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- This message announces the availability of version 0.07 of Linux/68k.
-
- It can be ftped from directory /pub/linux/680x0 at tsx-11.mit.edu.
-
- A precompiled kernel executable and the Amiga "bootstrap" program can
- be found in kern-0.07.tar.gz in the "kernel" subdirectory.
-
- The kernel source can be found in linux-0.07.tar.gz in the "src"
- subdirectory.
-
- The new features of this release over 0.06pl1 include:
-
- *) A number of bug fixes.
-
- *) Major changes to the floppy driver which *should* make it work
- correctly for everyone. I've been using it without problems. Note
- that it only handles double-density disks currently. Any attempt
- to use HD disks will have unknown consequences.
-
- *) linux/386 patches up to 0.99pl14 applied. This includes the
- linux/pc generic NCR5380 SCSI driver. Those people out there with
- 5380 based SCSI controllers should be able to take a stab at
- creating a driver for their controller using this source as a
- guideline.
-
- *) New method of passing setup parameters to the kernel from the
- "bootstrap" command line. This uses the "command line" support in
- the linux/pc kernel. The command line itself is passed in to the
- kernel via the "bootinfo" structure.
-
- *) A bug of minor size but major import in the 68040 support; I'm
- hoping that this version will get further on 68040 machines.
-
- *) Note that swap support is currently broken as a result of changes
- in linux/pc 0.99pl14. I will hopefully have it fixed in the next
- release.
-
- *) Note that the scripts supplied to emulate "hostname" etc on the
- Amiga have been moved to the "amiga/tools" subdirectory of the
- kernel source. This directory must be added to the PATH
- environment variable so that bin:sh can execute these scripts.
-
- This release still contains only support for the Amiga. Hopefully the
- people working on MacIntosh and Atari support will have some sources
- for inclusion soon.
-
- Please let me know if this kernel runs on your Amiga, and the type of
- Amiga and cards/peripherals you have. The compressed minix file system
- in the "filesys" directory can be used as a ram disk to boot with the
- kernel, or can be copied to a floppy or SCSI hard disk.
-
- To boot the kernel on an Amiga, use the supplied "bootstrap" command.
-
- To boot with the ram disk image, uncompress the file system image and
- type:
-
- bootstrap -r filesys
-
- To boot from a floppy image, uncompress the file system image and copy
- it to an Amiga format floppy. This can be done using the "flat:"
- handler. Then type:
-
- bootstrap root=204
-
- If you somehow have a linux/68k minix file system on a SCSI hard disk
- partition, you can boot from the partition by supplying the device
- number to the bootstrap program:
-
- bootstrap root=/dev/sd[a-f][1-16]
-
- The major number for SCSI disks is "0x08", and the minor number
- depends on the disk and partition. linux/68k searches for SCSI disks
- from target 0 to target 7, and for Logical Units 0 through 7 on each
- target. The minor number can be calculated by (disk_number)*16 +
- partition_number. The first disk found is disk 0. Partition 0 is the
- whole disk. Partition 1 is the first partition found in the
- RigidDiskBlock partition table on the Amiga hard disk. Thus 0x0801 is
- the first partition on the first disk found. 0x0812 is the second
- partition on the second hard disk found.
-
- For example, I have two SCSI hard disks. The first is at target 5,
- LUN 0 and the second at target 6, LUN 0. The first has three
- partitions (used for Linux) and the second has 4 partitions used for
- AmigaDOS.
-
- Thus I have:
-
- devnum linux device name
- ------ ------------------------------------
- 0x0800 sda (the entire disk at target 5 : BE CAREFUL)
- 0x0801 sda1 (1st partition on disk at target 5)
- 0x0802 sda2 (2nd partition on disk at target 5)
- 0x0803 sda3 (3rd partition on disk at target 5)
- 0x0810 sdb (the entire disk at target 6 : BE CAREFUL)
- 0x0811 sdb1 (1st partition on disk at target 6)
- 0x0812 sdb2 (2nd partition on disk at target 6)
- 0x0813 sdb3 (3rd partition on disk at target 6)
- 0x0814 sdb4 (4th partition on disk at target 6)
-
- *NOTE* The target numbers above are examples; these are what I get on
- my system, since the first disk is at target 5 and the second at
- target 6. If your first disk is at target 0, your sda will *still* be
- 0x0800 (/dev/sda).
-
- My Linux root partition is on the 1st partition of my first drive, so
- I boot with:
-
- bootstrap root=/dev/sda1
-
- After booting from one of the above methods, if the kernel supports
- your SCSI driver, you should be able to create a minix file system on
- one of your hard disk partitions if you wish.
-
- Determine the size of your partition in 1K blocks (take the number of
- 512 byte sectors from HDToolBox and divide by two), and determine
- which special file to use in /dev (see above). *DOUBLE CHECK* that
- the major/minor numbers for the special device (ls -l /dev/xxx) are
- correct. If they are incorrect or the device special file doesn't
- exist, use mknod to change or create the device special file. Then
- execute:
-
- /etc/mkfs /dev/xxxx size
-
- This will create a minix file system on the hard disk partition. You
- can then mount this partition under /mnt and copy files to it:
-
- /etc/mount /dev/xxxx /mnt
-
- When finished copying, unmount the partition:
-
- /etc/umount /mnt
-
- sync a few times, and then reboot. You can then boot the kernel by
- providing "bootstrap" with the device name to boot from.
-
- Again, you do any mucking around with hard disks at your OWN RISK. I
- bought a separate hard disk to use solely for linux before I began
- playing with hard disk drivers and file systems for safety purposes.
-
- DEBUGGING NOTE: The early stages of the kernel startup will send out
- characters to the serial port to indicate how far it gets. The serial
- port is set to 9600 baud, 8 bits, one stop bit. You'll need a NULL
- modem to hook it up to a terminal. The code should assert DTR.
-