linux-apus-user

Re: Version(s) working with BlizzardPPC

[Kulwant B. <kul...@bt...>]

Hello Alan, 

Thanks for your reply. I will try the versions you suggested. I have already
tried kernel 2.4.20 with the latest (010623) boothack but that panics when
starting (after installation) when it tries to set the hardware clock. And
yes I did download the above from the sourceforge site. 

I did find your reply a little confusing as within the same paragraph you
say "apart from the SCSI ...... .... works fine", whilst in the next sentence you say
"scsi driver is built in by default". 

From that I imagine three posibilities: 

1. You meant the SCSI support is built in and not by some external
module/driver. 

2. SCSI is not supported by 2.2.13. or 

3. I haven't got a clue what you meant.  

In any case I will try that version. 

Is someone working on 2.4.23? I do find it strange that an older version is
more compatible than a new version. I also wonder how many versions of the
BlizzardPPC there are to make these compatibility problems manifest
themselves - I mean, surely a hardware revision wouldn't implement a
different way of setting the hardware clock - or does that question simply
reveal that I haven't got a clue about what I am talking about and know very
little about a) what setting the hardware clock actually means and b)
haven't a clue about what is involved in such a procedure. In my simple
(unexperienced and sometimes clueless) mind you'd poke a few bytes into the
appropriate locations (which has just made me realise that the locations could
have changed with different revisions of board.....) and hey presto.....

Is there a way of determining what version of board I have (without taking
the Tower apart again)? 

A "Report a problem" selection from the Installer program gave some output
which said my PPC processor was a "603ev". Does that mean "evaluation 
version" or something? Or am I clutching at straws? 

Kind regards, 

Kulwant


-----Original Message-----
From:  [mailto:a.l...@lb...]
Sent: 08/12/2003 13:18:20
To: 
Subject: Re: Version(s) working with BlizzardPPC


> Hi,

>> Which is the best version of the 
>> 
>> kernel        
>> boothack

> for kernel, its very dependant on hardware. I've found the best general
> A1200 one is the 2.4.13 dated  20011030  you might have joy with 2.4.17,
> or even the very latest. there are some issues that need to be ironed out
> for a nice 2.4.23 
> for boothack, the VERY LATEST. (010623)

> these files are both available from the Linux-APUS sourceforge site
> (official homepage) 
> eg

> http://linux-apus.sourceforge.net/kernels/

> and

> http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=5907

> DONT 'save as' images from this page, as they are links to a redirector
> site! 
>> A1200 with BlizzardPPC with 35Gb SCSI storage (& 420Mb IDE), 128Mb RAM, 
>> BVision Permidia2 3DGFX (8Mb RAM)
>> PCMCIA Ethernet card. 

> yep. apart from the SCSI, the 2.4.13 i mentioned above works on that
> system fine. pm2fb driver for the BVision, APNE driver module for the
> PCMCIA network card, scsi driver is built in by default 
> alan
> 

Re: Version(s) working with BlizzardPPC

[Kulwant B. <kul...@bt...>]

Hello Alan, 

Thanks for your mail. 

>> Is someone working on 2.4.23? I do find it strange that an older version
>> is more compatible than a new version. I also wonder how many versions
>> of the

> many many changes were being undertaken to the kernel during the 2.4.x
> lifetime and each change usually killed something that wasnt/isnt being
> maintained (look at the serial interface support etc) 

That sounds a bit sad. Why is that, surely not to limit the size to fit on a
1.44Mb floppy or something as daft as that? I can't understand why adding
new features has to disturb existing/working features - especially if they
have no common bits (I mean what has settting the clock while booting got to
do with serial i/f support????). 

Rgds

Kulwant

Re: Version(s) working with BlizzardPPC

[Andreas <aw...@sw...>]

Hi Kulwant

On Wed, 2003-12-10 at 23:48, Kulwant Bhogal wrote:

> Hello Alan, 
> 
> Thanks for your mail. 
> 
> >> Is someone working on 2.4.23? I do find it strange that an older version
> >> is more compatible than a new version. I also wonder how many versions
> >> of the
> 
> > many many changes were being undertaken to the kernel during the 2.4.x
> > lifetime and each change usually killed something that wasnt/isnt being
> > maintained (look at the serial interface support etc) 
> 
> That sounds a bit sad. Why is that, surely not to limit the size to fit on a
> 1.44Mb floppy or something as daft as that?

No. Normal updates to drivers etc. Mostly adding support for newer
machines (ok, besides vm changes.. ;) ).

