> From: "Daniel Blueman (5) (CURRICULUM)" <5DBLUEMAN@qeliz.ac.uk>
> Date: Thu, 21 Nov 1996 09:52:00 -0000
> 
> I have just spent the afternoon yesterday backing up and reformating my
> (425MB)
> harddisc with a (250MB) partition for RiscBSD.

You obviously don't intend to run X?

If you want that you should allocate at least 400 MB.

With only 250 MB I guess that you may be able to install X, but
you would not have much space for other sets and/or data.

I would recommend at least 500 MB, and preferably 1 GB if you want
to do some compiling.

> Everything went fine until it came to installing RiscBSD.
> 
> The kernel doesn't recognise the ATAFS on a RapIDE32 interface card in
> my
> RiscPC.

It just isn't supported yet.
As far as I know, Mark (Brinicombe) is still waiting for information
from Yellowstone.

> ATAFS is a Filecore compliant FS, so that it *should* work with the
> RiscBSD
> kernel (4626, I think), unless of course it uses the ADFS_DiscOp SWIs
> directly,
> but surely it would be much wiser to use the FileCore_DiscOp SWIs as
> they
> pass control to other FS's.

RiscBSD is an operating system that replaces RISC OS completely.
The kernel therefore needs to have it's own set of drives that
adress the hardware directly.

Until a driver for RiscBSD has been made, you cannot use this card.
:-(

> Does anyone have the same problem, or am I alone?
> Is there any solution other than either recompiling the kernel (which I
> can't do)
> or modifying it directly? (probably close to impossible!)

The only thing you could do would be to write a driver yourself.
That is not easy, and requires a knowledge of RiscBSD internals.
Also, you will need to get the full kernel source and install
the comp set. This will definitely need more than 250 MB.

> One solution is to attach the harddisc to the ADFS IDE connector, but
> that would
> defeat the object of having a EIDE interface.

Yes, but that is the only option for you at the moment.

> (RiscPC600 16MB DRAM 1MB VRAM and a small 425MB Harddisc with a
> RapIDE32 interface and a 4x ATAPI CDROM)

I would recommend that you get yourself a larger disc, and if you
intend to use X, upgrade to 2 MB VRAM.

2 or 3 GB discs are pretty cheap nowadays, and I guess you should
be able to get hold of a 2 GB one around GBP 2-300.

The ATAPI CD-ROM *may* not be supported either at present, but Mark
has promised to do something about this.


Kjetil B.