netbsd-docs: [docathon] Converted Ports/acorn32/faq.list
Subject: [docathon] Converted Ports/acorn32/faq.list
To: None
<netbsd-docs@netbsd.org>
From: None
<dsieger@techfak.uni-bielefeld.de>
List: netbsd-docs
Date: 04/05/2007 22:24:16
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File and patch attached.
Regards,
Daniel
--
Daniel Sieger
Faculty of Technology
Bielefeld University
wwwhomes.uni-bielefeld.de/dsieger
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Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="faq.xml"
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE webpage
PUBLIC "-//NetBSD//DTD Website-based NetBSD Extension//EN"
"http://www.NetBSD.org/XML/htdocs/lang/share/xml/website-netbsd.dtd">
<webpage id="Ports-i386-faq">
<config param="desc" value="NetBSD/acorn32 Frequently Asked Questions"/>
<config param="cvstag" value="$NetBSD: $"/>
<config param="rcsdate" value="$Date: $"/>
<head>
<!-- Copyright (c) 2006-2007
The NetBSD Foundation, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. -->
<title>NetBSD/acorn32 Frequently Asked Questions</title>
</head>
<sect1 role="toc">
<sect2 id="general">
<title>General Information</title>
<sect3 id="gen_inst">
<title>How do I get and install &os;/acorn32?</title>
<para>Because of the large number of supported platforms, take a
look at the installation guide in the latest Acorn32
distribution on <ulink
href="ftp://ftp.NetBSD.org/pub/NetBSD/">ftp.NetBSD.org</ulink>
or one of its mirrors.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="booting_from_riscos4">
<title>I've upgraded my Acorn machine to RISCOS 4.x. How do I
boot NetBSD?</title>
<para>The bootloader shipped with &os; 1.6 and later works
under RISC OS 4. For earlier &os; releases there is a RISC OS 3 and
RISC OS 4 compatible bootloader, including memfix for Kinetic based
systems, available at <ulink
href="ftp://ftp.NetBSD.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/acorn32/riscos/">ftp://ftp.NetBSD.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/acorn32/riscos/</ulink>.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="booting_an_nc">
<title>How do I boot an NC? What do i need?</title>
<para>To boot an NC is fairly straightforward using the new
boot32 bootloader. On powerup the NC initialises itself and
askes for its configuration on the LAN using bootp/dhcp. The
easy way is to add a record to &man.dhcpd.conf.5; for the
machine and (re)start the &man.dhcpd.8; service after adding
<code>dhcpd=YES</code> in your &man.rc.conf.5; file. The
following will suffice for an NC machine called `elmo' as an
entry (fill in the preferences):</para>
<programlisting>
host elmo {
hardware ethernet 0:0:a4:11:7b:f6;
fixed-address elmo.reinoud.kasbah;
option routers 192.168.2.1;
filename "/usr/export/elmo";
option root-path "/usr/export/elmo";
}</programlisting>
<para>Note that the <option>filename</option> option is needed
for otherwise it sends the NC a strange file to load that
fails due to <quote>insufficient access</quote>. Giving the
home directory probably means nothing to the NC and it ignores
it.</para>
<para>Secondly you need to export a NFS tree for the NC to work
on in &man.exports.5; and run &man.nfsd.8; and &man.mountd.8;
by setting <code>nfs_server=YES</code> in your &man.rc.conf.5;
file. The following line will suffice for the NC:</para>
<programlisting>
/usr/export/elmo -maproot=root elmo</programlisting>
<para>The final step is to place the bootloader called
<filename>boot32,ffa</filename> in the directory
<filename>/usr/export/elmo</filename> used in the template
above and the kernel to be booted as either
<filename>netbsd</filename> or
