The NetBSD/mac68k Booter version 1.8 is now available!

Look for it via anonymous ftp in:

 (binaries & release notes)
ftp://puma.bevd.blacksburg.va.us/pub/NetBSD/booter/Booter1.8.cpt.hqx
ftp://dgate.org/pub/netbsd/mac68k/booter/Booter1.8.cpt.hqx

 (source code - for Symantec C 6.0)
ftp://puma.bevd.blacksburg.va.us/pub/NetBSD/booter/Booter1.8-src.cpt.hqx
ftp://dgate.org/pub/netbsd/mac68k/booter/Booter1.8-src.cpt.hqx

Everyone should upgrade to this booter; in all likelihood, future versions
of mac68k NetBSD-current will depend on features of this booter.

Send bug reports to me, Brian Gaeke <brg@dgate.org>.

Attached is a copy of the Release Notes provided in the binary distribution.

Enjoy,
-Brian

--
Brian Gaeke, The Dimensional Gate Company    Internet E-Mail: <brg@dgate.org>
DGate.ORG system adminstrator / PGP 2.6.2 public key available via finger
NetBSD/mac68k: Free UN*X for your Mac II. http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/mac68k/

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NetBSD/mac68k Booter version 1.8
Release Notes -- Brian Gaeke <brg@dgate.org>

Changes to boot options
=======================

Booter 1.8 adds five new boot options and changes the way debugging 
information is printed, so you should read this just so you're not too 
surprised as to how the boot process works.

* "Don't disable VBL interrupts on video cards"

This version of the Booter attempts to disable vertical blanking (VBL) 
interrupts on all active video cards found, because current implementations 
of the grf_mv (Macintosh QuickDraw-compatible NuBus video card) driver do 
not handle VBL interrupts reliably.  If this process fails (and it should 
be obvious if it fails; an error code is printed and the boot stops) then 
you should check this box and try booting again.

* "Don't bug me about untested machine"

If you're testing on a machine other than the Mac II-series or SE/30,
the booter will normally warn you of impending doom. If you do not want
to see these alerts, select this option.

* "Show dialog before booting"

If the above option is checked, then a dialog box will appear before
booting that asks you whether you want to Boot or Cancel. This was
implemented so you might read the messages in the window before they
are blanked out by the console (especially with "Extra debugging info"
turned on; see below.)

* "Miniroot"

This allows you to specify the name of a partition image MacOS file
that will be read into RAM and used as a RAM-disk (mfs) root partition.
For normal usage you will want to leave this blank.

* "Ask?" (Check box next to SCSI ID.)

This option allows the user to specify an alternate root or swap device 
right before root is mounted.  This allows you to, for example, boot off a 
kernel on sd0 and specify that root is on cd0 (or sd1, etc).  For normal 
usage you will probably want to leave this blank.

* "Extra debugging info"

The error-reporting/debugging facilities in the booter are broken, and need 
to be rewritten; however, this is a low enough priority that it just won't 
get done this release.  (See below on what to expect in the future.) So, if 
you check this option, you will get oodles of debugging messages including 
a full dump of the "environment" variables passed to the kernel.  If you 
don't want this, turn it off; it won't hurt anything.  If you do turn this 
on, you will probably want to turn on "Show dialog before booting" unless 
you read really fast.  :) 

Other user-visible and user-invisible changes
=============================================

The booter can now set variables directly in the kernel namespace (that's 
what is happening when you see "Set _boothowto to 0x2", etc.) The booter 
can now search NuBus card sResources for video modes to pass to the kernel.  
The booter now passes HwCfgFlags and friends as environment variables.  
setenvbuf() has been disabled.  The code was cleaned up slightly.  (Look at 
"ChangeLog" in the booter source distribution if you really want to know 
about source changes, but there's not really much there (yet.)) The 
booter's text window now uses Monaco 9 point instead of Chicago, which
was ugly.

What does this Booter thing do, again?
======================================

Here's a quick reference as to what you need to do to boot NetBSD/mac68k.  
Assuming you've newfs'ed and installed at least the base package and a 
kernel (rtfm), open the booter from MacOS and choose "Booting..." under the 
"Options" menu.  Set your kernel location to "NetBSD/mac" (or Mac OS if 
you're booting off a kernel on a MacOS partition.) Set "Kernel Name" to the 
name of that kernel; most are named something like "netbsd", but you can 
use the Installer to see what's actually there.  Set "Partition Name" to 
the name of your root partition as specified when you formatted the drive 
(and when you newfs'ed it.) Set "SCSI ID" to the SCSI ID of the drive 
containing that partition.  Fill in the amount of RAM you have under "RAM 
(#MB)", or if you don't know just click "Auto RAM size".  (Auto RAM size 
overrides any setting in the RAM (#MB) box.) Click on "Single User" if you 
want to boot into single user mode, or turn it off to boot directly into 
multi-user mode.  "Serial Boot Echo" used to echo boot messages to the 
modem port at 9600 N81; it may or may not still work.  "Serial Console" is 
useful for machines for which the graphics drivers don't work; these also 
use 9600 N81.  "Auto boot on startup" waits a specific amount of time after 
the Booter is opened and then automatically boots NetBSD.  Now that you've 
set all the options, click OK, and select "Save Preferences" under the File 
menu.  (You may need to quit and re-open the booter to make these stick.  
Is this still true?) Select "Boot Now" (Command-B) from the Options menu, 
and after some spinning the screen will blank and you will see the banner 
(Berkeley copyright, version, kernel configuration, etc...) enjoy!  (and 
good luck!!)

Who's responsible for this
==========================

If you have questions about Booter 1.8, send mail to Brian Gaeke
<brg@dgate.org> thoroughly describing your problem, as well as: the hardware
you are running, the MacOS environment, the kernel you're running, which
binaries you're running -- a sup-date, or the ftp-site where you got your
binaries will suffice, and the NuBus cards in your system.  (Note -- If you
get an error after having booted into NetBSD, it is probably not the booter's 
fault!) General NetBSD/mac68k questions are best asked on the NetBSD/mac68k
port list, <port-mac68k@NetBSD.ORG>, which you can subscribe to via the
list server <majordomo@NetBSD.ORG>.