home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
-
- Last-modified: 95-03-13
- Maintained-By: Joerg Mayer <jmayer@informatik.uni-kl.de>
- Posting-Frequency: bi-weekly
- Archive-name:
-
- Frequently Asked Questions on Linux/m68k
- A Linux port to Motorola's 680x0 processors
-
- Version of this FAQ : 1
- Version of Linux/m68k: 09pl5
- Version of Linux : 1.2pl0
-
-
- i) Introduction
- ===============
-
- This is an updated version of the Linux/m68k FAQ. Since it probably contains
- errors (typographical and logical), outdated and missing infos, I ask that
- you send feedback and corrections to me. This document is not intended to
- describe what Unix is or how to to administrate it. To find out more about
- that read the standard Linux manuals.
-
- ii) Newsflash
- =============
- - Linux/m68k 0.9 Patchlevel 5 released (Hamish)
- - Hamish will no longer post to the mailing list at niksula.hut.fi as it is
- being phased out. Please use the one at vger.rutgers.edu.
- - Mega patches for pl 5 by Andreas Schwab on the mailinglist (most but not
- all for Atari).
-
- iii) Contents
- =============
-
- i Introduction
- ii Newsflash
- iii Contents
- 1. About Linux and Linux/m68k
- 2. Requirements to run Linux/m68k
- 2.1 Processor
- 2.2 RAM
- 2.3 Harddisk
- 2.4 Software
- 3. Similarities and differences of Amiga and Atari Linux/m68k
- 3.1 Similarities
- 3.2 Differences
- 4. The current status of Linux/m68k
- 4.1 General
- 4.2 Amiga
- 4.3 Atari
- 4.4 Mac
- 4.5 PC
- 5. Hints on installing Linux/m68k
- 6. Sources for information/sources/binaries
- 6.1 Documentation
- 6.2 Newsgroups
- 6.3 Mailinglists
- 6.4 WWW-sites
- 6.5 Ftp-sites
- 6.6 Modem
- 6.7 Distributions
- 7. Activities
- 7.1 Coordinator
- 7.2 Bug reports/Known bugs
- 7.3 Under construction/To do
- 8. Famous last words
-
-
-
- 1. About Linux and Linux/m68k
- =============================
-
- Linux is a freely available operating system for PCs - to be more precise,
- it is one of many flavours of Unix. Linux is being developed on the net by
- several thousand people and being tested/used by many many more.
- The fun and success of Linux inspired some people to port it to another
- platform - the Amiga. The first version released to the general public was
- 005. While 008 was current, a few enthusiasts ported that version to the Atari
- and the two versions have been successfully merged with 09pl3 (this reads
- version 09 patchlevel 3). Linux/m68k can be regarded as beta. This means that
- code that hasn't been ported/written recently works well most of the time.
- Hamish is working to integrate the m68k code into the main Linux source tree.
-
- 2. Requirements to run Linux/m68k
- =================================
-
- 2.1 Processor
- -------------
- You need a Motorola 680x0 processor *with PMMU*. There is *no way* to run
- it without one. This reduces the list of possible processors to 68020+68851,
- 68030, 68040, 68LC040, 68060. Currently only the 68020+68851, 68030 and
- 68040 are supported. At this stage you will also need a 68881 or 68882 FPU
- if you don't have a 68040. A FPU is not strictly necessary as it can be
- emulated with the normal processor, however nobody has written the code to
- do so. This list of processors excludes the 68000, 68010, 68EC020, 68EC030,
- 68EC040. Linux/m68k can *never* run on these processors as they lack a PMMU
- and an interface for an external one.
- The following Amigas have the "right" processor built-in: A3000, A3000T,
- A4000/40 (not! A4000/30).
- The following Ataris (or clones) have the "right" processor built-in:
- Atari Falcon (FPU is not standard but needed!), Atari TT, Medusa (not yet
- supported), Eagle (not yet supported). Note: In some of the older TTs there
- is a bug in the PAL controlling the access to the FPU. This may cause a
- crash. A file describing a hardware fix exists (German language only).
