linuxdc-dev — Developer discussion list

Re: [linuxdc-dev] Tried my best. Can't get anything to work

[<ad...@mc...>]

sta...@co... wrote:
> Hi all,
>   I had stated in a previous email that I couldn't get some of the files
> to download from the article's web site. I guess it was just that one
> time because I was finally able to get all the files, including busybox
> 0.60.? from the site that Adrian had mentioned.
> 
>   My system is RedHat 7.3, no modifications or updates - straight from
> the CD iso images. I ran as root as the article stated and followed
> everything to the letter - many times.
> 
>   What I get is that the DC boots, I get the "Napalm" screen, and then
> the DC just sits there at that screen. I checked the .config file for
> the kernel configuration, made sure that the binary images were up to
> date, and still I can't boot Linux at all. The CD-Rs I'm using have
> worked before with other homebrew projects (except my DC can't run Quake
> but my nephew's can).
> 
You have built the cross compiling tools and your kernel? It's not clear.

Assuming all these are built, what commands are you issuing? And what is the response on the RH box?

If you can boot the ip-loader, or whatever, you don't need to make more coasters. It's just not clear what you are doing here, please explain some more.

(NB: there is a working kernel (NFS) on my web site at http://www.mcmen.demon.co.uk.


>   It's very frustrating. I burned about a dozen coasters already. I
> really just want to get Apache running, but the Disk Juggler image
> that's out there (20010615 I think it's called) gives me a segementation
> fault when I try to start the Apache server using "apachecfg start".
> 
>   Anything I might be missing?
> 
> Mike
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------
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> _______________________________________________
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> 

[linuxdc-dev] Tried my best. Can't get anything to work

[Starman <sta...@co...>]

Hi all,
  I had stated in a previous email that I couldn't get some of the files
to download from the article's web site. I guess it was just that one
time because I was finally able to get all the files, including busybox
0.60.? from the site that Adrian had mentioned.

  My system is RedHat 7.3, no modifications or updates - straight from
the CD iso images. I ran as root as the article stated and followed
everything to the letter - many times.

  What I get is that the DC boots, I get the "Napalm" screen, and then
the DC just sits there at that screen. I checked the .config file for
the kernel configuration, made sure that the binary images were up to
date, and still I can't boot Linux at all. The CD-Rs I'm using have
worked before with other homebrew projects (except my DC can't run Quake
but my nephew's can).

  It's very frustrating. I burned about a dozen coasters already. I
really just want to get Apache running, but the Disk Juggler image
that's out there (20010615 I think it's called) gives me a segementation
fault when I try to start the Apache server using "apachecfg start".

  Anything I might be missing?

Mike

Re: [linuxdc-dev] VMU problem

[Adrian M. <ad...@mc...>]

On Monday 09 Sep 2002 11:34 pm, Adrian McMenamin wrote:
> I have noticed that the VMU driver module does not correctly handle
> multiple vmu/flash devices being connected (it appears to treat them all as
> one device). I am investigating the problem and hope to post a fix
> soon(ish).
>
> Adrian
>
I have now patched this and uploaded the patched files to CVS. There are other 
changes that need to be made too to tidy it up (though it works) - but I am 
going to bed now :->

Adrian

[linuxdc-dev] VMU problem

[Adrian M. <ad...@mc...>]

I have noticed that the VMU driver module does not correctly handle multiple 
vmu/flash devices being connected (it appears to treat them all as one 
device). I am investigating the problem and hope to post a fix soon(ish).

Adrian

Re: [linuxdc-dev] New to this list, many questions

[M. R. B. <mr...@0x...>]

* ps...@wi... <ps...@wi...> on Sun, S=
ep 08, 2002:

> On Sun, 8 Sep 2002 07:31:37 -0500
> "M. R. Brown" <mr...@0x...> wrote:
>=20
> > The "bootstrapper" is the package at ftp.m17n.org.  It works when burne=
d to
> > a CD, and over NFS root with a few tweaks to the startup files.
>=20
> actually, i was talking about the debian bootstrapper. :)

I know what that is.  I put mine in quotes to indicate that I was referring
to a fictional bootstrapper that's actually an entire distribution.  It is
enough to get your system going from zero, or bootstrapped.  What do you ne=
ed
the Debian bootstrapper for?  Are you trying to build an entire sh4 debian
distro from scratch?  Is there a reason you can't install the m17n image,
update /etc/apt/sources.list per the dodes.org instructions, and upgrade yo=
ur
system?

