Re: Help booting NetBSD 7.0.2 on IBM Workpad Z50

[Larry Stotler <larrystotler%gmail.com@localhost>]

>> FYI - Please bottom post to keep things orderly.......Thanx

Please read this:

http://www.idallen.com/topposting.html

When you reply with top post, it makes it very hard for the reader to
follow the thread.

On Mon, Apr 17, 2017 at 5:51 AM, David Walton <walton.david%sky.com@localhost> wrote:
> Its was a few months ago but from memory - can you advise what is the filename of the file I need to put on the FAT boot partition to boot into the installed NetBSD?
> Is it just the boot installer "hpcboot" where I enter the name of the NetBSD partition? If so what is the directory name I should enter. I am new to Unix so you will need to really spell it out.

If you are new to Unix NetBSD probably isn't the best way to start out
but it can be a good learning experience.  I come from a heavy Linux
background and I struggle with some of the NetBSD stuff.

The way I set up my Compact Flash Card(2GB) was a 500MB FAT and the
rest for NetBSD.  Then I copied the current kernel over to the FAT
drive after installing.  You can copy it from the install partition or
copy if from the current directory:

https://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-7.0.2/hpcmips/binary/kernel/

netbsd-GENERIC.gz is what you want.

When you boot into NetBSD, the RAM is wiped and anything you had on
the Windows setup is gone, so when you restart the machine it's in a
factory state.  WinCE uses 16MB of the 48MB RAM for Storage(like a RAM
Drive).  That's why you have 2 AAA batteries as a backup if the
Lithium battery dies.  NetBSD uses the full 48MB RAM.  I'm assuming
you have the 32MB RAM upgrade.  16MB really isn't enough to run NetBSD
much less X-windows.

> Also can you advise what I need to type in to install and run the X window GUI interface, or does it install by default. It would be nice if several applications could install by default like Apple macOS, people may then find it all more useful. Just a thought.

NetBSD isn't like a "normal" BSD or Linux install.  When you install,
you get the base system.  Then you have to install software.  The
"preferred" way on NetBSD is to use the pkgsrc program.

https://www.netbsd.org/docs/pkgsrc/

pkgsrc basically fetches a program's source code(and any dependencies
and their sources) and compiles them.  It took me about 2 weeks to
compile X and several Desktop Environments(icewm, fvm2, etc).  I am
planning to setup another machine to cross-compile packages at some
point to make it faster.

> Also referring to the IBM Workpad Z50, on boot up into Windows CE a series of dots appear, do you know of a key sequence which allows you to enter into its BIOS.

The Z50 does not have a BIOS in the conventional sense.  All it is
doing when the dots appear is hardware checks. Once the checks are
done it loads the firmware from the ROM card and starts CE.  If I
remember correctly, the ROM is only about 20MB, so even if you could
re-write it the best you could do is bootstrap it to NetBSD.  However,
the way NetBSD boots on these things you have to have the LCD lighting
the way you want it because no one ever figured out how the buttons
worked and implemented it.  So it's probably not possible to set it up
that way.  The WIndows CE system doesn't have a Startup Folder so I
don't know if there's a way to start NetBSD automatically from CE even
if you could modify the ROM chip.

I originally wanted the Z50 for a distraction free writing laptop(I
have a couple of Thinkpad X21s and X31 that are similar sized, but run
more stuff).  When I got NetBSD running and X installed I couldn't
really find a good setup like I was use to.  I've used KDE for years
and now use TDE(Trinity Desktop) which is a continuation of KDE3.x.  I
have a copy of KDE2 I want to try to compile and install but haven't
had time.

I also had issues with the editors I tried.  Under NetBSD, the cursor
lagged really bad and couldn't keep up with how fast I was typing and
I'm not a fast typer.  I don't have this issue under WinCE and now
just use Pocket Word instead.    The Z50 was really underpowered when
released considering the x86s were running at over 1Ghz and with Gigs
of RAM.

I have a spare 32MB RAM module that I intend to pull 2 chips off of to
mount on the motherboard to give me 64MB RAM.  But that's not much
more than the 48MB I have now.  Considering the Thinkpad T60p I'm
typing this on has 3GB RAM and 2.33Ghz Core 2 it's a huge difference.