Linux (was Re: [SPARCbook] Sparcbook 3 mouse)

Tue Aug 24 16:06:32 CDT 1999

On 1999年8月24日, Eric Busto wrote:
> >
> > > > Red Hat Linux 5.2 (kernel 2.0.35) needs a fix before the console works 
> >so
> > > > you must install it by terminal first.
> > > >
> > > > Red Hat Linux 6.0 (kernel 2.2.5) works straight out of the box on the
> > > > console.
> > >
> > > Debian 2.1 Slink works, if you use the 2.2 kernel image.
> > >
> > > > No Xserver yet available.
> > >
> > > Not even colors on the console yet (please someone tell me I'm wrong :)
> >
> >Red Hat Linux does.
> >
> ...
> Yikes, whats the delay? Sparcbooks have been out since 1996 or so? Is it 
> lack of documentation on the hardware, or just that there are very few 
> programmers interested in helping port Linux to it? I know a thing or two 
> about C, and also familiar with Sparc V8 assembly, so I'd like to contribute 
> if possible. Can anyone point me to the right place? Is there a Linux on 
> Sparcbooks website or something of that nature? Perhaps we should send one 
> to Alan Cox.. he seems good at porting, a natural. :>

Work is on the way. BUT, untill rather recently SparcBooks were costing
just about as much as a family car so it was not very likely that they
were in the hands of anyone running Linux on it.
So give it a month or two and most issue's will be solved as I know that
some people are working on it.
(Alan, by the way, is too much involved in other ports (like the PA-RISC
port) so he won't be joining that effort.)
Hugo. 
-- 
Hugo van der Kooij; Oranje Nassaustraat 16; 3155 VJ Maasland
hvdkooij at caiw.nl	http://home.kabelfoon.nl/~hvdkooij/
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