M. R.

Re: [linuxdc-dev] New to this list, many questions

[<ps...@wi...>]

On Sun, 8 Sep 2002 07:31:37 -0500
"M. R. Brown" <mr...@0x...> wrote:

> The "bootstrapper" is the package at ftp.m17n.org.  It works when burned to
> a CD, and over NFS root with a few tweaks to the startup files.

actually, i was talking about the debian bootstrapper. :)

Re: [linuxdc-dev] New to this list, many questions

[M. R. B. <mr...@0x...>]

* ps...@wi... <ps...@wi...> on Sat, S=
ep 07, 2002:

> On Fri, 6 Sep 2002 03:02:57 -0500
> "M. R. Brown" <mr...@0x...> wrote:
> > We've never gotten around to it.  It is *planned*, one of our developer=
s is
> > working on getting Gentoo[.org] bootstrapped, and of course you already
> > have a sizeable unstable debian distro to play with.
>=20
> i'm almost done with my clumpos port to openmosix, named plumpos. soon as=
 that's done i'll get started on the gentoo port. more than likely i won't =
make an iso immediately, but more of a gentoo-ish way of allowing one to pi=
ck the apps he/she wants in his/her iso and to emerge them with the dreamca=
st toolchain. several devs have been working on the uClibc and gcc 3.2 tool=
chain, which i think is great, but they seem to be stuck on a few bugs. gen=
too 1.4 (which will be released VERY soon) uses gcc 3.2, and i can't port 1=
.4 using an older gcc. why? for one, the binary incompatibility in gcc 3.2 =
means someone's x86 gentoo 1.4 distribution will be incompatible with someo=
ne's sh4 gentoo 1.4 distribution. yes yes, the binaries already don't just =
copy over, but there are other things which come into play and it just does=
n't seem right, so most likely the first dc port will be gentoo 1.3-based.
>=20

GCC 3.2/uClibc hasn't been worked on because I don't have the time, the
"bugs" should be relatively straightforward to fix (unless it's a code
generation bug in GCC).

> i just installed debian for the first time (sucessfully) on a new-ish ope=
nmosix node, so that means i can prolly update the old dreamcast distributi=
on with ease (once i read the dodes docs and figure out the bootstrapper). =
if anyone really wants a new iso, i could do one for the time being...
>=20

The "bootstrapper" is the package at ftp.m17n.org.  It works when burned to
a CD, and over NFS root with a few tweaks to the startup files.

M. R.

Fwd: Re: [linuxdc-dev] Can't get started on development.

[Adrian M. <ad...@mc...>]

----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

Subject: Re: [linuxdc-dev] Can't get started on development.
Date: Sun, 8 Sep 2002 11:03:07 +0100
From: Adrian McMenamin <ad...@mc...>
To: Starman <sta...@co...>

On Sunday 08 Sep 2002 3:13 am, Starman wrote:
> Hi all,
>   So I installed Linux on my PC at home (unplugged the other HDs just in
> case) and I started grabbing the CVS repository. I can't seem to get
> started.

Okay. I'll try to go through these things one at a time. The other thing to
 do is drop by to #linuxdc on irc.openprojects.net.

> 1) Why are files named .ht instead of .html? I see a ht2html app but I
> don't see it actually used anywhere.

These files are the ones for the (old) web site. They were converted by php
 or docbook or something to html. But you don't need them. You can read the
 contents by scanning through them with vi, emacs or gedit or whatever,
 though - os long as a few tags don't bother you.

> 2) I can't get a LOT of things listed in the article. Busybox on
> oss.lineo.com just doesn't exist anymore, and the FAQ says to download
> items from the linuxdc anon ftp site but it doesn't exist.

