Re: TS7200_INSTALL kernel problem solved - kernel too big!

["Patrick Collins" <normalbloke%gmail.com@localhost>]

Jesse,

Thanks for this helpful advice. Actually I don't have a big problem
with using Redboot but we currently have this problem with 4.0.1 and
later not being able to run on the TS-7200. This is the problem I am
trying to resolve and I'm not sure if a different loader will achieve
this. There is an idea that it is because the kernel is too big for
the TS-7200 but I have build a stripped down kernel but this has the
same problem. Do you think a different load would help here or is this
a different problem.

What I would like is to have ongoing support for the TS-7200 because I
am keen to use it in my project. If NetBSD can't support it then I
would rather move to different hardware rather than a different OS.

Thanks.

Patrick Collins
+61 419 712 581



2008/12/12 Jesse Off <joff%embeddedarm.com@localhost>:
> Well, if you're okay with waiting approx 5-10 seconds for the default Linux
> load to start from flash, support%embeddedARM.com@localhost could walk you 
> through
> using Linux to boot a NetBSD kernel with some tools I wrote a couple years
> ago.  The only complication there would be is that I doubt we put the Linux
> FFS filesystem kernel module on that small default flash load.  This is
> actually how we boot Windows CE on this platform -- the WinCE kernel is
> stored on the JFFS2/YAFFS2 filesystem and Linux just boots into it from the
> /etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit script with a line like "bootload -b 0x100000
> /boot/wince.img"
> TS can be "bribed" to implement functionality, but I have a feeling we might
> not be best people to approach for this.  We might end up thinking what you
> want is just a faster booting NetBSD and want to take a different approach
> altogether than writing a NetBSD CF kernel loader to give you most effect
> per man-hour invested. :-)
>
> My advice is that if this is something you do care about enough to put some
> $$$ out, put a price on how much its worth to you and see if there are any
> takers.  I think NetBSD still keeps a list of available contractors online
> somewhere too.   If you can't find anybody, give me a call at the office in
> a week or two and I'll see if I can find somebody to connect you to.
>
> //Jesse Off
>
> Patrick Collins wrote:
>>
>> I think it would be great if we could have a very simple boot loader
>> that could load a NetBSD kernel from CF. Do you think you could magic
>> one of these please Jesse :)
>>
>> Patrick Collins
>> +61 419 712 581
>>
>>
>>
>> 2008/12/12 Jesse Off <joff%embeddedarm.com@localhost>:
>>
>>>
>>> Ken Hornstein wrote:
>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> u-boot has those features now, but not redboot.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Yeah, I think that unless Embedded ARM wants to switch to u-boot, that
>>>> doesn't
>>>> help us.  Ah, well.
>>>>
>>>> --Ken
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> We're not a big fan of either u-Boot or RedBoot out here.  Seems like
>>> overkill to write one OS to for the sole purpose of starting up another.
>>>  I
>>> personally prefer to minimize how many drivers I write or debug for the
>>> same
>>> hardware.  :-)
>>>
>>> In our new products, we have written a 442 byte bootloader that loads
>>> kernels from x86 MBR style partitions of either NAND flash or SD card and
>>> can boot a small Linux kernel + ramdisk in about the same amount of time
>>> it
>>> takes the RedBoot or u-boot bloatware to start up.  Once up, we have
>>> written
>>> a Linux program + kernel module that can start up other OS's, RTOS's, and
>>> OS-less applications.  In effect, we use Linux as our bootloader so that
>>> you
>>> could load kernels via NFS over USB wifi dongle and configure pre-bootup
>>> behavior in shell script, etc...
>>>
>>> Here's some info on it:
>>> http://www.embeddedarm.com/software/arm-linux-bootloader.php
>>>
>>> I ported the bootload utility to NetBSD too-- it doesn't even need a
>>> kernel
>>> module. I do what I need to do there via /dev/mem and /dev/kmem.
>>>
>>> This application + kernel module should also work on the default TS-7200
>>> Linux installation.  You can place the NetBSD kernel on the Linux JFFS2
>>> filesystem and then run our "bootload" command to soft-boot into another
>>> OS.
>>>  On the platforms we've standardized on this scheme we can go from
>>> power-on
>>> to Linux to another OS in about 3 seconds or so.  The TS-7200 Linux boots
>>> up
>>> a little slower, but its still not too bad.
>>>
>>> //Jesse Off
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>