From owner-freebsd-alpha Wed Nov 6 12: 8: 2 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-alpha@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0F4E837B401 for ; Wed, 6 Nov 2002 12:08:01 -0800 (PST) Received: from alcanet.com.au (mail3.alcanet.com.au [208.178.117.11]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 72FC743E6E for ; Wed, 6 Nov 2002 12:07:59 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from peter.jeremy@alcatel.com.au) Received: from sydsmtp01.alcatel.com.au (IDENT:root@localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1]) by alcanet.com.au (8.12.4/8.12.4/Alcanet1.3) with ESMTP id gA6K7qwL018058 for ; Thu, 7 Nov 2002 07:07:52 +1100 Received: from gsmx07.alcatel.com.au ([139.188.20.247]) by sydsmtp01.alcatel.com.au (Lotus Domino Release 5.0.11) with ESMTP id 2002110707075035:15067 ; Thu, 7 Nov 2002 07:07:50 +1100 Received: from gsmx07.alcatel.com.au (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by gsmx07.alcatel.com.au (8.12.5/8.12.5) with ESMTP id gA6K7oRL093621 for ; Thu, 7 Nov 2002 07:07:50 +1100 (EST) (envelope-from peter.jeremy@alcatel.com.au) Received: (from jeremyp@localhost) by gsmx07.alcatel.com.au (8.12.5/8.12.5/Submit) id gA6K7nvR093620 for alpha@FreeBSD.ORG; Thu, 7 Nov 2002 07:07:50 +1100 (EST) (envelope-from peter.jeremy@alcatel.com.au) Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2002 07:07:49 +1100 From: Peter Jeremy To: alpha@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: HEADS UP, floppy installs desupported for 5.0 (fwd) Message-ID: <20021106200749.GJ6446@gsmx07.alcatel.com.au> Mail-Followup-To: alpha@FreeBSD.ORG References: <108E7D907871D6118B5000306E0189F85759A2@ednex504.dsto.defence.gov.au> <20021105002107.GA48239@dragon.nuxi.com> <20021105083559.B5083@freebie.xs4all.nl> <3DC77F65.727CCDA8@mindspring.com> <20021106080934.GA97235@dragon.nuxi.com> <20021106112120.A11476@freebie.xs4all.nl> <3DC9022E.6535EBBF@mindspring.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <3DC9022E.6535EBBF@mindspring.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4i X-MIMETrack: Itemize by SMTP Server on SYDSMTP01/AlcatelAustralia(Release 5.0.11 |July 24, 2002) at 07/11/2002 07:07:50 AM, Serialize by Router on SYDSMTP01/AlcatelAustralia(Release 5.0.11 |July 24, 2002) at 07/11/2002 07:07:52 AM, Serialize complete at 07/11/2002 07:07:52 AM Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Sender: owner-freebsd-alpha@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.org On 2002-Nov-06 03:51:10 -0800, Terry Lambert wrote: >Wilko Bulte wrote: >> On Wed, Nov 06, 2002 at 12:09:34AM -0800, David O'Brien wrote: >> > On Tue, Nov 05, 2002 at 12:20:53AM -0800, Terry Lambert wrote: >> > > Yet... my DEC labelled Alpha box has a floppy drive, but doesn't >> > > have a CDROM drive, unless I hook my own to the SCSI connector... >> > >> > When was the last time you booted that box? When was the last time you >> > installed FreeBSD on that box? >> >> Lemme guess... Multia? > >Yes, Multia. > >I guess the answer to this problem can be the same as the answer to >several other recent problems, and you can declare the hardware >unsupported... not my first choice, of course. I'd also be disappointed if the Multia was de-supported. I'll agree with Terry that the Multia forms a convenient, low-cost solution for developers who want to keep a toe in the Alpha camp without needing to shell out lots of money. (And if developers were forced to test on something like a Multia, they might develop a greater appreciation for efficient code :-). Given that "netboot it" has been a common suggestion for installing FreeBSD on CDROM-less Alphas, it's probably worth mentioning that the FreeBSD netboot is incompatible at least with Multia SRM 3.8.3 (the last). The problem is that netboot's definition of `broken_firmware' in /usr/src/sys/boot/alpha/libalpha/srmnet.c does not cover the Multia (at least with SRM 3.8.3). This SRM is broken enough to need the MAC address explicitly included in netbbinfo, but call to prom_read() in prom_get() _does_ need to specify the receiving structure size (ie the broken_firmware test is not needed). I thought I'd written a PR about this in late 1999 but can't find it and there's been no change to srmnet.c. I'll submit a new PR later today. Peter To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-alpha" in the body of the message