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Slide #893

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Introduction

I recently received an old IBM RS/6000 E30 (mod. 7024, with a PowerPC 604e 166 MHz CPU). Thanks a ton to Shay ;-) I will document here below my attempts at getting Linux to boot and install on it.

Table of Contents

  1. Project news
  2. Hardware description
  3. Linux boot traces
    1. LinuxPPC 1999 boot disk (zImage-2.2.10.gz)
    2. Custom-built 2.2.17 kernel (zImage)
    3. 43P-140 custom kernel by Leigh Brown (zImage.prep-2.4.16-2)
    4. linux_2_4_devel + e30_240 patch by Leigh Brown
  4. Procedures
    1. Setup to connect to SMS through the serial port
    2. Booting from a floppy
    3. Customizing a Debian root floppy
    4. Debian 3.0 Installation procedure
  5. Files
  6. Resources

Project news

  • July 25th, 2002: Re-did base install (because of mistakes when running base-config) and updated install procedure accordingly.
  • July 16th, 2002: Success ! The base install is done, the kernel image is in the PReP boot partition and the machine is able to boot unattended. kundun is now officially a Linux host. I'm working on publishing the install procedure.
  • July 11th, 2002: Installation time grows closer ! I put a PCI network board in (a RealTek RTL8139). The kernel sees it and is able to initialize it. I got network traffic flowing (well, ICMP packets at least). I compiled a statically-linked version of the lsresidual utility and here is the output I gathered. All the disks are accessible to fdisk and the CD-ROM works as expected.
  • July 9th, 2002: A few days ago, Leigh Brown released a patch against linux_2_4_devel, bringing support for the 7024 Mod. E30 and Mod. 240 (that patch is archived here). I finally got the chance to compile the patched kernel (on a Motorola PowerStack), and I gave it a try on the RS/6000.

    Here is the kernel configuration I used.

    And here is a summary of my findings / test procedures:

    • I compiled the patched kernel on a Motorola Powerstack with a minimal set of options (PReP platform-specific options, PCI, ISA, VGA console, serial console, ramdisk, SCSI [SYM53C8xx], a few standard FS, no network -- all in-kernel [no modules, of course]) and dd'ed it to a floppy.
    • The boot process itself was successful -- the correct amount of memory was reported, the machine was correctly identified as an "IBM 7024-E30", the BogoMIPS value made sense (166 MHz processor). There was a "PCI: Error while updating region 00:0e.0/0", though (can it be due to the fact that I have a non-IBM PCI video board on the bus ?). The floppy disk was detected correctly (and later shown to work !). The SCSI on-board controller was detected and initialized properly. All attached devices (4 disks and a CD-ROM) were properly detected and identified.
    • The non-IBM PCI video board, on the other hand, wasn't detected nor initialized (screen stays black), so I'll still have to work through the serial console.
    • The kernel then prompted me for a root disk. I put a Debian 3.0 "Woody" root/install disk in. It loaded with no problem and brought me to the ncurses-based installer interface. I then faced 2 problems:
      • the debian installer complained that the host didn't have any disk and started on the way to do a diskless install. Weird since the kernel reported assigning device files to all 4 disks. Update: that problem solved (thanks to Leigh Brown) -- I shouldn't have put devfs support in the kernel.
      • since I'm using a serial console, I couldn't switch to another VT, nor could I abort the installer. I have thus been unable to get a shell prompt at this stage. I'll try building my own root disk to overcome this. Update: that part solved (see the procedures below).
    Next steps: As soon as I can get a shell prompt, I'll grab the "lsresidual" and "lspci" output. Something else I'll try over the next few days is sticking a NIC on the bus (I'll try both ISA and PCI) and see whether I can get any of those recognized.
  • June 20th, 2002: Tried booting on a 2.4.16 kernel customized for the 43P-140 ("Carolina"), provided by Leigh Brown on his web page. This is a linuxppc_2_4_devel + patches. Bottom-line is: the 3 min. timeout at kernel boot has vanished. The motherboard is not recognized as a "Carolina" anymore (it will just default to it). The floppy controller now appears to be well-supported, and the keyboard error is also gone. The delay loop calibration value now seems credible (321.94 BogoMIPS). On the down side, the SCSI board seems to be detected OK, but its initialization fails. The driver used is not the same, though, so... See the boot trace below.
  • June 19th, 2002: Attempted boot using a custom-built stock 2.2.17 kernel (compiled on "wopr", a Motorola RiscPC). I started from a known-good "Motorola" config, and added serial console support and ramdisk support. The result was very similar to that obtained previously with a 2.2.10 kernel. The 3 min. timeout at kernel boot is still present. The floppy controller is still not properly recognized, the keyboard still fails self-test (the BogoMIPS value is still off the chart). The handling of the NCR SCSI controller is now more clear-cut, since it detaches and comes back to 0 host after failing cache tests. It is still properly detected and identified, though. The kernel then proposes to load a root disk into RAM, but fails to do so (floppy controller problem or missing module ?). Also, I still can't get the (non-IBM) graphics card to initialize, even though one of the boot messages (Console: colour dummy device 80x25) led me to think the kernel was seeing it (but that's just indicating support for the VGA console). This might be a consequence of the behaviour described by David Munro (on his "Carolina" page) where the firmware sets the PCI config space to all 0's for boards it doesn't recognize. Please see the boot trace below.
  • June 15th, 2002: Upgraded the firmware from version VIC97066 to version VIC97276 (the latest available from IBM - see the resources section below for the URL).
  • June 8th, 2002: Second boot attempt, this time with the LinuxPPC 1999 install boot disk (kernel 2.2.10). A lot more promises. Please see the boot trace below. Please note that I noticed a 3 minutes timeout between the "Now booting the kernel..." message and the first actual message from the kernel. The motherboard is recognized as an "IBM 8xx (Carolina)", PReP architecture. There were problems with the keyboard (failed self-test), the floppy drive (FDC access conflict) and the SCSI adapter (cache incorrectly configured). No PCI graphics adapter initialization, but of course, I used the "console=ttyS0" boot parameter. Updated: this boot trace also shows a very unusual value for the delay loop calibration [0.82 BogoMIPS] which looks like the symptom described by David Munro on his excellent "Carolina" page. This could, according to him, explain the keyboard error.
  • June 7th, 2002: First Linux boot attempt with the nnlo.240.openpic kernel. Total failure. Just an error message in the middle of the serial console (0001000A -- means "Machine check occured, go to MAP 1540" according to the Service Guide). No PCI graphics adapter initialization either. I'll investigate.
  • June 6th, 2002: Spent my evening reconfiguring the internal SCSI bus. The machine, as I received it, was missing its SCSI flat cable. What's more, the existing disks were not properly configured to work together (conflicting IDs). The CD-ROM drive was defective. After re-configuring the SCSI IDs, the bus termination and replacing the defective CD unit, I finally had the pleasure of seeing the "scsi... OK" message at POST. The nicest surprise of all was to then watch it boot AIX 4.1 as if nothing happend.
    *******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                                                                             *
*  Welcome to AIX Version 4.1!                                                *
*                                                                             *
*                                                                             *
*  Please see the README file in /usr/lpp/bos for information pertinent to    *
*  this release of the AIX Operating System.                                  *
*                                                                             *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************
Last login: Fri Sep  4 10:40:53 CDT 1998 on /dev/pts/0 from Anicolay_NT

# date
Thu Jun  6 20:33:01 CDT 2002
#

    After 4 years gathering dust in a junk room, I brought the machine back to life.
  • May 2, 2002: first step in any such adventure: get in touch with the firmware. Bit tricky here, since the box doesn't have its original video board anymore. And, being IBM, it won't recognize just any old PCI video board either. Still, success ! You can talk to the firmware through a null modem cable hooked to serial1 during POST - minicom on an old laptop rules, here ! Please note: you have to set the "wrap mode" ON (Alt-W in minicom) to get a proper display of the SMS menus.
  • April 2002: The event that triggered it all. Searching the Web for info on Linux support for this box, I stumbled across that well-known post from Hollis Blanchard:
    Subject: Re: Linux on RS/6000 E30 7024
    From: Hollis R Blanchard (hollis+@andrew.cmu.edu)
    Date: Wed Mar 28 2001 - 13:41:59 MST

    On Wed, 28 Mar 2001, Marcio Starke wrote:
    >
    > I have a RS/6000 E30 7024. I think it is a PReP machine.
    > I wish to install linux on it but I don't know if linux run on it.

