About RPM Files
A common problem facing all operating systems is how to keep the OS and all the installed software up-to-date. This problem becomes increasingly complicated when applications and files span several directories. A few years ago RedHat came up with a method of placing all files for a program, library, etc into a single compressed archive that also provides installation and removal information, a list external dependencies, target architecture, even recompilation information.
Anyone who has used ms-windows knows what happens when you install or remove an application program- your system stops working because shared programs and DLLs just got wiped out. RPM files greatly reduce problem by letting you know the names of other packages required when installing a new RPM, or programs that might be affected if you delete a RPM.
This section presents a very small subset of can be done with RPM files.
To find out which RPMs are currently installed on your system:
rpm -qa
To determine what files an RPM contains.
rpm -qlp <complete name of RPM file>
rpm -ql <basename of installed RPM>
To update an already installed package:
rpm -Uvh <complete name of RPM file>
To install a new package on your system:
rpm -i <complete name of RPM file>
To remove (erase) an installed RPM package:
rpm -e <basename of installed RPM>
Although many RPMs can be installed by normal users, installing and removing system packages requires you to be logged in as root.
The rpm program will output a warning message if you try to delete a RPM that is used by any other installed RPMs. Although it is possible to override this warning, you do so at your own risk.
Make sure you understand all the implications when removing and installing RPMs. For example, if you happen to remove glibc (by overriding the warning message) you will not be able to execute any shell commands, and your system will instantly become unusable ( yes, one of my friends actually did this, and he knew better! ).
Adding New Users
It is generally accepted as a bad habit to be logged in as the root user any more than is necessary for system setup and maintenance. Since the root user has the rights to do almost anything, its just too easy to make a mistake and wipe out user data or critical parts of your system.
As soon as possible you should add new user logins for your normal day-to-day use. This may be done with the adduser and passwd commands, which must be done while logged in as root.
As a simple example, I will create a new user named gomer, with a password of golly-98:
adduser gomer
passwd gomer
golly-98
golly-98
If you are part of a network that shares NFS mounts, you will want to use the long form useradd command instead. You will need to know the uid and gid assigned by your network administrator. The below example assumed uid=2001 and gid=100 for the user gomer:
useradd -u 2001 -g 100 -d /home/gomer -s /bin/bash -c "I'm a gomer" gomer
finger gomer Login: gomer Name: I'm a gomer Directory: /home/gomer Shell: /bin/bash Never logged in. No mail. No Plan.
ls -al /home/gomer/ total 7 drwx------ 2 gomer users 1024 Feb 21 17:30 . drwxr-xr-x 13 root root 1024 Feb 21 17:30 .. -rw-r--r-- 1 gomer users 1155 Feb 21 17:30 .Xdefaults -rw-r--r-- 1 gomer users 24 Feb 21 17:30 .bash_logout -rw-r--r-- 1 gomer users 230 Feb 21 17:30 .bash_profile -rw-r--r-- 1 gomer users 124 Feb 21 17:30 .bashrc
Lastly don't forget to change the directory attributes for this user:
chmod 0755 /home/gomer
Background
Although I am a professional C/C++ developer (on mostly intel systems), I enjoy using the Amiga and Linux- fewer snobs, better ideas, and more fun.... When one breaks away from the microsoft mentality, we find a world where people actually share their work, advancing the state-of-the-art; and
have fun while doing it !!Please consult the
m68k Linux Home Pages for a history of m68k Linux development.The RedHat and Debian m68k Linux distributions are the result of an incredible amount of dedicated work on the part of a few individuals. I cannot claim credit for any of this. My contribution has been to research, document, test, and share my findings with the rest of the Amiga community (mostly after the fact ).
To the best of my knowledge,
most of the RedHat m68k Linux work was done by
Ron at home in the computer room....
I currently use Linux (at home and at work) on several platforms: x86, m68k, alpha, and mips. No other operating system in the world can claim such wide portability and consistency on such different hardware.
Linux is starting to take hold in the business world. Our MIS department used to snort when Linux was mentioned; now they publicly deride NT and proprietary environments, comparing them to the incredible reliability of Linux-based services that are built-in, and "free"!. Most of the Linux machines originally installed as an "experiment" have taken on a significant portion of the day-to-day services on our network because they work, are easier to administer and interconnect, and don't crash several times a day like the NT stuff does. We have found that by simply placing a Linux machine (with several "strategic" services installed) in front of the NT servers, that network response-time has decreased and maximum throughput has doubled ( or more ). Many of the NT machines must be force-reset at least once a day to keep from locking-up, whereas some of our heavily-used Linux machines have been running continuously
for over nine months !!!!Last month ATT killed our T1-line for almost 4 days. Within 2 hours a friend and I were able to setup a spare system with Linux (from scratch) which provided dial-out modem services restoring email and critical FTP/HTTP services to over 600 people. It was slow, but still better than nothing.
( ; Bullet7.gif 0100555 0003721 0000310 00000000214 07034147604 012470 0 ustar rjflory users GIF89a ff3333f3333 f 3 3 ! , @9@TRRupFX]Ħ| CBZe %,P(-~ ; Bullet8.gif 0100555 0003721 0000310 00000000314 07034147610 012467 0 ustar rjflory users GIF89a wwwfffUUUMMMBBB999333))) ! , @I$8H"90D/@ 8H222_WQ FRõV4v ! @$ D_ ; CDROMs.html 0100555 0003721 0000310 00000011405 07034147612 012403 0 ustar rjflory users
Last Update: 4 June 1999
CDROM Info
The easiest way to install RedHat m68k Linux is to use a CDROM. There are several sources of these cdroms, including RedHat. Please keep in mind that this package is not officially supported by RedHat, so don't contact them with technical support questions (besides, they've never seen an Amiga anyway..).
Sources for RedHat m68k Linux 5.1 CDROMS:
RedHat Software Rough Cuts cdrom disk-set.
Chris Lawrence m68k CDROM sets (USA).
Holger Lubitz at http://linuxservice.de (Germany).
Anders Dalshov at [email protected] (Norway only, please).
Alexander Lund at [email protected] .
If you just can't wait for a cdrom to come through the mail you can download this package via the internet- but this is practical only if you have a very high-speed network connection (T1-line or better). Downloading this package across our highly-optimized T1-line (150 Kb/sec sustained, with a Linux squid-cache of course) required well over an hour.
If you wish to master your own RedHat m68k Linux CDROM, its not difficult. Out of curiosity I created my own iso9660 RedHat disk (using x86 Linux), and it worked the very first time.
Before you burn your own cdrom make sure you delete the contents of the /html/ directory and download the latest version of this FAQ, then extract the new contents into the /html/ directory in your cdrom image.
When you create your own CDROM, make sure you preserve all the attributes of all the files.
Here are the <general> commands I used to create my own m68k RedHat Linux CDROM from the downloaded files:
mkisofs -l -r -v -R -L -a -o cdrom.img /tmp/redhat_files/
Assuming you have iso9660 and loopback device kernel support, you may verify your new iso9660 cdrom image:
mount -t iso9660 cdimage.raw -r -o loop /mnt
ls -l /mnt
umount /mnt
Then burn the CDROM.
cdrecord -v dev=x,x cdimage.raw
Look at the
References section for info regarding the mkisofs and cdrecord programs.
Last Update: 10 April 1999
Compiling Your Own Kernel
This section is an overview, not a tutorial
Before proceeding any further, make sure you have completed the steps listed in the
Configuring A Kernel section.Configuring and compiling the Linux kernel is a task that requires a moderate amount of knowledge and experience. You are not required to compile a kernel of your own, but running a customized kernel has many benefits such as reduced size, increased stability, and probable performance increases.
Please note that all kernel configuration and compile operations assume you are logged in as the
root user.Go to your Linux kernel source directory:
cd /usr/src/linux
After completing the configuration process, you must update dependencies and remove old object files. To do this, simply enter:
make dep ; make clean
Make sure there were no errors during the 'make dep' step.
Now compile the kernel with make. This will require an hour or more (on most Amigas), so take some time to reread a few sections of this install FAQ.
make
After the compile finishes (with no errors of course) you can compress the kernel with gzip, which will decrease the amount of time it takes to load Linux into memory (especially from OFS and AFS disks).
gzip vmlinux
Now copy the resulting vmlinux.gz file to your AFFS disk partition, naming it something like vmlinux-test.
cp vmlinux.gz
Note: /dh1/ is my AFFS partition from where I boot Linux from AmigaDos.
Issue the linux
reboot command to restart your system under AmigaDos. Linux, Unix, and NT temporarily cache disk contents to memory to increase system performance. NEVER, NEVER power-down your system without performing an orderly shutdown procedure; otherwise you risk corruption of the disk filesystem. The normal method of shutting Linux down is to enter the command shutdown -h now from a root shell.Once AmigaDos is up, enter the amiboot command shown in the
Post-Install Setup section, substituting your freshly-compiled vmlinux-test file instead of the stock kernel./utils/amiboot-5.6 -k vmlinux-test root=<desired dev> video=<desired video mode>
With luck your system should restart under Linux, with a smaller, faster, custom kernel.
You are not done yet!!!During startup you will probably see several warnings concerning
.o files. This is because the symbols in the 'stock' modules do not match your freshly-compiled kernel. To resolve the symbol mismatches and to provide reliable system operation you must recompile the modules:cd /usr/src/linux
make modules
make modules_install
depmod -a
This will go a lot faster than the kernel compile did.
Now reboot your test (vmlinux-test) system again by typing the
reboot and running amiboot as shown above. You should see very few, if any module warnings. If you do, you might want to delete the individual (unused) .o files in the subdirectories below /lib/modules/2.0.3x/ causing the warning(s), and re-execute the depmod -a command.Make sure you take the time to test everything before deleting any module files.
Hint:
If you have enough memory (more than 16-meg) and CPU horsepower (68040 or better), there is a way you can speed up your kernel compiles. About 40 lines into the /usr/src/linux Makefile there is an entry that says:MAKE = make
Change it to:
MAKE = make -j2
This allows make to launch several concurrent compiles (3 in this case). This makes much more efficient use of system memory since all instances of the compiler can share a single codespace, instead of reloading the compiler over and over. Reduce the number of concurrent compiles if your free-memory fall below 512k or swap starts thrashing. Excessive swap usage can result in ridiculously long compile times (even for an Amiga). You can watch jobs being launched, CPU, and swap utilization by using the top -i command in another VCON, just make sure to renice top (using top's r command) to a value of at least 5 or it will steal too many CPU cycles.
NEVER compile a kernel while running X (X-Windows) because X takes so much memory, and leaves little, if any for the compiler which makes kernel builds even slower.
My 16-meg 68040-33 works best with a value of -j2, but my 128-meg K6-233 can handle values high as -j40.
Some common m68k kernel-module issues:
Startup message: modprobe: can't locate module net-pf-4 and modprobe: can't locate module net-pf-5:
These will appear if you disable IPX support in the kernel (which is why the modules can't be found, of course). The simple solution is to add two new lines at the end of the file /etc/conf.modules:
alias net-pf-4 off
alias net-pf-5 off
Kernel compile times for several of my machines
|
Machine |
Arch |
CPU |
Speed |
RAM |
Makefile '-j' |
min:sec |
* response |
version |
remarks |
|
Lurker |
m68k |
Moto 68040 |
25Mhz |
16Mb |
-j2 |
110:55 |
69,063 |
2.0.36 |
Stock A4000 |
|
Sidekick |
m68k |
Moto 68040 |
33Mhz |
16Mb |
-j2 |
48:06 |
93,000 |
2.0.36 |
A2000, GVP Gforce |
|
Segfault |
Alpha |
DEC 21164 |
166Mhz |
64Mb |
-j6 |
40:41 |
170,716 |
2.0.35 |
Dec Multia |
|
Glitch |
x86 |
486-DX2 |
66Mhz |
24Mb |
-j3 |
37:41 |
125,230 |
2.0.36 |
Linux 'loaner' |
|
Thingy |
x86 |
486-DX4 |
100Mhz |
32Mb |
-j6 |
26:53 |
44,950 |
2.0.36 |
my brothers system |
|
Retry |
x86 |
P5 |
70Mhz |
40Mb |
-j6 |
8:32 |
235,255 |
2.0.33 |
AST 950N Laptop |
|
Byclops |
x86 |
P5-MMX |
200Mhz |
96Mb |
-j24 |
4:30 |
-,- |
2.0.35 |
Dual Pentium |
|
Spareparts |
x86 |
AMD K6-2 |
350Mhz |
128Mb |
-j50 |
3:05 |
880,000 |
2.0.36 |
PC-100 |
|
Machine |
Arch |
CPU |
Speed |
RAM |
Makefile '-j' |
min:sec |
* response |
version |
remarks |
|
Lurker |
m68k |
Moto 68040 |
25Mhz |
16Mb |
-j2 |
2:45:22 |
69,063 |
2.2.1pre2 |
Stock A4000 |
|
Spareparts |
x86 |
AMD K6-2 |
350Mhz |
256Mb |
-j10 |
5:52 |
1,604,000 |
2.2.5-ac6 |
PC-100 |
*
Kernel response. I wrote a little C++ program that determines how often I can call the time() kernel-function per second, and calculate the average time for all the samples thus far (for n <= 100). This test provides a comparative performance value of the system and kernel. These values are indicated in the above table. The value listed is the average of at least 120 samples. This program has been updated to calculate tight-loop and network-stack throughput.
Last Update: 6 June 1999
Configuring A Kernel
This section is a (lengthy) overview, not a tutorial....
Configuring and compiling the Linux kernel is a task that requires a moderate amount of knowledge and experience. You are not required to do this, but running a customized kernel has many significant benefits such as reduced size, increased stability, and possible performance increases.
Once you are convinced your machine is stable you should reconfigure and recompile a kernel of your own. This will be smaller and faster than the 'stock' kernel supplied here. Another benefit of compiling a kernel is this- if your new installation survives a full compile of a Linux kernel, its most likely going to be stable because a kernel compile is probably the most extensive test of system operation imaginable.
Please note that all kernel configuration and compile operations assume you are logged in as the
root user.If you haven't already, you need to install the kernel sources:
If kernel source is a RedHat RPM file:
rpm -i <path>kernel-source-x.y.zz.rpm
to install source for the first time, orrpm -U <path>kernel-source-x.y.zz.rpm
to upgrade an existing kernel source.
