be very, very careful with this. Writing the rom is easy. > Finding and setting all of the stupid CMOS type parameters > in the romimage is a much more difficult proposition. this is true. What we have done here is: - dump cmos with Brian Finley's little cmos reader - flash bios - write cmos with Brian Finley's cmos writer ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 22 21:17:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 22 21:17:01 2002 Subject: sis630 mac address In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Sun, 22 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > Thanks, you are correct, except the BIOS stubbornly refuses to reset it now. > I have zeroed the cmos (using the jumper) several times, and pressed F2(? I > think) to set default values, but still a zero. It's interesting the the > M787cl+, after a zero cmos, doesn't boot on the first poweron, have to then > poweroff and try again. Oh well, budget board, budget bios I guess. Another > argument for Linuxbios. This is probably because the MAC address in flash is 0 too. Consider a flash update. You have to: - write the new flash - write "permanent" parameters from CMOS to flash then, next time CMOS gets wiped, you copy the MAC etc. from FLASH to CMOS. If you load linuxbios and then zero flash, boom! -- no record of the MAC address of the board. If you then load the original flash, it will copy the all-zero mac address to flash. we're going to need a way to record this kind of nonsense in FLASH images of linuxbios. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 22 21:20:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 22 21:20:00 2002 Subject: sis630 mac address In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Sun, 22 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > Well, you and Steven are correct. Not sure why the mfr bios refuses to > reset it. There's no record of the value of the MAC address anywhere, so it can't reset it. > Not so. Clearly the cmos only approach is much less robust. CMOS-only is a terrible idea, but it's what they do to save the cost of the part + installing it on the mainboard + flashing that part with a mac address. > Three files, replacing video_subr.c, and adding ./include/pc80/vga.h and > ./pc80/vga_load_regs.c. These are pc generic, and a then a chip specific > file ./northsouthbridge/sis/630/sis630_vga.c. Then some code is added to > southbridge.c to call the vga init function. can you send those along so I can take a look? ron From hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net Sun Sep 22 21:33:00 2002 From: hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net (Gregg C Levine) Date: Sun Sep 22 21:33:00 2002 Subject: Reference list of "known good boards" Message-ID: <000001c262a2$cdc72680$8460580c@who> Hello from Gregg C Levine Something strange poked me, while I was reading the exchange concerning Steve's problems with his board, and the MAC address, and CMOS settings. I can't speak to that problem, nor advise a possible solution for it, but here?s a general one. Can a list be drawn up of so called, "known good boards"? This reference list, to consist of chipsets, and board manufacturers, and a comment or two, from the person who created the port. That comment to mention if the board's IDE port worked, with the targeted disk drive. Also what else was needed to make the whole business work for him, with each board setup. Basically I want to prevent the problems that Steve is having with his onboard Ethernet controller. It would also make things easier for those of us who are considering getting to this idea, on a deeper business then just building the code on a specific platform that is not the target, as I've done, several times over. Everyone, if I am asking the impossible here, then I extend an apology, but I mean well. ------------------- Gregg C Levine hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net ------------------------------------------------------------ "The Force will be with you...Always." Obi-Wan Kenobi "Use the Force, Luke."? Obi-Wan Kenobi (This company dedicates this E-Mail to General Obi-Wan Kenobi ) (This company dedicates this E-Mail to Master Yoda ) From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 22 21:45:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 22 21:45:01 2002 Subject: Reference list of "known good boards" In-Reply-To: <000001c262a2$cdc72680$8460580c@who> Message-ID: On Sun, 22 Sep 2002, Gregg C Levine wrote: > Can a list be drawn up of so called, "known > good boards"? It's on my "todo" for this week. Hope I get to it ... ron From Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk Sun Sep 22 21:55:00 2002 From: Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk (Antony Stone) Date: Sun Sep 22 21:55:00 2002 Subject: Reference list of "known good boards" In-Reply-To: <000001c262a2$cdc72680$8460580c@who> References: <000001c262a2$cdc72680$8460580c@who> Message-ID: <20020923020654.WPRW28842.mta06-svc.ntlworld.com@there> On Monday 23 September 2002 2:44 am, Gregg C Levine wrote: > Hello from Gregg C Levine > Can a list be drawn up of so called, "known good boards"? This reference > list, to consist of chipsets, and board manufacturers, and a comment or > two, from the person who created the port. That comment to mention if the > board's IDE port worked, with the targeted disk drive. Also what else was > needed to make the whole business work for him, with each board setup. Sounds like an excellent idea. I recently went through the process of getting LinuxBios to work on what I thought was a pretty 'standard' board - a PC-Chips M810LR with SiS630 chipset, and there were two challenges in particular (the keyboard and the ethernet MII controller) which I would not have got working without key bits of help from Andrew Ip and Ron Minnich. Having things like that summarised on a web page of all the boards people have tried LinuxBios on would be a good idea in my opinion. > Basically I want to prevent the problems that Steve is having with his > onboard Ethernet controller. It would also make things easier for those > of us who are considering getting to this idea, on a deeper business > then just building the code on a specific platform that is not the > target, as I've done, several times over. Everyone, if I am asking the > impossible here, then I extend an apology, but I mean well. I felt there were sufficient "non-obvious" bits about what I had to do to get my SiS630 board working that I wrote up a web page about it and sent it to Ron for the documentation section of the website. I'd like to see this changed so that there are generic instructions which people should be able to follow for any supported board, accompanied by the little gotchas or quirks to look out for on particular boards / chipsets / peripherals. Just my 2c Antony. -- There are two possible outcomes. If the result confirms the hypothesis, then you've made a measurement. If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you've made a discovery. - Enrico Fermi From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 22 23:08:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 22 23:08:00 2002 Subject: Reference list of "known good boards" In-Reply-To: <20020923020654.WPRW28842.mta06-svc.ntlworld.com@there> Message-ID: I agree with the comments on the difficulty of getting this stuff up -- it's not for your average user. Long term, the goal is that motherboard vendors just deliver boards with a working linuxbios. SiS pioneered this over a year ago. cwlinux.com does the same thing. Linux NetworX is delivering a ca. 1000-node cluster to LLNL, and LinuxLabs has been delivering linuxbios-based boxes for some time now. We have two more vendors "in process" so hopefully some day linuxbios becomes a check box on an order from. ron From bari at onelabs.com Sun Sep 22 23:19:01 2002 From: bari at onelabs.com (Bari Ari) Date: Sun Sep 22 23:19:01 2002 Subject: My system's LCPI report References: Message-ID: <3D8E8B53.7030107@onelabs.com> 82850 isn't on the Intel embedded roadmap and won't be around very much longer since it's a RDRAM chipset. Not really worth working on a LinuxBIOS port for this. Take a look at a motherboard with a 845E chipset. Bari Ronald G Minnich wrote: >sorry, I do not think the 82850 is supported by anyone. > >No, we do not support windows boots from linuxbios. But vmware is a better >way to go anyway. > >ron > >_______________________________________________ >Linuxbios mailing list >Linuxbios at clustermatic.org >http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > > > > From ollie at sis.com.tw Mon Sep 23 00:12:00 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Mon Sep 23 00:12:00 2002 Subject: PCchips ES8m In-Reply-To: <200209201137.g8KBbmY00847@tench.street-vision.com> References: <200209201137.g8KBbmY00847@tench.street-vision.com> Message-ID: <1032751474.1695.3.camel@ollie> On Fri, 2002-09-20 at 19:37, Justin Cormack wrote: > Does anyone know anything about this? > > http://www.pcchips.com.tw/ES8m.html > > it appears to be SiS 5598 chipset, similar size to the VIA EPIA. > 5598 ?? I don't think it is actively supported anymore. > No idea what type of performance the RiSE MP6 has. > P5 133-166. > Is there Linuxbios support? (Ollie?) > No. > Is it actually shipping? > I doubt. Ollie -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From gnuorder at tampabay.rr.com Mon Sep 23 00:15:00 2002 From: gnuorder at tampabay.rr.com (GNUOrder) Date: Mon Sep 23 00:15:00 2002 Subject: getting DMA to work (non-linux bios related) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <200209230427.g8N4R6SV029142@smtp-server1.tampabay.rr.com> On Sunday 22 September 2002 21:26, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > On 22 Sep 2002, Eric W. Biederman wrote: > > Be very, very careful with this. Writing the rom is easy. > > Finding and setting all of the stupid CMOS type parameters > > in the romimage is a much more difficult proposition. > > this is true. What we have done here is: > - dump cmos with Brian Finley's little cmos reader > - flash bios > - write cmos with Brian Finley's cmos writer > > ron Well luckly the roms were up to date but unluckly that didn't fix the problem. I ended up solving the problem going back to a 2.4.18 kernel from kernel.org. Something redhat patched their 2.4.18 kernel with is also in 2.4.19 and the fix in the 2.4.19-acX and 2.4.20-acX patches would cause the kernel to lock on boot. We just had to patch the driver to the eepro1000 to it and we were readt to go. thanks for the the advice though. I'm sure linuxbios would be much easier to upgrade remotely. GO From ollie at sis.com.tw Mon Sep 23 00:20:01 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Mon Sep 23 00:20:01 2002 Subject: sis630 mac address In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1032752572.1699.7.camel@ollie> On Sun, 2002-09-22 at 14:35, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > My pcchips m787cl+ with the sis630e chipset started reporting a 00:00..00 > mac address. It was working at first, but somewhere in the process of > debugging I started getting all zeros. > > I looked thorough the linuxbios and the sis900.c driver, and I think > everything is being setup correctly. I even wrote a small program to read > the eeprom directly (rather than the APC cmos), following the code in the > sis driver, and I always read zeroes. I cannot ever seem to get a 1 on DO > (b1 of IO reg 0x2008). > > I put the orig bios back in and booted Linux and same result, so I am pretty > sure the eeprom got erased (or is dead). > > Anybody (ollie?) know if there is a way to re-write the eeprom? The > ifconfig command will set the mac to any value but it doesn't last through > reboots, and I did not see any code in the driver that appears to write to > the eeprom. > The storage for MAC address changed again and again over time. If you do really have a 630E mb. You can use the attached file. Ollie -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: sis900.h Type: text/x-c-header Size: 9646 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: sis900mac.c Type: text/x-c Size: 2477 bytes Desc: not available URL: From steve at nexpath.com Mon Sep 23 00:43:00 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Mon Sep 23 00:43:00 2002 Subject: sis630 mac address In-Reply-To: Message-ID: > This is probably because the MAC address in flash is 0 too. Consider a > flash update. You have to: > - write the new flash > - write "permanent" parameters from CMOS to flash > > then, next time CMOS gets wiped, you copy the MAC etc. from FLASH to CMOS. > > If you load linuxbios and then zero flash, boom! -- no record of the MAC > address of the board. If you then load the original flash, it will copy > the all-zero mac address to flash. > > we're going to need a way to record this kind of nonsense in FLASH images > of linuxbios. Hmm... well I never touched the original flash BIOS. I use an EMP-30 and program different chips to test and run linuxbios. I guess I thought the mac would be in the original bios flash, and I guess I don't understand how it got changed. The board came with the cmos jumper in the "clear" position, which threw me since it wouldn't come up at first until I spotted this. Anyway, the user space program to set a new MAC address in cmos is attached to this email; it is pretty simple, but has to run as root of course. Maybe we should put this in linuxbios, as an option or something. I wonder how you pick a MAC address? At one time they were assigned in blocks by manufacturer, I thought. I realize they only have to be unique on the subnet, but if you start assigning them randomly and shipping them to customers, what are the odds? Mathematically 1 in 2^48 but by Murphy probably 1 in 2 of a collision :-/ . -Steve -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: write_cmos.c Type: application/octet-stream Size: 2611 bytes Desc: not available URL: From steve at nexpath.com Mon Sep 23 00:53:00 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Mon Sep 23 00:53:00 2002 Subject: sis630 mac address In-Reply-To: <1032752572.1699.7.camel@ollie> Message-ID: > > The storage for MAC address changed again and again over time. If you do > really have a 630E mb. You can use the attached file. > > Ollie Thanks Ollie. This is a much better program than my quick hack. I had pretty much figured it out from your linux driver by this time, but this is good, since I needed the education to anticipate problems in the field, etc. -Steve From Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk Mon Sep 23 03:38:01 2002 From: Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk (Antony Stone) Date: Mon Sep 23 03:38:01 2002 Subject: Reference list of "known good boards" In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20020923074930.CNXK20346.mta02-svc.ntlworld.com@there> On Monday 23 September 2002 4:20 am, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > I agree with the comments on the difficulty of getting this stuff up -- > it's not for your average user. > > Long term, the goal is that motherboard vendors just deliver boards with a > working linuxbios. SiS pioneered this over a year ago. cwlinux.com does > the same thing. Linux NetworX is delivering a ca. 1000-node cluster to > LLNL, and LinuxLabs has been delivering linuxbios-based boxes for some > time now. > > We have two more vendors "in process" so hopefully some day linuxbios > becomes a check box on an order from. That's a great objective, but clearly it will take time to get there, and even when we've achieved it I think it remains in the spirit of an Open Source Software project to keep as good a set of instructions as we can on the website for people to be able to Do It Themselves, either because they want to, or because they want to try it on some new piece of hardware and need all the help they can get understanding how it's supposed to work on something functional before embarking on something which they expect to presentthem with challenges. Antony. -- You can spend the whole of your life trying to be popular, but at the end of the day the size of the crowd at your funeral will be largely dictated by the weather. - Frank Skinner From Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk Mon Sep 23 03:44:00 2002 From: Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk (Antony Stone) Date: Mon Sep 23 03:44:00 2002 Subject: sis630 mac address In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20020923075607.CRXL20346.mta02-svc.ntlworld.com@there> On Monday 23 September 2002 6:08 am, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > The board came with the cmos jumper in the "clear" position, which threw me > since it wouldn't come up at first until I spotted this. Yeah - I hate it when manufacturers do that too. > Anyway, the user space program to set a new MAC address in cmos is attached > to this email; it is pretty simple, but has to run as root of course. > Maybe we should put this in linuxbios, as an option or something. I wonder > how you pick a MAC address? At one time they were assigned in blocks by > manufacturer, I thought. I realize they only have to be unique on the > subnet, but if you start assigning them randomly and shipping them to > customers, what are the odds? Mathematically 1 in 2^48 but by Murphy > probably 1 in 2 of a collision :-/ . Surely they printed the MAC address on a sticky label on one or more of: a) the motherboard b) the ethernet controller / socket c) the manual d) the box the motherboard came in e) a little piece of paper included in the packaging ? I'm generally used to seeing two labels - one on the motherboard itself, and one on a separate piece of paper that a system assembler can stick on the outside of the final assembled case, in case the end-user ever needs to know the MAC address without booting the machine. Antony. -- G- GIT/E d- s+:--(-) a+ C++++$ UL++++$ P+(---)>++ L+++(++++)$ !E W(-) N(-) o? w-- O !M V+++(--) !PS !PE Y+ PGP+> t- tv@ b+++ DI++ D--- e++>+++ h++ r@? 