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From: terry@cs.weber.edu (A Wizard of Earth C)
Subject: Re: HP Vectra and 386BSD, hope it's not a FAQ
Message-ID: <1992Sep18.052246.22493@fcom.cc.utah.edu>
Keywords: HP Vectra
Sender: news@fcom.cc.utah.edu
Organization: Weber State University (Ogden, UT)
References: <u4901ac.716556561@sun7> <1992Sep15.172153.2103@fcom.cc.utah.edu> <1992Sep18.035640.20915@news2.cis.umn.edu>
Date: Fri, 18 Sep 92 05:22:46 GMT
Lines: 58
In article <1992Sep18.035640.20915@news2.cis.umn.edu> rodeen@buddha.ncc.umn.edu (Rick Odeen) writes:
>In article <1992Sep15.172153.2103@fcom.cc.utah.edu> terry@cs.weber.edu (A Wizard of Earth C) writes:
>>This is very exciting... I haven't had any feedback on my general fix of this
>>problem yet!
>>
>>Please try this fixed dist.fs and report back how they work for you. I am
>>very interested in how it will perform on a real Vectra *without* changing
>>the CMOS setup.
>
>Well I have an OLD HP Vectra that I had just about given up hope on. I bought
>this machine for the sole purpose of hacking 386BSD on but haven't had any
>success with it. I tried the solution the guy from HP suggested about going
>into the special 'yada' mode in the system setup, but all that did was make
>my system unable to boot off the floppy drive (makes it kind of had to
>initially boot the system without the floppy drive working). After not having
>success with changing the system setup I pulled down Terry's fixed bootable
>and low and behold the system booted. Yippie! So yes Terry, your fixed
>dist.fs does work on a real (old) HP Vectra. Are the patches to the kernel
>available in your patchkit for the relaxed cmos memory checking?
Yea, team! 8-). Yes, I put the patches as one of the first several in the
patch kit; between this and the large memory fixes and the ability to relink
the kernel (also at the front of the patch kit), they are basically what
prevented me from booting first time. The other thing in the kernel you
have is the AT&T StarLAN board driver that was posted here, but you proably
don't need that. I am trying to make that into a patch as well, but want
permission from the author (since it's a functional unit) and have yet to
figure out how to change configuration file (maybe distribute another one
with the patch and call it "STARLAN"?)
Installation of the patch kit should get you something that continues to boot
after a kernel rebuild.
Since the 4K is for copied CMOS/BIOS data, once the boot process is started,
it's OK to overwrite it (this may not be true with Julian's new BIOS boot
blocks hacked from the MACH distribution, but then again, if the kernel loads
above 1M, you won't overwrite the copied data anyway). The CMOS setup change
is to cause the data to be read out of the (relatively) slow CMOS/BIOS each
time, rather than the faster copy of it in memory.
If you don't have a SCSI disk, the boot blocks from Julian's distribution,
although a vast improvement, can probably wait to be installed until you
have a kernel that loads high.
Anyone try Julian's boot blocks on a Compaq (one that normally fails) yet?
Terry Lambert
terry_lambert@gateway.novell.com
terry@icarus.weber.edu
---
Any opinions in this posting are my own and not those of my present
or previous employers.
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