Init problems

Init problems

[steve]

I am new to linux so please be gentle. ;)

I am trying to run Elks on an old sharp laptop i just aquired
it has an 8088 processor (a wapping 7 MHZ)
a 720k floppy drive
and 256k of ram

I have tried useing every root image i can fing and i get the same error on boot once it is inserted at the prompt

The error i get is

Loading Init
sys_execve("/bin/init",args,10) => 65524.
No Init - running /bin/sh

Panic: No Init or Sh Found
apparent call stack:

(0) ret addr = 164 params = 0 0 0 0 0 0
(1) ret addr = 0 params = 2FC A4 4000 2D86 E784 92
(2) ret addr = 92 params = 0 0 0 0 0 0 
(3) ret addr = 0 params = 0 0 0 0 0 0 
(4) ret addr = 0 params = 0 0 0 0 0 0
(5) ret addr = 0 params = 0 0 0 0 0 0
(6) ret addr = 0 params = 0 0 0 0 0 0
(7) ret addr = 0 params = 0 0 0 0 0 0
 
Please can you help me figure out how to get this working.

thanks

Steve
-- 
*********************************
***      Steve Roberts        ***
***      Portal Films         ***
***     +1 571 332 6858       ***
***  Steve@portal-films.com   ***
***http://www.portal-films.com***
*********************************

Re: Init problems

[steve]

I tried Using hte Combo disk as you sujessted i got the same kind of error again.

only think that was differnt was it missed the Sys_execve line out and the call stack looked slightly differnt

Any other idea's

Steve

On Fri, Aug 16, 2002 at 11:17:35AM -0400, Pat Gilliland wrote:
> Wow a system with less reources than mine!
> 
> You need one of the combination root/boot images I believe called
> "comb".
> 
> I'm running 0.1.0 on an 8088 with 640k and the comb image works
> perfectly.
> 
> Best of luck!
> 
> Pat
> 
> 
> steve@portal-films.com wrote:
> > 
> > I am new to linux so please be gentle. ;)
> > 
> > I am trying to run Elks on an old sharp laptop i just aquired
> > it has an 8088 processor (a wapping 7 MHZ)
> > a 720k floppy drive
> > and 256k of ram
> > 
> > I have tried useing every root image i can fing and i get the same error on boot once it is inserted at the prompt
> > 
> > The error i get is
> > 
> > Loading Init
> > sys_execve("/bin/init",args,10) => 65524.
> > No Init - running /bin/sh
> > 
> > Panic: No Init or Sh Found
> > apparent call stack:
> > 
> > (0) ret addr = 164 params = 0 0 0 0 0 0
> > (1) ret addr = 0 params = 2FC A4 4000 2D86 E784 92
> > (2) ret addr = 92 params = 0 0 0 0 0 0
> > (3) ret addr = 0 params = 0 0 0 0 0 0
> > (4) ret addr = 0 params = 0 0 0 0 0 0
> > (5) ret addr = 0 params = 0 0 0 0 0 0
> > (6) ret addr = 0 params = 0 0 0 0 0 0
> > (7) ret addr = 0 params = 0 0 0 0 0 0
> > 
> > Please can you help me figure out how to get this working.
> > 
> > thanks
> > 
> > Steve
> > --
> > *********************************
> > ***      Steve Roberts        ***
> > ***      Portal Films         ***
> > ***     +1 571 332 6858       ***
> > ***  Steve@portal-films.com   ***
> > ***http://www.portal-films.com***
> > *********************************
> > -
> > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-8086" in
> > the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> > More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> 
> -- 
> This communication is intended to be received only by the individual or
> entity to whom or to which it is addressed and contains information that
> is
> privileged and confidential.  Any unauthorized use, copying, review or
> disclosure is prohibited.  Please notify the sender immediately if you
> have
> received this communication in error.
> 
> Contents of this message Copyright 2001 Patrick Gilliland

-- 
*********************************
***      Steve Roberts        ***
***      Portal Films         ***
***     +1 571 332 6858       ***
***  Steve@portal-films.com   ***
***http://www.portal-films.com***
*********************************

Re: Init problems

[Blaz Antonic]

Hello,

> I am new to linux so please be gentle. ;)

Steve from the land of the free and home of the brave, apparently you
are also new to spelling. 
 
