Hey,


> options ALTIVEC sets it if I remember correctly. But all it does is to
> enable C-stubs, ABI-support and assembler mnemonics for AltiVec
> instructions.

I enabled those all because Timo said that enabling at least one of
those optimiwzation features would have the bug go away.


> > the kernel is unstable as ever! slight compilations, use, cvs work...
> > may crash the box withn 5-10 minutes!!!
> 
> Does this happen with L2-cache disabled too? If not the L2 vs. CPU clock
> ratio may be wrong. Some mainboards don't like to run the CPU bus at
> 50MHz. If you have MacOS somewhere around I'd strongly recommend to get
> NewerTech's CacheProfiler ( or whatever they call it these days. It
> supports many CPU cards from other vendors as well, like my Phase 5 G3 )
> and play with it until you find something that works, then change the
> NetBSD kernel accordingly.
> The G4 card almost certainly tries to run the bus at 50MHz, some even
> try to overclock it slightly (cpu0: 409.10 MHz sounds a bit odd). Some
> boards have problems at 50MHz, even more at >50MHz. Memory may be an
> issue too - I have 2 32MB modules here that worked fine with two 604e
> cards running the bus at 43.something MHz, but went bananas with the G3
> running it at 50MHz - there are plenty of memory testers for MacOS,
> can't hurt to try one of them. ( I recommend to do that in MacOS not
> because I like MacOS so much ( I don't ) - but MacOS  is the OS where
> you'll have an utility to fiddle with CPU/cache settings on the fly and
> it should be a little more robust against flaky memory ).

http://www.everymac.com/upgrade_cards/newertech/maxpowr_g4/maxpowr_g4_400.html

the cache specs look to be correct: 2:1m 1Mbyte... 400Mhz

netbsd reports the card as 400mhz , apple system profiler as 446

I didn't find the newetech sofware you mention, I found "powerlogix
cpudirector" but the data it gives is pretty suspicious. When I start it
up, it reports:

400 Mhz
1mb cache running 1:3 and bus speed of 44Mhz...
speculative access off (and how does netbsd behve here? I left it
disabled since it says to do so on OldWorld powermacs or it would cause
corruption of filesystem and other problms) and "dynamic power
managment" enabled.

I set it 1:2 .

then I run some heavy-duty apps I stil have on disk. Months I didn't use
teh, 3d modelling, rendering... damn is this box fast. I didn't remember
macos 8.6 was so quick :) running strata studio pro blitz is amazing.
The matrox surely makes its part, 320mb of ram and g4/400... I did run
these apps with my 604/120! the 604e/200 was something I tried under
netbsd only. This things runs raytracing as wild, has incredible speed.
MacOS had some incredible 3d apps at the time, really.

I run povray and rendered as wild and I left all applications open, just
to fill up ram :) Povray did a scene in only 5 minutes, cool :) I loaded
the box as high as possible, running a render in PoVray and one in
form-z.
NetBSD would have long crashed. I then had an app crash, but amapi 5 was
always a crasher and evidently time didn't cure it :) "es" exited it...
I played soundtracker modules and could do real-time wave preview... ah
teh guys from the future crew... Early ninties were cool times for
computers, software and electronic music! And of course open photoshop
and run the (useless) gaussian blur filter. Ahah!

ok, just to be sure it is netbsd's kernel fault. And damn, you can say
waht you want about unix kernels, but I can measure a higher disk
thoughput here and my s3m module tracker files decoded perfectly and
didn't click.

but yes, it is macos, no prompt. I am almost lost using classic now,
incredible.

thus, I seek further help. Maybe build a kernel with less optimizations?
hmmm btw, currently even building a kernel is problematic.

cheers

   Riccardo