What article says use anon ftp at linuxdc? Here's what to do to get kernel
sources:

1. Download stock 2.4.18 kernel from www.kernel.org or local mirror.

2. Download linux-sh sources from linux-sh cvs
(http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxsh and follow the links)

3. Download linux-sh-dc sources from linuxdc cvs -
http://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxdc etc

Run the treelink.sh shell script to be found on linuxsh to drop in the sh
 tree and then the -sh-dc tree on top of stock kernel.


Of course you cannot build anything without the toolchain. You can use the
sources with bgat's article - but they are out of date and I am not sure how
well they work (though they will build the kernel). If you want the latest
you have to get the originals from http://www.gnu.org and apply the patches
to be found at ftp.m17n.org.

AS for busybox - googling reveals it be here: http://www.busybox.net/

> I'm at a loss and everything's so out of date I don't know what to do.
> Any help?
>
> Mike
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------
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-------------------------------------------------------

[linuxdc-dev] Can't get started on development.

[Starman <sta...@co...>]

Hi all,
  So I installed Linux on my PC at home (unplugged the other HDs just in
case) and I started grabbing the CVS repository. I can't seem to get
started.

1) Why are files named .ht instead of .html? I see a ht2html app but I
don't see it actually used anywhere.
2) I can't get a LOT of things listed in the article. Busybox on
oss.lineo.com just doesn't exist anymore, and the FAQ says to download
items from the linuxdc anon ftp site but it doesn't exist.

I'm at a loss and everything's so out of date I don't know what to do.
Any help?

Mike

Re: [linuxdc-dev] New to this list, many questions

[Adrian M. <ad...@mc...>]

On Saturday 07 Sep 2002 10:16 pm, ps...@wi... wrote:

> i just installed debian for the first time (sucessfully) on a new-ish
> openmosix node, so that means i can prolly update the old dreamcast
> distribution with ease (once i read the dodes docs and figure out the
> bootstrapper). if anyone really wants a new iso, i could do one for the
> time being...
>
I think this would be a great idea. I'm not too concerned about userland, but 
the kernel. All the things that have been added over the last year are simply 
not available to most users of the binary 'distros' knocking around - and I 
reckon demand would be very large if we put it on the sf pages.

Adrian

Re: [linuxdc-dev] New to this list, many questions

[<ps...@wi...>]

On Fri, 6 Sep 2002 03:02:57 -0500
"M. R. Brown" <mr...@0x...> wrote:
> We've never gotten around to it.  It is *planned*, one of our developers is
> working on getting Gentoo[.org] bootstrapped, and of course you already
> have a sizeable unstable debian distro to play with.

i'm almost done with my clumpos port to openmosix, named plumpos. soon as that's done i'll get started on the gentoo port. more than likely i won't make an iso immediately, but more of a gentoo-ish way of allowing one to pick the apps he/she wants in his/her iso and to emerge them with the dreamcast toolchain. several devs have been working on the uClibc and gcc 3.2 toolchain, which i think is great, but they seem to be stuck on a few bugs. gentoo 1.4 (which will be released VERY soon) uses gcc 3.2, and i can't port 1.4 using an older gcc. why? for one, the binary incompatibility in gcc 3.2 means someone's x86 gentoo 1.4 distribution will be incompatible with someone's sh4 gentoo 1.4 distribution. yes yes, the binaries already don't just copy over, but there are other things which come into play and it just doesn't seem right, so most likely the first dc port will be gentoo 1.3-based.

i just installed debian for the first time (sucessfully) on a new-ish openmosix node, so that means i can prolly update the old dreamcast distribution with ease (once i read the dodes docs and figure out the bootstrapper). if anyone really wants a new iso, i could do one for the time being...

Fwd: Re: [linuxdc-dev] aica driver speedup

[Adrian M. <ad...@mc...>]

----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

Subject: Re: [linuxdc-dev] aica driver speedup
Date: Sat, 7 Sep 2002 10:54:46 +0100
From: Adrian McMenamin <ad...@mc...>
To: ale...@at...

