Booting from IDE

Booting from IDE

[Nitin]

Hi,
I have a very basic query. I have a MIPS Malta board. I attached a IDE
hard disk to it and installed linux as per the instructions. At the end
of the installation, system rebooted and control gone to the board
monitor program(Yamon). How can I get the linux prompt? Do I need to
write an application program which will read boot sector from hard disk,

store it in memory and pass on control to that particular location?(If
yes, is such application already available?) Or is there a other way of
doing it.

Thanks,
Nitin

Re: Booting from IDE

[Dan Temple]

I guess you're installing as per:

ftp://ftp/pub/linux/mips/installation/redhat7.1/INSTALL

(If not, you might want to upgrade to that version).

YAMON can't read the disk file system, so you have to TFTP the kernel to memory from a remote filesystem, and then run it. The instructions are in the above file under "Booting linux on the target".

The latest version (2.02) of YAMON can read and write blocks from an IDE device (not a filesystem) so you could install a CompactFlash card and use that to store the kernel if you don't want to TFTP each time. 

There is also a $start environment variable if you want to auto-boot.

/Dan

Nitin wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> I have a very basic query. I have a MIPS Malta board. I attached a IDE
> hard disk to it and installed linux as per the instructions. At the end
> of the installation, system rebooted and control gone to the board
> monitor program(Yamon). How can I get the linux prompt? Do I need to
> write an application program which will read boot sector from hard disk,
> 
> store it in memory and pass on control to that particular location?(If
> yes, is such application already available?) Or is there a other way of
> doing it.
> 
> Thanks,
> Nitin

-- 
  Dan Temple, Eng. Mgr.     Tel: +45-44865512     
  MIPS Denmark              Fax: +45-44865556     
  Lautrupvang 4B            mailto:dant@mips.com  
  DK-2750 Ballerup          http://www.mips.com
  Denmark

Re: Booting from IDE

[Hartvig Ekner]

If you feel lucky, you can also reserve space on your disk for the kernel - 
either in a separate partition, or outside the area used by your current
partitions. The YAMON 02.02 or later can read the kernel directly from disk
and execute it.

I do this on my Malta board with one disk.

/Hartvig


Dan Temple writes:
> 
> I guess you're installing as per:
> 
> ftp://ftp/pub/linux/mips/installation/redhat7.1/INSTALL
> 
> (If not, you might want to upgrade to that version).
> 
> YAMON can't read the disk file system, so you have to TFTP the kernel to memory from a remote filesystem, and then run it. The instructions are in the above file under "Booting linux on the target".
> 
> The latest version (2.02) of YAMON can read and write blocks from an IDE device (not a filesystem) so you could install a CompactFlash card and use that to store the kernel if you don't want to TFTP each time. 
> 
> There is also a $start environment variable if you want to auto-boot.
> 
> /Dan
> 
> Nitin wrote:
> > 
> > Hi,
> > I have a very basic query. I have a MIPS Malta board. I attached a IDE
> > hard disk to it and installed linux as per the instructions. At the end
> > of the installation, system rebooted and control gone to the board
> > monitor program(Yamon). How can I get the linux prompt? Do I need to
> > write an application program which will read boot sector from hard disk,
> > 
> > store it in memory and pass on control to that particular location?(If
> > yes, is such application already available?) Or is there a other way of
> > doing it.
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > Nitin

Re: Booting from IDE

[Hartvig Ekner]

If you feel lucky, you can also reserve space on your disk for the kernel - 
either in a separate partition, or outside the area used by your current
partitions. The YAMON 02.02 or later can read the kernel directly from disk
and execute it.

I do this on my Malta board with one disk.

/Hartvig


Dan Temple writes:
> 
> I guess you're installing as per:
> 
> ftp://ftp/pub/linux/mips/installation/redhat7.1/INSTALL
> 
> (If not, you might want to upgrade to that version).
> 
> YAMON can't read the disk file system, so you have to TFTP the kernel to memory from a remote filesystem, and then run it. The instructions are in the above file under "Booting linux on the target".
> 
> The latest version (2.02) of YAMON can read and write blocks from an IDE device (not a filesystem) so you could install a CompactFlash card and use that to store the kernel if you don't want to TFTP each time. 
> 
> There is also a $start environment variable if you want to auto-boot.
> 
> /Dan
> 
> Nitin wrote:
> > 
> > Hi,
> > I have a very basic query. I have a MIPS Malta board. I attached a IDE
> > hard disk to it and installed linux as per the instructions. At the end
> > of the installation, system rebooted and control gone to the board
> > monitor program(Yamon). How can I get the linux prompt? Do I need to
> > write an application program which will read boot sector from hard disk,
> > 
> > store it in memory and pass on control to that particular location?(If
> > yes, is such application already available?) Or is there a other way of
> > doing it.
> > 
> > Thanks,
> > Nitin

Re: Booting from IDE

[Mark Salter]

Another possibility is to replace YAMON with RedBoot. 

http://sources.redhat.com/redboot/

RedBoot can load the kernel image directly from an ext2 filesystem
on an IDE drive. You can also use it to put the kernel image and
JFFS filesystem in flash for a diskless boot.