5? !X- !R K--? From alesan at manoweb.com Mon Sep 23 08:43:01 2002 From: alesan at manoweb.com (Alessio Sangalli) Date: Mon Sep 23 08:43:01 2002 Subject: LinuxBIOS and your TV? (was: motherboard for vdr system) References: Message-ID: <3D8F0F4D.9060802@manoweb.com> Preston L. Bannister wrote: > This is way too cool :). > > http://www.cadsoft.de/people/kls/vdr > > The fact this is built from off-the-shelf components is *very* interesting. Ja and it's not a geek toy, my mother and father use that too! > Click the remote to turn on your TV (and the attached computer) and the > first thing you see is the LinuxBIOS boot message. Microsoft would be > delighted :). eheh I think it's not so easy because the tv is not connected to the vga card but to a DVB card, with mpeg2 hardware decoding. You should initialize drivers, upload the firmware to the DVBcards and send an mpeg I-frame with linuxbios logo directly from the routines in the flash memory. A bit overkill! > The set-top box that came from my cable TV company is slow, and the > interface poorly designed. Innovation is slow to non-existant. It's bad > enough I'd considered ditching the service. For vdr there are many plugins (not included in the core distribution, so you won't read it on that website) that allow to display (sx)vcd, dvd, divx, images, listen to mp3, etc etc > Fast boot is desirable. Booting Linux from flash would be nice but not > essential, given you would have a hard disk. You'd be looking to boot from > CD (for software reload) or hard disk. Ja, a hard disk is needed (or you'll loose a very important feature of vdr, such as automatic recording of television, time shifting, etc) so I was initially thinking to use it for the 'system' anyway. However, to save noise, heat, and all, a flash could be used for the system keeping the hdd powered off, and spin it up only when you wanna record-replay. Which kind of flash memories are avaiable? the system itself is not so big, but I'm not aware of the common sizes of that kind of memory. > Maybe the questions Alessio could have better asked would be: > > Which BIOS/boot loader would be most suitable? > > and then: > > Which suitable small motherboard is supported and readily available? > > > ( I too was unclear Alessio was asking :). ja sorry for the silly english I speak, but I always speak it with non native people and sometimes we create our own grammatics and use invented words. too bad! bye! as From randall at tdl.com Mon Sep 23 10:43:01 2002 From: randall at tdl.com (Randall Craig) Date: Mon Sep 23 10:43:01 2002 Subject: Reference list of "known good boards" In-Reply-To: <20020923074930.CNXK20346.mta02-svc.ntlworld.com@there>; from Antony@Soft-Solutions.co.uk on Mon, Sep 23, 2002 at 08:49:28AM +0100 References: <20020923074930.CNXK20346.mta02-svc.ntlworld.com@there> Message-ID: <20020923075453.A16797@tdl.com> * Antony Stone (Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk) [020923 00:55]: > On Monday 23 September 2002 4:20 am, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > > That's a great objective, but clearly it will take time to get there, and > even when we've achieved it I think it remains in the spirit of an Open > Source Software project to keep as good a set of instructions as we can on > the website for people to be able to Do It Themselves, either because they > want to, or because they want to try it on some new piece of hardware and > need all the help they can get understanding how it's supposed to work on > something functional before embarking on something which they expect to > presentthem with challenges. It seems to me, one of the obstacles to documentation is finding someone with the time and authority to modify the webpages. How about running a wiki instead. I would recommend twiki or moin moin. -- Randall From steve at nexpath.com Mon Sep 23 11:28:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Mon Sep 23 11:28:01 2002 Subject: sis630 mac address In-Reply-To: <20020923075607.CRXL20346.mta02-svc.ntlworld.com@there> Message-ID: > Surely they printed the MAC address on a sticky label on one or more of: > a) the motherboard > b) the ethernet controller / socket > c) the manual > d) the box the motherboard came in > e) a little piece of paper included in the packaging ? > > I'm generally used to seeing two labels - one on the motherboard > itself, and > one on a separate piece of paper that a system assembler can stick on the > outside of the final assembled case, in case the end-user ever > needs to know > the MAC address without booting the machine. Yup, there it is in all the places your say. EA=00079...; thought it was a serial number. I guess I should have been able to figure this on out myself, thanks. -Steve From nathanael at gnat.ca Mon Sep 23 11:34:00 2002 From: nathanael at gnat.ca (Nathanael Noblet) Date: Mon Sep 23 11:34:00 2002 Subject: Sis 530 Message-ID: <83311C97-CF0B-11D6-825B-0003931B4D6A@gnat.ca> Hello, I've seen a lot of support about the Sis 630 chipset. I'm wondering how much support exists for 530 based boards? Is there documentation on how one would proceed to support a particular chipset? -- Nathanael Noblet Gnat Solutions 4604 Monterey Ave NW Calgary, AB T3B 5K4 P: (403) 288-4613 C: (403) 809-5368 From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 23 12:22:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 23 12:22:00 2002 Subject: more news on the smartcore P3 and etherboot failures. Message-ID: I have been on other things for a while but had a chance to look at this again. Recap: on the smartcore P3, etherboot 5.0.7 fails because all inw() operations return 0. Two inw()s in a row sometimes return the right value on the second one. I thought this might be a memory config problem so I brought down memtest 3.0, and am now running it. Unfortunately, it runs just fine. Memory configuration, at least judging by the memtest results, is correct on this machine. I'm up to test 4, running for 7 minutes now, and usually memory problems if they existed would have shown up by now. So, back to the original issue: inw operations acting wrong. The first inw() always reads 0, the seconds reads what looks like the right value. Anybody have an idea on what kind of north/south configuration problems could make this happen? ron From wmertens at cisco.com Mon Sep 23 12:32:00 2002 From: wmertens at cisco.com (Wout Mertens) Date: Mon Sep 23 12:32:00 2002 Subject: Reference list of "known good boards" In-Reply-To: <20020923075453.A16797@tdl.com> Message-ID: I agree with Randall. Once you get used to it, a wiki is an incredibly powerful tool. I would recommend twiki over moinmoin, because it uses RCS to store the documentation in the backend, which allows you to see the complete editing history of a page. Discover more at http://www.twiki.org/ Wout. On Mon, 23 Sep 2002, Randall Craig wrote: > * Antony Stone (Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk) [020923 00:55]: > > On Monday 23 September 2002 4:20 am, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > > > > That's a great objective, but clearly it will take time to get there, and > > even when we've achieved it I think it remains in the spirit of an Open > > Source Software project to keep as good a set of instructions as we can on > > the website for people to be able to Do It Themselves, either because they > > want to, or because they want to try it on some new piece of hardware and > > need all the help they can get understanding how it's supposed to work on > > something functional before embarking on something which they expect to > > presentthem with challenges. > > It seems to me, one of the obstacles to documentation is finding > someone with the time and authority to modify the webpages. How > about running a wiki instead. I would recommend twiki or moin moin. > > -- Randall > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 23 12:36:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 23 12:36:01 2002 Subject: OK, I can finally talk about it Message-ID: We're building a 1024-node linuxbios cluster with Dual-P4 systems and Myrinet. No disks on the nodes. Single System Image via bproc. Monitoring with Supermon. Plus lots of other stuff we hope to be showing in the next year. LNXI is the vendor. In other words, the idea we had 3 years ago has now hit the big time: http://www.lnxi.com/cgi-bin/news/newsboy.pl?sa_01=opt_500&sub_cat=0517001537320032 So, we did it! I mean all of us -- the people on this list. One question I keep getting from the Big Computer Vendors: "how many nodes will this sell this year? How much money?" Well, this year, linuxbios will sell at least 2500 or so dual-P4 nodes, not counting all the other types of nodes currently selling. And, though it is a small number, total linuxbios cluster node sales this year are over $16M, up from $0M last year. Anyway, thanks to all the great people on this list who have contributed code and ideas over the last 3 years. There are a lot of you, too long to list at this point, but you all know who you are. WE DID IT! ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 23 12:41:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 23 12:41:01 2002 Subject: WIKI In-Reply-To: Message-ID: OK, we'll talk about wiki here. I have to see if it is possible. ron From wmertens at cisco.com Mon Sep 23 12:59:01 2002 From: wmertens at cisco.com (Wout Mertens) Date: Mon Sep 23 12:59:01 2002 Subject: WIKI In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Well, installing twiki isn't that hard, basically you untar a tarball, place some rules in the apache config, edit the twiki config file, and you're all set. I recommend mod_perl on the apache server for speed, though. It has plugins for on-line vector graphics editing, easy polls, etc. And you can really change the look and feel according to your liking. There are some pre-made skins which you can install. Highly recommended. Wout. On Mon, 23 Sep 2002, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > > OK, we'll talk about wiki here. I have to see if it is possible. > > ron > From angelo-arifi at cogeco.ca Mon Sep 23 15:18:01 2002 From: angelo-arifi at cogeco.ca (Angelo Arifi) Date: Mon Sep 23 15:18:01 2002 Subject: My system's LCPI report Message-ID: <003601c26337$a3148fa0$65041d09@blackbird> K, that sux! I know that intel won't continue producing RDRAM based boards since the technology is in the dump but like isn't anyone interested :) I only got this puppy and I wana play around with this. Anyone else got a mobo of my type? 82850 is the type... ya :P ----------------------------------- Angelo "Gigatron" Arifi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From stutts at innocon.com Mon Sep 23 15:28:00 2002 From: stutts at innocon.com (Christopher Stutts) Date: Mon Sep 23 15:28:00 2002 Subject: more news on the smartcore P3 and etherboot failures. In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1032810220.16270.22.camel@powerbrick.innocon.com> On Mon, 2002-09-23 at 12:34, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > So, back to the original issue: inw operations acting wrong. The first > inw() always reads 0, the seconds reads what looks like the right value. > Anybody have an idea on what kind of north/south configuration problems > could make this happen? > > ron > Slow (bad) hardware? I've seen that happen on a PCI device at 80 deg. C, and I've seen it happen on a device which could only speced up to 28MHz at 3.3V. From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 23 15:37:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 23 15:37:00 2002 Subject: My system's LCPI report In-Reply-To: <003601c26337$a3148fa0$65041d09@blackbird> Message-ID: I think if you want this to go it's going to have to be you that does it. Sorry. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 23 15:39:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 23 15:39:00 2002 Subject: more news on the smartcore P3 and etherboot failures. In-Reply-To: <1032810220.16270.22.camel@powerbrick.innocon.com> Message-ID: On 23 Sep 2002, Christopher Stutts wrote: > On Mon, 2002-09-23 at 12:34, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > > > So, back to the original issue: inw operations acting wrong. The first > > inw() always reads 0, the seconds reads what looks like the right value. > > Anybody have an idea on what kind of north/south configuration problems > > could make this happen? > > > > ron > > > > Slow (bad) hardware? I've seen that happen on a PCI device at 80 deg. C, > and I've seen it happen on a device which could only speced up to 28MHz > at 3.3V. maybe. But, here is the thing: serial I/O has been working on memtest for 3.5 hours. The ethernet hardware drives packets out just fine -- I receive them and respond to them. outb/w/l works. inw() does not. This is really weird. ron From angelo-arifi at cogeco.ca Mon Sep 23 16:10:01 2002 From: angelo-arifi at cogeco.ca (Angelo Arifi) Date: Mon Sep 23 16:10:01 2002 Subject: My system's LCPI report References: Message-ID: <001001c2633e$cfcc4c70$65041d09@blackbird> Hmm, well I'd love to but I am not exactly knowledge on a low level :) I would love to supplement information if someone would be interested? I can't afford a new mobo and only have this computer for my endevours heh it cost a bundle too soo... ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ronald G Minnich" To: "Angelo Arifi" Cc: Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 3:49 PM Subject: Re: My system's LCPI report > I think if you want this to go it's going to have to be you that does it. > > Sorry. > > ron > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios From steve at nexpath.com Mon Sep 23 17:18:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Mon Sep 23 17:18:01 2002 Subject: more news on the smartcore P3 and etherboot failures. In-Reply-To: Message-ID: > > > So, back to the original issue: inw operations acting wrong. The first > > > inw() always reads 0, the seconds reads what looks like the > right value. > > > Anybody have an idea on what kind of north/south > configuration problems > > > could make this happen? is this all ports, just bridge registers, or external I/O (ISA or PCI)? I agree that it sounds like a timing problem, but it depends on which I/O ports. -Steve From joe at swelltech.com Mon Sep 23 17:30:01 2002 From: joe at swelltech.com (Joe Cooper) Date: Mon Sep 23 17:30:01 2002 Subject: OK, I can finally talk about it References: Message-ID: <3D8F8A8B.204@swelltech.com> Congratulations to the LinuxBIOS team and to LNXI! Here's hoping this info will find its way over to my motherboard vendors (Gigabyte for big boxes, and Via for the Eden platform). Ronald G Minnich wrote: > We're building a 1024-node linuxbios cluster with Dual-P4 systems and > Myrinet. No disks on the nodes. Single System Image via bproc. Monitoring > with Supermon. Plus lots of other stuff we hope to be showing in the next > year. LNXI is the vendor. > > In other words, the idea we had 3 years ago has now hit the big time: > > http://www.lnxi.com/cgi-bin/news/newsboy.pl?sa_01=opt_500&sub_cat=0517001537320032 > > So, we did it! I mean all of us -- the people on this list. > > One question I keep getting from the Big Computer Vendors: "how many nodes > will this sell this year? How much money?" Well, this year, linuxbios will > sell at least 2500 or so dual-P4 nodes, not counting all the other types > of nodes currently selling. And, though it is a small number, total > linuxbios cluster node sales this year are over $16M, up from $0M last > year. > > Anyway, thanks to all the great people on this list who have contributed > code and ideas over the last 3 years. There are a lot of you, too long to > list at this point, but you all know who you are. WE DID IT! > > ron > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios -- Joe Cooper Web caching appliances and support. http://www.swelltech.com From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 23 17:55:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 23 17:55:01 2002 Subject: more news on the smartcore P3 and etherboot failures. In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Mon, 23 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > is this all ports, just bridge registers, or external I/O (ISA or PCI)? I > agree that it sounds like a timing problem, but it depends on which I/O > ports. it is PCI ports. I don't seem to be able to inw() from any PCI ports but outw is fine. I'm going to check the northbridge manual for hints. This is the first 440bx we have seen this problem on. ron From steve at nexpath.com Mon Sep 23 18:01:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Mon Sep 23 18:01:01 2002 Subject: reboot fails-- 630e or C3? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: I have an interesting problem with the pcchips m787cl+ motherboard: it won't do a reboot. If you use the three finger salute or issue an init 6, it hangs at the "Restarting system" message at the bottom of the shutdown cycle. I traced the code to the machine_restart sub in arch/i386/kernel/process.c. It seems that linux tries to reset using a keyboard command (out 0xfe,0x64) and if that fails it forces a triple fault. Neither seem to work. I tried setting b0 of reg 0x46 in the ISA bridge (-d 1039:8), on the sis630e, which is labeled "Enable Keyboard Hardware Reset", but it didn't work. So I put in a patch to process.c that sets b6,7 of reg 0x46 of the ISA bridge, and this works, it causes a reset (per the data sheet). But of course that is a kernel patch and I would like to avoid that. Anyone run into this issue before, or know if I should blame the sis630 or the via C3? Seems like a poor design if you can't reboot without a kernel patch, although it is a simple one. Hanging on a reboot is a problem for my embedded system, not sure about large clusters but it seems like that would be a problem. For my project, I can live with the patch, but would like to find a more robust solution for the linuxbios project. The three finger salute does work with the orig BIOS and DOS, but I suspect that is because DOS makes a BIOS call that sets the correct bits in the ISA bridge. Linux with the orig BIOS hangs at the same place, though. -Steve From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 23 18:34:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 23 18:34:01 2002 Subject: reboot fails-- 630e or C3? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Mon, 23 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > I traced the code to the machine_restart sub in arch/i386/kernel/process.c. > It seems that linux tries to reset using a keyboard command (out 0xfe,0x64) > and if that fails it forces a triple fault. Neither seem to work. I tried > setting b0 of reg 0x46 in the ISA bridge (-d 1039:8), on the sis630e, which > is labeled "Enable Keyboard Hardware Reset", but it didn't work. So I put > in a patch to process.c that sets b6,7 of reg 0x46 of the ISA bridge, and > this works, it causes a reset (per the data sheet). But of course that is a > kernel patch and I would like to avoid that. ah yes. Linux restart. It never actually worked for me. In fact I'm dubious that on most modern machines it ever worked at all. I learned that once while tracing Linux restart with an ICE. Lots of careful code in there, but the thing that makes reset happen is ... the triple fault. It's funny in a way. What linux seems to be tending to for reset is to set the watchdog timer, and then just sit there tapping your toes until it times out and resets the machine. If we can get WDT support for the 630 hardware in, that would be the way to do it. > > Anyone run into this issue before, or know if I should blame the sis630 or > the via C3? Seems like a poor design if you can't reboot without a kernel > patch, although it is a simple one. The mistake here, in my view, is Intel. At one time, microprocessors had a reset instruction that would reset the machine. For some reason x86 boxes never had it -- they relied on magic external stuff. I have never figured out why Intel did this. Maybe to save a pin? Not sure. So we have a zillion ways to reset the machine that are in essence "side effects". You do this strange thing and somehow a reset happens. I find it very weird. I think we need to get WDT support in and make it work that way. That seems to be the approved method nowadays, and there is support for lots of chips in the Linux WDT code. ron From steve at nexpath.com Mon Sep 23 20:27:00 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Mon Sep 23 20:27:00 2002 Subject: reboot fails-- 630e or C3? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: > What linux seems to be tending to for reset is to set the watchdog timer, > and then just sit there tapping your toes until it times out and resets > the machine. If we can get WDT support for the 630 hardware in, that > would be the way to do it. > > ron Good idea, I tried it with a little test code, and the wdt reset definitely works. I guess what is needed is a driver, since I did not see any support for the sis630 wdt in drivers/char. I'll probably go with my 2 line patch for now, since it does a perfect reset, without toe tapping, and maybe someday SiS can write a driver to support the chip. I may do it at some point if my code otherwise needs it, and it may, but it is too much of an investment of time just for the reset. Thanks for the help. -Steve PS: if anyone is interested the patch to 2.4.19 is pretty simple, put in before the triple fault: diff arch/i386/kernel/process.c arch/i386/kernel/process.c.orig 416,421d415 < < // S. Gehlbach: 3-fault doesn't work for SiS630/C3, < // so reset via the SiS630 ISA Bridge 0xc0 -> reg 0x46 < outl(0x80000844,0xCF8); < outb(0xc0, 0xCFE); < From ollie at sis.com.tw Mon Sep 23 20:41:01 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Mon Sep 23 20:41:01 2002 Subject: Sis 530 In-Reply-To: <83311C97-CF0B-11D6-825B-0003931B4D6A@gnat.ca> References: <83311C97-CF0B-11D6-825B-0003931B4D6A@gnat.ca> Message-ID: <1032828522.1695.15.camel@ollie> On Mon, 2002-09-23 at 23:45, Nathanael Noblet wrote: > Hello, > I've seen a lot of support about the Sis 630 chipset. I'm wondering > how much support exists for 530 based boards? Is there documentation on > how one would proceed to support a particular chipset? I think SiS 530 is End of Life now. There is support of SiS 540 on the CVS, but the code is not maintained anymore so it is broken too. If you want to do something with SiS530, you should take a look at TIARA source. Ollie From ollie at sis.com.tw Mon Sep 23 20:45:01 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Mon Sep 23 20:45:01 2002 Subject: OK, I can finally talk about it In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1032828919.1699.22.camel@ollie> On Tue, 2002-09-24 at 00:47, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > We're building a 1024-node linuxbios cluster with Dual-P4 systems and > Myrinet. No disks on the nodes. Single System Image via bproc. Monitoring > with Supermon. Plus lots of other stuff we hope to be showing in the next > year. LNXI is the vendor. > > In other words, the idea we had 3 years ago has now hit the big time: > > http://www.lnxi.com/cgi-bin/news/newsboy.pl?sa_01=opt_500&sub_cat=0517001537320032 > > So, we did it! I mean all of us -- the people on this list. > > One question I keep getting from the Big Computer Vendors: "how many nodes > will this sell this year? How much money?" Well, this year, linuxbios will > sell at least 2500 or so dual-P4 nodes, not counting all the other types > of nodes currently selling. And, though it is a small number, total > linuxbios cluster node sales this year are over $16M, up from $0M last > year. > This reminds me the Internet boom !!! Is stocks of LNXI publicly offered ?? Eric, are you Eric So Rich now ?? > Anyway, thanks to all the great people on this list who have contributed > code and ideas over the last 3 years. There are a lot of you, too long to > list at this point, but you all know who you are. WE DID IT! > It is a good sign for LinuxBIOS form bussiness point of view. The is effective demand (someone want to pay) and effective supply (someone can sell real stuff). I expect there will much more deals on LinuxBIOS in the coming years. Ollie From ollie at sis.com.tw Mon Sep 23 21:03:00 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Mon Sep 23 21:03:00 2002 Subject: reboot fails-- 630e or C3? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1032829403.31797.26.camel@ollie> On Tue, 2002-09-24 at 06:19, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > I have an interesting problem with the pcchips m787cl+ motherboard: it won't > do a reboot. If you use the three finger salute or issue an init 6, it > hangs at the "Restarting system" message at the bottom of the shutdown > cycle. > > I traced the code to the machine_restart sub in arch/i386/kernel/process.c. > It seems that linux tries to reset using a keyboard command (out 0xfe,0x64) > and if that fails it forces a triple fault. Neither seem to work. I tried > setting b0 of reg 0x46 in the ISA bridge (-d 1039:8), on the sis630e, which > is labeled "Enable Keyboard Hardware Reset", but it didn't work. So I put > in a patch to process.c that sets b6,7 of reg 0x46 of the ISA bridge, and > this works, it causes a reset (per the data sheet). But of course that is a > kernel patch and I would like to avoid that. > The ACPI watch dog code is in the SiS LinuxBIOS patch avaliable on CVS. Ollie From ebiederman at lnxi.com Mon Sep 23 21:30:00 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W Biederman) Date: Mon Sep 23 21:30:00 2002 Subject: OK, I can finally talk about it In-Reply-To: <1032828919.1699.22.camel@ollie> References: <1032828919.1699.22.camel@ollie> Message-ID: ollie lho writes: > This reminds me the Internet boom !!! Is stocks of LNXI publicly > offered ?? Eric, are you Eric So Rich now ?? No public stocks, yet.... There is something real here, and investors aren't as enthusiastic as they once were. Once bitten twice shy as they say. > > Anyway, thanks to all the great people on this list who have contributed > > code and ideas over the last 3 years. There are a lot of you, too long to > > list at this point, but you all know who you are. WE DID IT! > > > > It is a good sign for LinuxBIOS form bussiness point of view. The is > effective demand (someone want to pay) and effective supply (someone > can sell real stuff). I expect there will much more deals on LinuxBIOS > in the coming years. The story Ron doesn't tell is how much testing putting LinuxBIOS on a 1000 node cluster gives you. Whenever I upgrade the bios it runs through a rigorous 1000 boot test, catching all kinds of rare and difficult to reproduce bugs. Whenever we do a full software reinstalled I get a 3000 boot test that only lasts about 10 minutes. I have been tracking a weird issue all day and so far I have seen about 2850 boots go by, and I am only debugging on a 10th of the entire cluster. I send Ron a romimage and he reports back that it is stable on his development cluster. And I am screaming about how flaky it is in production. Though happily I have finally had a stable build, as long as people don't run LM_sensors and get the hardware in a confused state. In my case things would be a lot easier if I wasn't doing the dance of the three hardware bugs. But hey I have to live with the components that are on the motherboard. Big clusters are fun in other ways. The scale is huge. MCR is recently stable enough that we can start running some big jobs on it. And even with jobs running on only half the cluster we are overloading the air conditioning. I can practically hear the alarms from where I am sitting 30 miles away.... Eric From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 23 22:21:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 23 22:21:01 2002 Subject: reboot fails-- 630e or C3? In-Reply-To: Message-ID: steve, my power patches are a bit cleaner than that, if you want to take a look. They actually suggest a framework for this kind of thing but the WDT stuff came along and it makes a bit more sense. ron From steve at nexpath.com Mon Sep 23 22:54:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Mon Sep 23 22:54:01 2002 Subject: reboot fails-- 630e or C3? In-Reply-To: <1032829403.31797.26.camel@ollie> Message-ID: > > The ACPI watch dog code is in the SiS LinuxBIOS patch avaliable on CVS. > > Ollie > Thanks Ollie, that's a lot of great code. I did not realize this was there. I'm curious, though, do you think the watchdog timer reset is better, ie, less likely to have race conditions, than my simple bit setting of b6,7 in the INIT Enable Register (Hardware Reset Initiated by Software) at reg 0x46 in LPC Bridge? By the name it seems this is what it is for. -Steve From ollie at sis.com.tw Mon Sep 23 23:48:01 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Mon Sep 23 23:48:01 2002 Subject: reboot fails-- 630e or C3? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1032839385.31797.32.camel@ollie> On Tue, 2002-09-24 at 11:19, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > > > > The ACPI watch dog code is in the SiS LinuxBIOS patch avaliable on CVS. > > > > Ollie > > > > Thanks Ollie, that's a lot of great code. I did not realize this was there. > > I'm curious, though, do you think the watchdog timer reset is better, ie, > less likely to have race conditions, than my simple bit setting of b6,7 in > the INIT Enable Register (Hardware Reset Initiated by Software) at reg 0x46 > in LPC Bridge? By the name it seems this is what it is for. > What kind of race condition are you afraid of ?? I don't have much idea about the difference between these two methods. AFIAK, there are various kind of "Reset" or "INIT" form HW point of view. Reset by LPC bridge only reset CPU. You have to use ACPI WDT to reset the "whole" system. Ollie From hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net Tue Sep 24 00:27:00 2002 From: hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net (Gregg C Levine) Date: Tue Sep 24 00:27:00 2002 Subject: more news on the smartcore P3 and etherboot failures. In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <000801c26384$6358ebc0$c061580c@who> Hello again from Gregg C Levine "northbridge manual"? You've lost me there, Ron. Please explain. I know, (I think), which part of the PCI layout, is which, but that reference eludes me. ------------------- Gregg C Levine hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net ------------------------------------------------------------ "The Force will be with you...Always." Obi-Wan Kenobi "Use the Force, Luke."? Obi-Wan Kenobi (This company dedicates this E-Mail to General Obi-Wan Kenobi ) (This company dedicates this E-Mail to Master Yoda ) > -----Original Message----- > From: linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org [mailto:linuxbios- > admin at clustermatic.org] On Behalf Of Ronald G Minnich > Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 6:07 PM > To: Steve M. Gehlbach > Cc: linuxbios at clustermatic.org > Subject: RE: more news on the smartcore P3 and etherboot failures. > > On Mon, 23 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > > > is this all ports, just bridge registers, or external I/O (ISA or PCI)? I > > agree that it sounds like a timing problem, but it depends on which I/O > > ports. > > it is PCI ports. I don't seem to be able to inw() from any PCI ports but > outw is fine. > > I'm going to check the northbridge manual for hints. This is the first > 440bx we have seen this problem on. > > ron > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios From John.Hearns at cern.ch Tue Sep 24 03:09:01 2002 From: John.Hearns at cern.ch (John HEARNS) Date: Tue Sep 24 03:09:01 2002 Subject: OK, I can finally talk about it In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Mon, 23 Sep 2002, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > We're building a 1024-node linuxbios cluster with Dual-P4 systems and > Myrinet. No disks on the nodes. Single System Image via bproc. Monitoring > with Supermon. Plus lots of other stuff we hope to be showing in the next > year. LNXI is the vendor. > > In other words, the idea we had 3 years ago has now hit the big time: > > http://www.lnxi.com/cgi-bin/news/newsboy.pl?sa_01=opt_500&sub_cat=0517001537320032 > > So, we did it! I mean all of us -- the people on this list. > > One question I keep getting from the Big Computer Vendors: "how many nodes > will this sell this year? How much money?" Well, this year, linuxbios will > sell at least 2500 or so dual-P4 nodes, not counting all the other types > of nodes currently selling. And, though it is a small number, total > linuxbios cluster node sales this year are over $16M, up from $0M last > year. > Congratulations! I've been interested in Linuxbios from the point of view of installing, and configuring large compute farms. I've been doing this on my own time, with some of my own kit, most recently with Antony in Ireland. This is exactly what I needed to hear - we can point towards a real, live working cluster using these cutting edge techniques. It really does make a difference betwene saying "Hey - here's a great idea" to saying "Hey - Los Alamos are doing this stuff!" John Hearns From rminnich at lanl.gov Tue Sep 24 10:06:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Tue Sep 24 10:06:01 2002 Subject: more news on the smartcore P3 and etherboot failures. In-Reply-To: <000801c26384$6358ebc0$c061580c@who> Message-ID: On Tue, 24 Sep 2002, Gregg C Levine wrote: > "northbridge manual"? You've lost me there, Ron. Please explain. I know, > (I think), which part of the PCI layout, is which, but that reference > eludes me. northbridge is the common term for "that big buggy chip which connects CPUs to memory and PCI bus" ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Tue Sep 24 12:57:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Tue Sep 24 12:57:00 2002 Subject: 3.5GB memory limit? (fwd) Message-ID: this is kind of interesting ... ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 10:02:49 -0700 From: Terry Lambert To: Danny Braniss Cc: freebsd-hackers at FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: 3.5GB memory limit? Danny Braniss wrote: > the Addendum says: > * AMD chipset architecture requieres memory above 3.5GB to be reserved > for PCI devices. We have a winner. > Q1: is this AMD specific, or also true for P3/P4? It's chipset, not CPU specific. Your question is like asking if, because your Yugo (car) can't go faster than 100 KPH on one brand of gasoline, if it's a gasoline problem. > Q2: is there any way of accessing the 'lost' memory? ie some device > driver? No, not unless the chipset that imposes the limitation permits some form of bank selection. -- Terry To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo at FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message From rminnich at lanl.gov Tue Sep 24 13:00:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Tue Sep 24 13:00:00 2002 Subject: smartcore p3 Message-ID: has been running memtest for 24 hours. I am proceeding to look at pci bus configuration issues ... ron From bob at drzyzgula.org Tue Sep 24 14:00:01 2002 From: bob at drzyzgula.org (Bob Drzyzgula) Date: Tue Sep 24 14:00:01 2002 Subject: 3.5GB memory limit? (fwd) In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <20020924141206.B29406@www2> Not that the 3.5GB thing is a surprise, but what chipset were they talking about? --Bob On Tue, Sep 24, 2002 at 11:08:49AM -0600, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > > this is kind of interesting ... > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 10:02:49 -0700 > From: Terry Lambert > To: Danny Braniss > Cc: freebsd-hackers at FreeBSD.ORG > Subject: Re: 3.5GB memory limit? > > Danny Braniss wrote: > > the Addendum says: > > * AMD chipset architecture requieres memory above 3.5GB to be reserved > > for PCI devices. > > We have a winner. From rminnich at lanl.gov Tue Sep 24 14:02:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Tue Sep 24 14:02:01 2002 Subject: 3.5GB memory limit? (fwd) In-Reply-To: <20020924141206.B29406@www2> Message-ID: On Tue, 24 Sep 2002, Bob Drzyzgula wrote: > Not that the 3.5GB thing is a surprise, but what chipset > were they talking about? 