PReP PowerPC "emulation"

[Massimo Montecchi]

Hi,

I have tried qemu from 0.11 to latest git (as of 11/09/2010) with latest
openbios inside, but if i want to use PREP PPC "machine" the error is the
same:

qemu: hardware error: PowerPC 601 / 620 / 970 need a 1MB BIOS

CPU #0:
NIP 00000000 LR 00000000 CTR 00000000 XER 00000000
MSR 00000000 HID0 00000000 HF 00000000 idx 0
TB 00000000 00000000 DECR ffffffff
GPR00 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
GPR04 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
GPR08 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
GPR12 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
GPR16 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
GPR20 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
GPR24 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
GPR28 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
CR 00000000 [ - - - - - - - - ] RES 00000000
FPR00 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
FPR04 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
FPR08 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
FPR12 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
FPR16 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
FPR20 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
FPR24 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
FPR28 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000
FPSCR 00000000
SRR0 00000000 SRR1 00000000 SDR1 00000000

How can I use openbios to start an AIX with qemu ?

[Mark Cave-Ayland]

Massimo Montecchi wrote:
> How can I use openbios to start an AIX with qemu ?

Sadly I don't believe there is an OpenBIOS PPC maintainer at the moment 
(which is a shame as recent versions of OpenBIOS are now able to 
bootload a lot more kernels).

We would be happy to accept any patches that you would like to 
contribute though.

ATB,

Mark.

[Massimo Montecchi]

Mark, can you suggest me where to find the code for "PReP"?
AIX needs PReP emulation to works!!!!!
Thanks, Ciao

2010/9/13 Mark Cave-Ayland
> Massimo Montecchi wrote:
>
> How can I use openbios to start an AIX with qemu ?
> >
>
> Sadly I don't believe there is an OpenBIOS PPC maintainer at the moment
> (which is a shame as recent versions of OpenBIOS are now able to bootload a
> lot more kernels).
>
> We would be happy to accept any patches that you would like to contribute
> though.
>
> ATB,
>
> Mark.
>
> Sirius Labs: http://www.siriusit.co.uk/labs

[Andreas Färber]

Massimo,

Am 15.09.2010 um 20:06 schrieb Massimo Montecchi:
> can you suggest me where to find the code for "PReP"?
> AIX needs PReP emulation to works!!!!!

I was serious when I suggested you could *contribute* PReP support to  
OpenBIOS!

Currently only the g3beige and mac99 machines are somewhat supported.  
QEMU did not use OpenBIOS for ppc before, so the QEMU-specific ppc  
parts are still quite new and there will not be much code for PReP  
yet. Part of the problem was that the Linux kernel dropped support for  
PReP machines, so I am less certain whether PReP emulation is the only  
way to run AIX in QEMU. Maybe some new non-PReP machine with a  
hardware configuration different from Macs would do, too?

For PReP you will definitely need to patch QEMU's hw/ppc_prep.c code  
to properly load the openbios-ppc file (fixing the current error  
message), and OpenBIOS must probably react to the machine type in,  
e.g., arch/ppc/qemu/init.c and behave differently from New World Macs  
where necessary (cf. ARCH_PREP).

Ciao,
Andreas

P.S. Please avoid top-posting as it makes reading and answering more  
difficult. Thanks.
> 2010/9/13 Mark Cave-Ayland 
> Massimo Montecchi wrote:
>
> How can I use openbios to start an AIX with qemu ?
>
> Sadly I don't believe there is an OpenBIOS PPC maintainer at the  
> moment (which is a shame as recent versions of OpenBIOS are now able  
> to bootload a lot more kernels).
>
> We would be happy to accept any patches that you would like to  
> contribute though.
>
> ATB,
>
> Mark.
>
> Sirius Labs: http://www.siriusit.co.uk/labs
>
> Massimo Montecchi
> Modena - Italy
> -- 
> OpenBIOS                 http://openbios.org/
> Mailinglist:  http://lists.openbios.org/mailman/listinfo
> Free your System - May the Forth be with you

[Alexander Graf]

On 15.09.2010, at 21:18, Andreas Färber wrote:
> Massimo,
>
> Am 15.09.2010 um 20:06 schrieb Massimo Montecchi:
> > can you suggest me where to find the code for "PReP"?
> > AIX needs PReP emulation to works!!!!!
>
> I was serious when I suggested you could *contribute* PReP support to OpenBIOS!
>
> Currently only the g3beige and mac99 machines are somewhat supported. QEMU did not use OpenBIOS for ppc before, so the QEMU-specific ppc parts are still quite new and there will not be much code for PReP yet. Part of the problem was that the Linux kernel dropped support for PReP machines, so I am less certain whether PReP emulation is the only way to run AIX in QEMU. Maybe some new non-PReP machine with a hardware configuration different from Macs would do, too?