- Any processor upgrade card with a 68040 or 68030+68881/2 (like PAK/3) is able
- to run Linux. Note: The PAK/3 is not yet supported on the Atari.
-
- 2.2 RAM
- -------
- Note: On the Amiga the size of fastram is relevant.
- It is possible to boot Linux/m68k with as little as 2 MB. Now you know that
- the kernel works on your system - that's it. If you want to work with it you
- should have at least 4 MB (8 MB with a X-server).
-
- 2.3 Harddisk
- ------------
- If you want to do more than just boot Linux/m68k you will need 30 - oo (infinity)
- MB of space on your hard disk and a supported hard disk controller.
-
- 2.4 Software
- ------------
- Amiga: In order to run amiboot you need AmigaDOS 2.0 or higher (expansion.lib-
- rary V36+) and at least version 39 of ixemul.library.
-
- 3. Similarities and differences between Amiga and Atari Linux/m68k
- ==================================================================
-
- 3.1 Similarities
- ----------------
- All code that depends only on the processor (i.e. paging, systemcalls,
- parts of the interrupt handling and of c(o)urse those parts of Linux that
- were hand optimized by writing the code in assembler) has to be ported to
- Linux/m68k only once. This means that the Amiga and the Atari may use the
- same kernel image (in fact the vmlinux from tsx-11 runs on both machines).
- Another big bonus is that all user programs (= binaries) should work on
- any machine running Linux/m68k no matter whether the machine is an Amiga
- or Atari - as long as no machine specific devices are used (see below).
-
- 3.2 Differences
- ---------------
- All code that depends on the hardware is machine dependent and with very
- few exceptions which are in the kernel (timer, a small part of interrupt
- handling, startup code) has been put into modules called device drivers.
- Writing device drivers makes up most of the porting work.
-
- 4. The current status of Linux/m68k
- ===================================
-
- 4.1 General
- -----------
- What has been done? The kernel (this means all the processor/mmu/fpu specific
- stuff) has been ported. Version 09 is based on the Linux 1.0 patchlevel 9
- sources but many modules from 1.1 have been integrated since. Several hardware
- independent devices have been ported:
- Ramdisk, mem, pty, tty, vt, slip, net/inet, general SCSI stuff. Also the fol-
- lowing filesystems have been done: minix, ext2, msdos, proc, isofs, affs, nfs,
- ppp (affs = Amiga Fast File System, read only).
- There exists a X-server which uses the frame buffer device. Frame buffer
- devices exist for both Amiga (monochrome only) and Atari.
-
- 4.2 Amiga
- ---------
- Supported built-in hardware:
- A3000-SCSI, A4000-IDE, A1200-IDE, serial port, parallel port, mouse, keyboard,
- graphics emulates an ASCII-terminal (resolution varies with your chipset/
- setup), timer, floppy disk drive (DD and HD, Amiga-formatted disks only).
-
- Supported cards:
- Several SCSI cards are supported. These are the A2091, A590 and GVP Series II.
- To find out whether additional hardware is supported, look at the Linux/m68k
- source (config.in provides a list of supported hardware).
-
- 4.3 Atari
- ---------
- SCSI, ACSI, Falcon IDE, serial ports driven by a MFP (i.e. Modem 1 and
- Serial 1), keyboard, Atari mouse, parallel printer port, RTC clock, floppy
- disk (DD/HD), native Atari graphics (ST/TT/Falcon).
- Note: Linux' Minix FS is compatible to the Minix V2 FS used with MiNT.
-
- 4.4 Mac
- -------
- A Mac version is under construction but not yet finished. Main (sole?)
- developer is George Andre (dat94gan@ludat.lth.se). He has written a FAQ
- about Linux/m68k-Mac which the interested reader should get first. It is
- available as ftp://www.ibg.uu.se/pub/maclinux/FAQ.txt. There is a mailing
- list too (see: 6.3 Mailinglists).