760 mpx I think. ron From angelo-arifi at cogeco.ca Tue Sep 24 16:46:01 2002 From: angelo-arifi at cogeco.ca (Angelo Arifi) Date: Tue Sep 24 16:46:01 2002 Subject: My system again... Message-ID: <002301c2640d$0a8d2590$65041d09@blackbird> Ok.. i see no one is interested in my motherboard, 82850 (Asus P4-TE)... hence RDRAM... so... i am wondering... I used a program called AwardMOD it seperated the bios into several files, its a start? What next should i do.. i mean what kind of information should be required and what am i presented with in LinuxBIOS, what should be reverse engineered or saught for to help my mobo have a taste of LinuxBIOS? ... ya... i really wana cope with this but can't afford another mobo even if its under 50 bux in my current state... ya sounds cheap but its true and ya computers make me a bit emotionally happy (my little hobby if u will... hmm ya...) ----------------------------------- Angelo "Gigatron" Arifi -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From steve at nexpath.com Tue Sep 24 18:25:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Tue Sep 24 18:25:01 2002 Subject: reboot fails-- 630e or C3? In-Reply-To: <1032839385.31797.32.camel@ollie> Message-ID: > > I'm curious, though, do you think the watchdog timer reset is > better, ie, > > less likely to have race conditions, than my simple bit setting > of b6,7 in > > the INIT Enable Register (Hardware Reset Initiated by Software) > at reg 0x46 > > in LPC Bridge? By the name it seems this is what it is for. > > > > What kind of race condition are you afraid of ?? > > I don't have much idea about the difference between these two methods. > AFIAK, there are various kind of "Reset" or "INIT" form HW point of > view. Reset by LPC bridge only reset CPU. You have to use ACPI WDT to > reset the "whole" system. > I had no specific problem in mind, just speculating as to why it might be better to use the WDT. And you answered my question, that the WDT reset is more complete. But in fact, I put a scope on it, the Hardware Reset Initiated by Software also activates RESET# on PCI bus (~10-15ms, A15), so it appears that both PCIRST# and CPURST# are activated. -Steve From hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net Tue Sep 24 18:53:01 2002 From: hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net (Gregg C Levine) Date: Tue Sep 24 18:53:01 2002 Subject: more news on the smartcore P3 and etherboot failures. In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <003701c2641e$ef965b00$2272580c@who> Hello from Gregg C Levine Okay. That I will agree on. Indeed there are some bugs inside that thing. However I was referring to the term you used, "northbridge manual". Is there actually a manual for the particular chipsets you were discussing or insulting in this thread? If it?s a 440 family part, I think I know where to find it. ------------------- Gregg C Levine hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net ------------------------------------------------------------ "The Force will be with you...Always." Obi-Wan Kenobi "Use the Force, Luke."? Obi-Wan Kenobi (This company dedicates this E-Mail to General Obi-Wan Kenobi ) (This company dedicates this E-Mail to Master Yoda ) > -----Original Message----- > From: linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org [mailto:linuxbios- > admin at clustermatic.org] On Behalf Of Ronald G Minnich > Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2002 10:18 AM > To: Gregg C Levine > Cc: Linuxbios > Subject: RE: more news on the smartcore P3 and etherboot failures. > > On Tue, 24 Sep 2002, Gregg C Levine wrote: > > > "northbridge manual"? You've lost me there, Ron. Please explain. I know, > > (I think), which part of the PCI layout, is which, but that reference > > eludes me. > > > northbridge is the common term for "that big buggy chip which connects > CPUs to memory and PCI bus" > > ron > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios From rminnich at lanl.gov Tue Sep 24 18:54:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Tue Sep 24 18:54:00 2002 Subject: more news on the smartcore P3 and etherboot failures. In-Reply-To: <003701c2641e$ef965b00$2272580c@who> Message-ID: I have the manual, but found nothing useful for this particular problem. ron From hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net Tue Sep 24 18:54:03 2002 From: hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net (Gregg C Levine) Date: Tue Sep 24 18:54:03 2002 Subject: more news on the smartcore P3 and etherboot failures. In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <003801c2641e$fc6b92a0$2272580c@who> Hello from Gregg C Levine Okay. That I will agree on. Indeed there are some bugs inside that thing. However I was referring to the term you used, "northbridge manual". Is there actually a manual for the particular chipsets you were discussing or insulting in this thread? If it?s a 440 family part, I think I know where to find it. ------------------- Gregg C Levine hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net ------------------------------------------------------------ "The Force will be with you...Always." Obi-Wan Kenobi "Use the Force, Luke."? Obi-Wan Kenobi (This company dedicates this E-Mail to General Obi-Wan Kenobi ) (This company dedicates this E-Mail to Master Yoda ) > -----Original Message----- > From: linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org [mailto:linuxbios- > admin at clustermatic.org] On Behalf Of Ronald G Minnich > Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2002 10:18 AM > To: Gregg C Levine > Cc: Linuxbios > Subject: RE: more news on the smartcore P3 and etherboot failures. > > On Tue, 24 Sep 2002, Gregg C Levine wrote: > > > "northbridge manual"? You've lost me there, Ron. Please explain. I know, > > (I think), which part of the PCI layout, is which, but that reference > > eludes me. > > > northbridge is the common term for "that big buggy chip which connects > CPUs to memory and PCI bus" > > ron > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios From hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net Tue Sep 24 19:00:01 2002 From: hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net (Gregg C Levine) Date: Tue Sep 24 19:00:01 2002 Subject: Duplicate messages carrying my wording Message-ID: <003901c2641f$e3d13e60$2272580c@who> Hello from Gregg C Levine Folks, it seems my mail program glitched, and inadvertently sent out the previous message twice. The one where Ron was talking about the P3 problems. I'm working with the program to prevent it repeating the action. I don't expect it to reoccur. My apologies. Ron, the same to you, doubled. ------------------- Gregg C Levine hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net ------------------------------------------------------------ "The Force will be with you...Always." Obi-Wan Kenobi "Use the Force, Luke."? Obi-Wan Kenobi (This company dedicates this E-Mail to General Obi-Wan Kenobi ) (This company dedicates this E-Mail to Master Yoda ) From pyro at linuxlabs.com Tue Sep 24 19:19:01 2002 From: pyro at linuxlabs.com (steven james) Date: Tue Sep 24 19:19:01 2002 Subject: sis630 mac address In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Greetings, I don't know about other vendors, but Matsonic boards have the MAC on a sticker just in case. G'day, sjames On Sun, 22 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > > This is probably because the MAC address in flash is 0 too. Consider a > > flash update. You have to: > > - write the new flash > > - write "permanent" parameters from CMOS to flash > > > > then, next time CMOS gets wiped, you copy the MAC etc. from FLASH to CMOS. > > > > If you load linuxbios and then zero flash, boom! -- no record of the MAC > > address of the board. If you then load the original flash, it will copy > > the all-zero mac address to flash. > > > > we're going to need a way to record this kind of nonsense in FLASH images > > of linuxbios. > > Hmm... well I never touched the original flash BIOS. I use an EMP-30 and > program different chips to test and run linuxbios. I guess I thought the > mac would be in the original bios flash, and I guess I don't understand how > it got changed. The board came with the cmos jumper in the "clear" > position, which threw me since it wouldn't come up at first until I spotted > this. > > Anyway, the user space program to set a new MAC address in cmos is attached > to this email; it is pretty simple, but has to run as root of course. Maybe > we should put this in linuxbios, as an option or something. I wonder how > you pick a MAC address? At one time they were assigned in blocks by > manufacturer, I thought. I realize they only have to be unique on the > subnet, but if you start assigning them randomly and shipping them to > customers, what are the odds? Mathematically 1 in 2^48 but by Murphy > probably 1 in 2 of a collision :-/ . > > -Steve > > > > > > > > -- -------------------------steven james, director of research, linux labs ... ........ ..... .... 230 peachtree st nw ste 701 the original linux labs atlanta.ga.us 30303 -since 1995 http://www.linuxlabs.com office 404.577.7747 fax 404.577.7743 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- From rminnich at lanl.gov Wed Sep 25 10:11:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Wed Sep 25 10:11:01 2002 Subject: HPC Linux meeting, Sonoma, CA, Nov 4-5, 2002 (fwd) Message-ID: Go to http://e-center.doe.gov/iips/busopor.nsf/Special+Notices?OpenView and look for the hpc linux announcement, or try: http://e-center.doe.gov/iips/busopor.nsf/b387fe5d7bb4b14385256aff005e9e79/3e9af9bca85355f585256c3e0072d300?OpenDocument This is FYI for most of you on this list, the vendors re restricted to US vendors. But it is interesting to see that the level of Linux at DOE has made it this far in the DC organization. Forward to anyone who you think should see it ... ron ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 25 Sep 2002 07:57:53 -0400 Subject: HPC Linux meeting, Sonoma, CA, Nov 4-5, 2002 FYI, the Linux meeting announcement has been posted on the Federal Business Operations page. http://e-center.doe.gov/iips/busopor.nsf/Special+Notices?OpenView From bari at onelabs.com Wed Sep 25 13:30:01 2002 From: bari at onelabs.com (Bari Ari) Date: Wed Sep 25 13:30:01 2002 Subject: "LinuxBIOS for ARM" or "Merging LinuxBIOS with BLOB" Message-ID: <3D91F60F.1050905@onelabs.com> Has anyone else here worked with BLOB? http://sourceforge.net/projects/blob Blob is a boot loader for SA11x0 (StrongARM) platforms and is just starting to support PXA and Xscale processors. Blob is able to boot a Linux kernel stored in flash or RAM and provide that kernel with a ramdisk (again from flash or RAM). The current BLOB binary is only about 7.2KB and the complete source tree is around 750KB. BLOB is mostly written in C with some Assembly much like LinuxBIOS. We're considering merging all the work with Etherboot and LinuxBIOS with BLOB somehow to get LinuxBIOS and Etherboot working with ARM and Xscale processors. It would be nice to be able to share all of this between platforms. Application areas would include: LART (PXA) Ipaq (PXA) SA11x0 PXA2x0 802xx IOP3xx ICXxxxx IXPxxxx as well as several other PDA, embedded and network infrastructure devices since Xscale is now used heavily for network processors and the current ARM and Xscale bootloader, config/init tools like Angel and the Intel Telematics bootloader are not exactly wonderful. Bari From rminnich at lanl.gov Wed Sep 25 14:13:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Wed Sep 25 14:13:01 2002 Subject: "LinuxBIOS for ARM" or "Merging LinuxBIOS with BLOB" In-Reply-To: <3D91F60F.1050905@onelabs.com> Message-ID: I like the idea of pulling the blob code into linuxbios, then we get a standard. Is there a recommended xscale development card? ron From bari at onelabs.com Wed Sep 25 15:16:01 2002 From: bari at onelabs.com (Bari Ari) Date: Wed Sep 25 15:16:01 2002 Subject: "LinuxBIOS for ARM" or "Merging LinuxBIOS with BLOB" References: Message-ID: <3D920BDB.6080508@onelabs.com> Ronald G Minnich wrote: >I like the idea of pulling the blob code into linuxbios, then we get a >standard. > >Is there a recommended xscale development card? > > > The LART project http://www.lart.tudelft.nl/ is an open hardware platform based on the old SA1100. I believe they are working on a new SA-1110 and PXA-250 design. Aleph One http://www.aleph1.co.uk/armlinux/LART/index.html may still have some LART's in stock. For PXA Intel has a dev board http://developer.intel.com/design/pca/applicationsprocessors/tools_software/dbpxa250.htm For Xscale Intel has the IXCDP1100 dev board http://developer.intel.com/design/network/products/cpp/ixcdp1100.htm For the IXP1200 they have the IXDP1200 platform http://developer.intel.com/design/network/products/npfamily/ixdp1200.htm For the IXP2400 and IXP2800 http://developer.intel.com/design/network/products/npfamily/ixdp2x00.htm For the IOP321 http://www.intel.com/design/iio/docs/iop321.htm the PXA-250 is very popular for handheld and PDA designs, they have just added MMX instructions to the PXA so it will be a hot platform for handheld gaming, Mpeg-4, MP3 devices. The IXP processors are used for networking applications and the IOP for storage applications. The new iPAQ 3900 also makes for a budget 400MHz PXA250 dev platform. http://www.handhelds.org has quite a bit of software and How-To's on firmware conversions and updates for handhelds. Bari From jest at free.fr Wed Sep 25 15:53:01 2002 From: jest at free.fr (Jest) Date: Wed Sep 25 15:53:01 2002 Subject: Linuxbios on a webpad ? Message-ID: <1032984514.3d9217c2186cf@imp.free.fr> Hi, I'd like to know if you think it would be feasible without too much trouble to use linuxbios on Frontpath's Progear webpad. The whole thing is actually usable on linux, the input is the touchscreen or an usb device. No distro ( linux from scratch ). The CPU is a transmeta crusoeTM3200, and here s the /proc/pci : PCI devices found: Bus 0, device 0, function 0: Host bridge: Transmeta Corporation Northbridge (rev 1). Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xfc000000 [0xfc0fffff]. Bus 0, device 4, function 0: Multimedia audio controller: Acer Laboratories Inc. [ALi] M5451 PCI South Bridge Audio (rev 1). IRQ 5. Master Capable. Latency=64. Min Gnt=2.Max Lat=24. I/O at 0x1000 [0x10ff]. Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xfc100000 [0xfc100fff]. Bus 0, device 5, function 0: CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1410 PC card Cardbus Controller (rev 1). IRQ 10. Master Capable. Latency=168. Max Lat=5. Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0x10000000 [0x10000fff]. Bus 0, device 6, function 0: VGA compatible controller: Silicon Motion, Inc. SM710 LynxEM (rev 163). IRQ 11. Master Capable. Latency=64. Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xfd000000 [0xfdffffff]. Bus 0, device 7, function 0: ISA bridge: Acer Laboratories Inc. [ALi] M1533 PCI to ISA Bridge [Aladdin IV] (rev 0). Bus 0, device 15, function 0: IDE interface: Acer Laboratories Inc. [ALi] M5229 IDE (rev 195). Master Capable. Latency=64. Min Gnt=2.Max Lat=4. I/O at 0x1f0 [0x1ff]. I/O at 0x3f6 [0x3f6]. I/O at 0x170 [0x177]. I/O at 0x376 [0x376]. I/O at 0x1400 [0x140f]. Bus 0, device 17, function 0: Bridge: Acer Laboratories Inc. [ALi] M7101 PMU (rev 0). Bus 0, device 20, function 0: USB Controller: Acer Laboratories Inc. [ALi] M5237 USB (rev 3). IRQ 9. Master Capable. Latency=64. Max Lat=80. Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xfc101000 [0xfc101fff]. Bus 1, device 0, function 0: Ethernet controller: PCI device 13d1:ab02 (rev 17). IRQ 10. Master Capable. No bursts. Min Gnt=255.Max Lat=255. I/O at 0x4000 [0x40ff]. Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0x10800000 [0x108003ff]. (note : the ethernet controller is a pcmcia one, just forget it) -Thierry- From leaf at projectplasma.com Wed Sep 25 17:03:01 2002 From: leaf at projectplasma.com (John Klar) Date: Wed Sep 25 17:03:01 2002 Subject: OK, I can finally talk about it Message-ID: Congratulations! LinuxBIOS and Ron got a mention on CNet... http://news.com.com/2100-1001-959082.html?tag=fd_top From kimon at hp.com Wed Sep 25 17:04:24 2002 From: kimon at hp.com (Kimon Berlin) Date: Wed Sep 25 17:04:24 2002 Subject: 3.5GB memory limit? (fwd) In-Reply-To: <20020924141206.B29406@www2> References: Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.0.20020924142214.03a64290@wslmail> At 12:12 PM Tuesday 2002-09-24, Bob Drzyzgula wrote: >Not that the 3.5GB thing is a surprise, but what chipset >were they talking about? You'll run into something similar regardless of the chipset. 32-bit PCI cards need MMIO below 4GB, so a chipset must provide a memory hole for them. A "nice" chipset will allow you to remap the affected memory above 4GB, and a "nice" operating system will allow you to use that remapped memory. Kimon -- Kimon Berlin - HP/UX Workstation Lab - Firmware/Manageability https://ecardfile.com/id/kimonberlin If it's not on fire, it's a firmware problem. From hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net Wed Sep 25 17:18:01 2002 From: hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net (Gregg C Levine) Date: Wed Sep 25 17:18:01 2002 Subject: OK, I can finally talk about it In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <000a01c264da$c1ad3f80$c5bc580c@who> Hello from Gregg C Levine More importantly this fact. Eric's company is building the hardware. It is exactly what Ron, and gang have been working towards. And some how, the fact remains, CNet managed to accurately report this. Ziff-Davis their parent company has been systematically under representing Linux, for a good number of years. It wasn't until sometime last year, or even the year before that they started to take Linux seriously. So Ron, good going. ------------------- Gregg C Levine hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net ------------------------------------------------------------ "The Force will be with you...Always." Obi-Wan Kenobi "Use the Force, Luke."