<filename>netbsd.gz</filename>.</para>
<para>The following file needs to be made and called
<filename>!NFSBoot,feb</filename>:</para>
<programlisting>
*NFS
*RMLoad boot32
*Wimpslot -next 3000k
*WimpMode 32
*desktop *boot32 netbsd
*BASIC</programlisting>
<para>To check your NC's settings and such, you can uncomment
the <code>*desktop</code> line and be dropped into the BASIC
interpreter to use `*' CLI commands. Using the CLI itself is
not possible on the NC due to an irritating little module
called `CLIProtect' that i once managed to get unplugged but
its not easily done.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="which_bootloader">
<title>I've seen !BtRiscBSD, !BtNetBSD and boot32. What to
use?</title>
<para>Use the new bootloader called <ulink
url="ftp://ftp.NetBSD.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/acorn32/boot32,ffa">boot32</ulink>
when possible; its a RISC OS module currently in
development. It ought to be able to boot all supported
machines. If it fails for what ever reason please report it
to the mailing list with as much details as possible <ulink
href="mailto:port-acorn32@NetBSD.org">feedback</ulink> or
write a problem report.</para>
<para>If it failed you can try the older bootloader !BtNetBSD,
the predecessor of boot32. The oldest bootloader !BtRiscBSD
ought not to be used anymore but for very old versions of
NetBSD like 1.4.x and older and is currently not supported
anymore.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="wscons">
<title>How do I use wscons on my RiscPC or A7000?</title>
<para>Wscons is the platform-independent workstation console
driver for NetBSD. Standard RiscPC/A7000/NC kernels (1.6+)
fully support wscons. The only limitation is that just one
console screen is supported for now. The X server suplied with
the 1.6 branch runs on this wscons interface.</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="supported">
<title>Supported hardware</title>
<sect3 id="sup_proc">
<title>What processors are supported by NetBSD/acorn32?</title>
<para>Put basically, NetBSD/acorn32 supports most Arm processors
since the ARM 6. This includes the ARM 7500, ARM 6, ARM 7,
StrongArm 110, and various processors in between.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="sup_mach">
<title>What machines are supported by NetBSD/acorn32?</title>
<para>&os;/acorn32 runs on the Acorn range of 32bit ARM
computers and derivatives, such as the Castle Kinetic RiscPC
and Acorn's own Network computer. A full list can be found on
the main <ulink url="../acorn32/">NetBSD/acorn32
page.</ulink></para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="sup_not_sup">
<title>What if I have a processor/machine not mentioned
above?</title>
<para>Early ARM2 and ARM3 based Acorn machines are supported by
<ulink url="../acorn26/">NetBSD/acorn26</ulink>. There are
various other ARM NetBSD ports. For a full list check the
<ulink url="../#ports-by-cpu">NetBSD ports by CPU</ulink>
list.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="sup_on_board">
<title>On-board hardware</title>
<para>Most standard Acorn hardware is catered for. This includes
VIDC (video console), IOMD (general purpose IO), serial port,
parallel port, mouse (both quadrature and PS/2), internal IDE
interface, floppy disc and keyboard.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="sup_ethernet">
<title>Ethernet interfaces</title>
<para>&os;/acorn32 supports all those interfaces with <ulink
url="../../Hardware/podulebus.html">machine-independent
podulebus drivers</ulink>, and also:</para>
<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" border="2">
<tr>
<th>RISC OS driver name</th>
