Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 20:07:36 +0100 (BST) From: Doug Rabson <dfr@nlsystems.com> To: Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com> Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: AlphaBIOS documentation Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.95q.980601200434.330Q-100000@herring.nlsystems.com> In-Reply-To: <199806011716.KAA10899@usr04.primenet.com>
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On Mon, 1 Jun 1998, Terry Lambert wrote: > > Does anyone know if there is documentation available for the ARC or > > AlphaBIOS boot sequence? In particular, what services does the firmware > > provide to the bootstrap program (e.g. linload.exe). Alternatively, does > > anyone know where I can find the source code to linload.exe? > > You aren't using the OSF/1 PALcode? I think this is a mistake for an > initial port. > > Is your Linux using the ARC code? The person at the University of > Arizona, in Tucson, where I used to live, who did the initial > Linux Alpha work was using a modified OSF PALcode (it was modified > to allow as "little" as 16M of RAM). I am using OSF palcode. OSF palcode and SRM console are different things. > > > If you have an NT system, I would suggest disassembling the bootstrap > for the purposes of documenting the interface. I am part way through reverse-engineering linload.exe (why isn't there source available for a fundamental part of a freeware operating system?). I also have the source to Linux/mips milo which is a useful reference to ARC bios calls. > > NT generally runs in protected mode as early as possible. One of > the reasons NT is so hardware limited is that it, like FreeBSD, fails > to implement a BIOS interface for use by drivers to allow it to "fall > back" to a VMM-based driver. > > With this in mind, you should expect that the ARC/AlphaBIOS code is > abandoned as soon ass the NT kernel image is loaded. Of course. As soon as the kernel is loaded, the BIOS goes straight in the bin. > > You are probably going to have a problem supporting the NT PALcode > in general because of VM differences. Again, I am not using NT palcode. When I write it, the ARC bootloader will switch to OSF palcode before running the kernel. -- Doug Rabson Mail: dfr@nlsystems.com Nonlinear Systems Ltd. Phone: +44 181 951 1891 Fax: +44 181 381 1039 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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