Subject: Re: NetBSD in Centris 610
To: gabriel rosenkoetter <gr@eclipsed.net>
From: Frederick Bruckman <fredb@immanent.net>
List: port-mac68k
Date: 02/19/2003 09:36:47
On Wed, 19 Feb 2003, gabriel rosenkoetter wrote:

> On Wed, Feb 19, 2003 at 08:56:48AM -0600, Frederick Bruckman wrote:
> > People have reported that GENERIC kernels don't work on fpu-less
> > machines. I think the multi-processor case is fixed, but there's still
> > an issue with FPSP vs FPU_EMULATE (I suspect). However, no one who's
> > reported problems has ever stayed interested long enough to say there
> > is or there isn't, understandably -- it requires enormous patience to
> > get anything done with a machine that slow.
>
> I can be patient with an LC III (030) and a Performa 636 (040; don't
> have the LC040 any more, as I sent it back as part of the purchase
> price for the real 040), if you can be patient about getting
> results (and about my having the systems shipped to Philadelphia
> from St. Louis :^>).
>
> Sounds like we've got a few content LC040 folks already.

But are they running GENERIC kernels? Does FPU_EMULATE even work on
LC040?

> > In any case, I think we should stop imposing --soft-float on everyone
> > (-m68020-40 should be good enough for all fpu'd machines), and have
> > the release mechanism build a 'NOFPU' kernel with --soft-float and
> > without M68040.

Hmm, for the LC040, you'd need M68040. Except... does FPU_EMULATE even
work on LC040's or only the all binaries --soft-float?

> Sounds reasonable to me. There would, of course, need to be
> documentation (in INSTALL, on the web page, in a noisy HEADS-UP
> here, and so on) that you want to use the NOFPU kernel if you don't
> have an fpu, of course.

I think we'd need a custom FPU_INSTALL, that installs the FPU kernel
set by default.

Frederick