    All anyone knows is that it's "theoretically" possible, which means it
    probably mostly worked sometime around 2.1.50 and was later broken and never
    fixed.

    -Hollis

Hardware description

IBM RISC System/6000 Model 7024-E30 (build date: May 8, 1997).

At least, based on the hardware description I found on the web, I always assumed it was an E30. Now, the lsresidual utility reports: "Model: IBM Model 7024E20 (c0ED)". So what is it in the end ?

I looked at various docs available on IBM site, such as the sales manual for those boxes, but I couldn't come to any conclusive evidence either way. Those two models look awfully close to start with, and at some point (July '97) the E20 was pulled from the market and replaced by the E30. The E30 model was available on the market since May '96, and my box was manufactured in May '97. So from the date alone, we can see that my box lies in the grey area between the 2.

On the front panel, there is a sticker saying "604e-166 MHz". From the specs I found, this may have been the default processor type for early E30 models, but the "604-166" was also available to the E20 as an upgrade (though they don't mention the 604e -- what's the difference, anyway ?).

So for the time being, my best guess is that either this is an upgraded E20, or I have a box that was marketted as an E30, actually based on an E20 motherboard, but fitted with a CPU intended for the E30 series.

The pity is, the official series name was probably written on the front door (the one hiding the drive bays), but this door is missing from my machine :-/

Firmware

 RS/6000 Firmware
 Version VIC97276, built on 10/03/97 at 14:09:51
 (C)Copyright IBM Corporation, 1995,1996.  All rights reserved.

(most definitely pre-OpenFirmware !)

Mother Board

  • PowerPC 604e, 166 MHz CPU
  • 96 MB ECC DIMM RAM (68 + 32 MB, 168-pin cards)
  • Integrated NCR 53c825 Fast/Wide SCSI-2 Adapter

SCSI Bus

ID Device Remark
3 ST32171W (2.16 GB) Termination enabled, delay motor start
2 ST32171W (2.16 GB) delay motor start
(-- free slot --)
1 ST34371W (4.35 GB) delay motor start
(-- free slot --)
6 Apple 300i CD-ROM [Matsushita] parity enabled [replaced item]
(-- floppy disk slot --)
0 IBM DCHS04W (4.51 GB) system disk

Boot devices as listed by the firmware:

                             Boot Device Selection


 Select one:
   1. None
   2. Diskette Drive   0     1.44MB, 3.5-in. diskette
   3. SCSI CDROM Cntlr 0,6,0 MATSHITA CD-ROM CR-8004A  2.0a (Integrated)
   4. SCSI Disk  Cntlr 0,3,0 SEAGATE  ST32171W         0484 (Integrated)
   5. SCSI Disk  Cntlr 0,2,0 SEAGATE  ST32171W         0484 (Integrated)
   6. SCSI Disk  Cntlr 0,1,0 SEAGATE  ST34371W         0484 (Integrated)
   7. SCSI Disk  Cntlr 0,0,0 IBM      DCHS04W          2828 (Integrated)

PCI Bus

PCI bus was empty when received.

  • Original PCI graphics adapter is missing. Replaced with some old junk found lying around. Not recognized or initialized by the firmware.
  • Original PCI network adapter is missing. I replaced it with a PCI RealTek RTL8139 FastEthernet adaptor.

For more details, please have a look at the output of the lsresidual utility by David Monro.

ISA Bus

ISA bus is empty

Linux boot traces

LinuxPPC 1999 boot disk (zImage-2.2.10.gz)

Captured on June 8th, 2002.