<th>Manufacturer</th>
<th>NetBSD driver name</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ether1</td><td>Acorn</td><td>ie0</td>
</tr>
<!--
<tr><td>Ether3</td><td><ulink url="http://www.ant.co.uk/">ANT</ulink></td><td>ea0</td></tr>
<tr><td>Ether5</td><td><ulink url="http://www.ant.co.uk/">ANT</ulink></td><td>ea0</td></tr>
<tr><td>EtherB</td><td><ulink url="http://www.ant.co.uk/">ANT</ulink></td><td>eb0</td></tr>
-->
<tr>
<td>EtherH NIC</td>
<td><ulink
url="http://www.i-cubed.co.uk/">I-cubed</ulink></td>
<td>ne0</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>EtherM NIC</td>
<td><ulink url="http://www.ant.co.uk/">ANT</ulink></td>
<td>ne0</td>
</tr>
</table>
<para>EtherH and EtherM NIC drivers are presently the best
performers.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="sup_io_cards">
<title>IO cards</title>
<para>In addition to those modules with <ulink
url="../../Hardware/podulebus.html">machine-independent
drivers</ulink>, the following IO cards are supported:</para>
<orderedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Acorn SCSI (<code>asc</code>)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><ulink url="http://www.cumana.co.uk/">Cumana</ulink> SCSI I
(<code>csa</code>)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><ulink url="http://www.cumana.co.uk/">Cumana</ulink><ulink
url="http://www.cumana.demon.co.uk/products/scsiio/index.htm">SCSI
II</ulink> (<code>csc</code>)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
Alsystems Powertec SCSI II (<code>ptsc</code>)
(maybe/apparently SCSI III)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>MCS Connect32 (<code>cosc</code>)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><ulink
url="http://www.yellowstone.co.uk/">Yellowstone</ulink>
<ulink
url="http://www.yellowstone.co.uk/acorn/products/products.htm#rapide32">
RapIDE</ulink> (<code>rapide</code>) (issue 2 -
approximately 15% faster than internal IDE)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para><ulink url="http://www.simtec.co.uk/">Simtec</ulink>
<ulink url="http://www.simtec.co.uk/products/AUIDE16/">low-cost IDE</ulink>
(<code>simide</code>) (approximately the same speed as
internal IDE)</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>ICS/<ulink url="http://www.apdl.co.uk/">APDL</ulink>
<ulink url="http://www.apdl.co.uk/iface.htm">ARCIN</ulink> v5 and v6 IDE
(<code>icside</code>)</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
<para>The speed of the SCSI drivers is presently relatively
poor, whereas the IDE drivers perform well.</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="xservers">
<title>X Servers</title>
<sect3 id="x_acorn32">
<title>I'm running on a RiscPC or A7000. What X Server should I
get?</title>
<para>The NetBSD.org xsrc distribution supports the RiscPC and
A7000 display hardware. The server is called Xacorn32VIDC. It
was first released as part of &os; 1.4.2 and is contained in
the xserver set.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="x_acorn32_changing_res">
<title>Okay I've got the new X server but it only works at the
same resolution as my console. How do I change the
resolution?</title>
<para>For older &os; releases (-1.5.x) you need a utility called
setvideo, for newer wscons consoles this is not possible
yet. This is considered a missing feature and will hopefully
be addressed soon.</para>
<para>This utility is available in source form from <ulink
url="ftp://ftp.NetBSD.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/acorn32/misc/misc-src-riscpc.tar.gz">ftp://ftp.NetBSD.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/acorn32/misc/misc-src-riscpc.tar.gz</ulink>.
