NetBSD on ARM6 and newer based machines (NetBSD/acorn32)

Chris Pinnock | 1 Jun 2003 12:44

Re: A7000+ Installation

On Thu, May 29, 2003 at 09:43:21PM +1200, Damo-K wrote:
> This is what I've done so far.
> 
> I have an 12MB A7000+
> 
> Reformatted my HD and made it so there is 500MB free for NetBSD.  I
> copied the directory BtNetBSD to the HD and tried to alter the lines of
> the fastboot file to point to the location of the Kernel.  I
> double-clicked on the InstKern file and it starts loading up doing all
> it's nice stuff and then after Booting Kernel goes
> 5...4...3...2...1...start! It fills the screen with lines of graphics
> (as in, not text or characters).  It fills them downwards and then 
> upwards.  Anyone tell me the source of this problem?

Hi Damian,

You are not alone. I cannot get my A7000+ to boot either. Also see
NetBSD problem report 18883.

best wishes,
Chris

Reinoud Zandijk | 1 Jun 2003 16:36

Picon

Re: A7000+ Installation

Hiya folks,

On Sun, Jun 01, 2003 at 11:44:38AM +0100, Chris Pinnock wrote:
> You are not alone. I cannot get my A7000+ to boot either. Also see
> NetBSD problem report 18883.

finally i've found some time to tackle the problem.... sorry for the delay
:( but i needed some time for another project for NetBSD i am working on 
and having not much effective time doesn't help either.

I've analysed the problem and its faily easy to solve i think and hope. ;) 
Looking trough the code now... and hopefully i'll have a patch to try 
tomorrow.

Cheers,
Reinoud
(port-acorn32 maintainer)

Chris Pinnock | 1 Jun 2003 18:25

Re: A7000+ Installation

On Sun, Jun 01, 2003 at 04:36:19PM +0200, Reinoud Zandijk wrote:
> Hiya folks,
> 
> On Sun, Jun 01, 2003 at 11:44:38AM +0100, Chris Pinnock wrote:
> > You are not alone. I cannot get my A7000+ to boot either. Also see
> > NetBSD problem report 18883.
> 
> finally i've found some time to tackle the problem.... sorry for the delay
> :( but i needed some time for another project for NetBSD i am working on 
> and having not much effective time doesn't help either.
> 
> I've analysed the problem and its faily easy to solve i think and hope. ;) 
> Looking trough the code now... and hopefully i'll have a patch to try 
> tomorrow.

Excellent -- I'll dust off my A7000+ and fix it up with a keyboard and
monitor.

Reinoud Zandijk | 1 Jun 2003 23:46

Picon

Re: A7000+ Installation

Hiya folks,

for those who where having trouble with booting up A7000 machines, i've 
made a test version of the boot32 bootloader for you all to test; its a 
slightly enhanced version that tries to be a bit smarter :)

I'll commit the patch if all goes well. All other variants are most welcome 
to test the new version of the bootloader too!!! esp. the ones without 
VRAM!

It can be found at 
ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/acorn32/boot32,ffa-20030601

and ought to have fixed the problem. It was a problem with the positioning 
of the DRAM video memory. The machine i got data from in PR 18883 showed 
that it used a small 2*1Mb SIMM in the last slot and i wasn't taking that 
into consideration. So even if it fails to boot (knock knock ... hope it 
will boot!) it still is a cleaner start :)

Cheers and hope to hear from you soon so i can commit it,

Reinoud
port-acorn32 portmaster

Damo-K | 2 Jun 2003 06:40

Picon

Re: A7000+ Installation

Reinoud Zandijk wrote:
> for those who where having trouble with booting up A7000 machines, i've 
> made a test version of the boot32 bootloader for you all to test; its a 
> slightly enhanced version that tries to be a bit smarter :)
> --
> and ought to have fixed the problem. It was a problem with the positioning 
> of the DRAM video memory. The machine i got data from in PR 18883 showed 
> that it used a small 2*1Mb SIMM in the last slot and i wasn't taking that 
> into consideration. So even if it fails to boot (knock knock ... hope it 
> will boot!) it still is a cleaner start :)

Thanks for the update.  Although I receive different error messages, it 
still won't boot.  My A7000+ has an additional 4MB Ram (I'm still 
getting around to grabbing a larger stick).