If kernel source is a normal gzipped tar file (tar.gz) such as 2.0.36 kernel downloaded from Sunsite and extract to the /usr/src directory:
cd /usr/src
tar -xvzf <path>linux-x.y.zz.tar.gz
Example: tar -xvzpf linux-2.0.36.tar.gz
Note: install the most recent (stable) source package available. Post questions to the newsgroup or mailing list if unsure. At this time the only m68k Linux kernels you should use are 2.0.33pl1, 2.0.36, and 2.2.1pre2 (unless you are a kernel hacker). These images are m68k-specific, and are NOT the same kernels found on kernel.org.
If kernel source is a bzip2 file (linux-2.2.8.tar.bz2) as found in the master kernel tree (non-m68k) :
cd /usr/src
rm linux
mkdir linux-2.2.8
ln -sv linux-2.2.8 linux
bunzip2 -c linux-2.2.8.tar.bz2 | tar -xv
if patches are necessary; follow this basic form:
bunzip2 -c patch-2.2.8-ac1.bz2 | patch -p1
Before tearing into the config process, take a look at the (intel biased)
Kernel-HOWTO document on Sunsite/LDP.There is also a
mini-howto on upgrading modules on the RedHat site which provides some background info on upgrading modules, and creating an initrd. You probably won't need to use anything here, but it provides a glimpse into some of the issues you should consider when upgrading a kernel or kernel-modules.To configure a kernel you should
cd to the /usr/src/linux directory. There are several ways to configure your Linux kernel: make config ( text-based, slow and tedious )
make menuconfig ( a lot better, but still slow )
make xconfig ( while running X, [ not really intended for first-timers, and its currently broken on m68k ] ).
Although it takes a bit of work to setup, there is no easier way to config your kernel than using make xconfig, but you must have X running on some machine (I usually run this from a hi-res display on a pentium-based Linux machine in the next room). If you are using an X-term on some other system, X does not have to be running on the Amiga for this to work.
While running Amiga X, simply enter make xconfig from the keyboard.
From another Linux machine running X:
Type export DISPLAY=<x machine-name or IP>:0 (example: export DISPLAY=crash:0 )
Answer the config questions. I don't have time to write the book it would take to answer all the questions, but most choices offered by the config scripts feature a help selection- try it.
I suggest that you:
Enable kernel-daemon support. (See Loadable Module Support in the .config-file below).
Enable the SCSI/IDE controller for your system (not as a module).
Enable your Ethernet card (not as a module).
Enable ext2 filesystem (not as a module).
Disable minix filesystem support.
Enable AFFS (Amiga Fast File System) disk filesystem as a module.
If you need it, enable MSDOS filesystem as a module.
If you need it, enable NFS filesystem as a module.
If you need it, enable VFAT-32 (win95) filesystem as a module.
If you need it, enable ISO9660 (CDROM) filesystem as a module.
If you need it, enable SMB (Samba [win95 networking]) as a module, and enable the fix.
DO NOT enable Advanced Processor Options, especially if you have an Amiga.
Enable RAMDISK support (as a module).
Enable loopback support (as a module).
Disable support of any Amiga video chipset you are not expecting to use.
Disable support of any SCSI/IDE/Network hardware you are not expecting to use.
If you want to your system to act as an Internet Gateway, see the Masquerade Homepage for a description of required kernel option settings.
Config Cautions:
Enabling ALL the wd33C93A SCSI drivers caused my machine to crash.
As a hint, here are the xconfig screens resulting from my A2000 configuration session. Do not blindly copy my configuration, customize the specific screens and system setup options to reflect your own machine. (these are getting old, and need updating)
The system described below is a:
Amiga A2000.
GVP Gfroce 68040, with GVP scsi controller with SCSI hard disks and cdrom attached.
Ariadne ethernet card.
Warning
: Advanced Processor Options should not be enabled on Amigas.
As another hint, here is a copy of the /usr/src/linux. .config file for my current 040-based A2000 system:
Commented values followed with "is not set" are disabled, or set to N.
Values followed by "=y" are enabled.
Values followed by "=m" are modules.
# # Automatically generated make config: don't edit # # # Code maturity level options # CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL=y # # Loadable module support # CONFIG_MODULES=y CONFIG_MODVERSIONS=y CONFIG_KERNELD=y # # Platform dependant setup # CONFIG_AMIGA=y # CONFIG_ATARI is not set # CONFIG_MAC is not set # # Processor type # # CONFIG_M68020 is not set # CONFIG_M68030 is not set CONFIG_M68040=y # CONFIG_M68060 is not set CONFIG_OPTIMIZE_040=y # CONFIG_ADVANCED_CPU is not set # # General setup # CONFIG_NET=y CONFIG_SYSVIPC=y CONFIG_BINFMT_AOUT=m CONFIG_BINFMT_ELF=y CONFIG_KERNEL_ELF=y CONFIG_ZORRO=y # CONFIG_AMIGA_PCMCIA is not set CONFIG_AMIFB_OCS=y CONFIG_AMIFB_ECS=y # CONFIG_AMIFB_AGA is not set # CONFIG_FB_CYBER is not set # CONFIG_FB_CV3D is not set # CONFIG_FB_CLGEN is not set # # Floppy, IDE, and other block devices # CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=m # CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE is not set # CONFIG_AMIGA_Z2RAM is not set # # Additional Block Devices # CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP=m # CONFIG_BLK_DEV_MD is not set # CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM is not set # # Networking options # # CONFIG_FIREWALL is not set # CONFIG_NET_ALIAS is not set CONFIG_INET=y # CONFIG_IP_FORWARD is not set # CONFIG_IP_MULTICAST is not set # CONFIG_SYN_COOKIES is not set # CONFIG_RST_COOKIES is not set # CONFIG_IP_ACCT is not set # CONFIG_IP_ROUTER is not set # CONFIG_NET_IPIP is not set # # (it is safe to leave these untouched) # # CONFIG_INET_PCTCP is not set # CONFIG_INET_RARP is not set # CONFIG_NO_PATH_MTU_DISCOVERY is not set CONFIG_IP_NOSR=y # CONFIG_SKB_LARGE is not set # # # # CONFIG_IPX is not set # CONFIG_ATALK is not set # CONFIG_AX25 is not set # CONFIG_BRIDGE is not set # CONFIG_NETLINK is not set # # SCSI support # CONFIG_SCSI=y # # SCSI support type (disk, tape, CD-ROM) # CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD=y CONFIG_CHR_DEV_ST=m CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SR=m CONFIG_CHR_DEV_SG=m # # Some SCSI devices (e.g. CD jukebox) support multiple LUNs # # CONFIG_SCSI_MULTI_LUN is not set CONFIG_SCSI_CONSTANTS=y # # SCSI low-level drivers # # CONFIG_A3000_SCSI is not set # CONFIG_A2091_SCSI is not set CONFIG_GVP11_SCSI=y # CONFIG_CYBERSTORM_SCSI is not set # CONFIG_CYBERSTORMII_SCSI is not set # CONFIG_BLZ2060_SCSI is not set # CONFIG_BLZ1230_SCSI is not set # CONFIG_FASTLANE_SCSI is not set # CONFIG_A4000T_SCSI is not set # CONFIG_A4091_SCSI is not set # CONFIG_WARPENGINE_SCSI is not set # # Network device support # CONFIG_NETDEVICES=y CONFIG_DUMMY=m # CONFIG_SLIP is not set CONFIG_PPP=m # # CCP compressors for PPP are only built as modules. # # CONFIG_EQUALIZER is not set CONFIG_ARIADNE=y # CONFIG_A2065 is not set # CONFIG_HYDRA is not set # # Filesystems # # CONFIG_QUOTA is not set CONFIG_MINIX_FS=y # CONFIG_EXT_FS is not set CONFIG_EXT2_FS=y # CONFIG_XIA_FS is not set CONFIG_FAT_FS=m CONFIG_MSDOS_FS=m CONFIG_VFAT_FS=m # CONFIG_UMSDOS_FS is not set CONFIG_PROC_FS=y CONFIG_NFS_FS=m CONFIG_SMB_FS=m CONFIG_SMB_WIN95=y CONFIG_ISO9660_FS=m # CONFIG_HPFS_FS is not set # CONFIG_SYSV_FS is not set # CONFIG_AUTOFS_FS is not set CONFIG_AFFS_FS=m CONFIG_AMIGA_PARTITION=y # CONFIG_UFS_FS is not set # # Character devices # CONFIG_PRINTER=m # CONFIG_MULTIFACE_III_LP is not set CONFIG_AMIGAMOUSE=y CONFIG_AMIGA_BUILTIN_SERIAL=m # CONFIG_GVPIOEXT is not set # CONFIG_MULTIFACE_III_TTY is not set # CONFIG_WHIPPET is not set # CONFIG_USERIAL is not set # CONFIG_WATCHDOG is not set # CONFIG_UMISC is not set # # Sound support # CONFIG_SOUND=m CONFIG_DMASOUND=m # # Kernel hacking # # CONFIG_PROFILE is not set
Last Update: 6 June 1999
How to Create a
Supplemental Disk
If you plan to install Linux using the FTP or local hard-disk methods you'll need to create a supplemental diskette. There are at least three methods you can use to create the supplemental disk:
1. The File2Disk method:
I consider this method to be the easiest and safest, but for some reason File2Disk seems to die on some systems. I have seen this problem (very rarely) on my A4000.
Assuming you have downloaded and extracted the
File2Disk program from the .lha archive you may create the supplemental floppy disk under AmigaDos by entering the command from the redhat/images directory:File2Disk supp.img 0
Which will copy the supplemental disk image to floppy disk 0 ( your DF0: )
As I said, I have experienced rare cases where this program will crash the system. If this happens reboot and run File2Disk before loading any other programs or networking software.
2. The Flat-Handler method:
This method should work if you are having problems with File2Disk and involves copying a file to your AmigaDos L: drawer, then mounting a pseudo device.
Extract the
Flat-Handler from the Flat-Handler.lha archive located in the utils directory of the CDROM image. You may do this into a scratch directory of your AmigaDos hard disk, then enter the following commands:copy Flat-Handler L: clone
mount FLAT: from MountList
copy dh0:redhat/images/supp.img FLAT:df0
This should copy the supplemental disk image to your floppy disk. Be careful when you copy to the FLAT: device because a single typographical error could instantly and permanently destroy your AmigaDos filesystem. This is the main reason I prefer File2Disk over Flat-Handler.
3. The 'dd' method:
In order to use this method, you must already be running m68k Linux on your Amiga. Make sure your disk is low-level (Amiga) formatted before typing the dd command.
dd if=supp.img of=/dev/fd0 bs=880k
Last Update: 6 June 1999
How to Cross-compile your kernel
This section is for Linux users with moderate to advanced skills.
In this section I will explain how to setup a m68k-linux cross-compiler on a faster x86-linux system.
The new 2.2.x kernels require almost three hours to compile on my stock A4000-40. This is just too long to permit fine-tuning my kernel setups. I love my Amiga, but its in the same class as a low-end 80486. The cross-compiler is able to generate a new m68k 2.2.x kernel in less than fifteen minutes (2.0.36 in under 4 minutes), which leaves time to use my Amiga for fun stuff, instead of simply building kernels.
As Linux users we have the ability to do something windoze users can't even dream of: we can compile programs for a slow Linux machine using a faster Linux machine, for the most part, regardless of which CPU it has. This process is called cross-compiling. The host machine is where we will compile the programs, and the target machine is where we will execute the programs, so the x86 machine is our host, and our m68k Amiga is our target.
Download the Files
I will assume that a x86 machine will be used to cross-compile our m68k-linux programs, although there's no reason a fast Alpha or Sparc couldn't be used. Also I assume you have a fully operational and configured m68k Amiga running Linux. The gcc C/C++ compiler, headers, libraries, in addition to binutils, must be present on your Amiga.
First you need to download the source archives for
binutils and gcc. You may download these from your favorite FTP site such as GNU or Sunsite (1 ). I know that binutils-2.8.1 and gcc-2.7.2.3 work together for our needs (newer versions may, or may not work. binutils-2.9.1.0.19a did NOT work in one test case).On your x86 Linux machine login as user
root. cd to a scratch directory ( /tmp/ works fine ) and extract the binutils and gcc source archives ( tar -xvzf bin*.tgz ; tar -xvzf gcc*.tgz ).Build the m68k binutils
Next cd to the binutils directory created in the previous section and issue the command:
./configure --host=i486-linux --target=m68k-linux --prefix=/usr/local --exec-prefix=/usr/local
This will take a few moments to generate the required makefiles.
Type make to compile the binutils.
If the compile is successful, type make install
Build the m68k gcc compiler
Since we are building a compiler that generates object code that is unknown to the current x86 system, we must copy include files and libraries from our m68k system to the directory structure containing the cross-compiler. You may copy these files by using FTP or NFS. My examples below assume the Amiga is NFS mounted to a local mountpoint called /Amiga. (the Amiga will need the
no_root_squash option in the /etc/exports entry for the x86 machines IP entry ).mount Amiga:/ /Amiga
cd /usr/local/m68k-linux
cp -Rpv /Amiga/usr/include .
cd lib
cp -Rpv /Amiga/usr/lib/*.[ao] .
Note
: the -Rp switches above are very important.Now cd back to the directory where you extracted the gcc archive and issue the same ./configure command you did for the binutils (it should still be in your keyboard buffer if you up-arrow enough times ). This will create the required makefiles.
./configure --host=i486-linux --target=m68k-linux --prefix=/usr/local --exec-prefix=/usr/local
Type make to compile gcc.
If the compile is successful, type make install
Test the cross-compiler
Using another shell, logged in as a normal user, compile a small C program such as the famous hello_world :
/usr/local/m68k-linux/bin/gcc -o hello_world hello_world.c
Or if /usr/local/bin is in your default search path:
m68k-linux-gcc -o hello_world hello_world.c
Copy the resulting executable to a directory on your Amiga (such as /Amiga/tmp , [ /tmp on your Amiga ] ).
From a shell on your Amiga, execute the cross-compiled hello_world program, which should run as expected.
