Subject: Re: Blitz, Atomwide and STD
To: None <port-acorn32@netbsd.org>
From: Ed Donnelly <eddonnelly@freeuk.com>
List: port-acorn32
Date: 11/08/2002 01:09:02
Lo, in message <E189x9i-0000CT-00@chiark.greenend.org.uk>
          Ben Harris <bjh21@netbsd.org> did write:

> In article <d0f6dc914b.peter@riscpc01.reading.fourcom.com> you write:
>
> > In message <1d35d5914b.eddonnelly@freeuk.com>
> >          Ed Donnelly <eddonnelly@freeuk.com> wrote:

[snip]

> > > I've had a quick look at the installation document and I get the
> > > feeling that the bulk of my computer wouldn't work with it, so
> > > rather than spend many hours downloading the kernel et al over my
> > > 56k modem,
> > 
> > Are you sure you want to do that?  Perhaps, if you ask nicely,
> > someone would be able to get the essentials onto CD for you.  It
> > takes long enough over an ADSL line!
> 
> I can probably arrange to do this for a small bribe if anyone needs it
> -- I've got a CD writer and a ludicrously fast Internet connection at
> work.

Well, it wouldn't bother me to download it - since KinoAMP came out I've
downloaded about 4.5Gb of MPEG files, I'm used to being patient :)

> I've got the documentation for the Blitz, so if there's demand I'll
> have a bash at adding support for it when I'm next poking around in
> icside.c.  32-bit mode is likely to be a bit of a pain, but 16-bit
> mode (both PIO and DMA) is pretty similar to ARCIN v6.  The major
> problem is likely to be that the podulebus code doesn't currently
> support podules whose ROM is in EASI space, which Blitz's is.  This
> means that a current kernel simply won't see the Blitz at all.

Bummer...

> > In the meanwhile, how about getting a second disc and installing it
> > on the internal interface?  If you dedicate an entire drive to BSD,
> > it saves having to mess around partitioning your existing drive.
> 
> I'd second this suggestion.

The only space left inside my case is the upper 3.5" slot in my 2 slice
RPC - I've was told that Bad Things can happen if you put a hard drive
there when I had the CD Writer added.

> > > Finally, my modem is connected to an Atomwide triple port serial
> > > card - it'd be no hardship to move it to the internal port, but
> > > are there any plans to support cards like this in the future (I
> > > see it's in the list of unsupported equipment)?
> 
> It is?  I think this card is supported by the "amps" driver, and has been
> for years.  If one of our Web pages claims it's unsupported, tell us
> which one so it can be corrected.

From INSTALL/txt from ftp://ftp.NetBSD.ORG//pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-1.6/acorn32

>      Unsupported devices
> 
>            o   Acorn/Aleph1 PC cards
>            o   Any SCSI card using a PowerROM
>            o   Podule based serial ports
>            o   Castle SCSI/Ethernet cards

I assumed that the atomwide card counted as a podule based serial
port...

Anyway, thanks for your swift replies.

TTFN,
Ed