install medium for c8000 [was Re: PARISC Linux website and status update]

install medium for c8000 [was Re: PARISC Linux website and status update]

[Graham Gower]

On 20 April 2013 06:42, Helge Deller <deller@gmx.de> wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> During the last few days I've invested some time in updating our
> * main website at http://www.parisc-linux.org (including news-updates and favicon) and the
> * Wiki at http://wiki.parisc-linux.org
>
> As such, we now have some more current documentation about
> * http://wiki.parisc-linux.org/Debian_Ports_Installation  - How to install from Debian-Ports

Hi,

I'm wondering if there is an install iso with a kernel that has
CONFIG_PDC_CONSOLE=y, so that I can install on a c8000. (Or am I
missing something, is there a way to get it to work without this?)

Its kinda annoying if I've got to build a cross toolchain, cross
compile a kernel, tftpboot, nfsroot, etc. in order to put something on
the hard drive.

-Graham

Re: install medium for c8000 [was Re: PARISC Linux website and status update]

[Geert Lorang]

On Mon, April 22, 2013 15:12, Graham Gower wrote:
> I'm wondering if there is an install iso with a kernel that has
> CONFIG_PDC_CONSOLE=3Dy, so that I can install on a c8000. (Or am I
> missing something, is there a way to get it to work without this?)
>
> Its kinda annoying if I've got to build a cross toolchain, cross
> compile a kernel, tftpboot, nfsroot, etc. in order to put something on =
the
> hard drive.

AFAIK the C8000s have unsupported serial ports / network card.

Adding a real cheap serial card worked very well for me with the 'latest'
HPPA netinstall iso.

Balint succeeded installing a C8000 by using a USB CD-ROM drive (+
additional serial card).

See threads:

http://lists.debian.org/debian-hppa/2010/05/msg00005.html
http://lists.debian.org/debian-hppa/2010/05/msg00004.html

There are a few more threads from Jan-May 2010 that may contain some
useful information about installing on a C8000.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Geert


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Re: install medium for c8000 [was Re: PARISC Linux website and status update]

[Rolf Eike Beer]

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Am Montag 22 April 2013, 17:00:07 schrieb Geert Lorang:
> On Mon, April 22, 2013 15:12, Graham Gower wrote:
> > I'm wondering if there is an install iso with a kernel that has
> > CONFIG_PDC_CONSOLE=y, so that I can install on a c8000. (Or am I
> > missing something, is there a way to get it to work without this?)
> > 
> > Its kinda annoying if I've got to build a cross toolchain, cross
> > compile a kernel, tftpboot, nfsroot, etc. in order to put something on the
> > hard drive.
> 
> AFAIK the C8000s have unsupported serial ports / network card.

The network card is an e1000, which has a somewhat weird "checksum" for the 
EEPROM. In newer kernels the driver knows how to handle that. For older 
kernels you need to set the MAC by hand, but otherwise everything is fine.

About the serial I'm not absolutely sure, but I think it worked. The only 
thing I needed to change was to set the console to ttyB0 instead of ttyS0.

Greetings,

Eike

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Re: install medium for c8000 [was Re: PARISC Linux website and status update]

[Graham Gower]

On 23 April 2013 01:47, Rolf Eike Beer <eike-kernel@sf-tec.de> wrote:
> Am Montag 22 April 2013, 17:00:07 schrieb Geert Lorang:
>> On Mon, April 22, 2013 15:12, Graham Gower wrote:
>> > I'm wondering if there is an install iso with a kernel that has
>> > CONFIG_PDC_CONSOLE=y, so that I can install on a c8000. (Or am I
>> > missing something, is there a way to get it to work without this?)
>> >
>> > Its kinda annoying if I've got to build a cross toolchain, cross
>> > compile a kernel, tftpboot, nfsroot, etc. in order to put something on the
>> > hard drive.
>>
>> AFAIK the C8000s have unsupported serial ports / network card.
>
> The network card is an e1000, which has a somewhat weird "checksum" for the
> EEPROM. In newer kernels the driver knows how to handle that. For older
> kernels you need to set the MAC by hand, but otherwise everything is fine.
>
> About the serial I'm not absolutely sure, but I think it worked. The only
> thing I needed to change was to set the console to ttyB0 instead of ttyS0.
>
> Greetings,
>
> Eike

Yes, I understand these issues. I went through the process of doing a
gentoo install a couple of years ago. And I did so without an
additional serial port. It just took ages to figure out getting all
the bits built. I fired up my c8000 again yesterday, but noticed one
of the disks is flakey so I can't log in now.

A PDC_CONSOLE enabled kernel requires no additional serial port, it
works fine over the serial port. But the debian/gentoo install kernels
disable it for some reason. All you need to do is boot without a
keyboard attached, with your serial port set at 9600/n8, you'll get
the PDC stuff come up and be able to 'boot lan'.

But if, like me, you don't have another fast hppa box to build stuff
on, you'll need to:
 - build a cross hppa-linux toolchain
 - build palo bits with native toolchain and the 32bit hppa-linux toolchain
 - build a cross hppa64-linux toolchain
 - cross build a 64 bit kernel with hppa64-linux toolchain
 - smash your kernel and palo together in a lan boot compatible way
 - set up a dhcpd/tftpd/nfsd that all gel together for lan booting
your parisc box.

Needless to say, this can be time consuming and error prone. Which is
why I'm asking...

Does anyone have a PDC_CONSOLE enabled install iso? Or lan bootable image?

-Graham