In this chapter you will find a list of frequently asked questions. If you don't find the answer to your question, please read Chapter 8.
How come my questions are not answered?
Perhaps nobody knows the answer, or the question is not directly related to Linux/APUS. If the same problem is reproducible under Linux/m68k you would be better of asking in a Linux/m68k forum. If you don't experience the problem under Linux/m68k it is likely to be Linux/APUS specific; please include this information when you post to the Linux/APUS kernel list. Even though this doesn't improve the chances of getting the problem fixed, the problem can be mentioned in The Linux/APUS Doc'n'FAQ so others will be aware of it.
Your question could already be answered somewhere in The Linux/APUS Doc'n'FAQ and nobody can be bothered to tell you this. Help yourself; read the entire document - it is not that big. It is also a good idea to search for the answer to your question in the Linux/APUS kernel list archive.
If you find answers to your questions in unexpected parts of this document or in the kernel list archive, please let me know so I can update The Linux/APUS Doc'n'FAQ for the benefit of the next user with the same problem.
Are there any Amiga DOS requirements?
Yes. Even though the Linux kernel in itself does not use Amiga DOS, booting the kernel relies on Phase5's PowerPC micro kernel.
Is Linux/APUS binary compatible with the other PowerPC Linux ports?
Yes. You can (AFAIK) use most software packages precompiled for Linux/PPC. Some noteworthy exceptions are: the X server (see below) and Amiga or Linux/APUS specific tools which you are not likely to find available from normal Linux/PPC sites.
How come not all Linux/m68k supported devices can be selected when configuring?
Because Linux configuring at the moment is architecture dependent. You have to move items from arch/m68k/config.in into arch/ppc/config.in or (even better) into the Config.in in a driver directory. If you do, please post the diff on the kernel list.
Are CyberStorm/PPC developer boards supported?
Not at the moment - and they are not likely to be supported any time soon; moving the MC68k CPU from one board to another is hell and I hate fiddling with the guts of my box. But if you have such a beast, by all means, start porting - I can give you some pointers.
Is Netscape available?
Yes. And it's even working (according to Jens Kristian Jensen).
Is the MC68k CPU used for anything?
No. It is put to sleep (stop #2700) during boot. This may change sometime in the future. I guess it could be used as a gfx coprocessor, for clearing empty pages, or even for running native MC68k programs under special conditions (like AROS).
Will it ever be possible to use a mixed set of MC68k and PowerPC executables?
Not likely. This would require a shared memory mapping. However, nothing is impossible - you go ahead!
I can't boot from the ram disk with 2.1.90 kernels!?!
There's some problem with identifying MINIX headers in 2.1.90. Use gzip to compress the ram disk and it will work.
Does Linux/APUS support kernel debugging with GDB?
The kernel diff contains the necessary stubs and config flag (CONFIG_KGDB) to do this (originally for PMAC, written by Mike Tesch). A debug kernel is around 10MB though so I will not upload a precompiled kernel with debugging. I have still not tested this so your mileage may vary.
When I recompile the kernel using your patches, I get disk failures and runtime errors!?!
Use binutils-2.9.1 and egcs-1.1. Get the 980525 kernel sources or newer and you should be OK.
Why not use LPSTOP to halt the CPU on MC68060 systems?
It hangs the system. Possibly because the CyberStorm/PPC bus design cannot cope with the signals the MC68060 sends out before powering down.
I cannot mount all my partitions. There are not enough dev nodes in the ram disk!?!
I have put mknod compiled for PowerPC in the 'misc' directory at SunSITE Denmark. Put it on an Amiga DOS partition you can mount, boot the kernel, mount the Amiga DOS partition, use mknod to make new nodes.
My system just hangs when I start boothack!??
It might be a problem with boothack. Try rebooting the machine and run the tool bootmesg. It should find a progress string from the booter. This string is deleted by the kernel if it boots, so if the string is not found, it's probably a kernel problem (and you should use debug=mem and dmesg instead).
The last character stored before jumping to the kernel is 'K'. If you see a string, and the last letter is not 'K', you can look in the ppc_boot.c code to get an idea of where things go wrong. Please also report your findings.
Another thing that is likely to cause this problem is memory. See the section called Booting Linux/APUS (991030) in Chapter 4 for some more information on this point.
