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Chris Gilbert | 3 Feb 2008 03:57
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Request for testers for an updated bootloader

Hi,

I was wondering if people could try out some updates to the acorn32 
bootloader on different hardware?  I've had to alter how we copy the 
kernel into the correct place so that it works on an A7000+ (with 
Risc-OS 3.71)  However I don't have any other hardware to test it on.

I've uploaded the sparkive (sparkive includes an install kernel), a 
generic kernel, a boot32,ffa and the patch to:
ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/acorn32/chris

Note that the new bootloader also changes the colour of the border at 
different stages of running (as visual clue as to where it's at) Border 
colours mean:
Red - we're running without the MMU turned on (IE 1-1 physical mapping)  
Note that the border will stay red a while as we're copying the kernel 
over at this point.
Green - we've finished copying the kernel over (you may not see this)
Blue - we're running on the bootstrap L1 table, and just about to call 
the kernel.

Note anyone without VRAM will see the screen scribbled over as the 
kernel is copied into place.  I believe that RISC-OS sets up the VIDC to 
use the memory for the screen as the same location we're copying the 
kernel to.

Any reports of it's functionality (or lack of) would be appreciated :)

Currently I'm using the above code to install the A7000+ (at a steady 
120KiB/s from NFS)  Not bad for a 48Mhz 24MB machine.
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Chris Gilbert | 3 Feb 2008 15:28
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Getting networking going on Risc-OS

Hi,

Having struggled to get RISC-OS to a useful state where I could surf the 
web and FTP files I thought it was worth putting a list of software and 
apps together.

One of the problems is that RISC-OS ships with the ability to enable 
networking, but it fails to actually provide any useful apps to then 
access the network.  However these days there are some really good apps 
available.

This was my list of software to bring up two RISC-OS machines to a state 
where I could use them for ftp and web browsing.

To get web browsing, I'd suggest NetSurf:
Download the package from:
http://www.netsurf-browser.org/downloads/

Next you'll need the latest 32bit system libraries:
http://www.iyonix.com/32bit/system.shtml

The above was enough for Risc-OS 4.03 (aka Kinetic)

For Risc-OS 3.71 you need some more pieces (although NetSurf doesn't 
officially support anything less than Risc-OS 4.02 it does work):
Firstly you may need Universal Boot Sequence from to get the latest 
window manager and toolbox pieces:
http://acorn.riscos.com/acornftp.htm

Mimemap 0.10 is needed, the above boot sequence has 0.05 which has bugs:
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Anthony Hilton | 14 Feb 2008 12:12
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Struggling to install

I am struggling to install NetBSD 4.0 from a CD onto an ARM610 RiscPC with
1Mb VRAM, 36Mb main RAM and RIS OS 4.39 in ROM.

Following Chris Gilbert's post on 3 Feb I downloaded the BtNetBSD/spk and
generic kernel and the other files but do not know what to do with them.

During the install the screen is barely legible so I've had to accept
defaults not being able to read the various options. Where the right side of
the display wraps to the left of the screen it is fine, and at the left ofthe
display it is OK but rappidly deteriorates towards the right and shows a lot
of movement and apparent partial over-writing of text. 

As far as I can tell it does somethin with the generic kernel - counting up
to 100% and then moves on to acorn32/binaries/sets/base.tgz but hangs after a
while, the percentage stalls and the other numbers stop changing. Once it got
to 19% and I left it for over 20 minutes with no change to the screen before
I re-booted the box.

RISC OS is running 800x600x32K from the AKF60 MDF driving an Iiyama Pro 411 
and I haven'tmodified the !BtNetBSD.!Run file from that supplied as I don't
know what the effects might be.

My experience with *nix type systems is very limited but does include a
successfull install of RiscBSD 1.6 onto a RiscPC and then getting an A3000
connected as a terminal over serial.