--Mark


>>>>> Hartvig Ekner writes:

> If you feel lucky, you can also reserve space on your disk for the kernel - 
> either in a separate partition, or outside the area used by your current
> partitions. The YAMON 02.02 or later can read the kernel directly from disk
> and execute it.

> I do this on my Malta board with one disk.

> /Hartvig


> Dan Temple writes:
>> 
>> I guess you're installing as per:
>> 
>> ftp://ftp/pub/linux/mips/installation/redhat7.1/INSTALL
>> 
>> (If not, you might want to upgrade to that version).
>> 
>> YAMON can't read the disk file system, so you have to TFTP the kernel to memory from a remote filesystem, and then run it. The instructions are in the above file under "Booting linux on the target".
>> 
>> The latest version (2.02) of YAMON can read and write blocks from an IDE device (not a filesystem) so you could install a CompactFlash card and use that to store the kernel if you don't want to TFTP each time. 
>> 
>> There is also a $start environment variable if you want to auto-boot.
>> 
>> /Dan
>> 
>> Nitin wrote:
>> > 
>> > Hi,
>> > I have a very basic query. I have a MIPS Malta board. I attached a IDE
>> > hard disk to it and installed linux as per the instructions. At the end
>> > of the installation, system rebooted and control gone to the board
>> > monitor program(Yamon). How can I get the linux prompt? Do I need to
>> > write an application program which will read boot sector from hard disk,
>> > 
>> > store it in memory and pass on control to that particular location?(If
>> > yes, is such application already available?) Or is there a other way of
>> > doing it.
>> > 
>> > Thanks,
>> > Nitin

Re: Booting from IDE

[Nitin]

Thanks Dan, Hartvig and Mark.

I could get the linux prompt according to the instruction given in the Install file Dan has suggested. I will update my Yamon and try auto booting also.

-Nitin

Mark Salter wrote:

> Another possibility is to replace YAMON with RedBoot.
>
> http://sources.redhat.com/redboot/
>
> RedBoot can load the kernel image directly from an ext2 filesystem
> on an IDE drive. You can also use it to put the kernel image and
> JFFS filesystem in flash for a diskless boot.
>
> --Mark
>
> >>>>> Hartvig Ekner writes:
>
> > If you feel lucky, you can also reserve space on your disk for the kernel -
> > either in a separate partition, or outside the area used by your current
> > partitions. The YAMON 02.02 or later can read the kernel directly from disk
> > and execute it.
>
> > I do this on my Malta board with one disk.
>
> > /Hartvig
>
> > Dan Temple writes:
> >>
> >> I guess you're installing as per:
> >>
> >> ftp://ftp/pub/linux/mips/installation/redhat7.1/INSTALL
> >>
> >> (If not, you might want to upgrade to that version).
> >>
> >> YAMON can't read the disk file system, so you have to TFTP the kernel to memory from a remote filesystem, and then run it. The instructions are in the above file under "Booting linux on the target".
> >>
> >> The latest version (2.02) of YAMON can read and write blocks from an IDE device (not a filesystem) so you could install a CompactFlash card and use that to store the kernel if you don't want to TFTP each time.
> >>
> >> There is also a $start environment variable if you want to auto-boot.
> >>
> >> /Dan
> >>
> >> Nitin wrote:
> >> >
> >> > Hi,
> >> > I have a very basic query. I have a MIPS Malta board. I attached a IDE
> >> > hard disk to it and installed linux as per the instructions. At the end
> >> > of the installation, system rebooted and control gone to the board
> >> > monitor program(Yamon). How can I get the linux prompt? Do I need to
> >> > write an application program which will read boot sector from hard disk,
> >> >
> >> > store it in memory and pass on control to that particular location?(If
> >> > yes, is such application already available?) Or is there a other way of
> >> > doing it.
> >> >
> >> > Thanks,
> >> > Nitin