                               STARTING SOFTWARE
                                 PLEASE WAIT...



loaded at:     00639580 00650390
relocated to:  00800000 00816E10
board data at: 001E25D8 001E8FE4
relocated to:  00810304 00816D10
zimage at:     00644580 006E68B9
relocated to:  00817000 008B9339
avail ram:     00400000 00800000

Linux/PPC load: root=/dev/fd0 ramdisk_size=8192 load_ramdisk=1 console=ttyS0
Uncompressing Linux...done.
Now booting the kernel
PReP architecture
Total memory = 96MB; using 512kB for hash table (at c0200000)
Linux version 2.2.10 (gary@ares.ft-collins.cygnus.com) (gcc version egcs-2.91.66
 19990314 (egcs-1.1.2 release)) #34 Sat Aug 21 06:39:20 MDT 1999
Boot arguments: root=/dev/fd0 ramdisk_size=8192 load_ramdisk=1 console=ttyS0
time_init: decrementer frequency = 1248000/60 (0MHz)
Calibrating delay loop... 0.82 BogoMIPS
Memory: 95144k available (1092k kernel code, 1976k data, 92k init) [c0000000,
c6000000]
POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX
PCI: Probing PCI hardware
IBM ID: 00000095
Setting PCI interrupts for a "IBM 8xx (Carolina)"
Relocating PCI address 33fc0000 -> 1fc0000
Relocating PCI address 3effff00 -> 1ffff00
Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.2
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0 for Linux NET4.0.
NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP, IGMP
Starting kswapd v 1.5
initialize_kbd: Keyboard failed self test
Keyboard timed out[1]
Keyboard timed out[1]
Keyboard timeout[2]
Keyboard timed out[1]
Keyboard timeout[2]
Serial driver version 4.27 with no serial options enabled
ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
ttyS01 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
pty: 256 Unix98 ptys configured
Macintosh non-volatile memory driver v1.0
RAM disk driver initialized:  16 RAM disks of 8192K size
Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 2.88Mno cont in shutdown!
floppy0: FDC access conflict!

Trying to lock fdc while usage count=0
floppy0: no floppy controllers found
ncr53c8xx: at PCI bus 1, device 0, function 0
ncr53c8xx: attempting to force PCI_COMMAND_MEMORY...succeeded.
ncr53c8xx: 53c825 detected
ncr53c825-0: rev=0x02, base=0x1ffff00, io_port=0xff00, irq=0
ncr53c825-0: ID 7, Fast-10, Parity Checking
CACHE TEST FAILED: ncr wrote 2, host read 0.
CACHE TEST FAILED: ncr wrote 2, read back 0.
CACHE INCORRECTLY CONFIGURED.
ncr53c825-0: restart (scsi reset).
scsi0 : ncr53c8xx - version 3.2
scsi : 1 host.

Custom-built 2.2.17 kernel (zImage)

Captured on June 19th, 2002.

loaded at:     0062FB80 00646990
relocated to:  00800000 00816E10
board data at: 001E2E10 001E981C
relocated to:  00810304 00816D10
zimage at:     0063AB80 00706A58
relocated to:  00817000 008E2ED8
avail ram:     00400000 00800000

Linux/PPC load: console=ttyS0 root=/dev/fd0 load_ramdisk=1
Uncompressing Linux...done.
Now booting the kernel
PReP architecture
Total memory = 96MB; using 512kB for hash table (at c0280000)
Linux version 2.2.17 (root@wopr.heron.net) (gcc version egcs-2.91.66
  19990314 (egcs-1.1.2 release)) #2 Wed Jun 19 22:34:55 CEST 2002
Boot arguments: console=ttyS0 root=/dev/fd0 load_ramdisk=1
time_init: decrementer frequency = 1068000/60 (0MHz)
Console: colour dummy device 80x25
 Calibrating delay loop... 0.82 BogoMIPS
Memory: 94552k available (1356k kernel code, 2264k data, 132k init)
  [c0000000,c6000000]
Dentry hash table entries: 16384 (order 5, 128k)
Buffer cache hash table entries: 131072 (order 7, 512k)
Page cache hash table entries: 32768 (order 5, 128k)
POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX
PCI: Probing PCI hardware
IBM ID: 00000095
etting PCI interrupts for a "IBM 8xx (Carolina)"
Relocating PCI address 3bfc0000 -> 1fc0000
Relocating PCI address 3effff00 -> 1ffff00
Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.2
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0 for Linux NET4.0.
NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP
TCP: Hash tables configured (ehash 131072 bhash 65536)
NET4: Linux IPX 0.38 for NET4.0
IPX Portions Copyright (c) 1995 Caldera, Inc.
NET4: AppleTalk 0.18 for Linux NET4.0
Starting kswapd v 1.5
initialize_kbd: Keyboard failed self test
Keyboard timed out[1]
Keyboard timed out[1]
Keyboard timeout[2]
Keyboard timed out[1]
Keyboard timeout[2]
Serial driver version 4.27 with no serial options enabled
ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
ttyS01 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
pty: 256 Unix98 ptys configured
Macintosh non-volatile memory driver v1.0
RAM disk driver initialized:  16 RAM disks of 4096K size
Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 2.88Mno cont in shutdown!
floppy0: FDC access conflict!