AFAIK the PowerStation can run recent AIX versions. And that is a CHRP machine.
> For PReP you will definitely need to patch QEMU's hw/ppc_prep.c code to properly load the openbios-ppc file (fixing the current error message), and OpenBIOS must probably react to the machine type in, e.g., arch/ppc/qemu/init.c and behave differently from New World Macs where necessary (cf. ARCH_PREP).

Exactly. It's a lot of work. If you want to go through all of it, I'm happy to look through the patches. I don't believe it's worth it though. AIX should be fine with CHRP platforms.

Alex

[Andreas Färber]

Am 15.09.2010 um 21:31 schrieb Alexander Graf:
> On 15.09.2010, at 21:18, Andreas Färber wrote:
> > For PReP you will definitely need to patch QEMU's hw/ppc_prep.c  
> > code to properly load the openbios-ppc file (fixing the current  
> > error message), and OpenBIOS must probably react to the machine  
> > type in, e.g., arch/ppc/qemu/init.c and behave differently from New  
> > World Macs where necessary (cf. ARCH_PREP).
>
> Exactly. It's a lot of work. If you want to go through all of it,  
> I'm happy to look through the patches. I don't believe it's worth it  
> though.

I fear the BeBox is based on PReP. ;)
> AIX should be fine with CHRP platforms.

...given that AIX 6.1.0 has \ppc\chrp\bootfile.exe.

Massimo, there's no \ppc\prep\ on my disk. Is the boot mechanism  
different there, i.e. is there another loader on the disk somewhere?
CHRP was a successor to PReP, I thought.

Andreas

[Laurent Vivier]

Le mercredi 15 septembre 2010 à 20:06 +0200, Massimo Montecchi a écrit :
> Mark, can you suggest me where to find the code for "PReP"?
> AIX needs PReP emulation to works!!!!!

I think it's a mistake. PReP was the reference platform before CHRP.
PReP was a PC clone with PowerPC inside. There are PReP based sytems
running AIX, and recent AIX system (RS/6000) are CHRP. CHRP is the real
reference platform for PowerPC based system now. I think we should
improve CHRP emulation in Qemu and its support in OpenBIOS, not PReP
(except if you have time to waste).

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg3T1011431

1- System platform check.

Only CHRP systems are supported in AIX 5.2 and above. Run the following
command on lower level systems to check the platform type.

# lscfg | grep Architecture
Required hardware if migrating to AIX 6.1

2- Only 64-bit Common Hardware Reference Platform (CHRP) machines
running selected PowerPC 970, POWER4, POWER5, and POWER6 processors that
implement the POWER architecture Platform Requirements (PAPR) are
supported.

Regards,
Laurent

[Massimo Montecchi]

OK, maybe I make a mistake. It's not a problem.
My goals is to run AIX 4.3, 5.1 and 6.1 on QEMU!!!!!.
Can you help me? What you suggest?
I think there is a lot of confusion ( I also make confusion).
How I can run QEMU to "emulate" CHRP platform ?
Thanks, Ciao

2010/9/16 Laurent Vivier
> Le mercredi 15 septembre 2010 à 20:06 +0200, Massimo Montecchi a écrit :
> > Mark, can you suggest me where to find the code for "PReP"?
> > AIX needs PReP emulation to works!!!!!
>
> I think it's a mistake. PReP was the reference platform before CHRP.
> PReP was a PC clone with PowerPC inside. There are PReP based sytems
> running AIX, and recent AIX system (RS/6000) are CHRP. CHRP is the real
> reference platform for PowerPC based system now. I think we should
> improve CHRP emulation in Qemu and its support in OpenBIOS, not PReP
> (except if you have time to waste).
>
> http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=isg3T1011431
>
> 1- System platform check.
>
> Only CHRP systems are supported in AIX 5.2 and above. Run the following
> command on lower level systems to check the platform type.
>
> # lscfg | grep Architecture
> Required hardware if migrating to AIX 6.1
>
> 2- Only 64-bit Common Hardware Reference Platform (CHRP) machines
> running selected PowerPC 970, POWER4, POWER5, and POWER6 processors that
> implement the POWER architecture Platform Requirements (PAPR) are
> supported.
>
> Regards,
> Laurent