> I am trying to run Elks on an old sharp laptop i just aquired
> it has an 8088 processor (a wapping 7 MHZ)
> a 720k floppy drive
> and 256k of ram

ELKS requires 640 KB of RAM to run (the value is hardcoded at the moment
afaik). 256 KB is not 640 KB.
 
> Please can you help me figure out how to get this working.

Hmm, the obvious solution would be to get a box that fits minimum
requirements - 8088 or fully compatible system with enough
'conventional' RAM, like 640 KB.

Blaz Antonic

Re: Init problems

[Pat Gilliland]

Thanks for the information Blaz.  If the value is hardcoded into the
source, would it be possible to change the value and recompile?  

Blaz Antonic wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> > I am new to linux so please be gentle. ;)
> 
> Steve from the land of the free and home of the brave, apparently you
> are also new to spelling.
> 
> > I am trying to run Elks on an old sharp laptop i just aquired
> > it has an 8088 processor (a wapping 7 MHZ)
> > a 720k floppy drive
> > and 256k of ram
> 
> ELKS requires 640 KB of RAM to run (the value is hardcoded at the moment
> afaik). 256 KB is not 640 KB.
> 
> > Please can you help me figure out how to get this working.
> 
> Hmm, the obvious solution would be to get a box that fits minimum
> requirements - 8088 or fully compatible system with enough
> 'conventional' RAM, like 640 KB.
> 
> Blaz Antonic
> 
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-8086" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html

-- 
This communication is intended to be received only by the individual or
entity to whom or to which it is addressed and contains information that
is
privileged and confidential.  Any unauthorized use, copying, review or
disclosure is prohibited.  Please notify the sender immediately if you
have
received this communication in error.

Contents of this message Copyright 2001 Patrick Gilliland

Re: Init problems

[Blaz Antonic]

Hello,

> Thanks for the information Blaz.  If the value is hardcoded into the
> source, would it be possible to change the value and recompile?

Well, sure :) I never used pre-compiled kernels myself, i advocate use
of sources and custom-built kernels - this way you know for sure what
you're dealing with + it only takes a couple of minutes to find out what
exactly is going wrong, you might be able to eliminate the problem right
away .. this is impossible with binaries.

Blaz Antonic

Re: Init problems

[Blaz Antonic]

Hello,

> Ok that would explain it then. wonder if i can find some more memory for this thing.

Quite unlikely (it's _so_ hard to find anything for old machines like
the one you have), perhaps something could come up in newsgroups ? But
in my opinion you'd better get yourself another box, people throw things
like this away so you might be able to get one for free somewhere.
 
> BTW im dislexic, and a Brit i just live in the US

Dyslectic ? Hmm .. according to definitions i found on the Internet in
the meanwhile this means people with this problem have problems reading,
writing or spelling (or these combined). It's god to see it only
affected your writing .. with spelling errors it would be incredibly
difficult to become an actor i guess.

BTW: the URL of your company is not working, there are three asterisks
included in it that shouldn't be there. You might want to edit your
signature to exclude those three characters from the URL somehow - i
guess a blank character after the URL ought to do it , i don't use
signature myself so i'm not sure about that.

Blaz Antonic

Re: Init problems

[Pat Gilliland]

8088
640k ram
2x720 floppy

rc.sysinit and inittab stripped down, only one tty no extras.

Givens: I'm no guru, no experience with kernel programming.

A quick test reveals:

during boot
183k used leaving 457 k for user process

after boot, 
meminfom => 457K total 159k used 298 kb free

ps -a => root 27132 init
         root 27034 ps
         root 27622 -/bin/sash

640k physical ram - 298k "free" = 342 k required by a running stripped
down ELKS system => not going to make in 256k

I not sure if a recompile is going to help here without some fairly
in-depth knowledge of what can be tweaked or removed.

Depending on the exact model, it may be fairly easy to swap in a couple
of memory simms to bring the machine up to 640k.  If the ram is soldered
onto the mother board, it's probably not worth the effort.  If it's
socketed, it may be as simple as replacing the simms.

It may be an old machine, that doesn't mean it's not worth playing with. 
;)

Pat

Blaz Antonic wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> > Ok that would explain it then. wonder if i can find some more memory for this thing.
> 
> Quite unlikely (it's _so_ hard to find anything for old machines like
> the one you have), perhaps something could come up in newsgroups ? But
> in my opinion you'd better get yourself another box, people throw things
> like this away so you might be able to get one for free somewhere.
>