Trying to lock fdc while usage count=0
floppy0: no floppy controllers found
ncr53c8xx: at PCI bus 1, device 0, function 0
ncr53c8xx: attempting to force PCI_COMMAND_MEMORY...succeeded.
ncr53c8xx: 53c825 detected
ncr53c825-0: rev=0x02, base=0x1ffff00, io_port=0xff00, irq=0
ncr53c825-0: ID 7, Fast-10, Parity Checking
CACHE TEST FAILED: ncr wrote 2, host read 0.
CACHE TEST FAILED: ncr wrote 2, read back 0.
CACHE INCORRECTLY CONFIGURED.
ncr53c825-0: detaching...
scsi : 0 hosts.
scsi : detected total.
PPP: version 2.3.7 (demand dialling)
TCP compression code copyright 1989 Regents of the University of California
PPP line discipline registered.
PPP BSD Compression module registered
PPP Deflate Compression module registered
VFS: Insert root floppy disk to be loaded into RAM disk and press ENTER
request_module[block-major-2]: Root fs not mounted
VFS: Insert root floppy and press ENTER

43P custom kernel by Leigh Brown (zImage.prep-2.4.16-2)

Captured on June 20th, 2002.

loaded at:     0062FB80 00778714
relocated to:  00800100 00948C94
board data at: 001E2E10 001E981C
relocated to:  0093EEAC 009458B8
zimage at:     00808800 0093CA5A
avail ram:     00400000 00800000

