Hi all,
As promised, I've just uploaded a Tyan S2881 build tutorial to the wiki:
http://wiki.linuxbios.org/index.php/Tyan_S2881_Build_Tutorial
We (the FSF) hope this will help others to get LinuxBIOS going.
A _very big_ thank you to all of you, and in particular Yinghai, Ron, Stefan,
Richard and Alan for all your help to get me to the point where we have a
working LinuxBIOS machine.
We will be deploying 2 or 3 of these GX28 boxes shortly. Soon, all
@(lists.)gnu.org and @fsf.org e-mail will be processed by machines running
LinuxBIOS!
As you will see in the wiki page, there is still one thing that I have not
gotten to work - VGA output. It's not a big issue for us, but I'd like to get
it working nevertheless, if only to complete the build tutorial. I'll be
posting about that shortly, I'm sure :)
Thanks,
Ward.
--
Ward Vandewege <ward(a)fsf.org>
Free Software Foundation - Senior System Administrator
On 4/26/06, Daniel Parthey <pada(a)chemonline.de> wrote:
> Eric Poulsen schrieb:
> > my MLB. The kernel printk uses sched_clock() to get the current time.
> > Is there an equivalent call in LB? I've looked through the code base
> > for files / code that has *clock* or *time* or something similar, but
> > without much luck.
>
> I suppose MLB means VIA EPIA ML Board?
>
> On Intel compatible Pentium (or higher) boards like VIA EPIA, you could
> read the Time Stamp Counter (TSC) CPU register which tells you the number
cpu/x86/tsc/delay_tsc.c should have the info you need
--
Richard A. Smith
--
Richard A. Smith
You're sending replies only to me - let's keep it on the list for
the benefit of others as well. Thanks! :)
On Wed, Apr 26, 2006 at 11:20:59AM -0700, Eric Poulsen wrote:
> 1) Use factory BIOS, re-save CMOS, Boot OS, Reboot later using LB
> 2) Use factory BIOS, NOT re-save CMOS, Boot OS, Reboot later using LB
> 3) Use factory BIOS, re-save CMOS, powerdown, boot use LB
> 4) Use factory BIOS, NOT re-save CMOS, powerdown, boot use LB
> 5) Other ?
>
> "re-save CMOS" means entering BIOS menu and choosing "save changes
> and exit"
>
> When I have the crash problem, I have been using option #3. I'm
> not sure if that answers your question =)
Sorry, no. But the question was badly stated as well. :) More below.
> >>I immediately flipped back to LB, and it worked as expected.
> >
> >Worked reliably or did not crash while you were looking?
>
> The crash _always_ occurs during initial kernel execution, before
> 'init' starts.
Depending on what the problem is, the system could crash later on as
well, just that it hasn't been left running long enough or with such
loads that the problem appears.
> >Can you reliably reproduce the crash? If not there's no way to
> >tell if the problem has been fixed or merely isn't manifesting
> >itself at that particular point in time.
> >
> >Does just rebooting with LinuxBIOS produce different results than
> >factory(resetCMOS)->LinuxBIOS?
>
> Rebooting with LB crashes every time, until I reset the CMOS with
> the Factory BIOS. This is why I think it might be a CMOS issue --
> the crashing seems stateful.
Ok! So the only successful way to boot LinuxBIOS under any
circumstances is to first boot factory BIOS, have it do something
(possibly rewrite CMOS, possibly something else) and then reboot into
LinuxBIOS without powering off the system?
If it works also when powering off between factory BIOS and
LinuxBIOS, please leave the system powered off several hours up to a
day and see it that works too.
> >I second Richard on running memtest86, RAM problems can cause all
> >sorts of funny things.
>
> I'll hit the ram test ASAP. I've had other weird issues, such as
> the kernel taking a REALLY LONG time to initialize stuff. This is
> new RAM, so hopefully still under warranty.
Since this is code setting up the DRAM controller the RAM test also
serves as a code test.
> >Any system that requires special data to be in CMOS or anywhere else
> >and does not validate this data before using it is broken.
>
> If by "system" you mean the BIOS, then I agree.
Any system. Development 101 has to be "validate the input!"
//Peter
I'ts been awhile since I've messed with the config system and having
some difficulity adding a new config option.
