Date: Thu, 15 Apr 1999 12:43:35 -0600 (MDT) From: "Kenneth D. Merry" <ken@plutotech.com> To: chuckr@picnic.mat.net (Chuck Robey) Cc: erik@habatech.no, scot@london.virgin.net, freebsd-alpha@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Installing FreeBSD on 164SX board Message-ID: <199904151843.MAA04069@panzer.plutotech.com> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.10.9904151430380.18456-100000@picnic.mat.net> from Chuck Robey at "Apr 15, 1999 2:31:36 pm"
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Chuck Robey wrote...
> On Thu, 15 Apr 1999, Kenneth D. Merry wrote:
>
> > erik@habatech.no wrote...
> > >
> > > On 15-Apr-99 Scot Elliott wrote:
> > > > Yes - my mistake - QLogic is what I meant rather than Symbiosis - sorry.
> > > > I haven't yet installed FreeBSD on my Alpha, but I suspect that if I did,
> > > > then I'd try to arrange a boot from a small IDE drive, but use the Adaptec
> > > > card once the kernel was loaded.
> > > >
> > > This sounds like a good idea. Now I just have to figure out how to do it.
> > > Probably a great step closer to a working solution, now.
> > > But I am always open for input from users who actually installed FreeBSD on
> > > such a system.
> >
> > Just as a warning -- I don't think the Adaptec driver is functional on the
> > Alpha yet. Justin has put a 7891 board in the Alpha in my office, and
> > intends to get the driver working, but he hasn't gotten around to it yet.
>
> Ken, I tought the Adaptec problem was because the SRM console didn't
> grok the Adaptec, not because the FreeBSD kernel didn't. Could you give
> a few words on that?
There are two different issues here:
1. SRM doesn't understand Adaptec boards. This means that your boot disk
can't be on an Adaptec controller.
2. FreeBSD's Adaptec driver hasn't yet been made to work on the Alpha. I
think this is probably a bus_dma/bus_space type problem. Justin fully
understands the issues, and has intended to make the driver work on
Alphas, but just hasn't gotten around to it. Until he does, you won't
be able to configure the Adaptec driver in your kernel and have it talk
to an Adaptec board.
Once Justin fixes the Adaptec driver to work on alpha boxes, you'll be able
to put Adaptec controllers in your Alpha machines. You can't, however,
boot off an Adaptec board since SRM doesn't talk to them.
One odd thing that happened when we stuck the 7891 (it's a 64-bit board)
board in the Miata was that SRM wouldn't load while the board was in a
64-bit slot on the primary PCI bus. It gave some error about an
unrecognized SCSI controller or something along those lines. It did work
when we moved the board onto the secondary, 32-bit PCI bus.
Ken
--
Kenneth Merry
ken@plutotech.com
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