Re: apus feedback

[Sven L. <sve...@wa...>]

On Wed, Jul 21, 2004 at 12:43:09AM +0400, nospamdk8 wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> 
> I tried to get the debian powerpc apus port working on
> my a4000T a couple of days ago, I didnt succeed, so I
> thought you might want some feedback on the issue(s)
> that I noted.

Ok, i would be interested in you booting the 2.4.25 kernel, or even one of the
2.6 ones. Simon Richter already did some tentatives at this, but it seems he
is facing some dissapearance of apusboot code or something such.

> first thing, regarding sarge, is that the new d-i doesnt
> seem to allow netinstall using ethernet pppoe. also, it

Ah, so you where able to boot the d-i kernel on your box ? 

Please fill a bug report against debian-installer about the ethernet pppoe
thingy.

> seems that partitioning from within it is mandatory, at
> least as far as the screenshots tell, and that the cd
> netinst iso requires some kind of cd boot that doesnt
> normally exist on amiga systems.

Nope, you go to modify partition table, and can select a pre partitioned
partition.

> therefore, after finding a totorial on how to do a
> pppoe install using the old installer, I found that
> sarge doesnt seem to supply support for the old
> installer.

And good ridance of it.

> then I opted for installing woody, which I know works
> on my linux 68k box (a4000 desktop 040/40), and then
> I knew that I later could do an apt-get dist upgrade.

Ok, but this is of little interest to us at this point.

> having tried and failed getting any visible boot
> sequence on my ppc system, I have noticed the following.
> the bootstrap seems to have a generic problem with
> compressed kernel images. the kernel files that I tried
> all failed the decompression in one way or other. either
> crc error, length error or simply a system crash. I found

Ok, this seems similar with what Simon mentioned to me, and seems to be a
problem of apusboot.

> that decompressing manually, and then using the then larger
> file then has some other issue, namely that the larger
> filesize doesnt seem to fit into the allocated area
> that bootstrap seems to allow. either that or bootstrap

One more reason to go with 2.6 and its more modular kernels.

> tries to load the kernel in, through or from chipram.
> the older 2.4.20 image doesnt seem to have this problem,
> but it is also considerable smaller that the/your later
> 2.4.25-di and 2.4.25 releases. it seems to help if I
> set video=amifb:disable. this is why i think/feel that
> there may be a chipram/fastram space allocation problem
> somehow.

Ok.

> anyhow, nomatter what I do I have not been able to se
> a working kernel boot. trying every possible and impossible

Yeah, this was also my impression of the current apus state of debian support.

> combination of things, I can either get a completely black
> screen from my picasso4 or get a grey/white screen from
> the builtin flickerfixer. I'd really would have liked some
> access to the debian packages and programs, dualbooting
> from a separate harddrive on the internal 4kT scsi, but
> asking around, it seems that 99% of those having tried
> apus never had it working at all. I noticed that there was
> some comments on the low userbase of debian apus, and that
> the port is going to be removed eventually. this is

Well, only as far as the kernel and debian-installer support goes. Well,
mostly the kernel, since apart from the kernel, and nobody trying it,
debian-installer should be ok.

> a shame ofcourse, but since the port doesnt really work
> easily, not as easy as the the 68k port at least, and the
> fact that the current maintainer doesnt have a compatible
> system in order to test things, this is all just a matter
> of nature i guess, the possibility that apus is going away.

Well, since you seem to be the first one to even test the apus kernels since i
released them month ago, there is not much i can do. There is some hope from
Simon Richter, who has both the hardware and the competence, but let's see
what this brings.

> I am not asking for help to get it to work, I just noted
> that feedback was lacking, so here is some. I believe that

Thanks. CCed to debian-boot.

> many pup/wup/aos users would very much like to have the
> dualboot possibility with debian using the faster ppc.
> just the fact that it is not on/at a relatively usable
> level eventually and naturally holds off any userbase. I
> am no programmer either, and I guess that this is actually
> what is needed in order to do some problem hunting in
> order to figure what exactly is stopping the boot off
> the ramdisk images on a system like mine. for me it is
> also my production-system and the gateway for the linux-68k
> box, the system running 24/7/365 doesnt allow complete
> disassembly of the hardware.

Hehe, i understand.

> ofcourse, should you happen to know anyone having a similar
> setup as mine, with working apus installation that is, it
> would be nice if you perhaps could forward my email address
> in private only please, and ask the person to just send a
> working kernel, a working ramdisk boot/root image and the
> magic line that needs to go with bootstrap. this way I could
> figure if it is really just a hardware compatibility issue
> on my part.

Not that i know, have you tried the apus mailing lists ? 

Friendly,

Sven Luther