? Obi-Wan Kenobi (This company dedicates this E-Mail to General Obi-Wan Kenobi ) (This company dedicates this E-Mail to Master Yoda ) > -----Original Message----- > From: linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org [mailto:linuxbios- > admin at clustermatic.org] On Behalf Of John Klar > Sent: Tuesday, September 24, 2002 9:49 AM > To: linuxbios at clustermatic.org > Subject: re: OK, I can finally talk about it > > Congratulations! > > LinuxBIOS and Ron got a mention on CNet... > http://news.com.com/2100-1001-959082.html?tag=fd_top > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios From ollie at sis.com.tw Wed Sep 25 20:19:00 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Wed Sep 25 20:19:00 2002 Subject: "LinuxBIOS for ARM" or "Merging LinuxBIOS with BLOB" In-Reply-To: <3D91F60F.1050905@onelabs.com> References: <3D91F60F.1050905@onelabs.com> Message-ID: <1033000206.1132.7.camel@ollie> On Thu, 2002-09-26 at 01:44, Bari Ari wrote: > Has anyone else here worked with BLOB? > > http://sourceforge.net/projects/blob > > Blob is a boot loader for SA11x0 (StrongARM) platforms and is just > starting to support PXA and Xscale processors. Blob is able to boot a > Linux kernel stored in flash or RAM and provide that kernel with a > ramdisk (again from flash or RAM). The current BLOB binary is only about > 7.2KB and the complete source tree is around 750KB. > I am also surveying bootloader for ARM architecture for some internal development project. I have looked at many ARM bootloaders recently. > BLOB is mostly written in C with some Assembly much like LinuxBIOS. > > We're considering merging all the work with Etherboot and LinuxBIOS with > BLOB somehow to get LinuxBIOS and Etherboot working with ARM and Xscale > processors. It would be nice to be able to share all of this between > platforms. > Did you tried the ARMboot and PPCboot ?? These bootloaders have network boot built-in now. I also think they have better source directory structures. Ollie From bari at onelabs.com Wed Sep 25 20:37:00 2002 From: bari at onelabs.com (Bari Ari) Date: Wed Sep 25 20:37:00 2002 Subject: "LinuxBIOS for ARM" or "Merging LinuxBIOS with BLOB" References: <3D91F60F.1050905@onelabs.com> <1033000206.1132.7.camel@ollie> Message-ID: <3D925A05.5010909@onelabs.com> ollie lho wrote: >Did you tried the ARMboot and PPCboot ?? These bootloaders have network >boot built-in now. I also think they have better source directory >structures. > > ARMboot http://sourceforge.net/projects/armboot and http://armboot.sourceforge.net/ may be a better fit since the structure is similar to the PPCboot http://ppcboot.sourceforge.net/ project. This would help to standardize LinuxBIOS for three different platforms. All you'd need next is a MIPSboot and SHboot project and everything would be just about covered :-) Bari From ollie at sis.com.tw Wed Sep 25 20:47:00 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Wed Sep 25 20:47:00 2002 Subject: "LinuxBIOS for ARM" or "Merging LinuxBIOS with BLOB" In-Reply-To: <3D925A05.5010909@onelabs.com> References: <3D91F60F.1050905@onelabs.com> <1033000206.1132.7.camel@ollie> <3D925A05.5010909@onelabs.com> Message-ID: <1033001899.1136.13.camel@ollie> On Thu, 2002-09-26 at 08:51, Bari Ari wrote: > ollie lho wrote: > > >Did you tried the ARMboot and PPCboot ?? These bootloaders have network > >boot built-in now. I also think they have better source directory > >structures. > > > > > ARMboot http://sourceforge.net/projects/armboot and > http://armboot.sourceforge.net/ may be a better fit since the > structure is similar to the PPCboot http://ppcboot.sourceforge.net/ > project. > > This would help to standardize LinuxBIOS for three different platforms. > > All you'd need next is a MIPSboot and SHboot project and everything > would be just about covered :-) > We should start a project call OmniBoot (not OmniBook^TM) which can boot any architecture. Ollie From bari at onelabs.com Wed Sep 25 20:59:00 2002 From: bari at onelabs.com (Bari Ari) Date: Wed Sep 25 20:59:00 2002 Subject: OmniBoot References: <3D91F60F.1050905@onelabs.com> <1033000206.1132.7.camel@ollie> <3D925A05.5010909@onelabs.com> <1033001899.1136.13.camel@ollie> Message-ID: <3D925F29.4000809@onelabs.com> ollie lho wrote: >We should start a project call OmniBoot (not OmniBook^TM) which can boot >any architecture. > > If the source could be shared it would certainly make sense, instead of all this reinventing of the wheel. Bari From ollie at sis.com.tw Wed Sep 25 21:11:00 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Wed Sep 25 21:11:00 2002 Subject: OmniBoot In-Reply-To: <3D925F29.4000809@onelabs.com> References: <3D91F60F.1050905@onelabs.com> <1033000206.1132.7.camel@ollie> <3D925A05.5010909@onelabs.com> <1033001899.1136.13.camel@ollie> <3D925F29.4000809@onelabs.com> Message-ID: <1033003368.1132.18.camel@ollie> On Thu, 2002-09-26 at 09:13, Bari Ari wrote: > > > ollie lho wrote: > > >We should start a project call OmniBoot (not OmniBook^TM) which can boot > >any architecture. > > > > > If the source could be shared it would certainly make sense, instead of > all this reinventing of the wheel. > Well, I do think there will be a lot of code sharing. As predicted by Ron, those bootloaders are getting more like OS kernel by itself. With careful architecting, we can have a portable bootloader. Ollie From ebiederman at lnxi.com Wed Sep 25 21:52:00 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W Biederman) Date: Wed Sep 25 21:52:00 2002 Subject: OmniBoot In-Reply-To: <1033003368.1132.18.camel@ollie> References: <3D91F60F.1050905@onelabs.com> <1033000206.1132.7.camel@ollie> <3D925A05.5010909@onelabs.com> <1033001899.1136.13.camel@ollie> <3D925F29.4000809@onelabs.com> <1033003368.1132.18.camel@ollie> Message-ID: ollie lho writes: > On Thu, 2002-09-26 at 09:13, Bari Ari wrote: > > > > > > ollie lho wrote: > > > > >We should start a project call OmniBoot (not OmniBook^TM) which can boot > > >any architecture. > > > > > > > > If the source could be shared it would certainly make sense, instead of > > all this reinventing of the wheel. > > > > Well, I do think there will be a lot of code sharing. As predicted by > Ron, those bootloaders are getting more like OS kernel by itself. With > careful architecting, we can have a portable bootloader. API wise etherboot is now portable. And people from other architectures have been picking off it's drivers for a while. And the ELF file format is portable across architectures. Where Ron missed in his prediction is the size differences between a regular OS and a bootloader. 16KB vs. 600KB is huge. There still remains a place for multiple bootloaders even if we start getting cross platform bootloaders. Too many people want significantly different semantics. A challenge with some of the embedded stuff is that a number of the embedded architectures are much easier to boot than pc. So it isn't a problem to merge the system setup code and the bootloader. Blob, ppcboot, and armboot all seem to share that property. I do not believe they you can easily swap out ram, or have an interesting pci bus on most of embedded bootloaders I have seen. And while you can do it I don't think putting motherboard information into a generic kernel is the right thing to do either. Eric From rminnich at lanl.gov Wed Sep 25 22:07:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Wed Sep 25 22:07:01 2002 Subject: OmniBoot In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On 25 Sep 2002, Eric W Biederman wrote: > > Where Ron missed in his prediction is the size differences between a regular > OS and a bootloader. 16KB vs. 600KB is huge. we'll see. I am very impressed with what you've been able to accomplish with Etherboot. It's a great piece of software. I use it on a bunch of machines here at LANL. And yet, having used Etherboot in flash and Linux in flash, I still want my BIOS to be linux. I'm very unreasonable that way. :-) ron From bari at onelabs.com Thu Sep 26 00:14:00 2002 From: bari at onelabs.com (Bari Ari) Date: Thu Sep 26 00:14:00 2002 Subject: Linuxbios on a webpad ? References: <1032984514.3d9217c2186cf@imp.free.fr> Message-ID: <3D928CDE.1090305@onelabs.com> Jest wrote: >Hi, I'd like to know if you think it would be feasible without too much trouble >to use linuxbios on Frontpath's Progear webpad. >The whole thing is actually usable on linux, the input is the touchscreen or an >usb device. >No distro ( linux from scratch ). >The CPU is a transmeta crusoeTM3200, and here s the /proc/pci : > >PCI devices found: > Bus 0, device 0, function 0: > Host bridge: Transmeta Corporation Northbridge (rev 1). > Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xfc000000 [0xfc0fffff]. > Bus 0, device 4, function 0: > Multimedia audio controller: Acer Laboratories Inc. [ALi] M5451 PCI South >Bridge Audio (rev 1). > > If you have the specs from Transmeta and ALI, it will probably be as much work as any other port. I wish you success in getting the specs out of them though. The other problem with laptops and webpads is dealing with the system management microcontrollers that are typically used for power management and keyboard scan and miscellaneous other ports. Bari From bari at onelabs.com Thu Sep 26 00:19:00 2002 From: bari at onelabs.com (Bari Ari) Date: Thu Sep 26 00:19:00 2002 Subject: Linuxbios on a webpad ? References: <1032984514.3d9217c2186cf@imp.free.fr> Message-ID: <3D928E1F.2000000@onelabs.com> Jest wrote: >Hi, I'd like to know if you think it would be feasible without too much trouble >to use linuxbios on Frontpath's Progear webpad. >The whole thing is actually usable on linux, the input is the touchscreen or an >usb device. >No distro ( linux from scratch ). >The CPU is a transmeta crusoeTM3200, and here s the /proc/pci : > >PCI devices found: > Bus 0, device 0, function 0: > Host bridge: Transmeta Corporation Northbridge (rev 1). > Non-prefetchable 32 bit memory at 0xfc000000 [0xfc0fffff]. > Bus 0, device 4, function 0: > Multimedia audio controller: Acer Laboratories Inc. [ALi] M5451 PCI South > > If you want to do a LinuxBIOS port to a webpad, I'd try a P-III+830 or up coming Banias design or one using Via Eden, SiS55x or NSC SC1xxx. Bari From nick-linuxbios at bostonimportcenter.com Thu Sep 26 01:01:01 2002 From: nick-linuxbios at bostonimportcenter.com (Nicholas Mistry) Date: Thu Sep 26 01:01:01 2002 Subject: "LinuxBIOS for ARM" or "Merging LinuxBIOS with BLOB" In-Reply-To: <3D920BDB.6080508@onelabs.com> References: <3D920BDB.6080508@onelabs.com> Message-ID: <1826.63.214.79.152.1033017219.squirrel@65.85.27.130> Just for the record, i have worked extensively with blob. Especially during the StrongARM port of linux. The IPAQ 36xx, 37xx, 38xx handhelds are based off the Intel Assabet/Neponset Development platform. The assabet is a StrongARM 1110 chip, and the neponset a 1111 chip. I currently own one of these, and i have to say its a nice setup. After i got my IPAQ 3870, i put the Assabet/Neponset hardware asside. BLOB is a great little bootloader. It has definitely come a long way in the past year. The one thing that i disliked about it was the mechanics for updating flash. But i am sure they have worked that out by now. -N > Ronald G Minnich wrote: > >>I like the idea of pulling the blob code into linuxbios, then we get a >>standard. >> >>Is there a recommended xscale development card? >> >> >> > The LART project http://www.lart.tudelft.nl/ is an open hardware > platform based on the old SA1100. I believe they are working on a new > SA-1110 and PXA-250 design. > > Aleph One http://www.aleph1.co.uk/armlinux/LART/index.html may still > have some LART's in stock. > > For PXA Intel has a dev board > http://developer.intel.com/design/pca/applicationsprocessors/tools_software/ dbpxa250.htm > > For Xscale Intel has the IXCDP1100 dev board > http://developer.intel.com/design/network/products/cpp/ixcdp1100.htm > > For the IXP1200 they have the IXDP1200 platform > http://developer.intel.com/design/network/products/npfamily/ixdp1200.htm > > For the IXP2400 and IXP2800 > http://developer.intel.com/design/network/products/npfamily/ixdp2x00.htm > > For the IOP321 http://www.intel.com/design/iio/docs/iop321.htm > > the PXA-250 is very popular for handheld and PDA designs, they have > just added MMX instructions to the PXA so it will be a hot platform > for handheld gaming, Mpeg-4, MP3 devices. The IXP processors are used > for networking applications and the IOP for storage applications. > > The new iPAQ 3900 also makes for a budget 400MHz PXA250 dev platform. > http://www.handhelds.org has quite a bit of software and How-To's on > firmware conversions and updates for handhelds. > > Bari > > > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios From ollie at sis.com.tw Thu Sep 26 01:50:01 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Thu Sep 26 01:50:01 2002 Subject: "LinuxBIOS for ARM" or "Merging LinuxBIOS with BLOB" In-Reply-To: <1826.63.214.79.152.1033017219.squirrel@65.85.27.130> References: <3D920BDB.6080508@onelabs.com> <1826.63.214.79.152.1033017219.squirrel@65.85.27.130> Message-ID: <1033020117.1136.26.camel@ollie> On Thu, 2002-09-26 at 13:13, Nicholas Mistry wrote: > Just for the record, i have worked extensively with blob. Especially > during the StrongARM port of linux. > > The IPAQ 36xx, 37xx, 38xx handhelds are based off the Intel > Assabet/Neponset Development platform. The assabet is a StrongARM 1110 > chip, and the neponset a 1111 chip. > > I currently own one of these, and i have to say its a nice setup. After i > got my IPAQ 3870, i put the Assabet/Neponset hardware asside. > > BLOB is a great little bootloader. It has definitely come a long way in > the past year. The one thing that i disliked about it was the mechanics > for updating flash. But i am sure they have worked that out by now. > Do you know if Blob can load uClinux ?? I found that most of the ARM bootloaders only support ARM-Linux. (Am I wrong ??) Ollie From bari at onelabs.com Thu Sep 26 02:16:01 2002 From: bari at onelabs.com (Bari Ari) Date: Thu Sep 26 02:16:01 2002 Subject: LinuxBIOS for ARM or Merging LinuxBIOS with BLOB References: <3D920BDB.6080508@onelabs.com> <1826.63.214.79.152.1033017219.squirrel@65.85.27.130> <1033020117.1136.26.camel@ollie> Message-ID: <3D92A998.1020802@onelabs.com> ollie lho wrote: >Do you know if Blob can load uClinux ?? I found that most of the ARM >bootloaders only support ARM-Linux. (Am I wrong ??) > > > Blob is written to be OS independent, but I don't believe anyone has had it working with uClinux yet. Lineo has had it working on thier version of linux along with network boot. Just today someone posted that they "just finished (or so I think) porting blob to a Big Red Hen board (XScale 80200 based)". Bari From ollie at sis.com.tw Thu Sep 26 02:20:01 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Thu Sep 26 02:20:01 2002 Subject: LinuxBIOS for ARM or Merging LinuxBIOS with BLOB In-Reply-To: <3D92A998.1020802@onelabs.com> References: <3D920BDB.6080508@onelabs.com> <1826.63.214.79.152.1033017219.squirrel@65.85.27.130> <1033020117.1136.26.camel@ollie> <3D92A998.1020802@onelabs.com> Message-ID: <1033021910.1136.30.camel@ollie> On Thu, 2002-09-26 at 14:30, Bari Ari wrote: > ollie lho wrote: > > >Do you know if Blob can load uClinux ?? I found that most of the ARM > >bootloaders only support ARM-Linux. (Am I wrong ??) > > > > > > > Blob is written to be OS independent, but I don't believe anyone has had > it working with uClinux yet. Lineo has had it working on thier version > of linux along with network boot. > Bari, Do you know if there is any OSS bootloader for uClinux on ARM ?? Ollie From bari at onelabs.com Thu Sep 26 02:29:00 2002 From: bari at onelabs.com (Bari Ari) Date: Thu Sep 26 02:29:00 2002 Subject: LinuxBIOS for ARM or Merging LinuxBIOS with BLOB References: <3D920BDB.6080508@onelabs.com> <1826.63.214.79.152.1033017219.squirrel@65.85.27.130> <1033020117.1136.26.camel@ollie> <3D92A998.1020802@onelabs.com> <1033021910.1136.30.camel@ollie> Message-ID: <3D92AC88.5090102@onelabs.com> ollie lho wrote: > >Bari, > Do you know if there is any OSS bootloader for uClinux on ARM ?? >Ollie > > > > > > I haven't tried this but take a look at: http://kabel.home.at:5880/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/arm-boot/ Bari From ollie at sis.com.tw Thu Sep 26 02:44:01 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Thu Sep 26 02:44:01 2002 Subject: LinuxBIOS for ARM or Merging LinuxBIOS with BLOB In-Reply-To: <3D92AC88.5090102@onelabs.com> References: <3D920BDB.6080508@onelabs.com> <1826.63.214.79.152.1033017219.squirrel@65.85 .27.130> <1033020117.1136.26.camel@ollie> <3D92A998.1020802@onelabs.com> <1033021910.1136.30.camel@ollie> <3D92AC88.5090102@onelabs.com> Message-ID: <1033023314.1136.33.camel@ollie> On Thu, 2002-09-26 at 14:43, Bari Ari wrote: > ollie lho wrote: > > > > >Bari, > > Do you know if there is any OSS bootloader for uClinux on ARM ?? > >Ollie > > > I haven't tried this but take a look at: > http://kabel.home.at:5880/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/arm-boot/ > I looks too primitive, I really doubt it does the job. Isn't only a JTAG emulator ?? Ollie From bari at onelabs.com Thu Sep 26 03:08:00 2002 From: bari at onelabs.com (Bari Ari) Date: Thu Sep 26 03:08:00 2002 Subject: [Fwd: Re: [Fwd: Re: LinuxBIOS for ARM; or Merging LinuxBIOS with BLOB]] Message-ID: <3D92B5D0.7010604@onelabs.com> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [Fwd: Re: "LinuxBIOS for ARM" or "Merging LinuxBIOS with BLOB"] Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 03:04:41 -0400 From: Thomas Chen To: Bari Ari CC: lart References: <3D92A629.3010606 at onelabs.com> that is not true.... i have armboot booting uclinux on atmel eb40, oki and a customed dev board.... quite nice... i looked at blob myself and thought armboot was much easier to work with Bari Ari wrote: > > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Re: "LinuxBIOS for ARM" or "Merging LinuxBIOS with BLOB" > Date: 26 Sep 2002 14:01:56 +0800 > From: ollie lho > To: Nicholas Mistry > CC: linuxbios at clustermatic.org > References: <3D920BDB.6080508 at onelabs.com> > <1826.63.214.79.152.1033017219.squirrel at 65.85.27.130> > > > > On Thu, 2002-09-26 at 13:13, Nicholas Mistry wrote: > >> Just for the record, i have worked extensively with blob. Especially >> during the StrongARM port of linux. >> >> The IPAQ 36xx, 37xx, 38xx handhelds are based off the Intel >> Assabet/Neponset Development platform. The assabet is a StrongARM 1110 >> chip, and the neponset a 1111 chip. >> >> I currently own one of these, and i have to say its a nice setup. >> After i >> got my IPAQ 3870, i put the Assabet/Neponset hardware asside. >> >> BLOB is a great little bootloader. It has definitely come a long way in >> the past year. The one thing that i disliked about it was the mechanics >> for updating flash. But i am sure they have worked that out by now. >> > > Do you know if Blob can load uClinux ?? I found that most of the ARM > bootloaders only support ARM-Linux. (Am I wrong ??) > > Ollie > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > > > > > > -- > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe lart" in > the body of a message to majordomo at lart.tudelft.nl > Please read the LART FAQ at http://www.lart.tudelft.nl/faq.php3 From aip at cwlinux.com Thu Sep 26 03:18:01 2002 From: aip at cwlinux.com (Andrew Ip) Date: Thu Sep 26 03:18:01 2002 Subject: reboot fails-- 630e or C3? In-Reply-To: ; from steve@nexpath.com on Mon, Sep 23, 2002 at 08:19:33PM -0700 References: <1032829403.31797.26.camel@ollie> Message-ID: <20020926153039.A2584@mail.cwlinux.com> Steve, > > > > The ACPI watch dog code is in the SiS LinuxBIOS patch avaliable on CVS. > > > > Ollie > > > Thanks Ollie, that's a lot of great code. I did not realize this was there. > I'm curious, though, do you think the watchdog timer reset is better, ie, > less likely to have race conditions, than my simple bit setting of b6,7 in > the INIT Enable Register (Hardware Reset Initiated by Software) at reg 0x46 > in LPC Bridge? By the name it seems this is what it is for. I have also got a kernel source with all required linuxbios patches, eg. sis, fb reset twice, kexec along with XFS, JFS, LVM, EVMS, pre-emptive. It should save you some time. You can get it at ftp://ftp.cwlinux.com/pub/downloads/kernel/2.4.19/kernel-source-linuxbios-2.4.19-CWLINUX_4.i386.rpm -Andrew -- Andrew Ip Email: aip at cwlinux.com Tel: (852) 2542 2046 Fax: (852) 2542 2036 Mobile: (852) 9201 9866 Cwlinux Limited Unit 202B 2/F Lai Cheong Factory Building, 479-479A Castle Peak Road, Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Tel: (852)2542 2046 Fax: (852)2542 2036 For public pgp key, please obtain it from http://www.keyserver.net/en. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/pgp-signature Size: 232 bytes Desc: not available URL: From ollie at sis.com.tw Thu Sep 26 03:27:00 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Thu Sep 26 03:27:00 2002 Subject: LinuxBIOS for ARM; or Merging LinuxBIOS with BLOB In-Reply-To: <3D92B5D0.7010604@onelabs.com> References: <3D92B5D0.7010604@onelabs.com> Message-ID: <1033025927.1132.37.camel@ollie> On Thu, 2002-09-26 at 15:22, Bari Ari wrote: > > > -------- Original Message -------- > Subject: Re: [Fwd: Re: "LinuxBIOS for ARM" or "Merging LinuxBIOS with > BLOB"] > Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 03:04:41 -0400 > From: Thomas Chen > To: Bari Ari > CC: lart > References: <3D92A629.3010606 at onelabs.com> > > > > that is not true.... i have armboot booting uclinux on > atmel eb40, oki and a customed dev board.... quite nice... > i looked at blob myself and thought armboot was much easier to work with > Do you have any patch avaliable ?? The code on CVS only have support for 720T and 920T. I am porting it to Integrator MB and CM940T. Ollie From ollie at sis.com.tw Thu Sep 26 04:09:01 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Thu Sep 26 04:09:01 2002 Subject: OmniBoot In-Reply-To: <3D925F29.4000809@onelabs.com> References: <3D91F60F.1050905@onelabs.com> <1033000206.1132.7.camel@ollie> <3D925A05.5010909@onelabs.com> <1033001899.1136.13.camel@ollie> <3D925F29.4000809@onelabs.com> Message-ID: <1033028463.1136.41.camel@ollie> On Thu, 2002-09-26 at 09:13, Bari Ari wrote: > > > ollie lho wrote: > > >We should start a project call OmniBoot (not OmniBook^TM) which can boot > >any architecture. > > > > > If the source could be shared it would certainly make sense, instead of > all this reinventing of the wheel. > A quick google search shows that OmniBoot has not been used by anyone else (except typo of OmniBook). I should apply a TM and DNS before it is too late ;-). Ollie From ebiederman at lnxi.com Thu Sep 26 06:37:00 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W Biederman) Date: Thu Sep 26 06:37:00 2002 Subject: 3.5GB memory limit? (fwd) In-Reply-To: <5.1.0.14.0.20020924142214.03a64290@wslmail> References: <5.1.0.14.0.20020924142214.03a64290@wslmail> Message-ID: Kimon Berlin writes: > At 12:12 PM Tuesday 2002-09-24, Bob Drzyzgula wrote: > >Not that the 3.5GB thing is a surprise, but what chipset > >were they talking about? > > You'll run into something similar regardless of the chipset. 32-bit PCI cards > need MMIO below 4GB, so a chipset must provide a memory hole for them. > A "nice" chipset will allow you to remap the affected memory above 4GB, and a > "nice" operating system will allow you to use that remapped memory. You can usually do a little better than 3.5GB if you only have a few pci cards or pci cards with a small mmio hole. With a single quadrics card plugged into the E7500 I can still keep my hole down to 3.5GB. As far as I know the E7500 is either the only, or at the very least one of the very first chipsets to offer a remapping ability. As far as accessing remapped memory. That is really dealing with memory about 4GB. Eric From chester at linux.org.tw Thu Sep 26 08:39:00 2002 From: chester at linux.org.tw (chester at linux.org.tw) Date: Thu Sep 26 08:39:00 2002 Subject: LinuxBIOS for ARM; or Merging LinuxBIOS with BLOB In-Reply-To: <1033025927.1132.37.camel@ollie> Message-ID: On 26 Sep 2002, ollie lho wrote: > On Thu, 2002-09-26 at 15:22, Bari Ari wrote: > > > > > > -------- Original Message -------- > > Subject: Re: [Fwd: Re: "LinuxBIOS for ARM" or "Merging LinuxBIOS with > > BLOB"] > > Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 03:04:41 -0400 > > From: Thomas Chen > > To: Bari Ari > > CC: lart > > References: <3D92A629.3010606 at onelabs.com> > > > > > > > > that is not true.... i have armboot booting uclinux on > > atmel eb40, oki and a customed dev board.... quite nice... > > i looked at blob myself and thought armboot was much easier to work with > > > > Do you have any patch avaliable ?? The code on CVS only have support for 720T > and 920T. I am porting it to Integrator MB and CM940T. > > Ollie > > I think it's most of the same under bootloader,most of bootlaoder didn't enable MMU in booting. CK. From rminnich at lanl.gov Thu Sep 26 09:19:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Thu Sep 26 09:19:00 2002 Subject: Linuxbios on a webpad ? In-Reply-To: <3D928CDE.1090305@onelabs.com> Message-ID: > If you have the specs from Transmeta and ALI, it will probably be as > much work as any other port. I wish you success in getting the specs out > of them though. I now have the transmeta specs and they have agreed to a port. ron From jest at free.fr Thu Sep 26 10:30:00 2002 From: jest at free.fr (Jest) Date: Thu Sep 26 10:30:00 2002 Subject: Linuxbios on a webpad ? In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1033051352.3d931cd8ee931@imp.free.fr> Great! I took the docs available on transmeta's homepage, but everything's around the TM5500/5800, and i'm not sure of the full compatibility with the TM3200, any infos ? Oh, and just a question, as bios is onboard, are there rescue methods if something goes wrong ? or how can i make sure an image _will_ work ? just to precise things there is only one HDD, one usb, a FIR and one PCMCIA port and soundcard I/O. -Thierry- > > If you have the specs from Transmeta and ALI, it will probably be as > > much work as any other port. I wish you success in getting the specs > out > > of them though. > > I now have the transmeta specs and they have agreed to a port. > > ron > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http ://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > From tkarthikbalaguru at yahoo.co.in Thu Sep 26 14:40:01 2002 From: tkarthikbalaguru at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Karthik=20Bala=20Guru?=) Date: Thu Sep 26 14:40:01 2002 Subject: just 2 boards supported by linuxbios Message-ID: <20020926185207.7305.qmail@web8207.mail.in.yahoo.com> Hi, i read from a pdf that linuxbios supports just two motherboards . Is it true ? What r the boards available in INDIAN CHENNAI or BANGLORE or HYDERABAD or MUMBAI market support linuxbios ? I have rtlinux in a floppy . Could i use linuxbios and port it into a x86 board ? where should i start with ?? If so, plz tell me some clear steps ... Xpecting ur help, karthik bala guru ________________________________________________________________________ Missed your favourite TV serial last night? Try the new, Yahoo! TV. visit http://in.tv.yahoo.com From tkarthikbalaguru at yahoo.co.in Thu Sep 26 14:42:01 2002 From: tkarthikbalaguru at yahoo.co.in (=?iso-8859-1?q?Karthik=20Bala=20Guru?=) Date: Thu Sep 26 14:42:01 2002 Subject: porting rtlinux into x86 Message-ID: <20020926185418.39500.qmail@web8202.mail.in.yahoo.com> Hi, If linuxbios boots other linux ... then it should act as a BIOS and boot rtlinux ??? am i correct till now ? I have rtlinux in a floppy . Could i use linuxbios and port it into a x86 board ? where should i start with ?? If so, plz tell me some clear steps ... Xpecting ur help, karthik bala guru ________________________________________________________________________ Missed your favourite TV serial last night? Try the new, Yahoo! TV. visit http://in.tv.yahoo.com From bari at onelabs.com Thu Sep 26 16:46:01 2002 From: bari at onelabs.com (Bari Ari) Date: Thu Sep 26 16:46:01 2002 Subject: [Fwd: Re: Lab to sample Linux for weapons work] Message-ID: <3D937572.80707@onelabs.com> -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: Lab to sample Linux for weapons work Date: Thu, 26 Sep 2002 15:06:56 -0400 From: Velocet To: beowulf at beowulf.org References: On Thu, Sep 26, 2002 at 03:49:39PM +0200, Eugen Leitl's all... > There's a major difference compared with Livermore system, though: The Los > Alamos machine has no hard drives. Instead, each computer fires up using > software pulled over the network with the assistance of software called > LinuxBIOS developed by LANL programmer Ron Minnich and others. LinuxBIOS > also dramatically speeds the startup process to about two seconds, said > Jason Lowry, Linux NetworX's product manager for cluster management tools. And what filesystem are they using for this? Surely its not NFS! Must be some sort of cluster filesystem no? Anyone know? Something open sourced? What decent clustre filesystems are out there? /kc > > Shunning hard drives cuts cost and power consumption, but more > importantly, it improves reliability, Roundy said. > > "If you think about what things are going to fail in a system, it's the > hard disk or fan or power supply or something with moving parts," Roundy > said. > > Linux NetworX could benefit greatly from convincing the Los Alamos and > Livermore labs that Linux clusters are worthwhile. The labs are funded by > the Energy Department's Advanced Simulation and Computing program, which > has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to advance supercomputing using > machines made of comparatively inexpensive components. > > The DOE program has underwritten many of the world's fastest computers, > according to university researchers who monitor raw calculation speed at > the Top500 organization. The program has underwritten Nos. 2, 6, 7, 9, 11, > and 15 on the most recent ranking. > > > _______________________________________________ > Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf at beowulf.org > To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf -- Ken Chase, math at velocet.ca * Velocet Communications Inc. * Toronto, CANADA _______________________________________________ Beowulf mailing list, Beowulf at beowulf.org To change your subscription (digest mode or unsubscribe) visit http://www.beowulf.org/mailman/listinfo/beowulf From rminnich at lanl.gov Thu Sep 26 17:06:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Thu Sep 26 17:06:01 2002 Subject: just 2 boards supported by linuxbios In-Reply-To: <20020926185207.7305.qmail@web8207.mail.in.yahoo.com> Message-ID: On Thu, 26 Sep 2002, Karthik Bala Guru wrote: > i read from a pdf that linuxbios supports just > two motherboards . Is it true ? what pdf? ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Thu Sep 26 22:23:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Thu Sep 26 22:23:01 2002 Subject: porting rtlinux into x86 In-Reply-To: <20020926185418.39500.qmail@web8202.mail.in.yahoo.com> Message-ID: On Thu, 26 Sep 2002, Karthik Bala Guru wrote: > If linuxbios boots other linux ... then it should > act as a BIOS and boot rtlinux ??? am i correct > till now ? sure. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Thu Sep 26 22:23:59 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Thu Sep 26 22:23:59 2002 Subject: [Fwd: Re: Lab to sample Linux for weapons work] In-Reply-To: <3D937572.80707@onelabs.com> Message-ID: On Thu, 26 Sep 2002, Bari Ari wrote: > And what filesystem are they using for this? Surely its not NFS! > Must be some sort of cluster filesystem no? Anyone know? Something open > sourced? What decent clustre filesystems are out there? NFS is dead for clusters. We are targeting three possible systems, each having a different set of advantages: 1- panasas (http://www.panasas.com) 2- lustre (http://www.lustre.org) 3- v9fs (http://v9fs.sourceforge.net), from yours truly ron From hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net Thu Sep 26 22:41:01 2002 From: hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net (Gregg C Levine) Date: Thu Sep 26 22:41:01 2002 Subject: [Fwd: Re: Lab to sample Linux for weapons work] In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <000201c265d1$179053a0$8f52580c@who> Hello from Gregg C Levine Ron, about the v9fs project. I am impressed. It looks like a good project. I might even try the code in any of my projects. So? What did kill NFS for clusters? Just for fun, try the v9fs in the first cluster that starts life at your shop. ------------------- Gregg C Levine hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net ------------------------------------------------------------ "The Force will be with you...Always." Obi-Wan Kenobi "Use the Force, Luke."? Obi-Wan Kenobi (This company dedicates this E-Mail to General Obi-Wan Kenobi ) (This company dedicates this E-Mail to Master Yoda ) > -----Original Message----- > From: linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org [mailto:linuxbios- > admin at clustermatic.org] On Behalf Of Ronald G Minnich > Sent: Thursday, September 26, 2002 10:37 PM > To: Bari Ari > Cc: LinuxBios > Subject: Re: [Fwd: Re: Lab to sample Linux for weapons work] > > On Thu, 26 Sep 2002, Bari Ari wrote: > > > And what filesystem are they using for this? Surely its not NFS! > > Must be some sort of cluster filesystem no? Anyone know? Something open > > sourced? What decent clustre filesystems are out there? > > NFS is dead for clusters. > > We are targeting three possible systems, each having a different set of > advantages: > 1- panasas (http://www.panasas.com) > 2- lustre (http://www.lustre.org) > 3- v9fs (http://v9fs.sourceforge.net), from yours truly > > ron > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios From rminnich at lanl.gov Thu Sep 26 23:30:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Thu Sep 26 23:30:01 2002 Subject: [Fwd: Re: Lab to sample Linux for weapons work] In-Reply-To: <000201c265d1$179053a0$8f52580c@who> Message-ID: On Thu, 26 Sep 2002, Gregg C Levine wrote: > Ron, about the v9fs project. I am impressed. It looks like a good > project. I might even try the code in any of my projects. So? What did > kill NFS for clusters? Just for fun, try the v9fs in the first cluster > that starts life at your shop. thanks. NFS has a fundamental assumptions that causes endless trouble. The assumption is statelessness. This means that servers and clients can restart any time. But for performance, true stateless operation is never practiced, and then you have to add timeouts for inode data, and the whole thing starts to look like a giant collection of rubber bands, glue, and paper clips. Basically if you look hard at NFS all the bad problems flow from this assumption. This has been written up to death over the last decade, and we're finally able to move away from NFS as it does not seem fixable for clusters. We are testing v9fs on clusters now. It works and with 2.4.19 and its own private name space support it is really nice. ron From hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net Fri Sep 27 00:25:01 2002 From: hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net (Gregg C Levine) Date: Fri Sep 27 00:25:01 2002 Subject: One question about this project still remains to be answered Message-ID: <000001c265df$ac340d40$4d52580c@who> Hello again from Gregg C Levine Would someone correct me, if I am wrong? These clusters, they are part of the Beowulf project, that Donald Becker originally developed using commodity PCs, complete with their original headaches? I went over the front page at www.beowulf.org and it clarified the issues only part of the way. I have here a copy of his original CD, as based on Red Hat 6.2 and so far even it has failed to enlighten me. ------------------- Gregg C Levine hansolofalcon at worldnet.att.net ------------------------------------------------------------ "The Force will be with you...Always." Obi-Wan Kenobi "Use the Force, Luke."