> I can't understand why adding
> new features has to disturb existing/working features - especially if they
> have no common bits (I mean what has settting the clock while booting got to
> do with serial i/f support????).

I think he was just talking about serial support as an example for
something being broken during the evolution of the 2.4.x kernel series.

Problem is, that code which is shared by many different
machines/architectures (think general stuff) gets altered e.g. to
accommodate new hardware. This mostly works for the commonly used
architectures since these people work with x86 etc. and there are a lot
of people testing this stuff. Unfortunately, these modifications every
now and then break the not so common architectures (be it because they
use preprocessor switches to in/exclude particular lines of code, and
x86 developers don't know about the impact their changes have on other
architectures, etc.). Since we are not tracking the rc kernels, no one
can test this stuff and bug the developer in charge for the change, and
if something gets broken, there's also noone to fix it..

-- 
Best wishes,
Andi

Re: Version(s) working with BlizzardPPC

[Kulwant B. <kul...@bt...>]

Hello Alan, 

Thanks for your reply. 

> xfree86 is the driver system and XWindow main code

> GNOME is a desktop manager, as is KDE, twm, fvwm, ICE, XFCE, Nextstep etc
> they all sit ontop of X and do tha fancy stuff - window management,
> borders, skins, themes, preferences etc

I guess appearance is down to personal taste, but are there any differences
to do with functionality or stability I should be aware of before I choose
one? Is it possible to install more than one or would that necessitate a
different Linux boot partition for each desktop manager? 

Does any one of them have more application support than the other or are
they all internally compatible (I'm thinking a Reaction and MUI type thing 
here if that analogy applies)? 

Kind Regards, 

Kulwant

Re: Version(s) working with BlizzardPPC

[Geert U. <ge...@li...>]

On Tue, 23 Dec 2003, Kulwant Bhogal wrote:
> > GNOME is a desktop manager, as is KDE, twm, fvwm, ICE, XFCE, Nextstep etc
> > they all sit ontop of X and do tha fancy stuff - window management,
> > borders, skins, themes, preferences etc
>
> I guess appearance is down to personal taste, but are there any differences
> to do with functionality or stability I should be aware of before I choose
> one? Is it possible to install more than one or would that necessitate a
> different Linux boot partition for each desktop manager?

You can install all of them at the same time. Which one you use can be chosen
at login time.

> Does any one of them have more application support than the other or are
> they all internally compatible (I'm thinking a Reaction and MUI type thing
> here if that analogy applies)?

You can run KDE-applications under GNOME and vice versa.

Gr{oetje,eeting}s,

						Geert

--
Geert Uytterhoeven -- There's lots of Linux beyond ia32 -- ge...@li...

In personal conversations with technical people, I call myself a hacker. But
when I'm talking to journalists I just say "programmer" or something like that.
							    -- Linus Torvalds

Re: Version(s) working with BlizzardPPC

[Kulwant B. <kul...@bt...>]

Hello Geert, 

Thanks for your reply. 

> You can install all of them at the same time. Which one you use can be
> chosen at login time.

> You can run KDE-applications under GNOME and vice versa.

All I need now is to know where to obtain and how to install some of this
stuff. Any useful URLs? Is there a port of Konqueror for Linux APUS?  

Kind regards, 

Kulwant

Re: Version(s) working with BlizzardPPC

[Geert U. <ge...@li...>]

On Tue, 23 Dec 2003, Kulwant Bhogal wrote:
> > You can install all of them at the same time. Which one you use can be
> > chosen at login time.
>
> > You can run KDE-applications under GNOME and vice versa.
>
> All I need now is to know where to obtain and how to install some of this
> stuff. Any useful URLs? Is there a port of Konqueror for Linux APUS?

Sure! If you use Debian, `apt-get install konqueror'.

Gr{oetje,eeting}s,

						Geert

--
Geert Uytterhoeven -- There's lots of Linux beyond ia32 -- ge...@li...

In personal conversations with technical people, I call myself a hacker. But
when I'm talking to journalists I just say "programmer" or something like that.
							    -- Linus Torvalds

Re: Version(s) working with BlizzardPPC

[Kulwant B. <kul...@bt...>]

Hello Geert, 

>> All I need now is to know where to obtain and how to install some of
>> this stuff. Any useful URLs? Is there a port of Konqueror for Linux
>> APUS?

> Sure! If you use Debian, `apt-get install konqueror'.

Amazing! Sounds so simple!!!

Are there any prerequisites? 

Kind regards, 

Kulwant