Subject: 20020421 installable snapshot available
To: None <port-sgimips@netbsd.org>
From: sgimips NetBSD list <sgimips@mrynet.com>
List: port-sgimips
Date: 04/21/2002 22:03:55
The newest installable snapshot I've generated is now available at
ftp.mrynet.com.
It is located at there at:
/pub/NetBSD/arch/sgimips/INDY/snapshot-20020419
with the respective installation notes at:
/pub/NetBSD/arch/sgimips/INDY/INDY.INSTALLATION.20020419.txt
Attached below are the preface notes included in that text file.
I'll be backing off a bit from generating snapshots now that the port
has become so stable. I'll pick that up again as a few known issues
are resolved and as changes are made to the non-port-specific code
in the cvs tree, most likely monthly. I'll continue to announce
significant snapshots here on the NetBSD/sgimips list.
Regards,
-scott
Excerpt from INDY.INSTALLATION.20020419.txt follows:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last updated: April 21, 2002
NOTES about the 20020419 distribution:
o A new boot program is being made available. It can be selected
by using "boot2" (or "boot2.el" [max 8 characters, so it is
truncated]) instead of "boot" (or "boot.elf"). This boot program
has an available Interactive Mode modelled after the NetBSD/i386
boot block.
See: http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-sgimips/2002/04/20/0004.html
o Booting from CDROM on the Indigo 2 has been tested and confirmed
working now. It appears that the Indigo 2 PROM is particular
about CDROM hardware. Please report back your successes and
failures with CDROM hardware.
o ECOFF support has now been added and tested on the Indigo 2
and INDY.
o Kernels are provided with L2 cache enabled for R4400-based machines.
The default GENERIC kernels provided have the L2 cache disabled to
allow them to be used on all INDY and Indigo 2 platforms regardless
of the CPU installed. The L2-enabled cache kernels, both ELF and
ecoff, are provided in binary/kernel/netbsd-L2.GENERIC_L2.gz
and binary/kernel/netbsd-L2.ecoff-GENERIC_L2.gz, respectively.
o A screen display of the distribution packages that should
be installed with this snapshot is exhibited at the bottom
of this document under APPENDIX A. It is important to read
this appendix to select the right kernel set to install.
o With the L2 cache disabled on the R5000 INDY (details towards
the bottom of this document) the R4400 is noticeably faster
than the R5000, but not significantly.
o Do note that the sample outputs are from an older snapshot,
so your output will differ somewhat--particularly with respect
to the kernel version identification.
o There is no X provided for the sgimips platform in this distribution.
o Preliminary patches from Rafal Boni to resolve an interrupt
issue that would cause a panic when console speeds greater
than 9600 baud are used have been integrated in this snapshot.
See: http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-sgimips/2002/04/20/0000.html
o An additional patch to accomodate Toshiba XM-3401TA CDROM drives
has been included in this snapshot. Thanks to Pascal Dameme for
providing this.
CAVEATS:
o If you're running the serial console at speed greater than
9600 baud and you experience unexplained "TLB: out of universe"
panics, reduce the console baud rate to 9600 and reboot or
retry the installation.
o The NetBSD sysinst tool (the menu-driven installation program)
has a bug -- when specifying "-1" to use the rest of the disk
for a partition size, it will simply respond with the size:
prompt again. A way to work around this is to specify a
larger number than the actual remaining space. 999999M (999999
megabytes) is (currently) an easy one.
o PLEASE NOTE -- THIS DISTRIBUTION APPLIES TO INDY AND INDIGO 2 ONLY.
This distribution has been tested on the following machines:
Indigo 2 R4400 100mhz
INDY R4400 100mhz, 175mhz and 200mhz.
INDY R4600 100mhz.
INDY R5000 150mhz.
Memory sizes tested range from 32MB to 128MB.
o The O2 support is broken in the NetBSD/sgimips port right now.
I now have O2s available, but attempts to boot it thus far
haven't been fruitful. See the NetBSD/sgimips mailing list
for issues (http://mail-index.netbsd.org/port-sgimips/).
CREDITS:
I must say that it is a joy working on the NetBSD/sgimips
platform. While the number of subscribers to this platform
project is much smaller than others, the intimacy provides
an extremely comfortable and understanding environment for
development and problem resolution. The NetBSD/sgimips
port is proving to be extremely stable and robust.
I would like to thank the following people who have provided
guidance and assistance in my endeavours to provide a clean
distribution "release" process:
Rafal Boni, Soren S. Jorvang, Manuel Boyer, Hendrik Scholz,
Michael Hitch, Hubert Feyrer, Christopher Sekiya, Robert Boehne,
Pascal Dameme, the NetBSD/mips folks, and those who have tested
and contributed feedback on my snapshots. Thanks to all.
Scott G. Taylor -- sgimips @ mrynet . com (remove the spaces :)
(wouldn't it be neat if the SPAM harvesters picked up
and used the following? hostmaster@ftc.gov :)
=====================================================================
=====================================================================
NetBSD/sgimips *TEST* Installation Images and Procedures
All paths are relative to
ftp.mrynet.com:/pub/NetBSD/arch/sgimips/INDY/snapshot-YYYYMMDD
where:
YYYYMMDD is a specific snapshot date
Associated documentation (this file) for each snapshot is located at
ftp.mrynet.com:/pub/NetBSD/arch/sgimips/INDY/INDY.INSTALLATION.YYYYMMDD.txt
It is presumed that the reader has experience installing NetBSD
already. Since this is only an initial exposure of the sysinst(8)
tool and RELEASE generation for installation images, no effort has
been made to fully document typical NetBSD installation procedures.
This is a preliminary release test for NetBSD/sgimips from source
dates indicated by the snapshot-YYYYMMDD directory name.