On Saturday 07 Sep 2002 2:33 am, Alex Williamson wrote:
> Adrian,
>
>     If you're not willing to take it as is, you could always add a build
> option or module option to skip the sleep at a certain frequency
> threshold.  Since most people are building their own kernel, that
> would make for a win-win.  Personally, I'm trying to get my dc to the
> point that I can use it as a network mp3 player w/ a web front-end
> for song selection... I think the less cpu hungry audio driver will
> manage that just fine.  Thanks,
>
> 	Alex

Fair point. I'll look at doing that.

-------------------------------------------------------

Re: [linuxdc-dev] New to this list, many questions

[M. R. B. <mr...@0x...>]

* Adrian McMenamin <ad...@mc...> on Sat, Sep 07, 2002:

>=20
> Eh? The original question was about which development environment we were=
=20
> using not what we were all using on our DCs.
>=20

Oh.  You say Linux and it all blurs together :P.

M. R.

Re: [linuxdc-dev] aica driver speedup

[Alex W. <ale...@at...>]

Adrian,

    If you're not willing to take it as is, you could always add a build
option or module option to skip the sleep at a certain frequency
threshold.  Since most people are building their own kernel, that
would make for a win-win.  Personally, I'm trying to get my dc to the
point that I can use it as a network mp3 player w/ a web front-end
for song selection... I think the less cpu hungry audio driver will
manage that just fine.  Thanks,

	Alex

Adrian McMenamin wrote:
> Alex,
> 
> Well, having tested this I'm not inclined to import it - though I am open to 
> persuasion.
> 
> I had no problems at all with playing mp3s or even some video mpegs (including 
> the famous dancemonkeyboy.mpeg) but when I played a *very* demanding mpeg 
> with mplayer there were both clicks and repeated audio. Even with -framedrop 
> specified the clicks remained, though there were no repeats.
> 
> The judgement is a fine one (mplayer isn't up to playing the mpeg in sync with 
> the current aica driver without -framedrop, but it doesn't click or repeat 
> either). But as the sleeping doesn't free up extra computing time for 
> mplayer, it generated only bad things for mplayer's performance, rather than 
> anything positive.
> 
> I accept that your buffering code is neater than the existing code and would 
> be happy to add that regardless.
> 
> On the driver - what do others think? This is really about multitasking - is 
> anybody doing that and having problems with sound? If so, then maybe Alex's 
> patch should go in....
> 
> Let me know
> 
> 
> Adrian
> 

Re: [linuxdc-dev] New to this list, many questions

[Adrian M. <ad...@mc...>]

On Friday 06 Sep 2002 9:03 pm, M. R. Brown wrote:
> * Adrian McMenamin <ad...@mc...> on Fri, Sep 06, 2002:
> > People are using different ones. Perhaps more debian than anything else.
> > But I'm an RH user.
>
> Homegrown?  There's only the debian distro that I know of, and Gentoo which
> is in the works but hasn't been released yet.  Everything else is built
> from scratch (not to be confused with linuxfromscratch.org).
>

Eh? The original question was about which development environment we were 
using not what we were all using on our DCs.

Tee hee. Got one over on Marcus. That's about the first and last time in a 
year.

Adrian

Re: [linuxdc-dev] aica driver speedup

[Adrian M. <ad...@mc...>]

Alex,

Well, having tested this I'm not inclined to import it - though I am open to 
persuasion.

I had no problems at all with playing mp3s or even some video mpegs (including 
the famous dancemonkeyboy.mpeg) but when I played a *very* demanding mpeg 
with mplayer there were both clicks and repeated audio. Even with -framedrop 
specified the clicks remained, though there were no repeats.

The judgement is a fine one (mplayer isn't up to playing the mpeg in sync with 
the current aica driver without -framedrop, but it doesn't click or repeat 
either). But as the sleeping doesn't free up extra computing time for 
mplayer, it generated only bad things for mplayer's performance, rather than 
anything positive.

