SPARC FAQ

sparc-faq.txt (text/plain), 13.46 KB, created by Jason Wever (RETIRED) on 2004-01-04 13:47:10 UTC

Gentoo Linux/SPARC Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is designed to help answer the most commonly asked
questions about Gentoo Linux/SPARC and Linux on SPARC architecture.
Feel free to send revisions and corrections to the sparc team or the
doc team.

Documentation notes

These are some notes to elaborate on acronyms and terms used in this document.

When mentioning "SPARC and SPARC64", this refers to the type of sun4x system.
SPARC represents the 32 bit systems using the sun4c, sun4d and sun4m
architectures (i.e. SPARCstations).  SPARC64 represents the sun4u architecture
seen in the UltraSPARC series of systems (Ultras, Blades, SunFires, etc).

Acronyms;
OBP = OpenBoot PROM
SS  = SPARCstation

The most frequently asked question we get is "Hey, foo is broken, who can I
blame?"  After much discussion on how to handle this, we arrived at an answer.
Blame Seemant!  Why blame Seemant you ask?  Just look at
http://www.blameseemant.tk and it should make it clear :)





Installation




How do I install/use my SPARC over a serial console?

First, make sure you do not have a keyboard and monitor plugged in.  OBP will
use the monitor for output by default if either are plugged in.  You will need
a null modem cable or a regular serial cable with a null modem adapter to be
able to view output.

The default serial console settings on a SPARC are;

- 9600 baud
- 8 data bits
- None for parity
- 1 stop bits

Below is a list of commonly used programs for viewing a serial console.  Check
to see if your serial console application has the ability to send a break, as
it can be very useful on a SPARC (NOTE: hyperterm on Windows does not have this
option).  The break signal on a serial console is the equivalent to issuing
the Stop+A command on the keyboard.

Linux
- minicom
- kermit
- console
- seyon

Windows
- hyperterm
- terra term pro





How do I network boot my SPARC system for installation?

Currently, Gentoo has experimental network boot/tftpboot images available
on a local Gentoo mirror in experimental/sparc/tftpboot.  Get the appropriate
image for your SPARC computer and then proceed to the Netboot HOWTO for
further instructions.





I have a CRT/LCD monitor attached to my SPARC that selects a resolution my
monitor can't handle when the kernel boots.  How do I get a visible and/or
non-distorted display on my monitor?

This problem is a result of the framebuffer support the Linux kernel loads
at boot time, and the modelines available on SPARC systems.

Here we will assume your monitor and video card will agree on a resolution of
1024 by 768 at a refresh rate of 60 Hz.

In OBP, you can set the resolution by adjusting the setting for output-device.
To view the current setting, use the command;

ok printenv output-device

The output this command should return will look similar to;

output-device         screen                         screen

Now, to set this so it will start the display using the above mentioned
resolution, we will use the setenv command as follows;

ok setenv output-device screen:r1024x768x60

The command should output the following, indicating it has changed the
output-device parameter;

output-device =       screen:r1024x768x60

In order for this to take effect,  you will need to reset the machine;

ok reset

Additionally, for users using the onboard video card based on the ATI Mach64
chipset (Ultra 5/10 and Blade 100/150),  you will want to append the following
to your kernel boot option;

video=atyfb:1024x768@60

If you are booting from SILO, you can append the above string onto the end
of a given boot image.  The following example would be if you were booting
from the LiveCD

boot: gentoo video=atyfb:1024x768@60

If you were booting from the network, you would append the string onto the
end of the boot net command in OBP as illustrated below;

ok boot net video=atyfb:1024x768@60





I'm new to SPARC and am not sure what kernel options to use, HELP!

Most of the time, the default kernel options will be acceptable for hardware
support.  You will need to make sure that devfs and virtual memory filesystem
support is enabled in the kernel as instructed in the Installation Handbook.

Additionally, Gentoo/SPARC developer Ciaran McCreesh maintains a collection
of kernel configuration files for various SPARC systems at
http://dev.gentoo.org/~ciaranm/configs/kernel/.  Feel free to submit kernel
configuration files for any SPARC systems and/or kernel versions not currently
avaiable to [e-mail]






How do I dual boot Gentoo Linux/SPARC with Solaris?

Dual booting Gentoo Linux/SPARC and Solaris can be done one of two ways.  The
two ways are having both Gentoo Linux/SPARC and Solaris on the same drive, or
having them on seperate drives.

