Hi there!

I finally managed to install RiscBSD v1.3alfa and get the news and
mail connections to work again.

First a big congratulation to the development-team with the release.
It was a much easier job to install v1.3 compared to v1.2, I think
the CDROM installation guide (INSTALL.CDROM) was well written and
easy to follow. However I would like to comment it a little bit:

I think it should be mentioned in Step 1 or 2, that if you format the
RiscBSD partition as a RiscOS partition you afterwards have to erase
the boot-block of this partition, otherwise the disktab/newfs in the
install-script (Step 17) will not work.

In Step 11 it is stated that 7000 - 40 = 4960.
Surely it should be 6960 :-)

First in Step 18 it is very important to make a backup copy of
/etc/disktab and /etc/fstab before installing base set 'etc'.
And it is equally important to remember to restore these two
files before a new boot is tried. Otherwise your newly defined
disk-layout will not be reckognised.

In Appendix C it is mentioned that ALT-Cursor up scrolls forward
through the VRAM. This is the effect of ALT-Cursor down.





Then to my questions and problems:

I have always found v1.2B pretty stable except that when I downloaded
news using leafnode/fetch via a ppp-connection I almost always got a
kernel dump. After installing v1.3alfa I am getting kernel dumps much
more frequently and in much wider contexts. I have read that a 
'memory race condition' is suspected to cause this behaviour, so I have
tried running RiscBSD with only 1 16MB DRAM SIMM installed, but this
also gives dumps although not so often as when using 2 16MB DRAM SIMMs.
I most often experience the errors when doing a lot of disk intensive
work as backup/restore or 'ls -R'/'ls' commands.

I have not had the energy to write down all the dump messages, but
here are some (typical?):

ls -al

nogo1, Data abort: 'Translation fault (section)' status = 005 address = e52de01c PC = f00cd6e0
ldr   r3,  [r0,#0x0018]
Section fault in SVC mode
vm_fault(f1579100,e52de000,1,0) -> 1
Process = f1572200 pid = 249 comm = ls
CPSR=60000013 Traceback info (frame=f2a03c84)
fp->lr=f0127c0c fp->pc=f0130714
fp->lr=f0126014 fp->pc=f0126fc8
fp->lr=f00cb5ec fp->pc=f00cd6b4
fp->lr=f00ce9dc fp->pc=f00cb5c0
fp->lr=f004184c fp->pc=f00cdc20
fp->lr=f00412a4 fp->pc=f004154c
fp->lr=f00466dc fp->pc=f0041124
fp->lr=f0126608 fp->pc=f00466a8
fp->lr=f01261c4 fp->pc=f01263c4
Trapframe PC = f00cd6e0
Trapframe SPSR = a0000013
panic: Fault cannot be handled (frame = 0xf2a03c84)

Stopped at _Debugger+0x10: ldmdb   r11,  {r11, r13, r15}
db>

Entering trace shows the following:

_Debugger(_Debugger+0x10)
_panic(_panic+0x10)
_data_abort_handler(_data_abort_handler+0x10)
_ufs_ihashget(_ufs_ihashget+0x10)
_ffs_vget(_ffs_vget+0x10)
_ufs_lookup(_ufs_lookup+0x10)
_namei(_namei+0x10)
_sys___lstat13(_sys___lstat13+0x10)
_syscall(_syscall+0x10)


Other errors looks like:


Data abort: 'Permission error (page)' status = 00f address = 00000024 PC = f00cd818
Process = f157f000 pid = 362 comm = ls
CPSR=60000013 Traceback info (frame=f2a03be0)
.
. (addresses excluded)
.
Trapframe PC = ........
Trapframe SPSR = ........
panic: permission fault in kernel by kernel


Does anybody know what is causing these errors?
----------





Some of the sets from v1.2 (for instance xv, xosview and others) are missing
in v1.3alfa. Is it possible to use the v1.2 sets under v1.3?
----------





I have not been able to use the UnixFs. Is this because I am using a
4.9GB only for RiscBSD and UnixFs can handle partitions of max 2GB?

I have partitioned the disk as follows:

/dev/wd2a /      1280 cyls of 16x63x512 bytes ~ 660 MB
/dev/wd2b swap    160 cyls                    ~  82 MB
/dev/wd2e /tmp   1280 cyls                    ~ 660 MB
/dev/wd2f /var   1280 cyls                    ~ 660 MB
/dev/wd2g /usr   5924 cyls                    ~   3 GB

The disk is connected as a slave disk on a Simtec 16 bit IDE i/f.
When I run the RiscOS script WD2A which contains the following line:

<Obey$Dir>.mountufs IDEFS wd2a

I get the error:

Unknown partition type
Bombing out ...
10
Unknown partition type

If the script WD2A contains

<Obey$Dir>.mountufs IDEFS WD2A

I get the error:

The Disc drive is empty

If I then execute the script Openroot, I get an error message window
with the message:

Error when reading UnixFS.$ - Internal error
----------





Until now I have used popclient as my mailfetcher. From v1.3alfa I have
recompiled popclient v3.0b6 from the CDROM, but when I use it I get the
following errors:

bash$ popclient -a -v -k -u imm pop.nethotel.dk
querying pop.nethotel.dk
Enter mailserver password: 
+OK POP3 server ready
> USER imm
+OK imm is welcome.
> PASS password
+OK mailbox locked
> STAT
+OK 3 34184
> RETR 1
+OK 1653 octets.
user = imm, homedir = /home/imm
(33 lines of message content)
Sendmail arguments: "send-mail" "-i" "-v" "imm"
> RETR 2
user = imm, homedir = /home/imm
+OK 14395 octets.
(266 lines of message content)
Sendmail arguments: "send-mail" "-i" "-v" "imm"
> RETR 3
+OK 18136 octets.
user = imm, homedir = /home/imm
(327 lines of message content)
Sendmail arguments: "send-mail" "-i" "-v" "imm"
> QUIT
+OK Updated mailbox.
bash$ 

but no mail is fetched. What am I doing wrong?
I have managed to get my mail by compiling fetchmail v4.0.6 and using that without
any problems, but I would like to know why I cannot use popclient.
----------





Where is the most suitable place to put the sources I want to compile?
I am using /usr/src, but will that collide with kernel sources,
if I later want to try to remake a kernel?

Which user should be used to do the compiling?
I am using root, but is that necessary (except for the make install part)?
----------





I have not been able to find any documentation of the Boot Options for the
BootLoader. I have the option 'ehbug' in use. What does it mean?
And are there any other useful option?
----------





Phew, that was all (for now). I hope that some of you have the patience,
are still reading and able to answer/solve some of my questions/problems.


Once again a big applause to 'those who carry'.

Best regards
   Ib-Michael
--
Ib-Michael Martinsen
Email at work: imm@kmd.dk
Email at home: imm@nethotel.dk
Fidomail:      2:234/181.9

Using an Acorn RiscPC with a 202.4 MHz StrongArm processor :-)