Linux/PPC load: root=/dev/fd0 console=ttyS0 load_ramdisk=1
Uncompressing Linux...done.
Now booting the kernel
Total memory = 96MB; using 256kB for hash table (at c0340000)
Linux version 2.4.16 (leigh@micro.solinno.co.uk) (gcc version 2.96 20000731
  (Red Hat Linux 7.1 2.96-81)) #1 Thu Dec 6 12:57:55 GMT 2001
PReP architecture
PCI Autoconfig: Found Bus 0, Device 11, Function 0
PCI Autoconfig: Found P2P bridge, device 12
PCI Autoconfig: Found Bus 0, Device 12, Function 0
PCI Autoconfig: Found Bus 1, Device 0, Function 0
PCI Autoconfig: BAR 0x10, I/O, size=0x100, address=0xfffff00
PCI Autoconfig: BAR 0x14, Mem size=0x100, address=0x3effff00
PCI Autoconfig: Found Bus 0, Device 13, Function 0
PCI Autoconfig: BAR 0x10, Mem size=0x40000, address=0x3edc0000
PCI Autoconfig: Found Bus 0, Device 14, Function 0
PCI Autoconfig: BAR 0x10, Mem size=0xcb000000, address=0x31000000
PCI Autoconfig: Found Bus 0, Device 14, Function 1
PCI Autoconfig: BAR 0x10, Mem size=0xcf000000, address=0x20000000
PCI Autoconfig: Found Bus 0, Device 14, Function 2
PCI Autoconfig: BAR 0x10, Mem size=0xe0000000, address=0x0
PCI Autoconfig: Found Bus 0, Device 14, Function 3
PCI Autoconfig: BAR 0x10, Mem size=0x1000000, address=0xff000000
PCI Autoconfig: Found Bus 0, Device 14, Function 4
PCI Autoconfig: BAR 0x10, Mem size=0x1000000, address=0xfe000000
PCI Autoconfig: Found Bus 0, Device 14, Function 5
PCI Autoconfig: BAR 0x10, Mem size=0x1000000, address=0xfd000000
PCI Autoconfig: Found Bus 0, Device 14, Function 6
PCI Autoconfig: BAR 0x10, Mem size=0x1000000, address=0xfc000000
PCI Autoconfig: Found Bus 0, Device 14, Function 7
PCI Autoconfig: BAR 0x10, Mem size=0x4000000, address=0xf8000000
mpic = c02dcaf4
On node 0 totalpages: 24576
zone(0): 24576 pages.
zone(1): 0 pages.
zone(2): 0 pages.
Kernel command line: root=/dev/fd0 console=ttyS0 load_ramdisk=1
time_init: decrementer frequency = 16.116750 MHz
Console: colour dummy device 80x25
Calibrating delay loop... 321.94 BogoMIPS
Memory: 93168k available (2040k kernel code, 944k data, 256k init, 0k highmem)
Dentry-cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
Inode-cache hash table entries: 8192 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)
Mount-cache hash table entries: 2048 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
Buffer-cache hash table entries: 4096 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
Page-cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX
PCI: Probing PCI hardware
Fixup res 0 (200) of dev 00:0d.0: 3edc0000 -> fedc0000
PCI: device 00:0e.0 has unknown header type 7f, ignoring.
Fixup res 1 (200) of dev 01:00.0: 3effff00 -> feffff00
IBM ID: 00000095
Unknown IBM motherboard! Defaulting to Carolina.
Setting PCI interrupts for a "IBM PS830/PS850/7248 (Carolina)"
PCI: Cannot allocate resource region 0 of PCI bridge 0
PCI: resource is 0..fffffff (100), parent c026fdb8
PCI:00:0d.0: Resource 0: fedc0000-fedfffff (f=200)
PCI:01:00.0: Resource 0: 0fffff00-0fffffff (f=101)
PCI: Cannot allocate resource region 0 of device 01:00.0
PCI:01:00.0: Resource 1: feffff00-feffffff (f=200)
Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.4
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
Initializing RT netlink socket
Starting kswapd
VFS: Diskquotas version dquot_6.4.0 initialized
Journalled Block Device driver loaded
Detected PS/2 Mouse Port.
pty: 256 Unix98 ptys configured
Serial driver version 5.05c (2001-07-08) with MANY_PORTS SHARE_IRQ
  SERIAL_PCI enabled
ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
ttyS01 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
Real Time Clock Driver v1.10e
block: 128 slots per queue, batch=32
RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 4096K size 1024 blocksize
Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 2.88M
FDC 0 is a National Semiconductor PC87306
loop: loaded (max 8 devices)
SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00
sym.1.0.0: setting PCI_COMMAND_PARITY...
sym0: <825> rev 0x2 on pci bus 1 device 0 function 0 irq 0
sym0: No NVRAM, ID 7, Fast-10, SE, parity checking
sym0: SCSI BUS has been reset.
scsi0 : sym-2.1.16a

It then hangs indefinitely...

linux_2_4_devel + e30_240 patch by Leigh Brown

Captured on July 9th, 2002.

loaded at:     0062FB80 0072B99C
relocated to:  00800000 008FBE1C
board data at: 001E2E10 001E981C
relocated to:  008F2134 008F8B40
zimage at:     0080A4D0 008F138E
avail ram:     00400000 00800000