Below are example SILO configurations for each scenario.  In the example
configs, the following things are assumed;

Single Drive Setup
- Boot drive is SCSI ID 0
- Gentoo boots from partition 1
- Solaris boots from parition 5

Seperate Drive Setup

- Second drive is SCSI ID 1
- Gentoo is on SCSI ID 0
- Solaris is on SCSI ID 1
- boot-device in OBP is SCSI ID 0

silo.conf for single drive  installation

# Generic config options
partition = 1
timeout = 50

# Gentoo Linux/SPARC options
image = /boot/vmlinux
      label = linux
      root=/dev/sda4

# Solaris options
other=5
	label = Solaris

silo.conf for seperate disk installation

# Generic config options
parition = 1
timeout = 50

# Gentoo Linux/SPARC options
image = /boot/vmlinux
      label = linux
      root=/dev/sda4

# Solaris options
other = /sbus/espdma/esp/sd@1,0;1
	label = solaris





I just booted my SPARCstation after installing Gentoo but it won't boot.
Why isn't it booting?

One possibility has to do with the way the that the SCSI IDs are assigned.
Gentoo/SPARC developer Keith Wesolowski provides us with the following;

Linux, normally, orders devices by SCSI ID.  The lowest-numbered disk
is sda, the next-lowest is sdb, and so on.  Note that devfs allows you
to specify devices by SCSI ID, so that adding a new device doesn't
cause your existing devices to be renamed, unless of course you use
the compatibility names.  There are additional ways to solve this.

The OBP in most or all sun4c and sun4m systems aliases "disk" to the
device with SCSI ID 3, and "disk0" through "disk3" to the device with
= the corresponding SCSI ID, if it happens to be a disk rather than a
tape, CDROM, etc.

In the desktop systems of this era that support two SCA disks (the
Aurora chassis systems), the lower slot is assigned SCSI ID 3, and the
upper slot is assigned SCSI ID 1.

If you like, you can change the PROM alias "disk" to match that of
"disk1" so that the "boot disk" command causes the system to boot from
the same device Linux calls sda.  This feels more consistent and
normal, especially for users with a PC background.  Alternately, you
can simply place the filesystem containing /boot (which could be the
root filesystem or a separate boot filesystem) on device ID 3 (Linux
sdb) and boot from it, using a root filesystem on either sda or sdb,
or in fact any other disk attached to the system.





Hardware





Will Gentoo run on my SPARC?

It depends on the type of SPARC, but chances are yes.  One exception seems to
be the SPARC based laptops from Tadpole, particularly the newer models.  If
you have a working Tadpole on Gentoo/SPARC, please contact us and let us know
the details on the model and anything special needed to get it to work.

Gentoo/SPARC developer Todd Sunderlin keeps a partial list of the status of
SPARC64 systems under Gentoo at http://dev.gentoo.org/~todd/sparc64.html.
To add details on your model SPARC64 to the list, email [e-mail] with
the pertinant information.  In general, support for the SPARC64 systems is
good enough to allow some users to run it successfully in production
environments. 

32-bit SPARC systems vary.  Systems with the sun4m architecture have been
reported to work fine (SS4 - SS20) including SMP configurations with the later
2.4 series kernels.  sun4m systems using HyperSPARC or Ross processors in a
SMP configuration will have a lot of kernel related trouble.  Additionally
the author hasn't heard of any user reports in regards to the Java-stations so
its status is unknown.  sun4d based systems currently do not work in the 2.4
kernel series, and sun4c has been unstable as well.

Often, the problems encountered in trying to run Gentoo on a 32-bit SPARC
system stem from the kernel.  Rob Radez (no relation to Gentoo) maintains a
webpage <http://osinvestor.com/sparc/> with the status of SPARC system support
for various versions of the Linux kernel.  This can help indicate how usable
your SPARC system would be under SPARC/Linux.





What additional hardware is supported under Gentoo/SPARC?

For a list of additionally supported Sun hardware, consult the following list
from the UltraLinux homepage - http://www.ultralinux.org/faq.html#q_2_2.

A partial list of Sun devices which do NOT currently have support under
Gentoo/SPARC or SPARC/Linux in general are;

SunPCI cards
SBUS or PCI PCMCIA controllers
Smart card readers on some Sun Blade workstations
Floppy drive on some Sun Blade workstations


Also, Gentoo/SPARC developer Sven Blumenstein keeps a list of PC hardware
that has been tested with the PCI based SPARC64 systems at
http://dev.gentoo.org/~bazik/hw.php.  Feel free to add your results at testing
PC or non-Sun hardware to the list by emailing [e-mail] with the
information on the hardware as displayed in the existing hardware list.