Yet another common cause is wrong video mode parameters. 'vga' has caused problems, while specifying none (if your monitor can handle it) definitely works. If you have a CyberVision you have to let it be initialized by CyberGfx before you boot.
You must also disable Shadow ROM in the CyberStorm/PPC or Blizzard/PPC Early Startup Menu and set the memory speed to 70ns.
Finally, make sure to put boothack options (starts with a dash (-)) first on the line and kernel options (no dash) last on the line when booting the kernel.
Can I boot from a soft kicked system?
Possibly. You might be able to make it work. Do try it. If it doesn't work you have to disable the soft kicked ROM. You might also try booting your machine without startup-sequence, run setpatch and then start Linux/APUS (unless you have a CyberVision in which case you must let CyberGfx initialize it first).
Can I compile my own kernels under Linux/APUS?
Yes. I have successfully run a kernel I build with binutils-2.9.1 and egcs-1.1 on my Linux/APUS box. However, YMMV.
I get rejects when applying your patch!!??
My patches are relative to the release versions of the Linux/m68k kernel sources (not Linus' kernel sources!). If you apply Linux/m68k patches from the Linux/m68k kernel list before you apply my patches, you may get conflicts.
I cannot boot Linux/APUS on my Blizzard/PPC!!?
Hint from Sinan Gurkan
The later firmware versions make the hardware identify itself as if it had a SCSI controller - even the boards with no SCSI controller! Until the problem gets properly fixed, you can press s during boot to disable the (non-existing) SCSI hardware :)
How do I boot with AGA display on a machine with CyberVision(/3D)?
You need to disable the frame buffer device assigned to the graphics card by adding (one of) the below to the boot options.
video=cyber:off video=virge:off |
How do I change the default keymap?
Text by Marco De Vitis
Let's assume you already have a keymap file that suits your system, e.g. amiga-it.map for an Italian Amiga keyboard (you can find many keymap files at ftp.uni-erlangen.de/pub/Linux/680x0/bin/system/keymaps/). Put this file in the /usr/lib/kbd/keytables directory. You should now be able to load it by issuing this command:
loadkeys amiga-it.map |
To have it loaded during boot (on RedHat/PPC), you have to edit the /etc/sysconfig/keyboard file so that it contains the full path to your keymap; by default, it should read something like "/usr/lib/kbd/keytables/amiga-us.map", so you usually only need to change the ending.
How come the sound driver is not included in the prebuilt kernels?
Because it doesn't like the heartbeat (which affects the filter when blinking the led). Heartbeat is important for determining if Linux/APUS has properly booted even if the display is blank, i.e., it is relevant in a kernel that a novice will boot for the first time. And it means I don't have to switch display each time I boot a kernel ;)
If you worry about sound support, it means you have a stable system -- and that means that you should be able to rebuild the kernel yourself.
Why can't the mailing list...?
It's not by accident that the list server is set up as it is -- this is the way the guys in power like it :) See below for some workarounds.
SUBJECT LINE: If you want [APUS] or similar in the subject line, it's probably because you want to sort/filter your mail by subject. In that case, your mailer should be able to sort/filter by any other header line. A good one is:
Mailing-List: contact linux-apus-help@sunsite.auc.dk; run by ezmlm |
REPLY-TO: Yes, you 'reply' to the author of the article. We are all real living people -- if you want to reply to something it's because you want to say something to the dude at the other end of the damp string, no? :) Polite people mostly CC: the list so others can benefit from the reply as well. So, use 'followup' instead of 'reply'. Yes, the receiver gets two copies; that is The-Way-It-Should-Be(TM).
Where can i find information about the unix command line syntax?
There are a lot of HOWTO's available at the Linux Documentation Project, available at : http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/. One in particular is useful for first timer, altough it is more oriented to msdos upgraders, it is the "DOS/Win to Linux HOWTO", available at : http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/DOS-Win-to-Linux-HOWTO.html Notice : these howtos can be found in the following debian packages : doc/doc-linux-text_xxx.deb for the text version doc/doc-linux-html_xxx.deb for the html version. There are also lots of translation packages : doc/doc-linux-fr_xxx.deb for example for the french version.