Re: Handling >4MB kernels on cats (Was: CVS commit: src)

[Chris Gilbert <chris%dokein.co.uk@localhost>]

David Brownlee wrote:
> On Mon, 19 Jan 2009, Izumi Tsutsui wrote:
>
>> abs%NetBSD.org@localhost wrote:
>>
>>>      In the meantime the cats ramdisk image could be pruned -
>>>      scsictl, mount_kernfs, restore, rcmd, chio, etc...
>>
>> On cats case, implementing standalone bootloader
>> may be the right way to go. Cobalt bootloader already
>> has pciide support.
>
>     I'm quite taken by the idea of having a boot option to tell a
>     kernel to prompt to load a ramdisk after autoconfig - a
>     generalised version of what atari does now with its 'md2'.
>
>     - It should be completely MI, so all ports benefit
>     - You gain access to all compiled in kernel drivers - eg: USB
>     - You can drop the distinction between INSTALL and GENERIC kernels
>
>     It only pushes out the cats kernel size issue rather than fixing
>     it for good, though a 4MB can fit quite a good sized gzipped
>     cats kernel once you exclude the ramdisk, and moving to modular
>     would allow you to dump audio and other drivers...
>
>     Of course, it needs someone with the time and inclination :)
>
>
In the short term this change to GENERIC should probably be done to INSTALL:
http://cvsweb.netbsd.org/bsdweb.cgi/src/sys/arch/cats/conf/GENERIC.diff?r1=1.123&r2=1.124

It saved 700KB, as isp includes a huge binary blob.  Actually with
cyclone 1.30 it's a 5MB limit, not 4MB.

Chris