If you are curious, run the Linux file command on your hello-world program.
file hello_world hello_world: ELF 32-bit MSB executable, Motorola 68000, version 1
Now lets just see if microsoft can do that.
Cross-compile a m68k 2.0.36 kernel
In a scratch directory on your x86 machine (such as /tmp), extract the Amiga m68k 2.0.36-pre1 kernel from the tarfile.
cd to the new linux-2.0.36 directory.
Edit line 32 of the Makefile so that it reads:
CROSS_COMPILE = /usr/local/m68k-linux/bin/
Configure the m68k kernel with make menuconfig or make config .
If not already present, create the modules subdirectory:
mkdir include/linux/modules
Build your kernel:
make dep
make clean
make
make modules
This compile session completed in just under four minutes on my K6-2 350, compared to 110 minutes when compiled on the A4000.
Although you can cross-compile the kernel-modules, keep in mind that a make modules_install will write m68k object files into your x86 modules directories- which is something you probably do
NOT want to do.From your Amiga keyboard, cd to the (NFS mounted) directory on your x86 system where the cross-compile was performed. From the Amiga keyboard, run make modules_install , then to run depmod -a on the Amiga side.
Cross-compile a m68k 2.2.x kernel
Building a 2.2.x series kernel is essentially the same 2.0.x, however the top Makefile is now able to autodetect the native architecture. Since we are cross-compiling a m68k kernel on an x86 machine, we need to override the ARCH variable.
Comment-out the existing ARCH := directive at line 6, and add a line below stating ARCH = m68k .
Note
: Jes may have already done the above step for youAs you did for the 2.0.x kernel, specify the path to your m68k cross-compiler.
Build your kernel and modules, then install tem.
Last Update: 12 March 1999
Disk Preparation
Linux supports SCSI or IDE disk controllers and drives, or a combination of thereof.
The first step of installing Linux is to prepare several disk partitions. A partition is a continuous region of the disk set aside to contain a filesystem. In order to run Linux, you should provide at least two disk partitions. They are:
Since Linux is based upon a virtual memory model, programs requiring memory beyond your actual physical RAM cause 'unused' programs and data to be temporarily swapped out to a disk swapfile. This allows you to run programs that use more memory that you actually have, but there is a significant price to pay in terms of system performance when this happens. This is why its so important to have as much RAM installed in your system as you can afford.
In general the swap partition should be at about twice as large as the amount of memory installed in your machine.
The primary linux partition will contain all the directories and files required by users and the operating system. This partition should be large enough for the OS and any additional programs and data you expect to use.
Advanced Linux-ers usually subdivide the linux 'root' volume into several sub-partitions, however beginners do not need to worry about such things just yet....
|
~~~ ~~~ |
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Regarding AFFS partitions: Linux will not install correctly if any of your AFFS partitions have the option enabled. The AmigaDos 3.1 manuals state that DirCache is only useful with floppy-disks and very slow hard-disks. In general you should never use the DirCache option on harddisks- you are simply wasting memory that could be put to good use elsewhere. The afdisk program used by the Linux installer also has problems with AFFS DirCache partitions. Anyway, double-check all of your existing partitions and keep in mind that changing any partition option will destroy all data currently on that partition. (This is a warning in case you missed it). |
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While creating IDE disk partitions on my A4000 (with 3.0 ROMs), I had to limit the maxtransfer value to 0xfffe or AmigaDos would corrupt the filesystem and eventually crash. This problem is not present in 3.1 ROMs. |
I won't explain all the gory details, but there are several methods to prepare your hard disk(s) for Linux:
AmigaDos HDToolBox program.
The AmigaDos HDToolBox program has been available since 2.04 or so. HDToolBox is my preferred disk partitioning tool under AmigaDos. Other programs such as FaastPrep are unnecessary since HDToolBox provides the same functionality without all the limitations and quirks.
afdisk program provided by the RedHat installer.
The RedHat installers afdisk works fine as long as you don't have any DirCache partitions. Its not quite as friendly as x86 fdisk since it doesn't keep track of where previous partitions end, and it requires you to specify disk cylinders directly, instead of simply entering lengths in Kb or Mb.
Disk preparation programs from AmiNet, or bundled with your disk controller such as FaastPrep.
You may have varying degrees of success with these programs. Send me a note if you find one that does, or does not work.
If you do not have sufficient contiguous free space on your current drive you must (in order of risk/difficulty):
Hints:
To increase system performance, place swap on a different physical disk drive than your primary linux disk(s) if possible.
This reduces thrashing while swapping and lets you determine swap usage at-a-glance if you have a disk activity LED on your swap volume. If possible, make sure you place swap on your fastest hard disk.
Try to keep at least one regular Amiga AFFS/OFS partition around so you can easily exchange files between AmigaDos and Linux.
You do not need to format the Linux disk volumes under AmigaDos because Linux will do this during the install process.
Screenshot of my HDToolBox mainscreen:
This is HDToolBox's main screen. Note that on my A4000 the SCSI shown in the upper-left is a 'white-lie'; the drive is actually IDE, but due to an odd twist of history AmigaDos uses the scsi.device device-driver to access the IDE disks.
Screenshot of my HDToolBox drive-type definition screen:
If you add a new hard disk to your system you should enter this screen and click on the
Read Configuration button to retrieve the drive geometry. If you run HDToolBox from a boot floppy you'll need to write-enable it because HDToolBox saves this information for later use.There are two issues to note on this screen. I have disabled the Supports Reselection checkbox because my drive is IDE (IDE does not support reselection as most SCSI drives do), and the displayed drive capacity is shown to be negative!. I've seen this HDToolBox problem on large drives before, and in some cases I've had to manually calculate cyl/head/sect values that result in a positive capacity. The negative value reported on this screen does not seem to be causing any (obvious) problems, so I'll ignore it (for now).
Here are screenshots of my
swap partition settings.
Key points for swap partition:
Note that I specified a huge swap area, but you only need to reserve a value about double the amount of your system RAM, in bytes..
Here are screenshots of my primary
linux partition settings.
Key points for linux partition:
And here is sample
afdisk and df output from one of my A2000's running RedHat m68k Linux:
Disk /dev/sda: 1 heads, 888 sectors, 2336 cylinders, RDB: 0
Logical Cylinders from 2 to 2335, 512 bytes/Cylinder
Device Boot Mount Begin End Size Pri BBlks System
/dev/sda1 * * 2 810 359196 -10 0 0x41465301 = AFS\1[unknown]
/dev/sda2 811 2335 677100 0 0 0x4C4E5800 = LNX\0Linux native
Disk /dev/sdb: 1 heads, 182 sectors, 3684 cylinders, RDB: 0
Logical Cylinders from 2 to 3683, 512 bytes/Cylinder
Device Boot Mount Begin End Size Pri BBlks System
/dev/sdb1 * * 2 3160 287469 -20 0 0x444F5303 = DOS\3Amiga FFS Int.
/dev/sdb2 3161 3683 47593 0 0 0x53575000 = SWP\0Linux swap
Disk /dev/sdc: 1 heads, 666 sectors, 1250 cylinders, RDB: 0
Logical Cylinders from 2 to 1249, 512 bytes/Cylinder
Device Boot Mount Begin End Size Pri BBlks System
/dev/sdc1 * * 2 310 102897 -30 0 0x444F5303 = DOS\3Amiga FFS Int.
/dev/sdc2 311 1249 312687 0 0 0x4C4E5800 = LNX\0Linux native
Output from Linux df command:
Filesystem 1024-blocks Used Available Capacity Mounted on
/dev/sdc2 302702 14939 272129 5% /
/dev/sdb1 287468 250971 36497 87% /dh1
/dev/sdc1 102896 29 102867 0% /dh2
/dev/sda2 655436 211593 409988 34% /usr
Typical Disk Requirements
Shown below are the results of several install sessions on my spare A2000. Note that Linux requires a certain amount of reserved diskspace to function normally and future package requirements will certainly be greater than the values shown here. These values represent the amount of space required after installation.
Motto
: you will need at least 10..20% more diskspace than what I have shown here, and this doesn't consider any space for your own programs and/or data.Minimum install (no X) -
All packages choices disabled: 45 Mb.
Minimum Developer install (no X) -
devel-libs, C/C++ : 95 Mb.
Minimum Kernel Build install (no X) -
devel-libs, C/C++, and kernel sources: 120 Mb.
X-Default install -
Accept stock packages: 120 Mb.
X-Developer install -
Stock packages with X, devel libs, C/C++, and X-devel: 170 Mb.
X-Kernel Build install -
Stock packages with X, devel libs, C/C++, X-devel, and kernel sources: 195 Mb.
X-based FULL install -
All packages: 290 Mb.
Excerpt of m68k kernel-options.txt
This section is a copy of the file /usr/src/linux/Documentation/m68k/kernel-options.txt from 2.0.33pl1. I include it here because it is not readily visible to the casual user, and is not present on your system unless you have installed the kernel sources. This file contains a wealth of internal device-specific info for the m68k Linux user.
Command Line Options for Linux/68k ================================== Date: Sep 14, 1996 Linux/68k version: 2.0.20 Author: [email protected] (Roman Hodek) Update: [email protected] (Jes Sorensen) 0) Introduction =============== Often I've been asked which command line options the Linux/68k kernel understands, or how the exact syntax for the ... option is, or ... about the option ... . I hope, this document supplies all the answers... Note that some options might be outdated, their descriptions being incomplete or missing. Please update the information and send in the patches. 1) Overview of the Kernel's Option Processing ============================================= The kernel knows three kinds of options on its command line: 1) kernel options 2) environment settings 3) arguments for init To which of these classes an argument belongs is determined as follows: If the option is known to the kernel itself, i.e. if the name (the part before the '=') or, in some cases, the whole argument string is known to the kernel, it belongs to class 1. Otherwise, if the argument contains an '=', it is of class 2, and the definition is put into init's environment. All other arguments are passed to init as command line options. This document describes the valid kernel options for Linux/68k in the version mentioned at the start of this file. Later revisions may add new such options, and some may be missing in older versions. In general, the value (the part after the '=') of an option is a list of values separated by commas. The interpretation of these values is up to the driver that "owns" the option. This association of options with drivers is also the reason that some are further subdivided. 2) General Kernel Options ========================= 2.1) root= ---------- Syntax: root=/dev/or: root= This tells the kernel which device it should mount as the root filesystem. The device must be a block device with a valid filesystem on it. The first syntax gives the device by name. These names are converted into a major/minor number internally in the kernel in an unusual way. Normally, this "conversion" is done by the device files in /dev, but this isn't possible here, because the root filesystem (with /dev) isn't mounted yet... So the kernel parses the name itself, with some hardcoded name to number mappings. The name must always be a combination of two or three letters, followed by a decimal number. Valid names are: /dev/ram: -> 0x0100 (initial ramdisk) /dev/hda: -> 0x0300 (first IDE disk) /dev/hdb: -> 0x0340 (second IDE disk) /dev/sda: -> 0x0800 (first SCSI disk) /dev/sdb: -> 0x0810 (second SCSI disk) /dev/sdc: -> 0x0820 (third SCSI disk) /dev/sdd: -> 0x0830 (forth SCSI disk) /dev/sde: -> 0x0840 (fifth SCSI disk) /dev/fd : -> 0x0200 (floppy disk) /dev/xda: -> 0x0c00 (first XT disk, unused in Linux/68k) /dev/xdb: -> 0x0c40 (second XT disk, unused in Linux/68k) /dev/ada: -> 0x1c00 (first ACSI device) /dev/adb: -> 0x1c10 (second ACSI device) /dev/adc: -> 0x1c20 (third ACSI device) /dev/add: -> 0x1c30 (forth ACSI device) The last for names are available only if the kernel has been compiled with Atari and ACSI support. The name must be followed by a decimal number, that stands for the partition number of times. Internally, the value of the number is just added to the device number mentioned in the table above. The exceptions are /dev/ram and /dev/fd, where /dev/ram refers to an initial ramdisk loaded by your bootstrap program (please consult the instructions for your bootstrap program to find out how to load an initial ramdisk). As of kernel version 2.0.18 you must specify /dev/ram as the root device if you want to boot from an initial ramdisk. For the floppy devices, /dev/fd, the number stands for the floppy drive number (there are no partitions on floppy disks). I.e., /dev/fd0 stands for the first drive, /dev/fd1 for the second, and so on. Since the number is just added, you can also force the disk format by adding a number greater than 3. If you look into your /dev directory, use can see the /dev/fd0D720 has major 2 and minor 16. You can specify this device for the root FS by writing "root=/dev/fd16" on the kernel command line. [Strange and maybe uninteresting stuff ON] This unusual translation of device names has some strange consequences: If, for example, you have a symbolic link from /dev/fd to /dev/fd0D720 as an abbreviation for floppy driver #0 in DD format, you cannot use this name for specifying the root device, because the kernel cannot see this symlink before mounting the root FS and it isn't in the table above. If you would use it, the root device weren't set at all, without error message. Another example: You cannot use a partition on e.g. the sixth SCSI disk as the root filesystem, if you want to specify it by name. This is, because only the devices up to /dev/sde are in the table above, but not /dev/sdf. Although, you can use the sixth SCSI disk for the root FS, but you have to specify the device by number... (see below). Or, even more strange, use can use the fact that there is no range checking of the partition number, and your knowledge that each disk uses 16 minors, and write "root=/dev/sde17" (for /dev/sdf1). [Strange and maybe uninteresting stuff OFF] If the device containing your root partition isn't in the table above, you can also specify it by major and minor numbers. These are written in hex, with no prefix and no separator between. E.g., if you have a CD with contents appropriate as a root filesystem in the first SCSI CD-ROM drive, you boot from it by "root=0b00". Here, hex "0b" = decimal 11 is the major of SCSI CD-ROMs, and the minor 0 stands for the first of these. You can find out all valid major numbers by looking into include/linux/major.h. 2.2) ro, rw ----------- Syntax: ro or: rw These two options tell the kernel whether it should mount the root filesystem read-only or read-write. The default is read-only, except for ramdisks which are read-write. 2.3) debug ---------- Syntax: debug This raises the kernel log level to 10 (the default is 7). This is the same level as set by the "dmsg" command, just that the maximum level selectable by dmesg is 8. 