Here's the output from booting:
--
Booting InstKern (howto = 0x0)
Got 378 memory pages each 4 kilobytes to mess with.

Getting memory configuration

Used 472 kb DRAM at 0x1c38a000 for video memory
Top 1Mb section is not aligned on a MB; remove very small DIMMS?

Press SPACE or click mouse to continue
--

Should I remove the stick of ram and try again?  I know I should try but 
I don't want to open up the machine unless it's completely necessary.

(Continue reading)

Damian Kissick | 2 Jun 2003 14:20

Picon

Re: A7000+ Installation

Damo-K wrote:

> Thanks for the update.  Although I receive different error messages, 
> it still won't boot.  My A7000+ has an additional 4MB Ram (I'm still 
> getting around to grabbing a larger stick).

I have just replaced the 16MB with a stick of 4MB and still have the 
same response unfortunately.

 - Damo-K

Reinoud Zandijk | 2 Jun 2003 16:00

Picon

Re: A7000+ Installation

Hiya Damian and Chris,

On Tue, Jun 03, 2003 at 12:20:12AM +1200, Damian Kissick wrote:
> I have just replaced the 16MB with a stick of 4MB and still have the 
> same response unfortunately.

True true .. my fault. I've decided to clean up some more code and redo the 
videomemory mapping once again and now it hopefully works ok....

The new version is to be found on 
ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/acorn32/boot32,ffa-20030602

hopefully this works :')

Oh a general hint: allways put the biggest DRAM `stick' in DRAM bank 0...  
this will give generally less problems since the kernel needs to be loaded
in ONE bank of the DRAM `stick' .... i.e. a 2*2Mb+0 in DRAM0 won't boot but
a 1*4Mb+0 or 2*4Mb+0 will. This is also in the FAQ ;)

Cheers,
Reinoud

Damo-K | 2 Jun 2003 23:29

Picon

Re: A7000+ Installation

Reinoud Zandijk wrote:
  > Oh a general hint: allways put the biggest DRAM `stick' in DRAM bank 
0...
> this will give generally less problems since the kernel needs to be loaded
> in ONE bank of the DRAM `stick' .... i.e. a 2*2Mb+0 in DRAM0 won't boot but
> a 1*4Mb+0 or 2*4Mb+0 will. This is also in the FAQ ;)

A7000+'s only have one slot for DRAM (in addition to the 8MB onboard) 
and none for VRAM...

The cool thing is that there is progress in the booting of the kernel. 
However, it hangs shortly after it says:
--

Loading InstKern 3557196+128948 [72864+60828]=0x3a4b28
Preparing for booting InstKern ... shift and check ... OK!
Starting at 0xf0000000
Will boot in a few secs due to relocation...
bye bye from RISC OS!

--

This is with 16MB additional (making it 24MB) installed and giving it 
all the available wimpslot.  Sorry for the bad news but I hope this helps.

  - Damo-K

Reinoud Zandijk | 3 Jun 2003 14:49

Picon

Re: A7000+ Installation

Hiya Folks,

yet another try... and this time it ought be right... and as a bonus you'd 
also get some more memory to use ! so double bonus i think. I've tried it 
with both a -current kernel and with an 1.6-STABLE kernel.

Its in the same place as the other with the date of today....

Cheers,
Reinoud

Damo-K | 3 Jun 2003 15:06

Picon

Re: A7000+ Installation

Reinoud Zandijk wrote:
> Hiya Folks,
> 
> yet another try... and this time it ought be right... and as a bonus you'd 
> also get some more memory to use ! so double bonus i think. I've tried it 
> with both a -current kernel and with an 1.6-STABLE kernel.
> 
> Its in the same place as the other with the date of today....

Reinoud, your dedication and hard work has paid off and it works like a 
dream!  You are the man.

Regards,
  - Damo

--

-- 
"To Establish the hæmogolbin count in someone's blood, it is not
necessary to examine all their blood - In fact, it is vital /not/ to use
all of it"
"Computers are like Air Conditioners - They work fine until you open
Windows."
"Give man fire and keep him warm for a night...Set man alight and keep
him warm for the rest of his life."

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