Subject: Re: boot messages of sparcserver 4/470
To: der Mouse <mouse@Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA>
From: Paul Kranenburg <pk@cs.few.eur.nl>
List: port-sparc
Date: 02/01/1998 00:52:50
> > I've got a sparcserver 4/470 in the cellar.  When I try to boot it
> > with a disk prepared on a sun sparc 1 (this one is running without
> > problems), it tries to load the kernel.
> > [...bootblocks...spinner...then...]
> 
> > Watchdog reset.
> > >
> 
> AFAIK you'll need to go with SunOS, unless you're up to trying to
> complete the port yourself.  A while ago I tried NetBSD/sparc on a 470.
> At the time I had to build a special kernel because it needed an option
> MMU_3L that wasn't in the generic kernel.  MMU_3L wasn't working right;
> indeed, I got a compile error when I turned it on, and after fixing
> that it still didn't work (I don't recall what went wrong, but it
> should be in the port-sparc archives).  I just now checked 1.3, and at
> a quick glance the MMU_3L option appears to be gone.  Based on your
> test, I'd guess this means not that it's unnecessary but that the code
> it controlled has just been yanked.

The code is still there, but `MMU_3L' has been renamed to `SUN4_MMU3L'
some time ago.

The code is controls supports the `3-level' MMU found in the 4/400 class
machines. It appears to work Ok for kernel space mappings, but it looses
when first requesting a user space mapping.

I've long lost access to a suitable machine so cannot persue this issue
myself. But I'd welcome any fixes you might come up with..

-pk