2.4) debug= ----------- Syntax: debug= This option causes certain kernel messages be printed to the selected debugging device. This can aid debugging the kernel, since the messages can be captured and analyzed on some other machine. Which devices are possible depends on the machine type. There are no checks for the validity of the device name. If the device isn't implemented, nothing happens. Messages logged this way are in general stack dumps after kernel memory faults or bad kernel traps, and kernel panics. To be exact: all messages of level 0 (panic messages) and all messages printed while the log level is 8 or more (their level doesn't matter). Before stack dumps, the kernel sets the log level to 10 automatically. A level of at least 8 can also be set by the "debug" command line option (see 2.3) and at run time with "dmesg -n 8". Devices possible for Amiga: - "ser": built-in serial port; parameters: 9600bps, 8N1 - "mem": Save the messages to a reserved area in chip mem. After rebooting, they can be read under AmigaOS with the tool 'dmesg'. Devices possible for Atari: - "ser1": ST-MFP serial port ("Modem1"); parameters: 9600bps, 8N1 - "ser2": SCC channel B serial port ("Modem2"); parameters: 9600bps, 8N1 - "ser" : default serial port This is "ser2" for a Falcon, and "ser1" for any other machine - "par" : parallel port The printing routine for this implements a timeout for the case there's no printer connected (else the kernel would lock up). The timeout is not exact, but usually a few seconds. 2.6) ramdisk= ------------- Syntax: ramdisk= This option instructs the kernel to set up a ramdisk of the given size in KBytes. Do not use this option if the ramdisk contents are passed by bootstrap! In this case, the size is selected automatically and should not be overwritten. The only application is for root filesystems on floppy disks, that should be loaded into memory. To do that, select the corresponding size of the disk as ramdisk size, and set the root device to the disk drive (with "root="). 2.7) swap= ----------- Syntax: swap= , , , , , ,\ , (All optional) TODO 2.8) buff= ----------- Syntax: buff= , , , , , (All optional) TODO 3) General Device Options (Amiga and Atari) =========================================== 3.1) ether= ----------- Syntax: ether=[ [, [, [, ]]]], is the name of a net driver, as specified in drivers/net/Space.c in the Linux source. Most prominent are eth0, ... eth3, sl0, ... sl3, ppp0, ..., ppp3, dummy, and lo. The non-ethernet drivers (sl, ppp, dummy, lo) obviously ignore the settings by this options. Also, the existing ethernet drivers for Linux/68k (ariadne, a2065, hydra) don't use them because Zorro boards are really Plug-'n-Play, so the "ether=" option is useless altogether for Linux/68k. 3.2) hd= -------- Syntax: hd= , , This option sets the disk geometry of an IDE disk. The first hd= option is first the first IDE disk, the second for the second one. (I.e., you can give this option twice.) In most cases, you won't have to use this option, since the kernel can obtain the geometry data itself. It exists just for the case that this fails for one of your disks. 3.3) max_scsi_luns= ------------------- Syntax: max_scsi_luns= Sets the maximum number of LUNs (logical units) of SCSI devices to be scanned. Valid values for are between 1 and 8. Default is 8 if "Probe all LUNs on each SCSI device" was selected during the kernel configuration, else 1. 3.4) st= -------- Syntax: st= ,[ ,[ ]] Sets several parameters of the SCSI tape driver. is the number of 512-byte buffers reserved for tape operations for each device. sets the number of blocks which must be filled to start an actual write operation to the tape. Maximum value is the total number of buffers. limits the total number of buffers allocated for all tape devices. 3.5) dmasound= -------------- Syntax: dmasound=[ , [, ]] This option controls some configurations of the m68k DMA sound driver (Amiga and Atari): is the number of buffers you want to use (minimum 4, default 4), is the size of each buffer in kilobytes (minimum 4, default 32) and says how much percent of error will be tolerated when setting a frequency (maximum 10, default 0). For example with 3% you can play 8000Hz AU-Files on the Falcon with its hardware frequency of 8195Hz and thus don't need to expand the sound. 4) Options for Atari Only ========================= 4.1) video= -------------- Syntax: video= The is a comma-separated list of the sub-options listed below. NB: Please notice that this option was renamed from `atavideo' to `video' during the development of the 1.3.x kernels, thus you might need to update your boot-scripts if upgrading to 2.0.x from an 1.2.13ply kernel. 4.1.1) Video Mode ----------------- This sub-option may be any of the predefined video modes, as listed in atari/atafb.c in the Linux/68k source tree. The kernel will activate the given video mode at boot time and make it the default mode, if the hardware allows. Currently defined names are: - stlow : 320x200x4 - stmid, default5 : 640x200x2 - sthigh, default4: 640x400x1 - ttlow : 320x480x8, TT only - ttmid, default1 : 640x480x4, TT only - tthigh, default2: 1280x960x1, TT only - vga2 : 640x480x1, Falcon only - vga4 : 640x480x2, Falcon only - vga16, default3 : 640x480x4, Falcon only - vga256 : 640x480x8, Falcon only - falh2 : 896x608x1, Falcon only - falh16 : 896x608x4, Falcon only If no video mode is given on the command line, the kernel tries the modes names "default " in turn, until one is possible with the hardware in use. A video mode setting doesn't make sense, if the external driver is activated by a "external:" sub-option. 4.1.2) inverse -------------- Invert the display. This affects both, text (consoles) and graphics (X) display. Usually, the background is chosen to be black. With this option, you can make the background white. 4.1.3) font ----------- Syntax: font: Specify the font to use in text modes. Currently you can choose only between `VGA8x8' and `VGA8x16'. `VGA8x8' is default, if the vertical size of the display is less than 400 pixel rows. Otherwise, the `VGA8x16' font is the default. 4.1.4) hwscroll_ ---------------- Syntax: hwscroll_ The number of additional lines of video memory to reserve for speeding up the scrolling ("hardware scrolling"). Hardware scrolling is possible only if the kernel can set the video base address in steps fine enough. This is true for STE, MegaSTE, TT, and Falcon. It is not possible with plain STs and graphics cards (The former because the base address must be on a 256 byte boundary there, the latter because the kernel doesn't know how to set the base address at all.) By default, is set to the number of visible text lines on the display. Thus, the amount of video memory is doubled, compared to no hardware scrolling. You can turn off the hardware scrolling altogether by setting to 0. 4.1.5) internal: ---------------- Syntax: internal: ; [; ; ; ] This option specifies the capabilities of some extended internal video hardware, like e.g. OverScan. and give the (extended) dimensions of the screen. If your OverScan needs a black border, you have to write the last three arguments of the "internal:". is the maximum line length the hardware allows, the maximum number of lines. is the offset of the visible part of the screen memory to its physical start, in bytes. Often, extended interval video hardware has to be activated somehow. For this, see the "sw_*" options below. 4.1.6) sw_acia, sw_snd6, sw_snd7 -------------------------------- This specifies the method for turning on extended internal video hardware, like OverScan. Several methods are in use: sw_acia: Set RTS of the keyboard ACIA high sw_snd6: Set bit 6 of the PSG port A sw_snd7: Set bit 7 of the PSG port A These sub-options are generally only useful together with "internal:". 4.1.7) external: ---------------- Syntax: external: ; ; ; ; [; [; \ [; [; ]]]] [I had to break this line...] This is probably the most complicated parameter... It specifies that you have some external video hardware (a graphics board), and how to use it under Linux/68k. The kernel cannot know more about the hardware than you tell it here! The kernel also is unable to set or change any video modes, since it doesn't know about any board internal. So, you have to switch to that video mode before you start Linux, and cannot switch to another mode once Linux has started. The first 3 parameters of this sub-option should be obvious: , and give the dimensions of the screen and the number of planes (depth). The depth is is the logarithm to base 2 of the number of colors possible. (Or, the other way round: The number of colors is 2^depth). You have to tell the kernel furthermore how the video memory is organized. This is done by a letter as parameter: 'n': "normal planes", i.e. one whole plane after another 'i': "interleaved planes", i.e. 16 bit of the first plane, than 16 bit of the next, and so on... This mode is used only with the built-in Atari video modes, I think there is no card that supports this mode. 'p': "packed pixels", i.e. consecutive bits stand for all planes of one pixel; this is the most common mode for 8 planes (256 colors) on graphic cards 't': "true color" (more or less packed pixels, but without a color lookup table); usually depth is 24 For monochrome modes (i.e., is 1), the letter has a different meaning: 'n': normal colors, i.e. 0=white, 1=black 'i': inverted colors, i.e. 0=black, 1=white The next important information about the video hardware is the base address of the video memory. That is given in the parameter, as a hexadecimal number with a "0x" prefix. You have to find out this address in the documentation of your hardware. The next parameter, , tells the kernel about the size of the video memory. If it's missing, the size is calculated from , , and . For now, it is not useful to write a value here. It would be used only for hardware scrolling (which isn't possible with the external driver, because the kernel cannot set the video base address), or for virtual resolutions under X (which the X server doesn't support yet). So, it's currently best to leave this field empty, either by ending the "external:" after the video address or by writing two consecutive semicolons, if you want to give a (it is allowed to leave this parameter empty). The parameter is optional. If it is not given, the kernel cannot read or write any color registers of the video hardware, and thus you have to set appropriate colors before you start Linux. But if your card is somehow VGA compatible, you can tell the kernel the base address of the VGA register set, so it can change the color lookup table. You have to look up this address in your board's documentation. To avoid misunderstandings: is the _base_ address, i.e. a 4k aligned address. For read/writing the color registers, the kernel uses the addresses vgabase+0x3c7...vgabase+0x3c9. The parameter is written in hexadecimal with a "0x" prefix, just as . is meaningful only if is specified. It tells the kernel how wide each of the color register is, i.e. the number of bits per single color (red/green/blue). Default is 6, another quite usual value is 8. Also is used together with . It tells the kernel about the color register model of your gfx board. Currently, the types "vga" (which is also the default) and "mv300" (SANG MV300) are implemented. 4.1.8) eclock: -------------- The external pixel clock attached to the Falcon VIDEL shifter. This currently works only with the ScreenWonder! 4.1.9) monitorcap: ------------------- Syntax: monitorcap: ; ; ; This describes the capabilities of a multisync monitor. Don't use it with a fixed-frequency monitor! For now, only the Falcon frame buffer uses the settings of "monitorcap:". and are the minimum and maximum, resp., vertical frequencies your monitor can work with, in Hz. and are the same for the horizontal frequency, in kHz. The defaults are 58;62;31;32 (VGA compatible). The defaults for TV/SC1224/SC1435 cover both PAL and NTSC standards. 4.1.10) keep ------------ If this option is given, the framebuffer device doesn't do any video mode calculations and settings on its own. The only Atari fb device that does this currently is the Falcon. What you reach with this: Settings for unknown video extensions aren't overridden by the driver, so you can still use the mode found when booting, when the driver doesn't know to set this mode itself. But this also means, that you can't switch video modes anymore... An example where you may want to use "keep" is the ScreenBlaster for the Falcon. 4.2) atamouse= -------------- Syntax: atamouse= ,[ ] With this option, you can set the mouse movement reporting threshold. This is the number of pixels of mouse movement that have to accumulate before the IKBD sends a new mouse packet to the kernel. Higher values reduce the mouse interrupt load and thus reduce the chance of keyboard overruns. Lower values give a slightly faster mouse responses and slightly better mouse tracking. You can set the threshold in x and y separately, but usually this is of little practical use. If there's just one number in the option, it is used for both dimensions. The default value is 2 for both thresholds. 4.3) ataflop= ------------- Syntax: ataflop= [, [, [, ]]] The drive type may be 0, 1, or 2, for DD, HD, and ED, resp. This setting affects how much buffers are reserved and which formats are probed (see also below). The default is 1 (HD). Only one drive type can be selected. If you have two disk drives, select the "better" type. The second parameter tells the kernel whether to use track buffering (1) or not (0). The default is machine dependant: no for the Medusa and yes for all others. With the two following parameters, you can change the default steprate used for drive A and B, resp. 4.4) atascsi= ------------- Syntax: atascsi= [, [, [, [, ]]]] This option sets some parameters for the Atari native SCSI driver. Generally, any number of arguments can be omitted from the end. And for each of the numbers, a negative value means "use default". The defaults depend on whether TT-style or Falcon-style SCSI is used. Below, defaults are noted as n/m, where the first value refers to TT-SCSI and the latter to Falcon-SCSI. If an illegal value is given for one parameter, an error message is printed and that one setting is ignored (other aren't affected). : This is the maximum number of SCSI commands queued internal to the Atari SCSI driver. A value of 1 effectively turns off the driver internal multitasking (if it makes problems). Legal values are >= 1. can be as high as you like, but values greater than times the number of SCSI targets (LUNs) you have don't make sense. Default: 16/8. : Maximum number of SCSI commands issued to the driver for one logical unit (LUN, usually one SCSI target). Legal values start from 1. If tagged queuing (see below) is not used, values greater than 2 don't make sense, but waste memory. Otherwise, the maximum is the number of command tags available to the driver (currently 32). Default: 8/1. (Note: Values > 1 seem to cause problems on a Falcon, cause not yet known.) The value at a great part determines the amount of memory SCSI reserves for itself. The formula is rather complicated, but I can give you some hints: no scatter-gather : cmd_per_lun * 232 bytes full scatter-gather: cmd_per_lun * approx. 17 Kbytes : Size of the scatter-gather table, i.e. the number of requests consecutive on the disk that can be merged into one SCSI command. Legal values are between 0 and 255. Default: 255/0. Note: This value is forced to 0 on a Falcon, since scatter-gather isn't possible with the ST-DMA. Not using scatter-gather hurts perfomance significantly. : The SCSI ID to be used by the initiator (your Atari). This is usually 7, the highest possible ID. Every ID on the SCSI bus must be unique. Default: determined at run time: If the NV-RAM checksum is valid, and bit 7 in byte 30 of the NV-RAM is set, the lower 3 bits of this byte are used as the host ID. (This method is defined by Atari and also used by some TOS HD drivers.) If the above isn't given, the default ID is 7. (both, TT and Falcon). : 0 means turn off tagged queuing support, all other values > 0 mean use tagged queuing for targets that support it. Default: currently off, but this may change when tagged queuing handling has been proofed to be reliable. Tagged queuing means that more than one command can be issued to one LUN, and the SCSI device itself orders the requests so they can be performed in optimal order. Not all SCSI devices support tagged queuing (:-(). 