Re: Rookie questions about NetBSD/amiga

[email protected] (=?iso-8859-1?Q?Carlos_Mil=E1n_Figueredo?=) writes:

>> 	1. Is it possible to change console colors from black over grey to
>> white over black? I have seen it is possible to control it via the
>> wsconsctl, but I have not been successful using that tool on Amiga,
>> maybe it is related by the lack of wsfb support for native chipset?
>> 	2. Related to 1, is it possible to have a color console with
>> native chipset?

If you use the GENERIC kernel:

The colormap has 32 entries, the first 4 are used for 2 bitplanes:

grey, black, blue, white

The program iteconfig can change the display parameters including depth
and colormap.


If you use the WSCONS kernel:

The console code has fixed colors for 1,2 or 3 bitplanes.

1 -> black, grey
2 -> black, red, green, grey
3 -> black, red, green, brown, blue, magenta, cyan, grey

The default is 2 bitplanes and you see grey-on-black text and a red cursor.


>> 	3. In Linux I can switch between multiple shells with ALT+F1,
>> ALT+F2... Is there a way to do something in a similar fashion with the
>> NetBSD console?

This is done by the wscons driver (default for e.g. x86). For Amiga
you need the WSCONS kernel.


>> 	4. I am using the GENERIC kernel. Are there other kernels on Amiga
>> that could be useful for my setup? (68060 + AGA + built-in IDE + PCMCIA
>> network card).

You probably want WSCONS or build your own kernel.


>> 	5. Any instructions for building my own kernel?

http://www.netbsd.org/docs/guide/en/chap-tuning.html#tuning-kernel

should give you a start.


>> 	6. Any tips to make the system more lightweight on the Amiga? I
>> followed some tips from Karl Jeacle [1] like turning off makemandb and
>> postfix and they really made difference.

makemandb and fontcache are the heavy weights, but mostly on the first
start or after an update.

If your Amiga is networked, you probably want most other things sooner
or later, even postfix.

If you have a smaller Amiga (say less than 32MB RAM), you definitely
want a custom kernel that is stripped to the functionality you
need.


Greetings,