-
- 4.5 PC
- ------
- As PC's don't have Motorolas inside (except on soundcards and other plug-ins),
- this section should read "What parts of Linux/m68k are available for but not
- part of Linux/i386?"
- - Amiga Fast File System (read only) tsx-11:/pub/linux/patches/amigaffs.tar.Z
- Please note that most disk controllers for PC, Atari and Mac are not able
- to read Amiga formatted disks (this is a hardware limitation).
-
- 5. Hints on installing Linux/m68k
- =================================
-
- Please note that there is a much better installation doc available. It's the
- 'Linux/m68k installation guide' written by Frank Neumann and Ingo Wilken. If
- you want to find out whether Linux/m68k runs on your system the hints given
- here may be sufficient. If you want to work with your Linux/m68k system you
- should get the Installation guide. The address is given below.
-
- 0. a) Get the installation guide mentioned above.
- b) Ignore steps 1-8 and follow your new guide.
- 1. Get a working kernel, *all* announce files and the bootstrap program for
- your machine (different kernel versions may require different bootstrap
- versions), the root and usr-filesystems and the newfilesys (this is a
- ramdisk that contains everything you will need to set up a working harddisk
- environment). Sources for these programs: See below.
- You will also need gunzip (from the gzip package) for your native OS in
- order to unpack the following .gz files: amiboot/ataboot, new-filesys and
- vmlinux.
- Note: If gunzip succeeds your files are OK. If you want to test the
- integrity of the files you downloaded without decompressing them you
- can do 'gzip -t <filename.gz>'.
- 2. Bootstrap the kernel and newfilesys as described in the ANNOUNCE file for
- that kernel. Many of the bootstrap flags available are documented in older
- announce files only.
- Note for Amiga users: You have to install ixemul.library in libs: in order
- to run amiboot. If you have any problems booting linux you may try to
- run this session without executing the startup-sequence. This will prevent
- any manipulation of the MMU as is done by the CPU, SetCPU and Enforcer
- commands.
- 3. Create a partition on your harddisk and install an ext2fs filesystem on it.
- 4. Create another partition as swapspace.
- 5. Unpack the root and usr filesystem onto the disk.
- 6. Reboot
- 7. Bootstrap your kernel, this time from the harddisk instead of ramdisk.
- 8. Get and read the Installation-HOWTO for Linux. Start reading from section
- 4 "Installing the Software". Warning: This is for the PC so you may have
- to do things differently at some points.
- Installation guide: ftp://ftp.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de
- /pub/amiga/linux/local/docs/Install-Linux_m68k.doc
- These are the filenames relative to 680x0/
- ANNOUNCE-0.XXXXXX
- filesys/new-filesys.gz
- filesys/root.tar.gz
- filesys/usr.tar.gz
- bin/gcc-2.5.8.tar.gz
- kernel/vmlinux-0.9pl5.gz
- kernel/amiboot-1.10.gz (Amiga only)
- tools/amiga/ixemul.library (needed to run amiboot)
- kernel/ataboot-0.5.gz (Atari only)
- src/linux-0.9*.gz (the kernel source tree and diff files)
- ../docs/HOWTO/Installation-HOWTO
- The root.tar.gz file contains no gcc, emacs or tcsh. If you are a
- tcsh or emacs addict you will want to get these packages from bin/ too.
- The filesystems naturally contain *no kernel sources*, so you will have
- to get these too.
-
- 6. Sources for information/sources/binaries
- ===========================================
-
- 6.1 Documentation
- -----------------
- This FAQ is available on ftp://tsx-11-and-mirrors/pub/linux/680x0/FAQ and
- http://pfah.informatik.uni-kl.de:8000/pers/jmayer/linux68k-faq. An
- installation guide is available on ftp://ftp.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de
- /pub/amiga/linux/local/docs/Install-Linux_m68k.doc. The ANNOUNCE files are
- valuable documentation too.