I have modified the epia-m auto.c to have a ifdef wrapper around the
section that disables the firewire bridge. I called it
DISABLE_FIREWIRE. I added uses DISABLE_FIREWIRE to the Options.lb and
setup a defaut.
I then created a new target called epia-ml that just uses the epia-m
mainboard but would disable the firewire disable section.
But when I run buildtarget I still get:
build_dir=via/epia-ml/epia-ml
Configuring TARGET epia-ml
Will place Makefile, crt0.S, etc. in via/epia-ml/epia-ml
===> ERROR: Can't use undefined option DISABLE_FIREWIRE
via/epia-ml/Config.lb:0
src/mainboard/via/epia-m/Options.lb:0
Where else do I have to add my new config option so the buld system
knwos about it?
--
Richard A. Smith
On Wed, Apr 26, 2006 at 10:40:28AM -0700, Eric Poulsen wrote:
> Cool, I'll check out the DOM stuff -- I was wondering how I was
> going to mount my CF/IDE unit inside my tiny case. The CF/IDE
> adapter does have the advantage that I could simply pull it out,
> put a new kernel on it (using another cpu) and plug it back in.
> I wonder if you can hot-swap CF/IDE, provided you unmount it?
That depends on the adapter. I just added a few adapters, one with
hotswap support, to:
http://wiki.linuxbios.org/index.php/FAQ#What_kind_of_hardware_tools_do_I_ne…
//Peter
Dear All,
I'm completely new to LinuxBios, and I'm trying to understand exactly what
it does, and what it offers. Trying to decide exactly how interested I
am. Could you please forgive my ignorance and clarify the following for
me please:
Does LinuxBios run on the main processor or on some auxiliary processor?
What is the typical power consumption of a LinuxBios moboard running the
minimum number of devices to do basic communication over ethernet -
hopefully only the moboard and the network card if it isn't already on the
moboard will require power, then I need to know processor consumption -
here the earlier question about what does the processing becomes relevant.
Can LinuxBios be used to do complicated wake-on lan? Here minimal power
consumption in the idle state becomes important to me. (question of
fairly high interest to me)
Does LinuxBios help with running multiple operating systems
simultaneously? (high interest)
Does it accelerate booting, because where previously first the bios
loaded, then grub, then the OS proper, now perhaps booting can go straight
from LinuxBios to OS?
How often can one typically write to the bios before it won't take any
more changes? I understand it's flash, so I expect few thousand times,
more if one rotates which memory blocks one uses, but on the other hand
this isn't exactly flash that is designed to be rewritten very often, as
far as I understand anyway! Can one fairly easily and at a competitive
price buy replacement chips?
I very much appreciate any help you can give, because you've already done
this kind of stuff.
A short introduction is probably in order: I'm a mathematician, so a bit
of an amateur where computer science is concerned. I'm getting into
writing linux device drivers at the moment.
Best Wishes, Max
Exception 6 is Invalid Opcode. This usually means that ES:EIP is
pointing to data or to garbage (stack error?). It could mean that
you're not at the right privilege level for the specific instruction at
CS:EIP.
-- Steve G.
-----Original Message-----
From: linuxbios-bounces(a)linuxbios.org
[mailto:linuxbios-bounces@linuxbios.org] On Behalf Of Ronald G Minnich
Sent: Tuesday, April 25, 2006 12:44 PM
To: Eric Poulsen
Cc: LinuxBIOS
Subject: Re: [LinuxBIOS] What's stored in the CMOS by LB?
Eric Poulsen wrote:
>
> 1) Does LB store anything in the CMOS?
it can. It does store a few abouts about the type of boot that occurred
(fallback or normal).
> 2) If yes, is there anything in there that could become corrupted and
> cause "weird issues" as described above?
What's exception 6? I don't recall.
sometimes clocking info is stored in CMOS. There could be a collision
here.
If you can tell more it would be good to know.
ron
--
linuxbios mailing list
linuxbios(a)linuxbios.org
http://www.openbios.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxbios
as of today, we have got ethernet and external uart up on rumba, so we
now have a networked node. OLPC patches are next, then graphics, then ...
I'm also planning to put Plan 9 in FLASH on the lippert frontrunner, but
that's next week ...
ron
