Re: Current state of the Linux kernel on SPARC

On Tue, Sep 2, 2025 at 3:59 AM John Paul Adrian Glaubitz <
[email protected]> wrote:

> Hi Jeremy,
>
> On Tue, 2025-09-02 at 00:38 -0400, Jeremy Leonard wrote:
> > I have installed Debian on my Ultra 1 with a UltraSparc 1 CPU. This is
> > the first time I've ever had any success in getting any linux distro
> > installed over the past 3 years! Wow, did it take a while!
> >
> > I do have one issue I don't believe is related to the patches.
>
> FWIW, the patches are not part of Debian yet. They have all been tested
> out of tree.
>

Yep,

I was hoping to verify the patches on UltraSPARC I


>
> > I can boot to Grub but grub fails to boot.
> >
> > Can't read disk label.
> > Can't open disk label package
>
> Can you take a screenshot of this?
>
>
Here is a log of the boot process:

Along with some output of probe-scsi and devalias

The end of the log the system just seems hung. I left it overnight and
nothing more was presented on the screen.


Sun Ultra 1 SBus (UltraSPARC 143MHz), No Keyboard
OpenBoot 3.11, 1024 MB memory installed, Serial #8213958.
Ethernet address 8:0:20:7d:55:c6, Host ID: 807d55c6.


Initializing Memory


ok probe-scsi-all

/sbus@1f,0/espdma@e,8400000/esp@e,8800000

Target 0
  Unit 0   Disk     ZULUSCSIHARDDRIVE       2.0
Target 5
  Unit 0   Removable Read Only device    ZULUSCSICDROM           2.0

Target 6
  Unit 0   Removable Read Only device    TOSHIBA XM-5401TASUN4XCD3485


ok devalias
screen                   /sbus@1f,0/cgsix@2,0
cdrom5                   /sbus@1f,0/espdma@e,8400000/esp@e,8800000/sd@5,0
net-aui                  /sbus/ledma@e,8400010:aui/le@e,8c00000
net-tpe                  /sbus/ledma@e,8400010:tpe/le@e,8c00000
net                      /sbus/ledma@e,8400010/le@e,8c00000
disk                     /sbus/espdma@e,8400000/esp@e,8800000/sd@0,0
cdrom                    /sbus/espdma@e,8400000/esp@e,8800000/sd@6,0:f
tape                     /sbus/espdma@e,8400000/esp@e,8800000/st@4,0
tape1                    /sbus/espdma@e,8400000/esp@e,8800000/st@5,0
tape0                    /sbus/espdma@e,8400000/esp@e,8800000/st@4,0
disk6                    /sbus/espdma@e,8400000/esp@e,8800000/sd@6,0
disk5                    /sbus/espdma@e,8400000/esp@e,8800000/sd@5,0
disk4                    /sbus/espdma@e,8400000/esp@e,8800000/sd@4,0
disk3                    /sbus/espdma@e,8400000/esp@e,8800000/sd@3,0
disk2                    /sbus/espdma@e,8400000/esp@e,8800000/sd@2,0
disk1                    /sbus/espdma@e,8400000/esp@e,8800000/sd@1,0
disk0                    /sbus/espdma@e,8400000/esp@e,8800000/sd@0,0
scsi                     /sbus/espdma@e,8400000/esp@e,8800000
floppy                   /sbus/SUNW,fdtwo
ttyb                     /sbus/zs@f,1100000:b
ttya                     /sbus/zs@f,1100000:a
keyboard!                /sbus/zs@f,1000000:forcemode
keyboard                 /sbus/zs@f,1000000
name                     aliases

boot disk
Boot device: /sbus/espdma@e,8400000/esp@e,8800000/sd@0,0  File and args:
GRUB Loading kernel..
Welcome to GRUB!

error: out of memory.
error: no suitable video mode found.
GNU GRUB  version 2.12-9

+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|*Debian GNU/Linux
  |
| Advanced options for Debian GNU/Linux
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|
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|
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||
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
      Use the ^ and v keys to select which entry is highlighted.
      Press enter to boot the selected OS, `e' to edit the commands
      before booting or `c' for a command-line.

Can't read disk label.
Can't open disk label package
error: unable to open /sbus@1f,0/SUNW,fdtwo@f,1400000.




> I would suggest raising this question on the grub-devel mailing list as
> I have also observed a similar problem with QEMU.
>
> Installing works, but booting the installed system with GRUB doesn't
> work. No idea yet what the problem is.
>
> > I'm still looking for a solution to this but haven't found it yet.
> > Any pointers here would be appreciated. I did boot into the rescue
> > CD from Debian and updated GRUB2 and reinstall it. That didn't seem
> > to help. The partition table type on my disk is sun and I do have
> > the sparc64-ieee1275 modules for grub installed.
>
> I don't know yet. This needs to be investigated by a GRUB developer.
>
> > Once I overcome this grub hurdle is there any process I should run to
> > more thoroughly test this install? Something that would stress test
> > these new patches explicitly? Are there any stats or other info from
> > this system that would be helpful with validating this is working
> properly now?
>
> You would need to install my test kernel first before stress-testing:
>

I used this link for the install ISO. I assumed this already had the
patched kernel:

https://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/ports/snapshots/2025-08-29/debian-12.0.0-sparc64-NETINST-1.iso



>
> https://people.debian.org/~glaubitz/sparc64/
>
> Adrian
>
> --
>  .''`.  John Paul Adrian Glaubitz
> : :' :  Debian Developer
> `. `'   Physicist
>   `-    GPG: 62FF 8A75 84E0 2956 9546  0006 7426 3B37 F5B5 F913
>


-- 
Jeremy Leonard
[email protected]
Cell: (517) 285-8309