5) Options for Amiga Only: ========================== 5.1) video= ----------- Syntax: video= The is a comma-separated list of the sub-options listed below. This option is organized similar to the Atari version of the "video"-option (4.1), but knows fewer sub-options. 5.1.1) video mode ----------------- Again, similar to the video mode for the Atari (see 4.1.1). Predefined modes depend on the used frame buffer device. OCS, ECS and AGA machines all use the color frame buffer. The following predefined video modes are available: NTSC modes: - ntsc : 640x200, 15 kHz, 60 Hz - ntsc-lace : 640x400, 15 kHz, 60 Hz interlaced PAL modes: - pal : 640x256, 15 kHz, 50 Hz - pal-lace : 640x512, 15 kHz, 50 Hz interlaced ECS modes: - multiscan : 640x480, 29 kHz, 57 Hz - multiscan-lace : 640x960, 29 kHz, 57 Hz interlaced - euro36 : 640x200, 15 kHz, 72 Hz - euro36-lace : 640x400, 15 kHz, 72 Hz interlaced - euro72 : 640x400, 29 kHz, 68 Hz - euro72-lace : 640x800, 29 kHz, 68 Hz interlaced - super72 : 800x300, 23 kHz, 70 Hz - super72-lace : 800x600, 23 kHz, 70 Hz interlaced - dblntsc-ff : 640x400, 27 kHz, 57 Hz - dblntsc-lace : 640x800, 27 kHz, 57 Hz interlaced - dblpal-ff : 640x512, 27 kHz, 47 Hz - dblpal-lace : 640x1024, 27 kHz, 47 Hz interlaced - dblntsc : 640x200, 27 kHz, 57 Hz doublescan - dblpal : 640x256, 27 kHz, 47 Hz doublescan VGA modes: - vga : 640x480, 31 kHz, 60 Hz - vga70 : 640x400, 31 kHz, 70 Hz Please notice that the ECS and VGA modes require either an ECS or AGA chipset, and that these modes are limited to 2-bit color for the ECS chipset and 8-bit color for the AGA chipset. 5.1.2) depth ------------ Syntax: depth: Specify the number of bit-planes for the selected video-mode. 5.1.3) inverse -------------- Use inverted display. Functionally the same as the "inverse" sub-option for the Atari. 5.1.4) font ----------- Syntax: font: Specify the font to use in text modes. Functionally the same as the "font" sub-option for the Atari. 5.1.5) monitorcap: ------------------- Syntax: monitorcap: ; ; ; This describes the capabilities of a multisync monitor. For now, only the color frame buffer uses the settings of "monitorcap:". and are the minimum and maximum, resp., vertical frequencies your monitor can work with, in Hz. and are the same for the horizontal frequency, in kHz. The defaults are 50;90;15;38 (Generic Amiga monitor). 5.2) fd_def_df0= ---------------- Syntax: fd_def_df0= Sets the df0 value for "silent" floppy drives. The value should be in hexadecimal with "0x" prefix. 5.3) wd33c93= ------------- Syntax: wd33c93= The is a comma-separated list of the sub-options listed below. 5.3.1) nosync ------------- Syntax: nosync:bitmask bitmask is a byte where the 1st 7 bits correspond with the 7 possible SCSI devices. Set a bit to prevent sync negotiation on that device. To maintain backwards compatibility, a command-line such as "wd33c93=255" will be automatically translated to "wd33c93=nosync:0xff". The default is to disable sync negotiation for all devices, eg. nosync:0xff. 5.3.2) period ------------- Syntax: period:ns `ns' is the minimum # of nanoseconds in a SCSI data transfer period. Default is 500; acceptable values are 250 - 1000. 5.3.3) disconnect ----------------- Syntax: disconnect:x Specify x = 0 to never allow disconnects, 2 to always allow them. x = 1 does 'adaptive' disconnects, which is the default and generally the best choice. 5.3.4) debug ------------ Syntax: debug:x If `DEBUGGING_ON' is defined, x is a bit mask that causes various types of debug output to printed - see the DB_xxx defines in wd33c93.h. 5.3.5) clock ------------ Syntax: clock:x x = clock input in MHz for WD33c93 chip. Normal values would be from 8 through 20. The default value depends on your hostadapter(s), default for the A3000 internal controller is 14, for the A2091 its 8 and for the GVP hostadapters its either 8 or 14, depending on the hostadapter and the SCSI-clock jumper present on some GVP hostadapters. 5.3.6) next ----------- No argument. Used to separate blocks of keywords when there's more than one host adapter in the system. 5.3.7) nodma ------------ Syntax: nodma:x If x is 1 (or if the option is just written as "nodma"), the WD33c93 controller will not use DMA (= direct memory access) to access the Amiga's memory. This is useful for some systems (like A3000's and A4000's with the A3640 accelerator, revision 3.0) that have problems using DMA to chip memory. The default is 0, i.e. to use DMA if possible. 5.4) gvp11= ----------- Syntax: gvp11= The earlier versions of the GVP driver did not handle DMA address-mask settings correctly which made it necessary for some people to use this option, in order to get their GVP controller running under Linux. These problems have hopefully been solved and the use of this option is now highly unrecommended! Incorrect use can lead to unpredictable behavior, so please only use this option if you *know* what you are doing and have a reason to do so. In any case if you experience problems and need to use this option, please inform us about it by mailing to the Linux/68k kernel mailing list. The address mask set by this option specifies which addresses are valid for DMA with the GVP Series II SCSI controller. An address is valid, if no bits are set except the bits that are set in the mask, too. Some versions of the GVP can only DMA into a 24 bit address range, some can address a 25 bit address range while others can use the whole 32 bit address range for DMA. The correct setting depends on your controller and should be autodetected by the driver. An example is the 24 bit region which is specified by a mask of 0x00fffffe. /* Local Variables: */ /* mode: text */ /* End: */
Last Update: 6 June 1999
Finding The Files
Most of the material in this Install FAQ assumes you will be using
RedHats Rough Cuts cdrom. This section provides additional info in case you have a very fast Internet connection (T1 or better) or need to download additional files not found on the RedHat m68k Linux cdroms.The entire RedHat m68k Linux disk image occupies approximately 625 Mb. Even if you choose not to download some of the directories (such as SRPMS), this is still a lot of information to be downloading across the Internet. Don't even try doing this unless you have a very fast internet connection, even so your network administrator may come hunting for you when he sees a single user occupying > 90% of his network bandwidth for over three hours.
If you have a RedHat m68k Linux CDROM you can skip this section. Some of the non-RedHat CDs may be missing a few files, so you might want to refer to this section to locate them.
RedHat m68k Linux and a multitude of programs and utilities can be found on Aminet, the m68k Linux archive at Sunsite ( auc.dk ), and the RedHat m68k archive.
Aminet [searchtool] [mirrors] [anonymous FTP] (USA)
Aminet [searchtool] [mirrors] [anonymous FTP] (Germany)
m68k Linux Archive [mirrors] (USA)
m68k Linux Archive [mirrors] (Germany)
RedHat m68k Archive (FTP, Denmark), RedHat m68k Archive (HTTP, Denmark)
RedHat m68k mirror (FTP, Italy) , RedHat m68k mirror (HTTP, Italy)
RedHat m68k mirror (FTP, USA)
As shown above, Aminet and the m68k Linux archive have several mirror sites.
Note that www.redhat.com does NOT mirror the current RedHat m68k Linux files.
One useful utility that I found on Aminet is
File2Disk. This programs allows you to create the supplemental diskette required during the Linux installation process.File2Disk.lha ( alternate ) - AmigaDos program used to create the supplemental RedHat install diskette.
Another program that you should already have is
Lha. This program is used to decompress file archives, such as File2Disk above.lha ( alternate ) - A great AmigaDos file compression/decompression utility.
Although not necessary, this program might be of help for some users.
untgz ( alternate ) - An AmigaDos program to extract Unix tar/gz files.
If you choose to download RedHat m68k Linux from one of the FTP sites you can save a lot of work and typing by following this simple procedure:
Login to one of the RedHat m68k Linux FTP sites and cd to the redhat directory.
Download all files and subdirectories by specifying redhat-5.1.tar as the filename.
Most webrowsers can download the entire tar archive if you specify the filename by typing it from the keyboard in the filename (URL) area of the browser. Simply add .tar to the filename. ( Example: redhat-5.1.tar )
Note
: unfortunately some FTP sites do not support recursive .tar download, however sunsite.auc.dk does.
Last Update: 6 June 1999
First Install
This procedure assumes you will be using
RedHats Rough Cuts cdrom. If you have downloaded all the necessary files via FTP then you should create an AmigaDos directory named redhat and extract all the files there. This installation procedure assumes your base (current) directory is the root directory of the RedHat m68k Linux cdrom or your redhat hard disk directory ( DH0:redhat for example ).Before you begin the installation process, you might consult the official
RedHat installation Howto. This doc is obviously written with an intel bias, but is still very applicable to the m68k install process. You should ignore any references to boot-disks, PC hardware, etc.To install RedHat m68k Linux your Amiga will need access to all the files found on the cdrom. Depending on where you have placed these files, The installer will ask you which installation method to use:
Local CDROM. This may be the RedHat m68k CD, or a downloaded FTP image burned on CDROM..
FTP to a local/remote Linux/Unix machine containing all the RedHat m68k Linux files or the mounted cdrom.
NFS to a local/remote Linux/Unix machine containing all the RedHat m68k Linux files or the mounted cdrom.
A local AFFS or EXT2 disk partition containing all the RedHat m68k Linux files.
Note: in the above descriptions, all means all files on the CDROM except the SRPMS (Source RPMs), which are optional.
Know your system:
Before installing linux on your system you should know its hardware content and configuration. Write down the answers to these questions:
Have you setup the required swap/root disk partitions ?
Which disks/partitions contain the swap/root partitions ?
What is your system type and model number [duh!] ?
What keyboard layout do you have (de, uk, us, etc.) ?
What CPU do you have (68030, 68040, 68060) ?
Do you have a math coprocessor ? (It must).
Do you have an IDE or SCSI disk controller ?
If you have SCSI, which SCSI card do you have ? Is it supported by Linux ?
What Network card do you have ?
What will your ethernet address (IP) be ?
Unless you are connected to somebody else's network and have been provided your own IP address, you should choose a local-network IP for your Amiga. Internet Standards RFC1597 explicitly defines several such addresses for local networks:
10.0.0.0 thru 10.255.255.254, Netmask = 10.255.255.255 172.16.0.0 thru 172.31.255.254, Netmask = 172.31.255.255 192.168.0.0 thru 192.168.255.254, Netmask = 192.168.255.255
No other IP addresses may be used for local networks
(if you ever plan to access the Internet).If you have defined a local address outside this range I strongly urge you to change it to comply with worldwide Internet standards, or you will experience and/or cause 'problems' for yourself and others.
If you have a completely local network, I suggest using an IP address of 10.0.0.10 and a netmask of 255.0.0.0, this will allow you to easily connect to the real internet in the future. There are many other reasons to use this class-A address range, which I won't cover here.
What is your ethernet netmask.
What is your domain name (make one up if you have a local-only network. I use rjf.net ) ?
What is your systems name on the network ( use your imagination! ) ?
What video chipset does your system use (OCS/ECS/AGA) ?
Where will you be installing the RedHat files from (CDROM/FTP/NFS/hard-disk) ?
While running AmigaDos,
cd (change-directory command) to the RedHat /images/ directory.Start the installation process by entering the command:
/utils/amiboot-5.6 -r initrd.img root=/dev/ram video=<desired video mode>
Depending on where you downloaded the install files, you may need to use the supplemental diskette. The installer will prompt you if so.
The video= parameter is optional, and should only be necessary if you are using a special video card or your video does not work correctly after Linux boots. If you have an NTSC Amiga you will need to specify the video=ntsc option if the display stays blank or starts rolling.
If in doubt, consult the amiboot readme file.
Amiboot should display some status information, load the Linux kernel, and start Linux after several seconds of gray screen. Linux will identify the hardware resources found in your machine, then start the RedHat m68k Linux installation script. ( For those of you familiar with x86 RedHat, it feels a little spooky to see this screen on an Amiga, of all places! ). If this does not happen, send help messages to the redhat-m68k mailing-list described in the References section of this document. If you use the supplemental floppy disk, make sure you place it in DF0:. It must be placed in DF0:.
The RedHat installer makes a few keyboard assumptions, they are:
TAB - moves between major selections.
ARROWS - moves between selections (up/down, left/right).
SPACE - toggle current field.
ENTER - accept current settings.
After you have answered a few questions, these keys will start to make sense.
Now answer the questions....
Note
: During the installation you may be asked a second time to detect the SCSI controller or reconfigure the network setups. If this happens DO NOT reconfigure them, TAB down to the cancel button and hit enter. This will skip device reconfiguration, and keep the original (correct) settings.Note
: If you have an IDE disk controller you will have to download a patched initrd.img file (See the Problems section).Note
: Don't forget to write down the root password you entered near the end of the install process.If you run into trouble, review each step, then check for sources of help in the
References section.
Introduction
This document set explains how to install and setup RedHat m68k Linux on your Amiga. I assume you have some experience with Linux, otherwise I recommend that you purchase any of the books written for newcomers to Linux- there are dozens of such books, most are very thick and include an (intel) Linux CDROM that doubles as a convenient drink coaster.
If you are new to Linux, please take a few moments to browse the entire contents of this document set before charging into the install process. By doing so you will save yourself a lot of time and trouble.
If all of this seems to be a bit too much- don't worry. There is lot of information presented here, much more than you probably need, but my intention is to help the rank beginner as well as the seasoned kernel hacker who is new to the Amiga. No two people will have the same questions or problems, so I'll try to cover a wide range of conditions. Those with some Linux experience may skip ahead whereas the Linux newby will benefit from reading all the provided background information.
RedHat m68k Linux is still an evolving project. As such, it still has a few rough edges, but it is fully functional and remarkably complete.
Major features of RedHat m68k Linux include:
Able to read and write AFFS (Amiga Fast File System) disks.
Able to read and write MsDos hard and floppy disks.