I accept that your buffering code is neater than the existing code and would 
be happy to add that regardless.

On the driver - what do others think? This is really about multitasking - is 
anybody doing that and having problems with sound? If so, then maybe Alex's 
patch should go in....

Let me know


Adrian

RE: [linuxdc-dev] New to this list, many questions

[Starman <sta...@co...>]

I just won an auction for a BBA on eBay, and as a backup, I'm getting
another from someone in my area.

Hopefully I can get it together this weekend.

Mike

> > I don't have a BBA yet (hopefully tomorrow) so that's why I'm stuck
on
> > this idea of an iso - I have no way to connect to anything outside
the
> > box at the moment.
> >

Starman: There's always serial.  My first kernels were sent over a 56700
bps link, go checkout dcload-serial and the sh-ipl+g package on
ftp.m17n.org.  There are a few places (lik-sang) that carry a DC
serial->PC
adapter, it's about $25 USD.

M. R.

Re: [linuxdc-dev] New to this list, many questions

[M. R. B. <mr...@0x...>]

* Adrian McMenamin <ad...@mc...> on Fri, Sep 06, 2002:

>=20
> People are using different ones. Perhaps more debian than anything else. =
But=20
> I'm an RH user.
>=20

Homegrown?  There's only the debian distro that I know of, and Gentoo which
is in the works but hasn't been released yet.  Everything else is built
from scratch (not to be confused with linuxfromscratch.org).

> >
> > What is a userland? :). Is it a DC thing or a Linux kernel thing because
> > I've been using Linux for many years and never heard that term. Then
> > again, I've NEVER done any Linux kernel work before.
> >
> Userland simply means the GNU bit of GNU/Linux - ie everything else!
>=20

Hah!  My busybox+uclibc image contains *zero* GNU.  Keep your GNUs to
yourself.

>=20
> The VMU is not a substitute for a hard drive. Too slow for a start. If yo=
u=20
> compile in the driver (and the kernel's simple mtd char driver) you get a=
=20
> /dev/mtd/0 device and you can read and write to it, but each read takes a=
bout=20
> 1/60 second and each write 1/15 second. Though, I suppose your approach c=
ould=20
> work in theory, but probably better to use NFS to slove that problem.
>=20

Yeah, everyone currently uses NFS for persistent storage.

>=20
> > I don't have a BBA yet (hopefully tomorrow) so that's why I'm stuck on
> > this idea of an iso - I have no way to connect to anything outside the
> > box at the moment.
> >

Starman: There's always serial.  My first kernels were sent over a 56700
bps link, go checkout dcload-serial and the sh-ipl+g package on
ftp.m17n.org.  There are a few places (lik-sang) that carry a DC serial->PC
adapter, it's about $25 USD.

M. R.

Re: [linuxdc-dev] New to this list, many questions

[Adrian M. <ad...@mc...>]

On Friday 06 Sep 2002 2:04 pm, Starman wrote:
> Thanks for the reply.
>
> About the development environment, is there a favorite flavor/distro of
> Linux people are using to do development work? I could hook up a spare
> PC from work here to try things out. I'd just like to be on the same
> page as others. I like Linux (of course) but I have no personal
> preference over which distro to use, so whatever distro everyone else is
> using I'll go with.

People are using different ones. Perhaps more debian than anything else. But 
I'm an RH user.

>
> What is a userland? :). Is it a DC thing or a Linux kernel thing because
> I've been using Linux for many years and never heard that term. Then
> again, I've NEVER done any Linux kernel work before.
>
Userland simply means the GNU bit of GNU/Linux - ie everything else!

