Re: Blitz, Atomwide and STD

In article <[email protected]> you write:
>In message <[email protected]>
>          Ed Donnelly <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> I'm thinking of trying to install NetBSD on my SA RPC (emphasis on
>> trying).
>
>Yes, it looks quite daunting, doesn't it.  I'm not very far down the
>road, but I have been making progress - it's much easier with the 1.6
>release, but can still be a steep learning experience.

Yeah, sorry about that.  We have some plans to make it a bit less scary, but
it's going to take a while.

>> I've had a quick look at the installation document and I get
>> the feeling that the bulk of my computer wouldn't work with it, so
>> rather than spend many hours downloading the kernel et al over my 56k
>> modem,
>
>Are you sure you want to do that?  Perhaps, if you ask nicely, someone
>would be able to get the essentials onto CD for you.  It takes long
>enough over an ADSL line!

I can probably arrange to do this for a small bribe if anyone needs it --
I've got a CD writer and a ludicrously fast Internet connection at work.

>> I thought I'd ask here first.
>> 
>> My hard disc and two CD drives (one a writer) are connected to an APDL
>> Blitz card, and unless it's under a pseudonym I don't see the Blitz on
>> the list of supported IDE controllers.
>
>No, Blitz is not on the list - in fact I still haven't got the ARCIN
>interface going yet.  However, once that is achieved, I would like to
>get the Blitz up and running.

I've got the documentation for the Blitz, so if there's demand I'll have a
bash at adding support for it when I'm next poking around in icside.c. 
32-bit mode is likely to be a bit of a pain, but 16-bit mode (both PIO and
DMA) is pretty similar to ARCIN v6.  The major problem is likely to be that
the podulebus code doesn't currently support podules whose ROM is in EASI
space, which Blitz's is.  This means that a current kernel simply won't see
the Blitz at all.

>In the meanwhile, how about getting a
>second disc and installing it on the internal interface?  If you
>dedicate an entire drive to BSD, it saves having to mess around
>partitioning your existing drive.

I'd second this suggestion.

>> Finally, my modem is connected to an Atomwide triple port serial
>> card - it'd be no hardship to move it to the internal port, but are
>> there any plans to support cards like this in the future (I see it's
>> in the list of unsupported equipment)?

It is?  I think this card is supported by the "amps" driver, and has been
for years.  If one of our Web pages claims it's unsupported, tell us which
one so it can be corrected.

-- 
Ben Harris                                                   <[email protected]>
Portmaster, NetBSD/acorn26           <URL:http://www.netbsd.org/Ports/acorn26/>