Internet connectivity ( via network, modem, or serial port ).
Samba (for Win95, NT connectivity). [ I use this a LOT at work ]
NCP (Novell) filesystem support (present in the 2.2.x kernels).
X11 (X-Windows).
Full set of software development tools (C, C++, assemblers, linkers, Tcl/Tk, Perl, debuggers, etc.).
Virtual memory system. Programs are not limited by the amount of physical RAM.
FTP, HTML, TELNET, NFS, PPP, Samba, named, (and many other) servers and clients.
Support for most Amigas and peripherals.
Complete kernel source with configuration utilities.
Source code compatibility with several hardware platforms (intel, alpha, sparc, mips, etc.).
Tons of free software (with source) is available via the Internet, including cdrom authoring tools.
A chance to bring that ol' Amiga back to life.
None of your money goes to uSoft (the Evil Empire in Redmond).
Please check the References section of this document as well as the official m68k Linux Home Pages for FAQ's, news, helpful hints and a record of previous questions and answers regarding m68k Linux.
If you aren't comfortable with command-line utilities, disk partition management, manual FTP sessions, disk backup/restore practices, or networking, I'd recommend finding a friend who can help answer basic questions and help if you run into trouble. Lots of folks are also listening on the m68k linux newsgroup.
In addition to Linux, I assume that you still want to run AmigaDos ( I sure do ! ). This way you can continue to run all your favorite Amiga programs and learn about the increasingly popular world of Linux.
Last Update: 6 June 1999
I use ppp (Point-To-Point Protocol) instead of SLIP (which was a historical accident). 'ppp' is easier to setup and offers many more features than SLIP. To learn about alternate ways of setting up ppp read PPP Setup Tips or the Linux PPP-HOWTO.
Although there are several ways to setup a ppp modem connection, I'll describe a simple (manual) configuration method. The X Control Panel provides a graphical setup script, but I find the resulting configuration is too inflexible and difficult to customize because they make use of several obscure setup files in the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts directory (ignoring the standard /etc/ppp files) which has caused me more trouble than its worth. I assume your ISP performs automatic PAP negotiation (some ancient servers don't), otherwise you will have to further research the nuances of the chat program
In order to setup ppp you will need to use a text editor such as vi or joe.
vi is installed by default, and is present on almost every *nix system. For help on using vi, run the vi program and enter :help
If you want to use an editor with Wordstar-syntax, try joe, but you will have to install the joe RPM first. For help on using joe read the manpage by typing the command man joe from a command-shell.
Before you start setting up ppp, make sure you have the following information:
What is the phone number of your ISP (Internet Service Provider).
What is the IP of your ISP's nameserver.
What is your userid and password on the ISP system.
First you must setup a softlink between your serial port and the modem device. On my A2000 this was done by typing the command:
ln -sv /dev/ttyS0 /dev/modem
You can verify the softlink, cables, and modem connection by running the minicom program. On startup minicom will attempt to initialize your modem. The last line displayed in the middle of the screen should be a simple "OK". Verify your modem is responding by typing (in upper-case without quotes) "ATZ" and press <return>. The modem should respond with OK.
You can verify your phone connection is working by manually dialing your ISP by typing "ATDT xxx" where xxx is the phone number of your ISP. The modem should make the call and your ISP should answer. If you get a successful connection you may see a login prompt or a bunch of garbage characters (ppp negotiation), which is different for each ISP. Hang up the modem by entering three plusses "+++", wait 2 seconds, then type the command "ATH0" (or "ATH", or simply turn off your external modem). You can now exit minicom by entering control-a (^a) followed by control-x (^x). Make sure you can perform these steps before you proceed any further.
cd
to the /etc/ppp directory and create a file called "options". Using a text editor enter the following lines making sure to replace <your userid> with your actual userid as expected by your ISP:|
/dev/modem |
Notice that I specified a baud-rate of 57600. If your system/modem wont run this fast try a lower value such as 38400. Save this file and create another one called "dialout". Enter the following lines (of a chat script):
|
ABORT BUSY |
Make sure to replace my "522-0375" phone number with the actual phone number of your ISP. Save this file. For background on what this is really doing, read the chat manpage [ type man chat ]. Also consult your modems manual for any additional options you might want to send during the dialup.
Next, create a file called "pap-secrets" and enter the following, making sure to replace <user userid> <your password> with the your actual ISP account userid and password.
|
<your userid> * <your password> |
Save this file and exit the text editor.
One more issue must be dealt with- your default nameserver. This is specified in a file called "/etc/resolv.conf." Edit this file making sure to replace <your nameserver> with IP of the nameserver recommended by your ISP. Leave any other lines in this file alone.
|
nameserver <your nameserver> |
Now its time to test your PPP connection. One debug aid provided by ppp is that it sends some helpful information to the system logger. You can view this information on another VCON or xterm window by typing "tail -f /var/log/messages". Switch back to your first command shell and enter the command "pppd". The modem should start dialing and you can watch its progress by switching back to the VCON or xterm that is running the tail command you just started.
For your reference, here is a sample system-log of a successful ppp connection, ping command, and disconnect:
|
May 16 16:25:31 sidekick kernel: registered device ppp0 |
As a test your should try to ping a machine on the internet, such as your ISP, or some other nearby system.
To disconnect from your ISP, enter the command killall pppd.
For additional help, try reading the man pages for pppd and chat.
If you are an advanced Linux-er, the new ppp-2.3.3 supports automatic demand-dialing and disconnection after a defined period of inactivity. To use this you must upgrade your kernel to at least 2.0.33, download the new ppp package and install its kernel patches, then reconfigure and recompile your kernel. This version of ppp has one nasty bug: Once you start the PPP daemon your network will stop working until you establish a connection with your ISP. The network works fine after this, even if the modem hangs-up and reconnects. (this problem took a several days to diagnose).
Another advanced networking topic is IP-Masquerade, which allows your Linux machine to act as an internet gateway for your entire local network (yes, other machines on your home network can simultaneously access the internet through your single modem connection- I'm doing this right now as I sit here writing, testing and uploading this document on several systems). Check out the Masquerade Homepage for details.
Once you get masquerade going you will probably want to run a local nameserver so you don't have to wait for DNS lookups on every single internet access. Another optimization to look into is the SQUID html caching server, which can be used to block many of those annoying advertisements found on commercial web pages.
Last Update: 6 June 1999
Network Configuration
The RedHat installer has probably done a fine job of setting up your network. This section is for those who want to really tweek their networking setups, and contains technical details that might overwhelm a complete computer newby. Its OK to skip this section if it seems too much for you to deal with right now.
This section describes how to customize the network interface of your RedHat Linux system. I assume your system will have an Ethernet card (ignore modems for now). In any case these configurations often apply to a modem-based network connection as well.
Many aspects of Linux are intimately tied to the concept of networking. With a properly configured network interface its possible to communicate with, and run programs on any computer on the network to which you have access. Regardless of system type, intel, DEC/Alpha, Amiga, and Sparc computers may cooperate on the network as equals. The capability to remotely operate and configure Linux machines is one benefit of the operating-system which I often use at home and work.
Most of the network configuration is controlled by files present in the /etc directory tree.
A look inside my
/etc/hosts file:127.0.0.1 localhost localhost.localdomain 10.1.1.21 lurker.rjf.net lurker 10.1.1.13 spareparts.rjf.net spareparts parts
The purpose of the hosts file is to provide part of the translation system that converts computer names (preferred by humans) to the numeric IP address required by computers and the Internet.
The first entry, localhost is required, and is predefined to mean "this computer", although the internal implementation isn't quite this simple. If you telnet, ping, or ftp to localhost, your own computer will intercept the message and issue a local response if possible. The purpose of localhost is to help network administrators and developers verify the operation of the local networking system before actually sending message across the real network.
The second entry should contain the IP address of your computer, followed by its fully qualified name, followed by any aliases.
Any additional entries should contain the IP addresses and names of local computers, or any computers unknown to nameservers present on the internet or your local network. I have setup a nameserver for my home network which knows the names of all my local computers. This means that all my hosts files contain only the top two entries as shown above, since the nameserver returns the name/IP of all computers that are local or on the Internet.
Changes made to this file take effect immediately.
For additional details read the manpage for hosts.
A look inside my
/etc/resolv.conf file:search rjf.net cs.twsu.edu nameserver 127.0.0.1 204.233.71.1
The purpose of the
The search line tells nameservers that you want these domains to be part of the default search group for names specified without a domain. For example, if I wish to contact the computer mccoy at the university (whose domain is cs.twsu.edu) I may simply type 'telnet mccoy' instead of 'telnet mccoy.cs.twsu.edu'. This can save a lot of typing with often-used names and URLs.
The nameserver line allows you to specify a list of nameservers that your computer may contact when it needs to translate names to IP addresses. the 127.0.0.1 ( localhost ) entry is usually present here because many Linux systems provide a local caching nameserver. If the local nameserver can't resolve the name, the next nameserver in the list will be consulted.
Changes made to this file take effect immediately.
For additional details read the manpage for resolver, and nslookup.
A look inside my
/etc/exports file:/ *.rjf.net(rw,link_relative) / 10.1.1.21(rw,link_relative) /tmp/ crash(rw,link_relative)
Note
: the link_relative option is no longer supported in 2.2.x kernels.The exports file serves two purposes, the second of which is actually a side-effect.
First, the exports file lets you specify a list of machines or domains whom you consider trustworthy enough to allow mounting directories on your computer.
Second, the side-effect is that any computer listed here is also considered a 'friend' by PAM (a network security module), and will be allowed to telnet, ftp, etc, into your computer. If a computer is unable to telnet or ftp into your system, and a ping test indicates the physical connection is OK, see if adding an entry to the exports file will solve the problem. This is a PAM security issue. In truth, the proper way to solve this problem is to make sure your nameserver can perform reverse name-resolution for the machine trying to get in, but this may not be possible if you don't have administrator rights or skills on the nameserver.
If you make a change to this file you must shutdown and restart the nfs daemon:
Issue the shell commands: /etc/rc.d/init.d/nfs stop /etc/rc.d/init.d/nfs start
For additional details read the manpage for exports, nfs, and nfsd.
An excerpt from my
/etc/fstab file:<snip>
spareparts:/ /Parts nfs soft,noauto 0 0
<snip>
Normally you wouldn't think of fstab as being part of the network configuration, but fstab is the file that tells Linux how and where to mount remote filesystems, such as NFS (Network FileSystem).
The first column indicates the remote computers name is spareparts, and we will mount its filesystem from the root directory (signified by the single slash).
The second column is the name of a local directory on this machine that is the local mountpoint for the other systems root directory. After I mount /Parts, the local /Parts directory will behave as if it was the root directory on the other system.
The third column is the type of filesystem (NFS in this case).
The fourth column (noauto) indicates that I want to manually mount this filesystem. Except when using NIS, automounting NFS volumes at startup is a bad idea, especially if you mount the remote systems root directory (also not recommended). The soft option is recommended to prevent kernel device-locks if the remote site is unreachable.
The fifth group indicates mount order (just leave as "0 0").
For additional details read the manpages for fstab, nfs, nfsd, and mount.
A look inside my
/etc/sysconfig/network file:NETWORKING=yes FORWARD_IPV4=false HOSTNAME=lurker.rjf.net DOMAINNAME=rjf.net GATEWAY=10.0.0.2 GATEWAYDEV=eth0
Only in unusual cases will you need to alter these setting after initial Linux installation.
NETWORKING tells Linux whether or not networking operations are supported. This entry should be set to "yes" if you have an Ethernet card or plan on using a modem.
FORWARD_IPV4 controls the operation of a special kernel option called IP Forwarding. Used in conjunction with the ipfwadm program, your computer can act as a gateway, routing traffic from your local network through another network interface such as a modem. When used with the masquerading module, all the computers on your network may access the Internet through a single modem on your Linux machine.
Generally this feature should always be disabled in the network file. If you wish to use IP Forwarding you should enable it later in the system startup sequence, in one of the /etc/rc.d runlevel scripts for example. The preferred method to enable IP Forwarding at runtime is to execute the following shell command from a script:
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
HOSTNAME specifies the name of your computer. The term host is Unix-ese for any computer on the network. The hostname is the Fully Qualified name of your computer, which is simply the name (or nickname) of your computer along with your domain.
DOMAINNAME specifies the network domain your computer is connected to. Unless you are using your computer at home, your domain-name may be obtained from your network administrator. If you are setting up a home computer, you must decide whether to use the domain-name of your ISP (Internet Service Provider), or to make one up of your own (like my bogus .rjf home domain).
GATEWAY specifies the IP address of your network gateway, which should be available from your network administrator. If you are using a home modem connection, or your system is acting as a gateway directly to the internet, this entry should be commented-out by preceding it with a hash-mark ( # ).
GATEWAYDEV specifies the hardware interface through which to access the network gateway. This field will normally contain the string "eth0" which means "the first ethernet interface". You only need to change this if you have more than one Ethernet card, or if your system
is the gateway machine via a modem (in which case this entry would be commented-out).If you wish to make temporary changes to networking parameters initialized by this file (without resetting the machine), consult the manpages for the route, ifconfig, ifup, ifdown commands.
Its best to restart the machine after making changes to this file (to ensure the settings are correct).
A look inside my
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 file:DEVICE=eth0 IPADDR=10.1.1.21 NETMASK=255.0.0.0 NETWORK=10.0.0.0 BROADCAST=10.255.255.255 ONBOOT=yes
Only in unusual cases will you need to alter these setting after initial Linux installation.
DEVICE specifies the resource to be configured by this file, which is "the first ethernet interface" in this case.
IPADDR specifies the IP Address of this ethernet interface. If you are operating on somebody else's network, the network administrator should be able to provide you with your own IP address. It is vitally important that your address is unique; different from all other systems on the local or global network. If you are running a local, isolated network you should use an IP address that is within the address ranges set aside for this purpose. Such local addresses are guaranteed to be blocked by routers on the Internet, thus preventing interference between isolated local networks.