? Obi-Wan Kenobi (This company dedicates this E-Mail to General Obi-Wan Kenobi ) (This company dedicates this E-Mail to Master Yoda ) From ebiederman at lnxi.com Fri Sep 27 02:14:01 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W Biederman) Date: Fri Sep 27 02:14:01 2002 Subject: UPX + linuxbios.... Message-ID: Not long ago, I worked my way through the upx code, and figured out what I needed to do to use it in another project. And started using that as the decompressor for etherboot. Today I have gone through and replaced the copy from rom to ram in crt0.base with a decompression step. This allows me to compress all of the C code when it is stored in the rom chip, and only decompress it as it is copied to RAM. The upx decompressor is roughly 180 bytes. And I get a compression ratio of about 2:1 When I start compiling in a lot of debug messages, or the intel microcode updates this compressor gives me a lot more room to work with. I reduced my footprint on the E7500 port by 20KB :) This interacts badly with my implementation of the cache as ram trick but that code wasn't stable enough to really trust. :( And in theory since I am moving less data off of the rom chip things should go even faster. Eric From rminnich at lanl.gov Fri Sep 27 09:41:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Fri Sep 27 09:41:01 2002 Subject: One question about this project still remains to be answered In-Reply-To: <000001c265df$ac340d40$4d52580c@who> Message-ID: no, they're not really part of beowulf, there is not even much software in common . ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Fri Sep 27 09:43:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Fri Sep 27 09:43:00 2002 Subject: UPX + linuxbios.... In-Reply-To: Message-ID: it's interesting but it looks like cache-as-ram will work fine on PPC. Sounds like a neat decompressor though, smaller and faster is always nice. ron From ebiederman at lnxi.com Fri Sep 27 10:16:01 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W. Biederman) Date: Fri Sep 27 10:16:01 2002 Subject: UPX + linuxbios.... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Ronald G Minnich writes: > it's interesting but it looks like cache-as-ram will work fine on PPC. > > Sounds like a neat decompressor though, smaller and faster is always nice. It only conflicts with my implementation of the cache-asm-ram code, not the practice. For PPC where there is architectural support for locking cache blocks, we should be able to decompress into the cache... If it looks like we need to run the code uncompressed from the ROM holler but for now I am going to assume we can compress everything. Among other things it greatly simplifies the linker scripts. Eric From rminnich at lanl.gov Fri Sep 27 10:47:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Fri Sep 27 10:47:00 2002 Subject: UPX + linuxbios.... In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On 27 Sep 2002, Eric W. Biederman wrote: > If it looks like we need to run the code uncompressed from the ROM > holler but for now I am going to assume we can compress everything. > Among other things it greatly simplifies the linker scripts. holler. I would like to have running-from-ROM as an option. Some of the people in the embedded space really want it. How do we keep both options as a config-time possibility? ron From ebiederman at lnxi.com Fri Sep 27 12:38:01 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W Biederman) Date: Fri Sep 27 12:38:01 2002 Subject: UPX + linuxbios.... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Ronald G Minnich writes: > On 27 Sep 2002, Eric W. Biederman wrote: > > > If it looks like we need to run the code uncompressed from the ROM > > holler but for now I am going to assume we can compress everything. > > Among other things it greatly simplifies the linker scripts. > > holler. I would like to have running-from-ROM as an option. Some of the > people in the embedded space really want it. > > How do we keep both options as a config-time possibility? So far we don't have a real running-from-ROM option for the C code as we started copying the code segment along with the data segment to RAM, a while ago, when I reduced the skew between Ollies boot from DOC code and the rest of LinuxBIOS. I have some trouble seeing where running-from-ROM is an issue when it only happens at boot time. But except for the problem of maintaining very divergent code paths I have nothing against it. Eric From steve at nexpath.com Sat Sep 28 13:52:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Sat Sep 28 13:52:01 2002 Subject: SJ Mercury News blurb In-Reply-To: Message-ID: The San Jose Mercury News had an announcement of the Linux NetworX/ LLNL deal on the front page of the business section today: http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/business/4169843.htm -Steve From spyro at f2s.com Sat Sep 28 14:34:01 2002 From: spyro at f2s.com (Ian Molton) Date: Sat Sep 28 14:34:01 2002 Subject: ASUS A7M Message-ID: <20020928195840.58b50ad6.spyro@f2s.com> Hi. Can I use LinuxBIOS on an ASUS A7M ? how do you tweak settings like CAS latency / things like that when using LinuxBIOS ? From rminnich at lanl.gov Sat Sep 28 17:07:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sat Sep 28 17:07:01 2002 Subject: ASUS A7M In-Reply-To: <20020928195840.58b50ad6.spyro@f2s.com> Message-ID: On Sat, 28 Sep 2002, Ian Molton wrote: > Can I use LinuxBIOS on an ASUS A7M ? I forget the chipset, so I don't know. > how do you tweak settings like CAS latency / things like that when using > LinuxBIOS ? carefully :-) you can't just change CAS on the fly. If you do, RAM stops working. SDRAM is non trivial. So you have to make linuxbios set those parameters on startup. Although why you would want to set faster CL2 for CL3 ram, or set slower CL3 for CL2 ram, is something I don't understand. ron From ebiederman at lnxi.com Sat Sep 28 17:17:01 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W Biederman) Date: Sat Sep 28 17:17:01 2002 Subject: ASUS A7M In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Ronald G Minnich writes: > On Sat, 28 Sep 2002, Ian Molton wrote: > > > Can I use LinuxBIOS on an ASUS A7M ? > > > > I forget the chipset, so I don't know. > > > how do you tweak settings like CAS latency / things like that when using > > LinuxBIOS ? > > carefully :-) > > you can't just change CAS on the fly. If you do, RAM stops working. > SDRAM is non trivial. So you have to make linuxbios set those parameters > on startup. > > Although why you would want to set faster CL2 for CL3 ram, or set slower > CL3 for CL2 ram, is something I don't understand. The slower I can under stand for debugging, the rest I really don't know. The EEPROMS on ram chips also accept the WRITE_BYTE/WRITE_BLOCK commands, or at least some of them do, so the right solution might just be to relable your ram... Eric From thoa0025 at mail.usyd.edu.au Sat Sep 28 19:23:01 2002 From: thoa0025 at mail.usyd.edu.au (Trung Hoang) Date: Sat Sep 28 19:23:01 2002 Subject: noob Message-ID: <01f901c26747$d7ece240$0100a8c0@trungietam59hm> im quite a noob at linuxbios. i read about it in a cool magazine or somewhere =B i went to the website. and went to download. but it points me to sourceforge, where i can download FREEBIOS. is this an alias for lunixBios or something or what am i missing here? cheers -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From rminnich at lanl.gov Sat Sep 28 19:38:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sat Sep 28 19:38:00 2002 Subject: noob In-Reply-To: <01f901c26747$d7ece240$0100a8c0@trungietam59hm> Message-ID: it's a long story, but at this point freebios and linuxbios are the same. ron From xw at chinahost.com Sun Sep 29 04:27:01 2002 From: xw at chinahost.com (David Xiong) Date: Sun Sep 29 04:27:01 2002 Subject: PCI: No IRQ Known for interrupt pin A of device 02:04.0. Please try using pci=biosirq Message-ID: <010301c26793$66f5e680$dc01a8c0@notebook> I have Linuxbios boot from DOC successfuly. But I can not get my 2-channel-video-monitor-card up. When I load the driver, it shows PCI: No IRQ Known for interrupt pin A of device 02:04.0. Please try using pci=biosirq The driver can not get IRQ, and it can not work. If I boot from BIOS with the same kernel , the card can work correctly. I noticed that BIOS set IRQ into the card but linuxbios does not do so. Can you tell me what shall I do? Thanks a lot. David Xiong From tejohnson at yahoo.com Sun Sep 29 13:08:00 2002 From: tejohnson at yahoo.com (Todd E. Johnson) Date: Sun Sep 29 13:08:00 2002 Subject: PCChips M758LMR+ Message-ID: <006c01c267dc$91ef7290$021e1eac@areas3> Hello folks, I have the PCChips M758LMR+, and I am extremely interested in this excellent project! Does anyone have example LinuxBios boot times with this board? While grepping for additional information to get started, I came across: http://www.acl.lanl.gov/linuxbios/config/index.html However, it does not contain this board, as well, I encounter a 404 when attempting to create a config for another board. Besides the FAQ, are there any other resources to help me get started with this system? Thanks in advance! Regards, Todd E. Johnson http://www.groomlakelabs/grandamp/ tejohnson at yahoo.com From steve at nexpath.com Sun Sep 29 13:32:00 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Sun Sep 29 13:32:00 2002 Subject: No IRQ Known for interrupt pin A of device 02:04.0. Please try using pci=biosirq In-Reply-To: <010301c26793$66f5e680$dc01a8c0@notebook> Message-ID: > I have Linuxbios boot from DOC successfuly. But I can not get my > 2-channel-video-monitor-card up. > When I load the driver, it shows > PCI: No IRQ Known for interrupt pin A of device 02:04.0. Please > try using pci=biosirq > The driver can not get IRQ, and it can not work. > > If I boot from BIOS with the same kernel , the card can work correctly. > > I noticed that BIOS set IRQ into the card but linuxbios does not do so. You need to make and run the program util/getpir (using the original BIOS, running Linux) to make the file irq_tables.c, then copy that file into the mainboard directory, and set the option HAVE_PIRQ_TABLE=1. Linuxbios when it starts will copy this file into the shadowed RAM at 0xF0000, where Linux can find it during startup. This allows Linux to route the irqs. -Steve From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 29 14:05:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 29 14:05:00 2002 Subject: PCI: No IRQ Known for interrupt pin A of device 02:04.0. Please try using pci=biosirq In-Reply-To: <010301c26793$66f5e680$dc01a8c0@notebook> Message-ID: On Sun, 29 Sep 2002, David Xiong wrote: > I have Linuxbios boot from DOC successfuly. But I can not get my 2-channel-video-monitor-card up. > When I load the driver, it shows > PCI: No IRQ Known for interrupt pin A of device 02:04.0. Please try using pci=biosirq > The driver can not get IRQ, and it can not work. this means a bad irq table. What is the motherboard and what is the chipset? ro From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 29 14:09:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 29 14:09:00 2002 Subject: PCChips M758LMR+ In-Reply-To: <006c01c267dc$91ef7290$021e1eac@areas3> Message-ID: I think the right guy to talk to here is Andrew Ip. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 29 14:10:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 29 14:10:00 2002 Subject: No IRQ Known for interrupt pin A of device 02:04.0. Please try using pci=biosirq In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Sun, 29 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > You need to make and run the program util/getpir (using the original BIOS, > running Linux) to make the file irq_tables.c, then copy that file into the > mainboard directory, and set the option HAVE_PIRQ_TABLE=1. Linuxbios when > it starts will copy this file into the shadowed RAM at 0xF0000, where Linux > can find it during startup. This allows Linux to route the irqs. exactly. If this is a new board I need all the info so I can put it in the source tree. ron From christopher at bergeron.com Sun Sep 29 14:17:00 2002 From: christopher at bergeron.com (Christopher Bergeron) Date: Sun Sep 29 14:17:00 2002 Subject: DOC vs. IDE Message-ID: <2484226588.20020929142933@bergeron.com> Can anyone give me advice on what will acheive the fastest boot time? My options are the LinuxBIOS coupled with a DOC root or with root configured on hda1 (IDE). I boot into X and I'll need standard modules loaded. I'd like to fit the entire install on a DOC but only IF I'll get a faster load/boot. Would a combination be faster or just DOC ? Much thanks in advance to anyone that can provide advice... -Chris Bergeron From LeeCausier at GameBox.net Sun Sep 29 16:00:01 2002 From: LeeCausier at GameBox.net (Lee) Date: Sun Sep 29 16:00:01 2002 Subject: OT: Diamond Stealth 64 DRAM PCI on Linux Framebuffer w/o Option Rom? Message-ID: <3D975EB8.2030007@GameBox.net> Dear LinuxBiosers, I'm afraid this topic is a bit off topic, but I thought you guys would be the best to ask as LinuxBios doesn't load option roms. I have a Diamond Stealth 64 Dram PCI card which I have removed the option rom from (and placed in an antistatic foam eprom case.) I want to use it for dual monitor support, but had to remove the option rom as it wasn't designed for multi-card operation. I am wondering if this thing can be used with Linux's framebuffer support?? My other card is a Nvidia GeForce2 64MB AGP. I figure I may have to assign it some settings, I'm not sure. I haven't put it into the target machine yet, but I have tested it booting with a Cirrus Logic 5422 w/ Option Rom on a different machine and it is detected by 95, but not used. Thanking you in advance, Lee Edward Causier. From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 29 17:13:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 29 17:13:00 2002 Subject: DOC vs. IDE In-Reply-To: <2484226588.20020929142933@bergeron.com> Message-ID: On Sun, 29 Sep 2002, Christopher Bergeron wrote: > Can anyone give me advice on what will acheive the fastest boot time? > My options are the LinuxBIOS coupled with a DOC root or with root > configured on hda1 (IDE). I boot into X and I'll need standard > modules loaded. I'd like to fit the entire install on a DOC but only > IF I'll get a faster load/boot. you can't fit X onto the DoC you can buy today. Fasted boot I've seen is with the kernel in DoC, then mount /dev/hda1 as /. ron From christopher at bergeron.com Sun Sep 29 18:48:00 2002 From: christopher at bergeron.com (Christopher Bergeron) Date: Sun Sep 29 18:48:00 2002 Subject: DOC vs. IDE In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <155100506869.20020929190051@bergeron.com> Sunday, September 29, 2002, 5:26:37 PM, you wrote: RGM> On Sun, 29 Sep 2002, Christopher Bergeron wrote: >> Can anyone give me advice on what will acheive the fastest boot time? >> My options are the LinuxBIOS coupled with a DOC root or with root >> configured on hda1 (IDE). I boot into X and I'll need standard >> modules loaded. I'd like to fit the entire install on a DOC but only >> IF I'll get a faster load/boot. RGM> Fasted boot I've seen is with the kernel in DoC, then mount /dev/hda1 as RGM> /. So DoC _IS_ faster than IDE? If this is the case, why should it be that mounting it with /dev/hda1 as root would make for a faster boot? By my logic, I would think that having /boot and /root on a DoC would make it faster. Am I missing something? Thanks, Chris From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 29 20:32:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 29 20:32:00 2002 Subject: DOC vs. IDE In-Reply-To: <155100506869.20020929190051@bergeron.com> Message-ID: On Sun, 29 Sep 2002, Christopher Bergeron wrote: > So DoC _IS_ faster than IDE? If this is the case, why should it be > that mounting it with /dev/hda1 as root would make for a faster boot? > By my logic, I would think that having /boot and /root on a DoC would > make it faster. It is not faster. But it is faster to load a kernel from linux while the slow IDE spins up. Then once the kernel is in there it can go to IDE. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Sun Sep 29 20:39:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Sun Sep 29 20:39:00 2002 Subject: DOC vs. IDE In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Sun, 29 Sep 2002, Ronald G Minnich wrote: > It is not faster. But it is faster to load a kernel from linux while the ^^^^^ DoC > slow IDE spins up. Then once the kernel is in there it can go to IDE. ron From linuxbios at hello.org Sun Sep 29 20:51:01 2002 From: linuxbios at hello.org (CMZ) Date: Sun Sep 29 20:51:01 2002 Subject: Kernel patches for VIA Eden chipsets. Message-ID: <00b301c2681d$39f8c460$0401a8c0@minibm> Hi, what's the kernel patches that I can use for Via chipsets? /src/kernel_patches are mostly SiS based, and does actual SDR initialization works for DDR too? Thanks! CM. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ollie at sis.com.tw Sun Sep 29 20:54:00 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Sun Sep 29 20:54:00 2002 Subject: DOC vs. IDE In-Reply-To: <155100506869.20020929190051@bergeron.com> References: <155100506869.20020929190051@bergeron.com> Message-ID: <1033347329.1132.48.camel@ollie> On Mon, 2002-09-30 at 07:00, Christopher Bergeron wrote: > > Sunday, September 29, 2002, 5:26:37 PM, you wrote: > > RGM> On Sun, 29 Sep 2002, Christopher Bergeron wrote: > > >> Can anyone give me advice on what will acheive the fastest boot time? > >> My options are the LinuxBIOS coupled with a DOC root or with root > >> configured on hda1 (IDE). I boot into X and I'll need standard > >> modules loaded. I'd like to fit the entire install on a DOC but only > >> IF I'll get a faster load/boot. > > > RGM> Fasted boot I've seen is with the kernel in DoC, then mount /dev/hda1 as > RGM> /. > > So DoC _IS_ faster than IDE? If this is the case, why should it be > that mounting it with /dev/hda1 as root would make for a faster boot? > By my logic, I would think that having /boot and /root on a DoC would > make it faster. > DoC _IS_NOT_ faster than IDE. IDE HD has the problem it need to spin up before taking any command while DoC does not. This spin up time delays you booting speed. On the other hand, once spun up IDE HD is much faster than DoC. Ollie From qhpark at jchyun.com Sun Sep 29 22:03:00 2002 From: qhpark at jchyun.com (Q-ha Park) Date: Sun Sep 29 22:03:00 2002 Subject: nonsense C/H/S values for CF (used in ide) Message-ID: I have a board with gx1, pc97317 and cs5530a with one ide slot. I've been booting linux with Phoenix bios so far with no problems, and I tried linuxBIOS to boot linux. but I noticed strange C/H/S values like "init_drive sectors_per_track=[768], num_heads=[768], num_cylinders=[768]". and it failed to boot. does anyone have similar problems like this? Phoenix bios sees the device and read the values correctly... thanks, Q From steve at nexpath.com Mon Sep 30 00:42:01 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Mon Sep 30 00:42:01 2002 Subject: DOC vs. IDE In-Reply-To: Message-ID: >> So DoC _IS_ faster than IDE? If this is the case, why should it be >> that mounting it with /dev/hda1 as root would make for a faster boot? >> By my logic, I would think that having /boot and /root on a DoC would >> make it faster. >> >DoC _IS_NOT_ faster than IDE. IDE HD has the problem it need to spin up >before taking any command while DoC does not. This spin up time delays >you booting speed. On the other hand, once spun up IDE HD is much faster >than DoC. >Ollie I've been loading the Linux kernel from CompactFlash (CF) (raw image) in /dev/hdc1, and then mount the root disk in /dev/hda1, and this is pretty fast. I shortened the delays in the IDE routine since the CF doesn't need spin up time. We really need an "intelligent" routine to find when an IDE device is ready rather than a pure time delay. -Steve From drwho8 at worldnet.att.net Mon Sep 30 00:52:00 2002 From: drwho8 at worldnet.att.net (Gregg C Levine) Date: Mon Sep 30 00:52:00 2002 Subject: DOC vs. IDE References: Message-ID: <000601c2683f$1483b740$de6a580c@who> Hello from Gregg C Levine Steve? How so? How did you physically connect the CF card to your IDE bus? I know a number of adapters exist to enable that feature, and I know that the 2.4 series contains the MTD (Memory Technology Drivers) functions directly, but after that, I'm lost. Gregg C Levine drwho8 at worldnet.att.net "Oh my!" The Second Doctor's nearly favorite phrase. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve M. Gehlbach" To: Sent: Monday, September 30, 2002 1:09 AM Subject: RE: Re[2]: DOC vs. IDE > >> So DoC _IS_ faster than IDE? If this is the case, why should it be > >> that mounting it with /dev/hda1 as root would make for a faster boot? > >> By my logic, I would think that having /boot and /root on a DoC would > >> make it faster. > >> > > >DoC _IS_NOT_ faster than IDE. IDE HD has the problem it need to spin up > >before taking any command while DoC does not. This spin up time delays > >you booting speed. On the other hand, once spun up IDE HD is much faster > >than DoC. > > >Ollie > > I've been loading the Linux kernel from CompactFlash (CF) (raw image) in > /dev/hdc1, and then mount the root disk in /dev/hda1, and this is pretty > fast. I shortened the delays in the IDE routine since the CF doesn't need > spin up time. We really need an "intelligent" routine to find when an IDE > device is ready rather than a pure time delay. > > -Steve > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > From steve at nexpath.com Mon Sep 30 01:23:00 2002 From: steve at nexpath.com (Steve M. Gehlbach) Date: Mon Sep 30 01:23:00 2002 Subject: DOC vs. IDE In-Reply-To: <000601c2683f$1483b740$de6a580c@who> Message-ID: > Hello from Gregg C Levine > Steve? How so? How did you physically connect the CF card to your > IDE bus? I > know a number of adapters exist to enable that feature, and I > know that the > 2.4 series contains the MTD (Memory Technology Drivers) functions > directly, > but after that, I'm lost. > CF is electrically IDE compatible, but not physically. It requires an adaptor, but the adaptor is completely passive except for the power connector. I bought mine from from this site a while ago: http://www.pcengines.com/cflash.htm. Otherwise, you use CF just like a regular HDD, no special drivers required. CF is less than 1/2 the price of DOC, so I have never really understood why DOC became popular. -Steve From ollie at sis.com.tw Mon Sep 30 02:13:01 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Mon Sep 30 02:13:01 2002 Subject: DOC vs. IDE In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1033366669.1132.53.camel@ollie> On Mon, 2002-09-30 at 13:50, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > > Hello from Gregg C Levine > > Steve? How so? How did you physically connect the CF card to your > > IDE bus? I > > know a number of adapters exist to enable that feature, and I > > know that the > > 2.4 series contains the MTD (Memory Technology Drivers) functions > > directly, > > but after that, I'm lost. > > > > CF is electrically IDE compatible, but not physically. It requires an > adaptor, but the adaptor is completely passive except for the power > connector. I bought mine from from this site a while ago: > http://www.pcengines.com/cflash.htm. Otherwise, you use CF just like a > regular HDD, no special drivers required. > > CF is less than 1/2 the price of DOC, so I have never really understood why > DOC became popular. > Most wear-leveling algorithm in CF or DOM are rather stupid (if they do have) which result in unreliable parts. The algorithm in DOC's NFTL is a little bit better. Ollie From ebiederman at lnxi.com Mon Sep 30 04:07:01 2002 From: ebiederman at lnxi.com (Eric W. Biederman) Date: Mon Sep 30 04:07:01 2002 Subject: DOC vs. IDE In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: "Steve M. Gehlbach" writes: > >> So DoC _IS_ faster than IDE? If this is the case, why should it be > >> that mounting it with /dev/hda1 as root would make for a faster boot? > >> By my logic, I would think that having /boot and /root on a DoC would > >> make it faster. > >> > > >DoC _IS_NOT_ faster than IDE. IDE HD has the problem it need to spin up > >before taking any command while DoC does not. This spin up time delays > >you booting speed. On the other hand, once spun up IDE HD is much faster > >than DoC. > > >Ollie > > I've been loading the Linux kernel from CompactFlash (CF) (raw image) in > /dev/hdc1, and then mount the root disk in /dev/hda1, and this is pretty > fast. I shortened the delays in the IDE routine since the CF doesn't need > spin up time. We really need an "intelligent" routine to find when an IDE > device is ready rather than a pure time delay. Check the current code in the etherboot source tree. We wait for the BSY bit to clear before sending commands and it works fine. Ollie has reported that on some host controllers this doesn't work but I haven't seen that behavior in practice. Anyway feel free to send patches... Eric From christopher at bergeron.com Mon Sep 30 07:54:00 2002 From: christopher at bergeron.com (Christopher Bergeron) Date: Mon Sep 30 07:54:00 2002 Subject: Is linuxbios GPL ? References: Message-ID: <3D983ED6.6050608@bergeron.com> Is the linuxbios code GPL? Does the GPL allow for inclusion into other operating systems? The reason I'm asking is because I'm very concerned that some other OS maker (ahem: MSFT) may take this codebase and try to create a MSFT version. Is this possible or am I worrying needlessly? I kow MSFT steals code (BSD tcp/ip stack comes to mind) and I'm wondering what provisions are out there to protect this amazing project. And while I'm at it, kudos to all the developers! -Chris From Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk Mon Sep 30 08:27:00 2002 From: Antony at Soft-Solutions.co.uk (Antony Stone) Date: Mon Sep 30 08:27:00 2002 Subject: Is linuxbios GPL ? In-Reply-To: <3D983ED6.6050608@bergeron.com> References: <3D983ED6.6050608@bergeron.com> Message-ID: <200209301240.g8UCeQL03904@vulcan.rissington.net> On Monday 30 September 2002 1:08 pm, Christopher Bergeron wrote: > Is the linuxbios code GPL? Yes. It says so in the file COPYING distributed with the source code. Also see http://sourceforge.net/projects/freebios > Does the GPL allow for inclusion into other operating systems? Yes, but only under the condition that any code which results is also freely released under the GPL. The GPL is quite clear about this really: 1. Commercial organisations *can* take Open Source Software, build it into products, and sell them for money. 2. Anyone who makes changes to GPL code and distributes the result (ie it's not for purely private use) *must* make the modified source available under the terms of the GPL (ie anyone else can take it and do what they want with it...) 3. It is allowed to take GPL code, build separate proprietary software which is *not* based upon the code, and is *not* derived from it, and distribute the two together without making the proprietary source available. However in this case you have to be very careful that the two really are separate, and that it cannot be said that the proprietary part is based on the GPL part. 4. There is a modified version of the GPL for library files to allow people to create proprietary Closed Source code which links to Open Source libraries, however the specific libraries must be realeased upon this version (called the LGPL) for this to apply. However, all that said, I'm not aware of any instance where the GPL has been tested in court (or even "out of court" as they say) against a company accused of taking GPL code and developing closed source products from it. If M$ is not bothered about defying the US Government, it's hard to think of anyone they are bothered about..... Antony. -- 90% of network problems are routing problems. 9 of the remaining 10% are routing problems in the other direction. The remaining 1% might be something else, but check the routing anyway. From prl-linuxbios at sychron.com Mon Sep 30 11:30:01 2002 From: prl-linuxbios at sychron.com (prl-linuxbios at sychron.com) Date: Mon Sep 30 11:30:01 2002 Subject: Is linuxbios GPL ? In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 30 Sep 2002 13:40:19 BST." <200209301240.g8UCeQL03904@vulcan.rissington.net> Message-ID: > However, all that said, I'm not aware of any instance where the GPL has been > tested in court (or even "out of court" as they say) against a company > accused of taking GPL code and developing closed source products from it. Read "Enforcing The GPL" I and II at . Apparently the GPL has been tested out of court several times, and Moglen claims it has never been tested *in* court precisely because it is so watertight. GPL has the nicely recursive feature of being considerably less restrictive that the normal license agreements from which the rest of the software industry makes its money, so if anyone managed to get GPL challenged, all such licenses would be suspect. As the only group likely to be so motivated is precisely that same software industry, this won't be happening any time soon. :) From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 30 15:30:00 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 30 15:30:00 2002 Subject: Kernel patches for VIA Eden chipsets. In-Reply-To: <00b301c2681d$39f8c460$0401a8c0@minibm> Message-ID: first, what chipset? second, the ide spinup patch is pretty universal. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 30 15:33:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 30 15:33:01 2002 Subject: nonsense C/H/S values for CF (used in ide) In-Reply-To: Message-ID: this is because you need the ide patch for enabling the IDE in linuxbios. see the rr2 mainboard. I am on travel but once I get back I will try to show you an example of how to do this. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 30 15:35:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 30 15:35:01 2002 Subject: DOC vs. IDE In-Reply-To: Message-ID: On Sun, 29 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > CF is less than 1/2 the price of DOC, so I have never really understood why > DOC became popular. because the doc chip was a transparent replacement for the BIOS chip. That's the only reason. OUr 1024-node cluster uses CF in the primary IDE slot. ron From rminnich at lanl.gov Mon Sep 30 15:38:01 2002 From: rminnich at lanl.gov (Ronald G Minnich) Date: Mon Sep 30 15:38:01 2002 Subject: Is linuxbios GPL ? In-Reply-To: <3D983ED6.6050608@bergeron.com> Message-ID: linuxbios is gpl. The reason is that the original code base (freebios) is GPL; DOE encourages GPL projects; and the chipset vendors really wanted it to be GPL. I don't really care if MSFT uses it or not. ron From stuge-linuxbios at cdy.org Mon Sep 30 16:02:01 2002 From: stuge-linuxbios at cdy.org (Peter Stuge) Date: Mon Sep 30 16:02:01 2002 Subject: Is linuxbios GPL ? In-Reply-To: <200209301240.g8UCeQL03904@vulcan.rissington.net>; from Antony@Soft-Solutions.co.uk on Mon, Sep 30, 2002 at 01:40:19PM +0100 References: <3D983ED6.6050608@bergeron.com> <200209301240.g8UCeQL03904@vulcan.rissington.net> Message-ID: <20020930221359.A31843@foo.birdnet.se> On Mon, Sep 30, 2002 at 01:40:19PM +0100, Antony Stone wrote: > On Monday 30 September 2002 1:08 pm, Christopher Bergeron wrote: > > > Is the linuxbios code GPL? > > Yes. It says so in the file COPYING distributed with the source code. [..snip..] > However, all that said, I'm not aware of any instance where the GPL has > been tested in court (or even "out of court" as they say) against a > company accused of taking GPL code and developing closed source products > from it. Try XVID vs Sigma Designs, http://xvid.org/ and http://www.sigmadesigns.com/ //Peter From linuxbios at hello.org Mon Sep 30 21:20:01 2002 From: linuxbios at hello.org (CMZ) Date: Mon Sep 30 21:20:01 2002 Subject: DOC vs. IDE References: Message-ID: <006a01c268ea$8e7df2d0$0401a8c0@minibm> There are rumors that CF aren't reliable as DOC, is that true ? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ronald G Minnich" To: "Steve M. Gehlbach" Cc: Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2002 3:47 AM Subject: RE: Re[2]: DOC vs. IDE > On Sun, 29 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > > > CF is less than 1/2 the price of DOC, so I have never really understood why > > DOC became popular. > > because the doc chip was a transparent replacement for the BIOS chip. > That's the only reason. > > OUr 1024-node cluster uses CF in the primary IDE slot. > > ron > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios > From qhpark at jchyun.com Mon Sep 30 22:24:01 2002 From: qhpark at jchyun.com (Q-ha Park) Date: Mon Sep 30 22:24:01 2002 Subject: nonsense C/H/S values for CF (used in ide) In-Reply-To: Message-ID: hmm, you mean there's an additional patch to ide.c, which is already used to build linuxBIOS, not in the source tree? thanks, Q > -----Original Message----- > From: linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org > [mailto:linuxbios-admin at clustermatic.org]On Behalf Of Ronald G Minnich > Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2002 4:45 AM > To: Q-ha Park > Cc: linuxbios at clustermatic.org > Subject: Re: nonsense C/H/S values for CF (used in ide) > > > this is because you need the ide patch for enabling the IDE in linuxbios. > > see the rr2 mainboard. I am on travel but once I get back I will try to > show you an example of how to do this. > > ron > > _______________________________________________ > Linuxbios mailing list > Linuxbios at clustermatic.org > http://www.clustermatic.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios From xw at chinahost.com Mon Sep 30 23:26:00 2002 From: xw at chinahost.com (David Xiong) Date: Mon Sep 30 23:26:00 2002 Subject: No IRQ Known for interrupt pin A of device 02:04.0. Please try using pci=biosirq Message-ID: <001701c268fb$9bf77100$dc01a8c0@notebook> The mainboard is K7SEM and irq_tables.c is already in the source tree. I run the program getpir and get an irq_tables.c file which is the same as the one in the source tree. The program util/getpir reports 6 slot found, whether I plug in the multimedia card or not, and produce exact the same irq_tables.c. And the option HAVE_PIRQ_TABLE=1 is set in the config file of the source tree. I traced into the kernel source and found that the original BIOS set IRQ when POST, but linuxbios does not do so. The IRQ is 0 when start up with linuxbios. When the driver of the multimedia card comes up, it find the card has not an IRQ. Then the driver try to get one from the irq_table, but the PCI device is not in the irq_table, so it can not find one or assign one to the device. What else can I do? Can I hard code one irq to the card? Thanks! David Xiong ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2002 12:23:19 -0600 (MDT) From: Ronald G Minnich To: "Steve M. Gehlbach" cc: Subject: RE: No IRQ Known for interrupt pin A of device 02:04.0. Please try using pci=biosirq On Sun, 29 Sep 2002, Steve M. Gehlbach wrote: > You need to make and run the program util/getpir (using the original BIOS, > running Linux) to make the file irq_tables.c, then copy that file into the > mainboard directory, and set the option HAVE_PIRQ_TABLE=1. Linuxbios when > it starts will copy this file into the shadowed RAM at 0xF0000, where Linux > can find it during startup. This allows Linux to route the irqs. exactly. If this is a new board I need all the info so I can put it in the source tree. ron -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From ollie at sis.com.tw Mon Sep 30 23:55:01 2002 From: ollie at sis.com.tw (ollie lho) Date: Mon Sep 30 23:55:01 2002 Subject: No IRQ Known for interrupt pin A of device 02:04.0. Please try using pci=biosirq In-Reply-To: <001701c268fb$9bf77100$dc01a8c0@notebook> References: <001701c268fb$9bf77100$dc01a8c0@notebook> Message-ID: <1033444751.1136.63.camel@ollie> On Tue, 2002-10-01 at 11:35, David Xiong wrote: > The mainboard is K7SEM and irq_tables.c is already in the source tree. > I run the program getpir and get an irq_tables.c file which is the same > as the one in the source tree. The program util/getpir reports 6 slot found, > whether I plug in the multimedia card or not, and produce exact the same irq_tables.c. > > And the option HAVE_PIRQ_TABLE=1 is set in the config file of the source tree. > > I traced into the kernel source and found that the original BIOS set IRQ when POST, > but linuxbios does not do so. The IRQ is 0 when start up with linuxbios. > When the driver of the multimedia card comes up, it find the card has not an IRQ. > Then the driver try to get one from the irq_table, but the PCI device is not in > the irq_table, so it can not find one or assign one to the device. > > What else can I do? Can I hard code one irq to the card? > The kernel pci-irq code refuse to setup IRQ for VGA devices. You have to set it up yourself. BTW, your card still need some init code in your VGA BIOS. Ollie