Re: NetBSD/be

[Jake Hamby <jehamby%lightside.com@localhost>]

Kazuki Sakamoto wrote:
> 
> Now, I am porting NetBSD/powerpc(1.2E) to BeBox.
> NetBSD's kernel works before mount root filesystem.

That's good news!  I have a BeBox and would be interested in seeing a
NetBSD port.  I don't really like Linux...

> Because BeBox doesn't have OpenFirmware,
> OpenFirmware driver is removed from NetBSD/powerpc,
> and Device Drivers of NetBSD/i386 is put, and added,
> and NetBSD/be is being made.

Sounds like a good start.

> Floppy drive controller and Ethernet(NE2000) and
> console(VGA,keyboard) be usable somehow under the present condition.
> # a latent problem seems that problem is about endian.

Yes, that is a problem.  You could copy the drivers into the be
directory and swap the byte order, or better yet, create some macros
like GET_LOW_BYTE() and GET_HIGH_BYTE() which expand into the correct
instructions for each byte order.  That would allow you to use the same
driver for each architecture.

> So, I want NetBSD/powerpc binary (/sbin/init,/bin/sh,...).
> 
> Though I tried to use
> <URL:ftp:/ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/powerpc/floppies/fl9660.gz>,
> a result wasn't good. (a reason hasn't been examined yet.)
> 
> Therefore, I want to know how to make it those.
> 
> NetBSD Kernel Compile environment:
>   FreeBSD-2.2.1(i386)
>     gcc-2.7.2.1, binutils-2.7
>     + <URL:ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/powerpc/tools/> patches
> 
> Teach me how to make it.

I'm sorry but I'm not familiar enough with NetBSD to provide much help,
other than general encouragement.  If you have any BeBox hardware
related questions, LinuxPPC is probably the best reference source code
(http://www.linuxppc.org/) because there is a BeBox version.  I'm
thinking of ordering the CD-ROM they just released (June 1997) which
might be a good way to provide you with a working UNIX environment for
cross-development, if the difference between Linux and NetBSD isn't too
great to cause you problems.

-- 
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|Jake Hamby| JPL employee, CS Student at Cal Poly Pomona, and BeOS
developer |
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"One day I may just leave you far behind me." - Poe