> About my comment on the VMU - it was wrong of me to use the word
> "settings".
> Linux's file system is very robust. However, there's no hard drive on a
> DC unless you use bitmaster's. That said, what if I want to add a user
> and set their password? Or, what if I wanted to change the IP address on
> the fly? If the DC loses power or if I have to reboot it, how are things
> like this saved? Is it something that should be added to the iso image
> before burning it? I was thinking about somehow using the VMU as a
> writable file system, and when the iso is burned, symlink certain files
> to the VMU instead of the CD so that they can be writable. This way, on
> a crash/reboot/power failure, nothing's lost. The DC can reboot and
> point to /dev/vmu (as an example) getting what it needs. I see you said
> that a VMU filesystem doesn't work yet, but it's a nice idea.
>

The VMU is not a substitute for a hard drive. Too slow for a start. If you 
compile in the driver (and the kernel's simple mtd char driver) you get a 
/dev/mtd/0 device and you can read and write to it, but each read takes about 
1/60 second and each write 1/15 second. Though, I suppose your approach could 
work in theory, but probably better to use NFS to slove that problem.

> This brings me to my next question - does anyone even add users with
> this or does everyone run as root?

Well, I am running as root. But you can go multiuser.

>
> Does DC Linux depend on a VM file system, or can it link to a file
> system on another Linux box using the BBA? Meaning...if I want to run
> Apache on this (which I do..as a goof. Imagine telling your friends your
> web server runs on a DC!), how do I update files if the iso is burned?
> If I want to change a file, do I have to burn a whole new image?
>

Run NFS.

> Maybe I'm getting the wrong idea of how DC Linux boots. I did a lot of
> reading, but I'm sure I have a lot more. Does booting Linux on a DC
> DEPEND on a complete iso image, or does it depend on having a connection
> to another Linux machine via the BBA?
>

Can be either.

> I don't have a BBA yet (hopefully tomorrow) so that's why I'm stuck on
> this idea of an iso - I have no way to connect to anything outside the
> box at the moment.
>
> Mike
>
>
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------
> This sf.net email is sponsored by: OSDN - Tired of that same old
> cell phone?  Get a new here for FREE!
> https://www.inphonic.com/r.asp?r=sourceforge1&refcode1=vs3390
> _______________________________________________
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> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/linuxdc-dev

[linuxdc-dev] swapping to vram

[Alex W. <ale...@at...>]

    I started playing with using the extra video ram on the dc for swap
after someone pointing me this article:

http://hedera.linuxnews.pl/_news/2002/09/03/_long/1445.html

As I'm sure many of you know, there's 8192k of video memory on the dc,
and if you're only using an unaccellerated 640x480x16 framebuffer,
you're only using 600k of that.  To prove that it's worthwhile, I've
run some performance numbers.  All of these are simply timing a kernel
build, doing a make clean, and swapoff/swapon in between.  If I were
on a system w/ more memory maybe I would have worried about buffer
cache but I don't think it's important here.  I'm running the 7/28
base + updates from debian.dodes.org using nfsroot.  I'm also using
a 2.4.18 kernel + linux-sh + linux-sh-dc + nfs-swap.  Here's the
data:

NFS swap, make clean, make zImage
real    80m35.143s
user    63m6.430s
sys     4m48.220s


VRAM swap + NFS swap, make clean, make zImage
real    72m0.480s
user    62m54.910s
sys     3m57.560s

~10% improvement, not bad.  Now if your system really gets hammered:

NFS swap, make clean, MAKE="make -j2" make zImage
real    367m50.110s
user    67m32.910s
sys     231m31.150s

VRAM swap + NFS swap, make clean, MAKE="make -j2" make zImage
real    292m53.256s
user    66m57.060s
sys     174m9.540s

~20% improvement!  This is likely the worst I've pounded the dc.
In most cases, just building debian packages, the most I've seen
are 2 compiles running at once.  The parallel build can do parallel
across directories, so more the 2 things can be going at once.

Here's some snippets of my config if you want to reproduce:

/etc/modules
mtdblock
slram
blkdev_swap

/etc/modutils/slram
options slram map=VRAM,0xa5096000,+0x76a000
post-install slram /sbin/mkswap /dev/mtdblock0

/etc/fstab
/dev/mtdblock0                        none           swap sw,pri=1 0 0
/swap/swap                            none           swap sw,pri=0 0 0

(/swap/swap is my nfs swap)

I'm not on the list, so please CC for followup.  Have fun,

	Alex

RE: [linuxdc-dev] New to this list, many questions

[Starman <st...@ma...>]

Thanks for the reply.

