Subject: Re: The state of NetBSD on the z-50
To: <>
From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?=22Ricardo_L=2E_A=2E_B=E1nffy=22?= <rbanffy@utopia.com.br>
List: port-hpcmips
Date: 02/10/2005 12:16:02
Hi. Thanks for the info.

My z50 worked fine with 1.6.2. Instalation was somewhat tricky.

There is no easy way to partition my 256 meg CF card under Windows XP or 
Windows CE (and my Linux box dislikes the USB CF drive I have), so I had 
to start with a FAT-only volume. The installer boots fine. I have a 
cheap  NE2000'ish network card (Planet ENW-3502) that both CE and NetBSD 
seem to like.

Partitioning the "disk" works as expected. I keep 10 or so megs for FAT 
(you will have to format the partition later) where the bootloader can 
be installed, about 32 megs for swap and the rest for /.

Under 1.6.2 installer, DHCP didn't work so I had to enter the IP address 
manually. You can download the packages but, with 256 megs, you have to 
quickly delete the tgzs right after they are installed (not quickly - 
you gan Control-Z and fg the installer at will). Also, start with tha 
largest ones and work your way down. Since the real kernel is loaded 
from the FAT partition, you may ignore the installer messages.

I will try 1.6.2 again to see it I remembered things right.

Changing the subject, Is there anyone selling the z50 memory expansion 
SO-DIMM for a reasonable price?

Snappy! wrote:

>Unfortunately, while I keep hearing people say 1.6.2 or 2.0 works just fine 
>on their system, no one gives very specific details on their setup.
>
>For myself, I've found that if I setup my CF card with a dos partn, I need 
>to make only two slice, 1 ffs and 1 swap in the netbsd partn. Or else the 
>dos partn goes crazy or the ffs partn goes crazy, and I get TLBs, hang or 
>core dump altogether.
>
>FYI, I've tried FTP installation many times and it never quite work once. 
>I've had success with downloading all the files using my wifi cf card thru 
>FTP but when untarring, base.tgz almost always hangs or drop to debug mode.
>
>I use to use two 512MB CFs to do my installation: 1 for bootloader in dos + 
>netbsd partn, 2nd CF to contain the tgz sets. Unfortunately, I cannot seem 
>to mount the 2nd CF without a core dump, no matter what I try. So now I use 
>download the tgz sets and squeeze them into the dos fat partn (wd0e) in 1st 
>CF, do sysinst into the netbsd partn (wd0a).
>
>Hope this helps you.
>
>-Robin
>
>""Ricardo L. A. Bánffy"" <rbanffy@utopia.com.br> wrote in message 
>news:420A616C.4060503@utopia.com.br...
>  
>
>>Hi All.
>>
>>I know this has been discussed before, but I couldn't quite understand 
>>where or how it ended. (I am somewhat new to *BSD)
>>
>>I had problems (the same reported before) to install (due to space 
>>limitations, I install via FTP on a CF card) NetBSD on my IBM z-50. I know 
>>there is a patch that allows instalation to proceed, but I do not feel 
>>confident enough to apply them and to cross-compile my own kernel.
>>
>>Has anyone made publicly available a z-50 friendly install kernel?
>>
>>    
>>
>
>
>
>  
>