So you keep talking about sun4c/sun4d/sun4m/sun4u.  How do I know which one
I have?

The UltraLinux FAQ has the answer at http://www.ultralinux.org/faq.html#q_2_1




Applications





How do I get XFree86 to find a usable modeline on my Ultra 5/10 or Blade
100/150?

The ATI Framebuffer normally expects a PC's BIOS to set the Reference Clock
speed for the video card.  However, on non-x86 architectures, this doesn't
happen.  So what needs to be done is to set the Reference Clock speed in the
XF86Config file.  

In the "Device" section of your XF86Config file, you will want to add a line
similar to the following;

Option      "reference_clock"   "28.636 MHz"

The following URLs contain more information on how to set the reference clock;

http://www.xfree86.org/~dawes/4.3.0/ati5.html#26
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=67790&sid=e2fa1c03fc1ed75c5db6216fd21fbf59





How come package foo is masked on sparc?

Chances are, this is due to the fact that none of the Gentoo/SPARC developers
have gotten around to testing this yet, and/or the package is currently
marked with the ~sparc keyword (meaning it's in a testing phase).

If you still want to install the package, you can follow the instructions from
the Portage Masked Package FAQ at

http://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?t=33534

NOTE:  The FAQ mentions the sparc64 keyword which is currently depreciated.





How can I help get package foo marked stable?

If you want to help ensure a package gets marked stable in a timely fashion,
particularly if it's an application with a small userbase (i.e.
net-im/bitlbee), install the package and test to make sure it works.  If it
appears to be working well, feel free to file a bug at http://bugs.gentoo.org
and assign it to the Gentoo/SPARC team.





I tried to emerge a package, but emerge failed complaining that a dependency
is masked.  How can I fix this?

This is a bug.  Please file a bug report at http://bugs.gentoo.org for the
Gentoo/SPARC team indicating what package you tried to emerge, the error
message emerge gave you, and the output of emerge info.





Misc




I'm interested in becoming more involved with Gentoo/SPARC. How do I go about
doing that?

The best way is to join the #gentoo-sparc IRC channel on Freenode IRC network
<irc.freenode.net>.  This is where all of the developers hang out and talk
SPARC (amongst other things).  Short of email, this is the best way to get
our attention, and blame seemant! :)

Also, many users and developers make use of the Gentoo/SPARC forum located at
http://forums.gentoo.org/viewforum.php?f=27.  This is a good place to ask
questions and see what problems have come up before, as well as talk shop
about Gentoo/SPARC.

Additionally, you can view the bugs for Gentoo/SPARC via the Gentoo Bugzilla
server at http://bugs.gentoo.org.  The bugs will be assigned or CC'd to
[e-mail].





Are there any currently known bugs/issues with software packages on
Gentoo/SPARC?

A list of problematic packages can be found at
http://dev.gentoo.org/~weeve/problems.html





Additional Resources





Here is some info on the Gentoo/SPARC project itself.

Gentoo/SPARC Project page - http://sparc.gentoo.org
#gentoo-sparc	          - Official IRC chatroom on irc.freenode.net
Gentoo/SPARC Forum	  - http://forums.gentoo.org/viewforum.php?f=27
[e-mail]	  - Gentoo/SPARC team email address




Here are links to additional information about SPARC/Linux or SPARCs in general

UltraLinux Homepage - http://www.ultralinux.org
		    - Homepage of the SPARC/Linux port

Sunsolve	    - http://sunsolve.sun.com
		    - Great resource for Sun hardware documentation

docs.sun.com	    - http://docs.sun.com
		    - Additional hardware and software information for SPARC
		      systems, including instructions for flashing OBP

Obsolyte	    - http://www.obsolyte.com/
		    - Information on older SPARC systems and links to a lot
		      of other great SPARC related sites.

Unofficial Sun Blade 100 FAQ   - http://040.digital-bless.com/texts/Unofficial_Sun_Blade_100_FAQ.htm
		     - Answers a lot of hardware related questions on the Blade
		       100

OBP Reference Guide - http://docs.sun.com/db/coll/216.2
		    - Sun's guide to the OpenBoot PROM.