Internet Standards RFC1597 explicitly defines several such addresses for local networks:
10.0.0.0 thru 10.255.255.254, 'Netmask' = 10.255.255.255 172.16.0.0 thru 172.31.255.254, 'Netmask' = 172.31.255.255 192.168.0.0 thru 192.168.255.254, 'Netmask' = 192.168.255.255
No other IP addresses may be used for local networks
(if you ever plan to access the Internet).If you have defined a local address outside this range I strongly urge you to change it to comply with worldwide Internet standards, or you will experience and/or cause 'problems'..
If you have a completely local network, I suggest using a class-A IP address of 10.0.0.10 and a netmask of 255.0.0.0. RedHat default settings for this range work fine, and it will allow you to easily connect to the real Internet in the future.
NETMASK is a logical bitmask applied to the IPADDR field, which is used to determine which portion of the 32-bit IP address space refers to the local network, and which part applies to the machines on the network.
NETWORK, after being logically AND'ed with the above NETMASK, specifies the address range of the local network.
BROADCAST specifies the IP address reserved for broadcasts on your network. Generally it should be set to the value of NETWORK OR'ed with the 1's compliment of the NETMASK.
So, to review my settings, lets see what they all mean:
IPADDR = 0001 0000 0000 0001 0000 0001 0001 0101 10.1.1.21 NETMASK = 1111 1111 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 255.0.0.0 NETWORK = 0001 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 10.0.0.0 BROADCAST = 0001 0000 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 1111 10.255.255.255
In this example, my home network is 10, which leaves a 24-bit address region for individual machines ( more than enough! ). My ethernet interface eth0 will broadcast to address 10.255.255.255. Broadcasts are used by the TCP/IP protocol to discover other machines on the network, and for other low-level operations.
ONBOOT tells the networking system whether or not this interface should be started at boot-time, or deferred until manually launched at a later time. This field should normally set to 'yes'.
If you wish to make temporary changes to networking parameters initialized by this file (without resetting the machine), consult the manpages for the route, ifconfig, ifup, ifdown commands.
Its best to restart the machine after making changes to this file (to ensure the settings are correct).
Last Update: 12 March 1999
Post-Install Fix-ups
This section describes several generic fine-tuning operations that should be performed after the initial installation. Make sure you also follow subsequent configuration sections that apply to your system.
Linux, Unix, NT and win95 temporarily cache disk contents in memory to increase system performance. NEVER reset or power-down your system without performing an orderly shutdown procedure; otherwise you risk corruption of the disk filesystem. The normal method of shutting Linux down is to enter the command shutdown -h now from a root shell.
Now lets startup Linux on your Amiga
After the Linux installation script reboots your computer, it should be running under AmigaDos again. In order to launch the Linux operating system we just installed,
cd to the RedHat /post-install directory (which may be on your hard disk or CDROM) and enter:/utils/amiboot-5.6 -k
vmlinux-amiga root=<desired dev> video=<desired video mode>The root= parameter is required, and refers to the disk partition where you installed Linux. Assuming you are using a SCSI disk, typical values for this would be
/dev/sda1 for the first partition of the first SCSI disk, or /dev/sda2 for the second partition of the first SCSI disk, or /dev/sdb1 for the first partition of the second SCSI disk (well, you get the idea....). IDE partitions would be labeled /dev/hda2 for the second partition of the first IDE device and /dev/hdb1 for the first partition of the second IDE device.The video= parameter is optional, and should only be necessary if you are using a special video card or your video does not work correctly after Linux boots. If you have an NTSC Amiga you will need to specify the video=ntsc option if the display stays blank or starts rolling.
If in doubt, consult the
amiboot readme file.After the familiar gray screen, RedHat m68k Linux should come to life on your Amiga. The /post-install/vmlinux-amiga kernel image has support for most Amiga peripherals compiled-in, so it "should" work with your machine, however you may receive several warnings about missing
.o files during startup. Ignore them for now (unless your system dies of-course, which is unlikely)....Login as user root, and supply the root password you entered during the install process ( still remember that password ?? ).
When you are logged in as root, you are the superuser. The system assumes you know what you are doing and will not protect you from yourself, so be very careful- especially when formatting disks or deleting files.
Fixup the 'man' apropos/whatis Database:
The man system is the online reference to almost all Linux programs and configurations. If you have a question on how to use or setup some aspect of Linux, the first thing you should do is goto/open a command-shell and enter
man <command> where <command> is the program or function you are curious about. The man system even knows about C library-functions, many configuration files, and operating system-calls.If you have a vague subject or are looking for related commands you can search the contents of the entire man system by entering the command
apropos <keyword>. The system will respond with a list of matches. You can then enter the man command for each listed entry. The output is handled through less, so you should be able to use the line and page up/down keys to traverse the manpage.There is one little problem with RedHat Linux- they forgot to rebuild the man database after the install process, but you can do this manually by entering the command
makewhatis. You should do this from time to time, or whenever you install new programs.Fix default 'profile' for usual paths:
After logging in as root, you should edit the file
/etc/profile with the editor of your choice (such as 'vi'). Recent releases of RedHat Linux (all platforms) have forgotten to PATH the common /usr/lib/bin and C++ compiler (I avoid nasty-old C whenever possible, preferring C++). About six lines into /etc/profile you should find a line containing:PATH="$PATH:/usr/X11R6/bin"
Just below this add the new line:
PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/bin:/usr/lib/gcc-lib/m68k-redhat-linux/egcs-2.90.27"
This should allow you to compile C++ files with
gcc, and to execute files in the usual /usr/local/bin directory.In order for this change to take effect you need to log out of the current shell, and re-login. You do NOT need to reset your computer (remember, this isn't WinNT ! ).
Add a mountpoint for CDROM if not already present:
If you installed Linux via FTP/NFS/hard-disk the file /etc/fstab may not have an entry describing your CDROM (assuming you have one!). The fstab file gives Linux a hint how and where to access filesystems and storage devices. If your /etc/fstab file does not have an entry containing /mnt/cdrom in the second column, you will have to add it yourself. New entries can be added as new lines at the end of /etc/fstab. Do not alter other lines in this file unless you know exactly what you are doing.
Make sure you have a cdrom mountpoint at /mnt/cdrom, otherwise you may have to manually create it by typing:
mkdir /mnt/cdrom
You only need to do this
once, after you install Linux.
As a test you should manually mount your cdrom drive. On my IDE-based A4000 I would type:
mount /dev/hdb /mnt/cdrom
and on my SCSI-based A2000 I would type:
mount /dev/scd0 /mnt/cdrom
If your system is SCSI based, this new line in /etc/fstab should be entered as:
|
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso9660 noauto,ro 0 0 |
This assumes /dev/cdrom is softlinked to /dev/scd0 (or maybe /dev/sr0).
Else, if your system is IDE based, this new line in /etc/fstab should also be entered as:
|
/dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom iso9660 noauto,ro 0 0 |
this assumes /dev/cdrom is softlinked to your cdrom, which is probably /dev/hdb.
Verify the /dev/cdrom softlink by typing the shell command ls -l /dev/cdrom . If this reports an error then you need to create the /dev/cdrom softlink:
For IDE: ln -sv /dev/hdb /dev/cdrom
For SCSI: ln -sv /dev/scd0 /dev/cdrom
Once this is done you may mount your cdrom with the simple command:
mount /mnt/cdrom
All the files on the cdrom will be accessible from the directory /mnt/cdrom.
When finished with the cdrom, or when you wish to remove it, use the command:
umount /mnt/cdrom
Note
: Most cdroms will not eject a mounted disk until you type the umount command. Never force a cdrom open. Try the command man fstab for a description of available options.
Add a mountpoint for Amiga Harddisks if not already present:
This section assumes you have built Amiga FileSystem support into your kernel (or module support).
Even if you specified some of your Amiga FastFileSystem partitions during the Linux install, they may not be present in the /etc/fstab file.
If for example your AFFS partitions is the first partition of the first SCSI disk ( /dev/sda1 ) and your would like to call it /dh0 under Linux, this is how you would tell Linux where your AFFS partition is located (in the /etc/fstab file) :
|
/dev/sda1 /dh0 affs noauto 0 0 |
If not already present, you will have to create a mountpoint for this volume:
mkdir /dh0
All files on your Amiga FastFileSystem volume will be accessible from the Linux directory /dh0.
You should be able to mount your Amiga FastFileSystem volume by typing the command:
mount /dh0
Note
: If you would like Linux to automatically mount this AFFS disk you will need to replace the "noauto" above with "defaults".Add a mountpoint for MsDos 720K Floppy Disk:
This section assumes you have built MsDos FileSystem support into your kernel (or module support).
If you would like to be able to read/write MsDos 720K floppy disks you need to add a line to your /etc/fstab file:
|
/dev/fd0d360 /mnt/msdos_floppy msdos noauto 0 0 |
Then you will need to create a mountpoint for this volume:
mkdir /mnt/msdos_floppy
You should be able to mount MsDos 720K floppies by typing the command:
mount /mnt/msdos_floppy
When finished with this disk (or before you remove it) you will need to unmount it by typing the command:
umount /mnt/msdos_floppy
Remember: You must
NEVER remove a mounted disk without first umounting it or the contents will be corrupted.Add filename colorizing to your shells:
This tweek is almost frivolous, but I'll bet you'll get used to it very quickly. This simple change to your /etc/profile script allows the
ls command to display a list of files in a color-coded manner, based upon filetype. Scripts, directories, regular files, etc are displayed in a different color, making them easy to differentiate visually.Just add the following line to the bottom of your /etc/profile file:
alias ls="ls --color=tty"
You will need to logout, then re-login to the shell for this change to take effect.
Last Update: 15 March 1999
Known or Potential Problems
Please read the issues below to reduce your chance of running into problems that others have already seen and/or solved.
If you encounter 'problems' you will probably be asked to report the contents of one or more Linux Virtual Consoles (VCONs). Since Linux is a true multiuser/multitasking operating-system its possible to run several programs at the same time, each on a different Virtual Console, or screen. The RedHat Linux installer uses VCON3, VCON4, and VCON5 for debugging logs. If the installer halts due to a hardware or system configuration problem there is a good chance that VCON3 or VCON4 will contain a clue as to why the install failed.
You may switch to any of the VCONs with the key-combination of ALT-Fn (where ALT-F represents the ALTernate and FUNCtion keys pressed at the same time and 'n' is the VCON number). For example, VCON3 may be accessed by pressing ALT-F3 and VCON4 with ALT-F4. Return to the main install screen on VCON1 by pressing ALT-F1. These VCONs are also available under Linux once you've finished the installation. This means you can run several programs on several consoles at the same time. Its very convenient to be able to flip to a different console to check the state of the system or a particular program without disturbing your current application.
VCON usage during installation:
VCON1: Primary installation screen and user interaction.
VCON2: <advanced> user command shell after first-stage install.
VCON3: Installation progress and module load log.
VCON4: Log of device mounting and I/O.
VCON5: Logging output of accessory programs and disk formatters.
If the install process goes foul, you may be able to recover some information from the text runtime log in /tmp/syslog file.
Schatztruhe Linux disks may cause install problems.
The Schatztruhe RedHat m68k Linux CDROM appears to have problems with attributes on all of the installation files, particularly scripts. One solution is to copy the contents of the CDROM to your AmigaDos hard disk. You don't need any of the (huge) SRPMS files for the install. You may then perform a Linux install from the files on your local hard disk, using the supplemental floppy-disk (creating this floppy-disk is explained here).
HELP: is this still a problem with their current disks ??
RedHat 5.1 will not install directly from IDE CDROM on an A1200/A4000.
Due to a minor change between the RedHat 5.0 and 5.1 installer, some ATAPI cdroms may not be recognized. An updated version of the initrd.img file is available at sunsite.auc.dk or Italy. The use of this file instead of the initrd.img on the cdrom should fix the problem.
RedHat 5.1 may not install on A4000T.
There have been reports of problems installing RedHat Linux on A4000T machines. This is being worked-on, hopefully a solution is in the works.
Linux will not run if you do not have a math-coprocessor chip and a MMU.
At this time a math-coprocessor chip is required equipment for all versions of m68k Linux (not just RedHat). Also your CPU must have a functional MMU (Memory Management Unit, [address translator]), which means you need a 68020 or better. Emulation code is in the works, but this is a volunteer effort (which applies to Linux in general), so please be polite when inquiring about on-going progress.
DirCache partitions.
RedHat m68k Linux will not install correctly if any of your AFFS partitions have the DirCache option enabled. Linux may not be able to see or use any partition located on any drive also containing DirCache partitions. This affects system disk drivers as well as the afdisk program.
Problems recognizing peripherals after first install.
If you are having this kind of problem then you probably forgot to use the provided post-install/vmlinux-amiga file. Go back and read the Post-Install section- a little more carefully this time. The alternative is that you might have unsupported hardware in your system.
NFS/FTP installs fail or crash when gateway is specified during an install across the network.
So far the only solution I have found is to leave the gateway field blank during initial install, then specify the actual gateway machine when the installer lets you re-configure your network setups.
AmigaDos 3.x CDROM drivers do not correctly handle Rock-Ridge extensions.
One problem I noticed on the AmigaDos side is that the CDROM drivers that came with OS3.x cannot handle Rock-Ridge extensions correctly. You can avoid this issue by using more recent CDROM drivers (amicdfs240.lha from AmiNet seems to work a little better, but has other problems). AsimCDFS seems to work correctly on my A4000/040.
Hard disk partitions created on other platforms may prevent AmigaDos from booting.
This is not a Linux problem, but it is possible for the Amiga ROM boot process to lock-up if it sees partitions created by another operating system such as MsDos or intel Linux. The solution is to boot AmigaDos with a floppy and run HDToolBox on the new (alien) partition. Select the disk in question and enter the partition drive screen. After enabling the Advanced checkbox, Disable the Automount and Boot checkboxes, save the changes back to disk. AmigaDos should now boot correctly (assuming this was the cause of your problem). A worst-case alternative I've had to use several times is to use another Linux machine to zero-out the first hundred sectors or so. This can be done with the general command of ' cp /dev/zero /dev/sdX ' (be very, very careful here!).
A4000 IDE hard disk MaxTransfer problem under AmigaDos 3.0.
While partitioning the IDE hard disk on my A4000 having 3.0 ROMs, I found that I had to set the drive MaxTransfer field to a value of 0xfffe or the filesystem would become corrupt, and the system would eventually crash. This problem seems to have been fixed in the AmigaDos 3.1 ROMs.