- Further documents can be found in the directories ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/
- linux/docs/ and ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/docs. These documents were
- written for Linux/i386 but many are useful for Linux/m68k users too (e.g.
- howtos on UUCP, PPP and the general Linux FAQ).
- A faq on Motorloa chips (including the 680x0 microprocessors) is available.
-
- 6.2 Newsgroups
- --------------
- comp.os.linux.development: This group is on Linux *kernel* development only.
- From time to time it contains messages dealing with the Linux/m68k kernel.
- comp.os.linux.announce: This group announces new Linux related products as
- well as new kernel releases. Announcements for new versions of Linux/m68k
- may be found there.
- maus.os.linux68k:
- This group deals with Linux/m68k only. The languages currently used are
- German and English. It should be available at least at the following
- internet site: news.uni-stuttgart.de (read only)
- The Newsgroup is also available in FidoNet (LINUX-68K.GER).
- comp.unix.amiga: This group is for discussions on AMIX, NetBSD and Linux/m68k
- on the Amiga. As most articles on Linux/m68k are not Amiga specific, the
- name is somewhat of a misnomer.
- de.comp.sys.amiga.unix: Similar to comp.unix.amiga but in German language.
-
- 6.3 Mailinglists
- ----------------
- I am aware of two mailinglists for Linux/m68k. This is the 680X0 channel of
- linux-activists. To find out how to subscribe send an empty mail to
- linux-activists-request@niksula.hut.fi. The channel you want to join is
- 680X0. Keep the help file! You will want to read the help file again in
- order to unsubscribe. The articles on this list are currently mirrored on
- maus.os.linux68k. The mailinglists are 2-way mirrored in the linux.act.*
- news-hierarchy in some places, for example the 680X0 channel is in the group
- linux.act.680X0. Also, a Majordomo mailing list exists. To join send mail to
- majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu with no subject and body containing subscribe 680x0.
- Content messages should be sent to linux-680x0@vger.rutgers.edu. Note: The
- list at niksula.hut.fi is fading out and is being replaced by vger.rutgers.edu.
- A mailinglist especially for Linux on Ataris: To subscribe send mail to
- majordomo@phil.uni-sb.de, no subject, with body 'subscribe atarix'.
- There also exists a mailinglist for Maclinux (not yet released!). To
- subscribe send mail to maclinux-request@linux.mednet.gu.se.
-
- 6.4 WWW-sites
- -------------
- Helmut Neukirchen's Linux/m68k WWW page:
- http://www-users.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/~hn/linux68k.html
- Mirror of tsx-11 via WWW:
- http://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/packages/Linux/tsx-11-mirror/680x0/
-
- 6.5 Ftp-sites
- -------------
- THE Linux/m68k server:
- ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux/680x0/
- THE two Linux servers (sources for you to port to/compile on Linux/m68k):
- ftp://tsx-11.mit.edu/pub/linux/sources/
- ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/system/
- Mirrors (please use the one nearest to you, most of these mirrors are updated
- daily):
- ftp://ftp.tu-clausthal.de/pub/systems/Linux/680x0/
- ftp://ftp.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/pub/comp/os/linux/680x0/
- ftp://ftp.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de/pub/linux/680x0/
- ftp://ftp.twi.tudelft.nl/pub/Linux/680x0/
- ftp://ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/pub/Linux/BETA/680x0/
- ftp://ftp.germany.eu.net/pub/os/Linux/Mirror.SunSITE/
- ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pub/atari/linux/
- ftp://src.doc.ic.ac.uk/computing/operating-systems/Linux/tsx-11-mirror/680x0/
- ftp://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/pub/amiga/unix/Linux
- Linux on Amiga:
- ftp://ftp.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de/pub/amiga/linux/local/
- Linux on Atari (all new patches for Ataris):
- ftp://ftp.phil.uni-sb.de:/pub/atari/linux/
- [Please tell me if your favourite mirror is not on this list.]