Anthony

--

-- 
ajh <at> tinshill.f9.co.uk
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Chris Gilbert | 16 Feb 2008 23:44
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Re: Struggling to install

Anthony Hilton wrote:
> I am struggling to install NetBSD 4.0 from a CD onto an ARM610 RiscPC with
> 1Mb VRAM, 36Mb main RAM and RIS OS 4.39 in ROM.
> 
> Following Chris Gilbert's post on 3 Feb I downloaded the BtNetBSD/spk and
> generic kernel and the other files but do not know what to do with them.
> 
> During the install the screen is barely legible so I've had to accept
> defaults not being able to read the various options. Where the right side of
> the display wraps to the left of the screen it is fine, and at the left ofthe
> display it is OK but rappidly deteriorates towards the right and shows a lot
> of movement and apparent partial over-writing of text. 

Can you describe the illegability, are you getting some text, but 
missing the last bits on screen?  (or even a picture from a camera :) in 
theory an arm610 does write-through, normally the illegability is 
something that a strongarm does (or it did, I tweaked vidcvideo to 
improve strongarm output in -current to make it readable)

If you've got an SA I can do you a kernel that should be readable.  I 
probably should ask for pull-ups to the 4.0 branch for the next release.

> As far as I can tell it does somethin with the generic kernel - counting up
> to 100% and then moves on to acorn32/binaries/sets/base.tgz but hangs after a
> while, the percentage stalls and the other numbers stop changing. Once it got
> to 19% and I left it for over 20 minutes with no change to the screen before
> I re-booted the box.

Hmm, that implies that it stopped extracting the file.
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Anthony Hilton | 20 Feb 2008 22:43
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Re: Struggling to install

In <URL:news:local.netbsd.acorn32> on Sat 16 Feb, Chris Gilbert wrote:
> Anthony Hilton wrote:
> > I am struggling to install NetBSD 4.0 from a CD onto an ARM610 RiscPC
> > with 1Mb VRAM, 36Mb main RAM and RIS OS 4.39 in ROM.
> > 
> > Following Chris Gilbert's post on 3 Feb I downloaded the BtNetBSD/spk and
> > generic kernel and the other files but do not know what to do with them.
> > 
> > During the install the screen is barely legible so I've had to accept
> > defaults not being able to read the various options. Where the right side
> > of the display wraps to the left of the screen it is fine, and at the
> > left ofthe display it is OK but rappidly deteriorates towards the right
> > and shows a lot of movement and apparent partial over-writing of text. 
> 
> Can you describe the illegability, are you getting some text, but 
> missing the last bits on screen?  (or even a picture from a camera :) in 
> theory an arm610 does write-through, normally the illegability is 
> something that a strongarm does (or it did, I tweaked vidcvideo to 
> improve strongarm output in -current to make it readable)

I only have a webcam and tiny 100K pixel digicam available so the images are
not particularly clear but I've put a few at
http://www.tinshill.f9.co.uk/ant/netbsd/ if you want to have a look.

In the language selection box at the bottom of the screen the bit at teh left
which has wrapped from the right is quite clear.

In the top block of text the CTRL-N but the P of CTRL-P on the same line is
breaking up.
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Chris Gilbert | 1 Mar 2008 17:46
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acorn32 console changes

FYI,

over the past few weeks I've been updating the acorn32 console code in 
-current to hopefully improve it's usability.  Highlights include:
* virtual console support added.  To enable make sure wscons=YES is in 
your /etc/rc.conf, then use ctrl-alt-fx to switch console
* colour console.  I've set the flag to indicate we can do colour on the 
console
* console scrollback. shift+page-up and shift+page-down should scroll 
the console up and down
* kernel messages are in green, so they stand out
* the default font is the default NetBSD 8-pixel wide font, rather than 
the sony one we previously used.
* Console beep - fixed a 3 year old bug that stopped beep working on the 
console.
* only take vsync interrupts when we've something to do (less overhead 
on system)

It should be noted that most of these items can be tuned using kernel 
parameters and wscons utilities.

One caveat is that I've not tested these changes with an X server yet, 
so it's possible I might have broken something, but I'm hoping I haven't.

Changes were tested on an A7000+ and SA Risc-PC with 2MB VRAM at 800x600 
in 8bpp colour.

Known issues:
* 4bpp colour isn't working for some reason, need to investigate
* scrollback only works after switching virtual console.
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