Amiga video may loose sync during Linux startup.
After entering the amiboot command, the video from my (North American NTSC) Amiga(s) simply goes white or starts rolling and is unusable. The solution is to specify the video=ntsc option on the amiboot command-line, which forced the video to NTSC mode. If you have a VGA monitor connected to your A4000 you might use the video=vga option.
Netscape is not available for m68k Linux ????
This is not a real bug or Linux problem, but this is probably the most common question heard on the newsgroups. At this time Netscape has not released a version of their browser for m68k or Alpha Linux (yes, I also run Alpha Linux). Although there are rumors of an (unsupported) developer version of Mozilla that runs on m68k, installation and compilation of such a large package is not recommended for beginners. An alternative might be KDE, but thats a whole environment of its own.
Last Update: 4 May 1999
References
Please do not send personal email to me or Jes. Many "knowledgeable" folks frequent the RedHat m68k mailing-list and usenet (news), so your question(s) may already have been answered there. This allows others to benefit from the response to
your questions, and becomes part of the reference archive for future RedHat m68k Linux installers.If you have questions or need help, first check the following:
RedHat m68k Linux mailing-list ( http://archive.redhat.com/m68k-list/ to view past messages ).
RedHat m68k Linux mailing-list ( [email protected] to subscribe ).
RedHat m68k Linux mailing-list ( [email protected] to post a question ).
m68k Linux newsgroup at comp.os.linux.m68k which includes RedHat, Debian, and WatchTower m68k distributions.
The following online resources are most valuable to the Amiga user:
Aminet [searchtool] [mirrors] [anonymous FTP] (USA)
Aminet [searchtool] [mirrors] [anonymous FTP] (Germany)
m68k Linux Archive [mirrors] (USA)
m68k Linux Archive [mirrors] (Germany)
RedHat m68k Archive (FTP, Denmark), RedHat m68k Archive (HTTP, Denmark)
RedHat m68k mirror (FTP, Italy) , RedHat m68k mirror (HTTP, Italy)
RedHat m68k mirror (FTP, USA)
A tarred/gzipped .tgz archive of this document package is available (use "save-file" mode).
Linux (Amiga) resources:
Always refer to the official m68k Linux Home Pages for further info, FAQ's, and news.
My Home Page (plug.)
My original Watchtower m68k Linux Install FAQ which still contains some useful (yet aging) info.
The (new) Amiga Debian m68k Linux install FAQ.
Information on PLIP (Networking via printer port) for Amiga can be found here.
The m68k Linux user-registration site is here. Please stop by and register.
Linux (RedHat) resources:
The online version of the RedHat Linux Unleashed book.
Please review the current RedHat Linux Installation Manual , or the generic RedHat Linux Installation Howto.
The RedHat Linux Homepage, which also supports x86, alpha and sparc ( with unofficial support for m68k ).
Linux (generic) resources:
Remember to check slashdot daily for the latest Linux happenings.
The Linux PCMCIA information page can be found here.
For the latest Linux software and packages mark freshmeat as one of your best sources..
The Debian Linux Homepage, which also supports m68k, as well as other platforms.
Always check LinuxNow for the latest Linux files and packages. (a good archive)
Also check LinuxHQ for another outlook on the latest Linux files and packages.
The super-useful Linux Software Encyclopedia is your friend.
The LinuxNow file search is also a helpful database of Linux applications.
The latest base kernel sources (intel-centric) are always available at kernel.org.
For kernel configuration and compilation info, read the (intel biased) Kernel-HOWTO.
For the Sunsite Linux Documentation Project , as well as many Linux HOWTO documents.
For the mother of all online archives, check the Sunsite HTTP , Sunsite FTP sites (try MIRRORS.html for a site near you).
Another excellent Linux archive is Walnut Creek CDRom FTP site which also mirrors Sunsite, RedHat, and many other archives..
A site with good Linux background info may be found Here (x86-centric).
For Internet Gateway, IP-Forwarding information, see the Masquerade Homepage.
For information on Win95/NT network connectivity, check The Samba Homepage.
For information about html-caching, see the Squid Homepage.
The Linux/Unix Cdrecord (burn your own cdrom's) Homepage is here.
The CDParanoia (reads music cd's) Homepage is here.
Amiga (non-Linux) resources:
For the most comprehensive list of online Amiga information, check the AmiMonster.
Take a peek at AmiNet file archive and searchtool often. (see online resources above).
For a very-good source of A4000 hardware information, see Warren Block's A4000 page.
The official Amiga (Gateway2000) Homepage is here.
For a grin, take a look at the irritating questions FAQ.
Revision History
Feb 24, 1998- Initial creation.
Mar 08, 1998 - Tweeks, increase stated disk space requirements.
Mar 16, 1998 - Add disk requirements, Post-install, Wimp-Out sections, clarify and highlight gotchas.
Mar 21, 1998 - Add download of RPM updates to download section. Reference official RedHat install doc. Clarifications throughout.
Mar 29, 1998 - Add new section 'Adding New Users', and add new info to 'First Install', 'Compiling Your Own Kernel', 'Post Install Setup'.
Apr 01, 1998 - Add link to m68k-linux usenet (dumb oversight....)
Apr 16, 1998 - Major changes to support most recent kernel images. Improve consistency of local dirnames, and clarify references section.
Apr 17, 1998 - Use new HDToolBox screenshots, include afdisk/df output examples, break-out wimping-out-on-ftp section.
Apr 19, 1998 - Add new references to LinuxNow, sunsite, etc
Apr 20, 1998 - Add "Known or Potential Problems" section. Fix Wimp-out links.
Apr 23, 1998 - Add "Configuring A Kernel", provide some hints.
Apr 26, 1998 - Refer to Jes's new Amiga vmlinux kernel image (tar.gz file). Add a few pointers to install section. Update reboot section to new Amiga vmlinux-reboot.
May 06,1998 - Add note about nameserver/gateway problems on initial FTP/NFS network setup screens.
May 08,1998 - Break this monolith into one file per section, with next/prev/toc arrows (like HOWTOs).
May 12,1998 - Fix a few links I missed after the break-up. Add info about extracting kernel source from tar.gz in Config section. Consistancy cleanups for each section.
May 16,1998 - Add new section on 'Modem Setup', so folks can use the ppp device. Add refs to samba and squid homepages.
May 25,1998 - Correct several syntax/grammar problems. Fix a text formatting problem in Configure section. Recommend disabling minix support. Change name of vmlinux_post_install.
May 29,1998 - Add several tips concerning video and IDE disk issues of particular interest to A4000 owners (possibly A600/1200 users as well). Fix linux source directory error in 'Configure-kernel' section. Add some more references.
May 31,1998 - Add another choice for disk prep software, and add a link to AmiNet. General content/formatting cleanup. Add links for suppliers of RedHat m68k Linux cdroms. Warn users to never power-down without proper shutdown/reboot. Add module fixups to Compiling-kernel section. Mention man and makewhatis in Post-install.
Jun 17,1998 - My Linux Page got picked as the
Joe Linux Of The Week page, so I provided a back-link to that site. Clarify that MaxTransfer is only a problem with A4000 with 3.0 ROMs.Jun 26,1998 - Fix more stupid typos. Add more flashy linux logos/links on front page. Add a link to the tgz archive of this doc package, kernel.org, and linuxHQ.com.
Jul 04,1998 - Minor text/image cleanups and corrections. Add new section "System-requirements" explaining CPU/disk-controller/network-cards supported.
Jul 09,1998 - Clarification and additional details in System-Rqmnts, Problems, First-Install, Config, and Compile sections.
Jul 12,1998 - Correct name of vmlinux_post_install file in Finding_files. Make note of RH5.0 in preparation of RH5.1 on main page. Fix typo on System-requirements page. Accent link to .tgz of this package on main page.
Jul 19,1998 - Add link to an FTP site mirroring Jes's RedHat distribution. Add a new section on the title page, listing recent changes to help readers know if anything new is present. Present a solution to the install crash related to supplying a nameserver during FTP/NFS installs. Expand fixups in Post-install section. Add link to Italy mirror, and detail single-shot .tar download of files from the FTP sites in Finding-the-files section.
Jul 22,1998 - Add X fbdev problem to list of known problems with 2.0.32 kernel present in stock FTP image.
Aug 02,1998 - Insignificant change to "Problems" section, link to "Finding-files"
Aug 21,1998 - Break-out CDROM stuff into its own section. Add name of new cdrom creator. Add list of unsupported boards to System-rqmnts.
Sep 21,1998 - Add description in Post-install of how to mount 720K MsDos floppy disk. Add new section with Romans kernel-options.txt file which explains Amiboot options, devices, etc..
Oct 10,1998 - Most of the changes for 5.1 are in place. Add non-cgi hit counters. Almost every page/paragraph was updated in some way.
Oct 19,1998 - Clarification and cleanup in First-install.
Oct 24,1998 - Restructure "Revision-History" by breaking out links by category.
Nov 03,1998 - Add more References, Amiga-PLIP and Walnut-Creek cdrom sites.
Dec 04,1998 - Fix much link-rot, and add a few Problems entries.
Dec 16,1998 - Create new section for the supplemental disk.
Dec 22,1998 - Add compile-time comparison table of several machines/arch's to Compile-kernel section.
Jan 23,1999 - In Modem setups, change serial device from cua0 to ttyS0. Fix some stale links in References. In System Requirements, list Apollo SCSI as not supported, accel should be OK. Fix grammar in problems. Mention Ariadne-II as unsupported HW.
Mar 5,1999 - Tons of clarifications. Fix screenshots in disk setup. Add new sections for Network-config, RPM-files, and Cross-compilation.
June 4,1999 - Add Chris's site for Cdrom sources. Cleanup network, cross-compile sections.
June 6,1999 - Dozens of cleanups, additions, and clarifications to most sections.
Last Update: 15 March 1999
System Requirements
For additional information regarding minimum system requirements, please refer to the m68k Homepage section entitled
Requirements to run Linux/m68k .CPU
Linux can be installed on almost any Amiga (or Atari) having a 68030 or better (68020 only if you also have a 68851 PMMU). You must also have a math-coprocessor (which is built-into 68040 and higher CPU's).
Memory
Although Linux is not really a memory hog, you should have at least 8-meg of system memory before trying to install Linux.
Disk Controller
Second, you must have a supported disk controller. At this time RedHat m68k Linux supports the following SCSI/IDE disk controllers:
Commodore A3000 internal.
Commodore A2091.
Commodore A4091/A4000T.
GVP HC8-II series (including G-Force accelerators).
MacroSystems WarpEngine.
Phase5 Cyberstorm MkI.
Phase5 Cyberstorm MkII.
Phase5 Blizzard 1230IV / 1260.
Phase5 Blizzard 2040 / 2060.
Atari Native SCSI.
A1200 / A4000 native IDE.
Network
Linux was designed with networking in mind. At this time RedHat m68k Linux supports the following network adapters:
Commodore A2065.
VillageTronic Ariadne.
VillageTronic Ariadne-II.
Hydra.
A1200 PCMCIA NE2000.
Atari Lance.
Atari Bionet-100.
Atari Pamsnet.
Unsupported Boards
The following is an (incomplete) list of Amiga boards NOT yet supported. Anyone wishing to hack at driver modules is encouraged to do so.
All Apollo SCSI controllers.
DKB Wildfire (060, SCSI/Ethernet).
Phase5 Cyberstorm MkIII (060).
SquirrelSCSI.
Wimping Out On FTP Download
Now that RedHat and several individuals are offering CD's with Jes's RedHat m68k Linux, most users should buy one instead of trying to FTP all the files. This package consists of almost 625-meg of data and requires several hours to download- even through a T1-line. If your ISP rates are based upon connection time it will probably be cheaper to buy a CD.
If you are stubborn (or a developer [same thing?]) and still want to FTP the files you can save a lot of time by excluding the following subdirectories/files, however this will require manual intervention:
SRPMS All the how-to RPMs.I make no guarantees as to whether or not your particular installation will work at all if you choose to not download the entire distribution.
RedHat Linux- Now for your
[ This package is not officially supported by RedHat, so please contact them with questions they cannot answer ]
[ Rons HomePage ] [ Latest version of this FAQ <-- check this ]
( Last Update: Mar 12, 2000 ) []
![[ Joe Linux Homepage ]](mini-joe.jpg){kind=small}
Recent Changes of possible Interest:
I moved to Alabama (hold the jokes, OK), and have yet another ISP, so this page has moved again.
Chris Lawrence (the m68k homepage guy) is now selling RedHat and Debian cdroms .
Advanced users may want to try the 2.2.10 m68k kernel found here .
Provide a few details on how to master your own m68k RedHat Linux CDROM .
|
~~~~~Disclaimer~~~~~ |
This FAQ assumes you have a little knowledge of Amiga and/or Linux software.
Installing any operating system can be a challenging task.
Start down this path only if you feel you are up to it,
and only after you have performed a total backup of your system.
Please
send questions and help requests to the m68k usenet (newsgroup) or the RedHat m68k mailing-list as described in the References section at the end of this document.Although this FAQ is directed toward users of the m68k RedHat Linux package for Amiga, much of the material presented here is applicable to other distributions such as Debian, and to other architectures such as Alpha, Sparc, and x86.
Beginning in March 1998, the top line of each section contains the last date of modification.
The files that comprise this document set may be made available online or on CDROM by anyone wishing to do so, this includes freeware, shareware, and commercial distributions. A tarred/gzipped .tgz archive of this document package is available (use save file mode). Extract this file using the Linux command 'tar -xvzf rh-inst.tgz'. Make sure you download this file in binary mode.
I, and the developers contributing to m68k Linux cannot, and will not be held responsible for the loss of data, profits, or hardware resulting from the ability or inability to use, misuse, or understand this document or any of the software. (I'm glad thats over)
This document package is designed and tested using Netscape- If it breaks while using uSoft Internet Exploder, well; what do you expect?
If you find this document useful, please send me a short message at [email protected]. I have no other way of knowing whether or not I'm helping or hindering the m68k Linux/Amiga effort.
I'd really appreciate a postcard (with local scenery) if you find this FAQ useful.
Send to: Ron Flory, 355 Cherokee Drive, Kechi KS, 67067, USA.
Thanks-