About the development environment, is there a favorite flavor/distro of
Linux people are using to do development work? I could hook up a spare
PC from work here to try things out. I'd just like to be on the same
page as others. I like Linux (of course) but I have no personal
preference over which distro to use, so whatever distro everyone else is
using I'll go with.

What is a userland? :). Is it a DC thing or a Linux kernel thing because
I've been using Linux for many years and never heard that term. Then
again, I've NEVER done any Linux kernel work before.

About my comment on the VMU - it was wrong of me to use the word
"settings".
Linux's file system is very robust. However, there's no hard drive on a
DC unless you use bitmaster's. That said, what if I want to add a user
and set their password? Or, what if I wanted to change the IP address on
the fly? If the DC loses power or if I have to reboot it, how are things
like this saved? Is it something that should be added to the iso image
before burning it? I was thinking about somehow using the VMU as a
writable file system, and when the iso is burned, symlink certain files
to the VMU instead of the CD so that they can be writable. This way, on
a crash/reboot/power failure, nothing's lost. The DC can reboot and
point to /dev/vmu (as an example) getting what it needs. I see you said
that a VMU filesystem doesn't work yet, but it's a nice idea.

This brings me to my next question - does anyone even add users with
this or does everyone run as root?

Does DC Linux depend on a VM file system, or can it link to a file
system on another Linux box using the BBA? Meaning...if I want to run
Apache on this (which I do..as a goof. Imagine telling your friends your
web server runs on a DC!), how do I update files if the iso is burned?
If I want to change a file, do I have to burn a whole new image?

Maybe I'm getting the wrong idea of how DC Linux boots. I did a lot of
reading, but I'm sure I have a lot more. Does booting Linux on a DC
DEPEND on a complete iso image, or does it depend on having a connection
to another Linux machine via the BBA?

I don't have a BBA yet (hopefully tomorrow) so that's why I'm stuck on
this idea of an iso - I have no way to connect to anything outside the
box at the moment.

Mike

Re: [linuxdc-dev] New to this list, many questions

[M. R. B. <mr...@0x...>]

* Starman <st...@ma...> on Fri, Sep 06, 2002:

> =20
> Some questions:
> I downloaded an iso and it boots almost perfectly. I got it from
> dcemulation.com. It has X and it works fine with my kb and mouse.
> However, ps doesn't work. I've been using UNIX for over 15 years and ps
> has always been the one and only program to check the process list. This
> version of Linux (kernel 2.4.something) has something else as ps.
> Something about symlinking I belive (I could be wrong). Anyone know why?
>=20

This was a leaked image from over 2 years ago and it was never
endorsed/supported by this group.  I had asked dcemulation to take it down
long ago, but there you have it ... let's just say you're severely limited
by what you can do.

The same folks who developed that image developed another (good) one that c=
an
be found at ftp://ftp.m17n.org/pub/linux-sh/dreamcast/.  You can use this a=
s a
base distribution (it's Debian) and upgrade it to "current" by following
the instructions at http://debian.dodes.org/.

> Is the BBA supported in the one I downloaded, or in the latest snapsot?
> =20

The BBA is fully supported in code found in CVS at linuxsh.org.

> Anyone get Apache to run? The folks at the NetBSD DC project have Apache
> running.
> =20

Linux/Dreamcast userland has been stable for years (it feels funny saying
that :P), while the NetBSD/DC team was finally able to stabilize their
kernel and userland in the last few months.  So yes, Apache works just
fine.

> The documentation/article gives no details about a development
> environment, just the tools to use. Is Cygwin OK? Anyone using Windows
> as their development platform? I don't use Linux on a regular basis, and
> making a Linux box would be a serious pain in the neck right now the way
> I have my machines set up. How out of date is that article? Is there a
> diff/update for it in CVS?
> =20

The usual caveats for doing cross-development under Cygwin apply.  Search
for docs on building Cygwin to Linux cross-compilers from Mumit Khan, also
search the ps2dev resources for more updated instructions.

