Re: NetBSD installation woes on Sun Blade 100

[Michael <macallan%netbsd.org@localhost>]

Hello,

On Wed, 24 Jun 2020 09:41:12 +0200
Connor McLaughlan <cont6pro3%gmail.com@localhost> wrote:

> It seems to be an issue with NetBSD since at least 2018. I have found
> similar reports and discussion for other users of the Sun Blade 100,
> but it is affecting also the Ultra 5. Another report was also earlier
> this year on this mailing list.
> 
> Ati chipsets seem to be affected.
> 
> A kind soul has posted a modified install iso in a report of the
> problem on reddit, where the kernel is modified not to use the Ati
> framebuffer but a general PCI one:
> 
> https://www.reddit.com/r/NetBSD/comments/h7drub/netbsd_hangs_on_install_disk_advice_needed_to/
> 
> I will try that next but am not sure how this would affect running
> Xorg and if it will run with its own driver unaffected from what the
> kernel does.

Hmm, I have a Rage XL ( ala PGX64 ) in my U60, which works but has
trouble programming video modes above 1280x1024, so I limited the
driver to that. The symptoms are garbled output but no black screen
though. I never had a Blade 1x0.
So, my questions are:
- what does the monitor actually do - complain about signal out of
  range? No signal? Or valid signal but only black output?
- Does the machine crash or does it continue booting?
- Does it boot with genfb instead of machfb?

have fun
Michael