Linux/PPC load: console=ttyS0,9600 console=tty0 root=/dev/fd0 load_ramdisk=1
Uncompressing Linux...done.
Now booting the kernel
Memory BAT mapping: BAT2=64Mb, BAT3=32Mb, residual: 64Mb
Total memory = 96MB; using 256kB for hash table (at c0280000)
Linux version 2.4.19-rc1 (philipa@marlowe) (gcc version 2.95.4 20011002 (Debian
  prerelease)) #1 Tue Jul 9 19:37:48 CEST 2002
PReP architecture
IBM planar ID: 00000095
MPIC at 0xf3fc0000 (0x33fc0000), length 0x00040000 mapped to 0xeffc0000
On node 0 totalpages: 24576
zone(0): 24576 pages.
zone(1): 0 pages.
zone(2): 0 pages.
Kernel command line: console=ttyS0,9600 console=tty0 root=/dev/fd0
  load_ramdisk=1
OpenPIC Version 1.0 (4 CPUs and 16 IRQ sources) at effc0000
time_init: decrementer frequency = 16.116750 MHz
Calibrating delay loop... 321.12 BogoMIPS
Memory: 94456k available (1488k kernel code, 688k data, 244k init, 0k highmem)
Dentry cache hash table entries: 16384 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
Inode cache hash table entries: 8192 (order: 4, 65536 bytes)
Mount-cache hash table entries: 2048 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
Buffer-cache hash table entries: 4096 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
Page-cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX
PCI: Probing PCI hardware
Unknown bridge resource 2: assuming transparent
 interrupts for a "IBM 7024-E30"
PCI: Error while updating region 00:0e.0/0 (00000000 != ff000000)
PCI: moved device 00:0e.0 resource 0 (200) to 0
Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.4
Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
Initializing RT netlink socket
Starting kswapd
devfs: v1.12a (20020514) Richard Gooch (rgooch@atnf.csiro.au)
devfs: boot_options: 0x0
Installing knfsd (copyright (C) 1996 okir@monad.swb.de).
Detected PS/2 Mouse Port.
pty: 256 Unix98 ptys configured
Serial driver version 5.05c (2001-07-08) with MANY_PORTS SHARE_IRQ
  SERIAL_PCI enabled
ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16550A
ttyS01 at 0x02f8 (irq = 3) is a 16550A
Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 2.88M
FDC 0 is a National Semiconductor PC87306
RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 4096K size 1024 blocksize
loop: loaded (max 8 devices)
SCSI subsystem driver Revision: 1.00
PCI: Enabling device 01:00.0 (0005 -> 0007)
sym.1.0.0: setting PCI_COMMAND_PARITY...
sym0: <825> rev 0x2 on pci bus 1 device 0 function 0 irq 17
sym0: No NVRAM, ID 7, Fast-10, SE, parity checking
sym0: SCSI BUS has been reset.
scsi0 : sym-2.1.17a
sym0:0: FAST-10 WIDE SCSI 20.0 MB/s ST (100.0 ns, offset 8)
  Vendor: IBM       Model: DCHS04W           Rev: 2828
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
  Vendor: SEAGATE   Model: ST34371W          Rev: 0484
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
  Vendor: SEAGATE   Model: ST32171W          Rev: 0484
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
  Vendor: SEAGATE   Model: ST32171W          Rev: 0484
  Type:   Direct-Access                      ANSI SCSI revision: 02
  Vendor: MATSHITA  Model: CD-ROM CR-8004A   Rev: 2.0a
  Type:   CD-ROM                             ANSI SCSI revision: 02
sym0:0:0: tagged command queuing enabled, command queue depth 16.
sym0:1:0: tagged command queuing enabled, command queue depth 16.
sym0:2:0: tagged command queuing enabled, command queue depth 16.
sym0:3:0: tagged command queuing enabled, command queue depth 16.
Attached scsi disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 0, lun 0
Attached scsi disk sdb at scsi0, channel 0, id 1, lun 0
Attached scsi disk sdc at scsi0, channel 0, id 2, lun 0
Attached scsi disk sdd at scsi0, channel 0, id 3, lun 0
SCSI device sda: 8813870 512-byte hdwr sectors (4513 MB)
Partition check:
 /dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target0/lun0: p1 p2
sym0:1: FAST-10 WIDE SCSI 20.0 MB/s ST (100.0 ns, offset 8)
SCSI device sdb: 8496884 512-byte hdwr sectors (4350 MB)
 /dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target1/lun0: unknown partition table
sym0:2: FAST-10 WIDE SCSI 20.0 MB/s ST (100.0 ns, offset 8)
SCSI device sdc: 4223444 512-byte hdwr sectors (2162 MB)
 /dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target2/lun0: unknown partition table
sym0:3: FAST-10 WIDE SCSI 20.0 MB/s ST (100.0 ns, offset 8)
SCSI device sdd: 4223444 512-byte hdwr sectors (2162 MB)
 /dev/scsi/host0/bus0/target3/lun0: unknown partition table
Attached scsi CD-ROM sr0 at scsi0, channel 0, id 6, lun 0
sym0:6:0:M_REJECT to send for : 1-3-1-76-8.
sr0: scsi-1 drive
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.12
Macintosh non-volatile memory driver v1.0
mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP, IGMP
IP: routing cache hash table of 512 buckets, 4Kbytes
TCP: Hash tables configured (established 8192 bind 8192)
NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0/SMP for Linux NET4.0.
VFS: Insert root floppy disk to be loaded into RAM disk and press ENTER

RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly.
Freeing unused kernel memory: 244k init 32k pmac 8k chrp 4k openfirmware
serial console detected.  Disabling virtual terminals.
init started:  BusyBox v0.60.3-pre (2002.01.19-22:40+0000) multi-call binary

Procedures

Setup to connect to SMS through the serial port

  • Null-modem serial cable
  • 9600 N81
  • No flow-control (neither hard nor soft)
  • Empty modem init string
  • Linewrap mode ON (Alt-W in minicom)
  • Press "1" or "4" before seeing the Boot... message to break the boot sequence and reach the SMS interface.

Booting from a floppy

  • Break the default boot sequence and reach the SMS interface (see previous procedure).
  • Press "1" in the main menu to select boot device.
  • Press "7" in the next menu for "Other device".
  • A list of bootable devices is then displayed.
  • Select "2" from the list (diskette drive).
  • The diskette drive spins up and starts to load the kernel.

Customizing a Debian root floppy

Since accessing the host through a serial console prevents you from using the VT switching feature (Alt-F2, etc.), and since the installer program is started by init(8) with the "respawn" option, it's not possible to easily reach a shell prompt. This drove me to search a way to modify the Debian root / install disk (distributed as a file called root.bin) in order for it to spawn a shell instead of the install program. This is the procedure I followed:

  • Uncompress the root image (gunzip -S ".bin" root.bin)
  • Mount the uncompressed root image through the loop device (mount -t ext2 -o loop=/dev/loop0 root /mnt)
  • Edit /etc/inittab and replace the following lines: 
    # main setup program
::respawn:/sbin/udbootstrap
    with: 
    # main setup program
::respawn:-/bin/sh
  • Dismount the modified image (umount /mnt)
  • Re-compress the image (gzip -S ".bin" root)

There you go. Don't forget to compile your kernel with ramdisk support and to use (at least) the following boot parameters:

root=/dev/fd0 load_ramdisk=1

if you want to be prompted for it. The installer can still be started manually by invoquing /sbin/udbootstrap (you can abort it by pressing Ctrl-C).

Debian 3.0 installation procedure

The installation procedure is here [updated !].

Files

  • Augmented (ver. 2) E30 patch against linux_2_4_devel by Leigh Brown: e30_240-2.diff
  • Original E30 patch against linux_2_4_devel by Leigh Brown: e30_240.diff
  • lsresidual patch (by me ;-) to compile it against the latest kernels: lsresidual.diff
  • Output of the lsresidual utility: lsresidual.out.txt
  • Output of the lspci(1) utility: lspci.out.txt
  • Current kernel configuration: .config
  • custom 2.4.19-rc1 kernel: zImage.prep (linux_2_4_devel + Leigh's patch [version 2] + PCI debugging).
  • a few modules to go with that kernel: mod-2.4.19-rc1.tar.gz (needed only to please the Debian installer).
  • and its system map: System.map
  • hacked Debian 3.0 root disk: root.bin (doesn't auto-start the installer, but drop you in a root shell instead).

Resources

Hardware: Technical Documentation

Linux: Technical Documentation

Linux: older test results
Last Modified: January 16, 2004.
philipa@tiscalinet.be