The article is out of date in terms of the compilers used, and a few other
minor points - all the rules should still apply.  Also, we're currently
trying to move up to the new GCC 3.2 toolchain, and we aren't having a lot
of success with it atm.  It's slowly being worked on though.  The main
problem is library support, we've been using glibc and it's been stable
forever, but we're trying to switch to uClibc and it's been giving us some
problems.

> Why no iso bootable images?
> =20

We've never gotten around to it.  It is *planned*, one of our developers is
working on getting Gentoo[.org] bootstrapped, and of course you already
have a sizeable unstable debian distro to play with.

> Why is the CVS repository dusty? I see items that look important that
> haven't been updated in over a year, yet the mailing list is active.
> =20

We currently have only one active hacker working on the kernel, userland is
pretty much ignored save for the paragraph above.  A couple of other kernel
hackers have been doing other things but haven't abandoned the project yet,
unfortunately I can't give you a time frame of when they'll become more
active again :P.

> Is it possible to save settings in the VMU? Not secure, but this isn't
> server farm material now, is it? :)
> =20

What type of settings?  Adrian just added VMU read/write support in the
last couple of days, so grab CVS and you should be good to go.  He needs
testers anyway.  Note that there isn't VMUfs support yet, so backup your
gamesaves before playing with the VMU support.

> Thanks. I hope to start fiddling with this more.
> =20

Sounds great!

M. R.

[linuxdc-dev] New to this list, many questions

[Starman <st...@ma...>]

Hi all,
  I just got a DC a few days ago to replace the one I sold a year ago
which I thought I'd never need again. I accidentally found out about
this project while looking throught the XBox Linux project mailing list
archives.
 
Some questions:
I downloaded an iso and it boots almost perfectly. I got it from
dcemulation.com. It has X and it works fine with my kb and mouse.
However, ps doesn't work. I've been using UNIX for over 15 years and ps
has always been the one and only program to check the process list. This
version of Linux (kernel 2.4.something) has something else as ps.
Something about symlinking I belive (I could be wrong). Anyone know why?
 
Is the BBA supported in the one I downloaded, or in the latest snapsot?
 
Anyone get Apache to run? The folks at the NetBSD DC project have Apache
running.
 
The documentation/article gives no details about a development
environment, just the tools to use. Is Cygwin OK? Anyone using Windows
as their development platform? I don't use Linux on a regular basis, and
making a Linux box would be a serious pain in the neck right now the way
I have my machines set up. How out of date is that article? Is there a
diff/update for it in CVS?
 
Why no iso bootable images?
 
Why is the CVS repository dusty? I see items that look important that
haven't been updated in over a year, yet the mailing list is active.
 
Is it possible to save settings in the VMU? Not secure, but this isn't
server farm material now, is it? :)
 
Thanks. I hope to start fiddling with this more.
 
Mike
 

Re: [linuxdc-dev] aica driver speedup

[Alex W. <ale...@at...>]

ad...@mc... wrote:
> 
> Apologies. I'm using an online mail reader, so missed the patch. Are you using the m17n disto then? Could you email me a copy of top?
> 
> What is bb? Is that a media demo app?
> 

    I'm running an upgraded version of the 7/28 base available from
http://debian.dodes.org/.  I believe top was in there by default.
It's dynamically linked, so not sure it would work if I just sent
the binary.  Let me know and we can try if you want.

    bb (http://aa-project.sourceforge.net/bb/) is an ascii text mode
demo.  Kinda silly, but pretty amazining what you can do w/ ascii.

	Alex

Re: [linuxdc-dev] aica driver speedup

[Adrian M. <ad...@mc...>]

Well, I haven't applied the patch but I have tested performance with top. 
Although not all of top worked for me (especially the CPU %ages) - I could 
certainly see that mpg123 is eating close to 100% of processor time for high 
bitrate samples -  49 seconds of real time being recorded as 49 seconds of 
process time.

But I'm not sure users will want *any* clicks. What do people think? I will 
apply tyhe patch and have a look.

Adrian