Once you have compiled and installed setvideo and have
installed a RISC OS monitor definition file in
/etc/monitor.conf you will be able to use setvideo to change
the X server colour depth and resolution by running it before
starting the X server with startx.</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="networking">
<title>Networking (and Network Booting)</title>
<sect3 id="net_etherm">
<title>My EtherM card sometimes hangs after booting. What should
I do?</title>
<para>This is a known problem, and appears to be a flaw in the
card design, that stops the interface being turned off when it
should be. All we can recommend is rebooting until it
works.</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="net_etherh">
<title>Help! My RiscPC's etherH card won't configure under
&os;/acorn32.</title>
<para>There are many fixes for this. The best one seems to be to
either configure the card or reset the card in your !Boot file
under RiscOS. (I found the latter to be more reliable with
older cards, however most people seem to prefer configuring
the card and then letting &os; reset it).</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="performance">
<title>Performance</title>
<sect3 id="perf_shell">
<title>Certain operations seem really slow. What can I
do?</title>
<para>Recently there has been lots of speed improvements in
&os;/acorn32. If you are adventurous try out a &os;-current
kernel. The slowness is to do with the way the memory cache
was implemented. Things should be getting better as people
work on this code, so just hang in there!</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="pred_sa_bug">
<title>I'm seeing random crashes in applications/the
compiler. What is happening?</title>
<para>Your machine probably has a hardware fault which may or
may not be correctable depending on the cause.</para>
<para>Possible causes of this problem are:</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>Out of tolerance or bad memory. Try replacing or
removing memory and see if the problem persists.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>Acorn RiscPC computers may be suffering from a
motherboard timing problem. This timing problem problem
is due to an unnecessary capacitor on the board and can be
provoked by heavy memory usage, since NetBSD is a much
more intensive user of memory than RISC OS. People with
x86 second processor cars and Kinetic upgrade cards have
experienced similar problems in RISC OS as these pieces of
hardware can cause similar stress on the RiscPC memory
subsystem.</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>It may be a buggy StrongARM processor. All StrongARM
processors prior to revision S have a bug in the handling
of LDR instructions on a page boundary. An LDR instruction
in this position can cause a bad page fault. If you have
one of these processor (and you have exhausted all other
portential causes) this may be the cause of your
problem. At one point <ulink
url="http://www.simtec.co.uk/">Simtec</ulink> were taking
orders from people to upgrade bugged processor to a newer
revision.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="perf_scsi">
<title>On my RiscPC, SCSI transfer rates suck. What should I
do?</title>
<para>Use IDE. This isn't a frivolous answer. The NetBSD/acorn32
SCSI driver for the RiscPC isn't very responsive. This is
being investigated and worked on (as time permits etc. etc.)
and should be resolved at some point.</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="moreinfo">
<title>Getting More Information</title>
<sect3 id="info_mail">
<title>What Mailing Lists are there to help me out?</title>
<para>Consider subscribing to
<email>port-acorn32@NetBSD.org</email> (the main
NetBSD/acorn32 mailing list exclusively for NetBSD/acorn32
things), <email>port-arm@NetBSD.org</email> (for all arm
ports), and <email>current-users@NetBSD.org</email> (this is
for people willing to try out new and updated kernels, the
latest NetBSD has to offer). More information on <ulink
url="../../MailingLists/">NetBSD mailing lists</ulink> is
available.</para>
</sect3>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<parentsec url="./" text="&os;/acorn32 ports page"/>
</webpage>
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Index: Makefile
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/htdocs/Ports/acorn32/Makefile,v
retrieving revision 1.8
diff -u -r1.8 Makefile
--- Makefile 14 Oct 2005 08:59:57 -0000 1.8
+++ Makefile 5 Apr 2007 20:15:17 -0000
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
# $NetBSD: Makefile,v 1.8 2005年10月14日 08:59:57 rillig Exp $
XMLDOCS+= index
-LISTDOCS+= faq.list
+XMLDOCS+= faq
.include "../../share/mk/web.site.mk"
Index: layout.xml
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/htdocs/layout.xml,v
retrieving revision 1.231
diff -u -r1.231 layout.xml
--- layout.xml 4 Apr 2007 08:21:51 -0000 1.231
+++ layout.xml 5 Apr 2007 20:17:16 -0000
@@ -199,7 +203,9 @@
<tocentry page="Ports/index.xml" dir="Ports" filename=".">
<tocentry page="Ports/emulators.xml" filename="emulators.html"/>
<tocentry page="Ports/acorn26/index.xml" dir="acorn26" filename="."/>
- <tocentry page="Ports/acorn32/index.xml" dir="acorn32" filename="."/>
+ <tocentry page="Ports/acorn32/index.xml" dir="acorn32" filename=".">
+ <tocentry page="Ports/acorn32/faq.xml" filename="faq.html"/>
+ </tocentry>
<tocentry page="Ports/algor/index.xml" dir="algor" filename="."/>
<tocentry page="Ports/alpha/index.xml" dir="alpha" filename="."/>
<tocentry page="Ports/amd64/index.xml" dir="amd64" filename="."/>
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