- The kernel source for Linux/m68k can be found in 680x0/src/, a lot of
- binaries in 680x0/bin/. A few more tools reside in 680x0/tools/.
-
- 6.6 Modem
- ---------
- If you have a modem, you can get Linux/m68k from the following addresses:
-
- 6.6.1 Germany
- -------------
- System name: nasim
- Phone: +49 89 5469593, ZyX19200
- Login: Anon-uucp: nuucp - no password / ZModem: gast - no password
- Contents: full 680x0-tree of tsx-11 in /pub/linux-68k
- Get first: index file /pub/linux-68k/ls-lR.nasim.linux-68k.gz
- Other features: provides uucp access to 680X0 channel (read only) and the
- linux.act.* news-groups
- Admin: Frank Bartels (knarf@nasim.cube.net)
-
- 6.6.2 Sweden
- ------------
- Board Name: Balp BBS
- Phone: +46-90-199104
- Speed: 14.400 v.32"
- Login: Use your own name and download from file Area 180 (Amiga Linux) Contents: Most of Linux/m68k and some stuff from the Linux/386 distribution
- Admin: Anders Arnholm (dvlaam@cs.umu.se, 2:205/504@fidonet, 50:200/104@RPGNet)
-
- 6.7 Distributions
- -----------------
- A distribution for Atari Linux - including a GEM based installation tool - has
- been announced by Whiteline for November '94 (they do ads in Atari-magazines)
- but is late (by at least one month).
-
- 7. Activities
- =============
-
- 7.1 Coordinator
- ---------------
- Linux/m68k releases are built and released by Hamish MacDonald (his e-mail is
- hamish@border.ocunix.on.ca). 'Built' means that you write a patch against the
- current version/patchlevel and he will integrate it into the next release.
- Atari specific patches should be sent to Roman Hodek (his e-mail is
- rnhodek@cip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de) as Hamish has no way to test them.
- If you want your patches to be generally available rather than waiting for
- Hamish to integrate them: Post them to the 680X0 channel of linux-activists
- and linux-680x0 at least. Hamish has his own pace of doing releases. So read
- my lips:-) *Don't push him!*
-
- 7.2 Bug reports/Known bugs
- --------------------------
- Send bugreports to the author of the code or to Hamish (general and Amiga)
- or to Roman (Atari). Another approach is to post it to the 680X0 channel or
- to the appropriate newsgroup.
- If there are bugs that will probably stay for some time let me know so I can
- publish them here.
-
- 7.3 Under construction/To do
- ----------------------------
- I would like to have a list of projects planned/started, similar to the
- Linux Project-FAQ. If you send me infos I will put them into this section.
-
- 7.3.1 General
- -------------
- Affs: Write code, other DOS types and special root block handling missing.
- Documentation: A Linux/m68k update of the khg (Kernel hackers guide) needs to
- be written (especially the mmu specific stuff). Infos on the machine
- abstraction would be nice too.
-
- 7.3.2 Amiga
- -----------
- Concept/code for the use of chip ram and the blitter from user space.
-
- 7.3.3 Atari
- -----------
- SCC-Treiber (rnhodek@cip.informatik.uni-erlangen.de)
- Console for ET4000
- Falcon: better gfx support (more modes)
- Medusa, PAK/3 support
-
- 8. Famous last words
- ====================
-
- You are free to distribute this FAQ as part of a Linux distribution or a
- CD image of one of the major ftp-sites.
- Amiga, Atari, Motorola, Unix and perhaps some more words I used in this text
- are trademarks. So what?
-
- -----------
- J"org Mayer Student an der Universit"at Kaiserslautern
- http : http://pfah.informatik.uni-kl.de:8000/pers/jmayer.txt
- e-mail : jmayer@informatik.uni-kl.de // PGPid: 0xFB2461E1
- phone : Kaiserslautern: 205-3348 (Uni) // 3100480 (privat)
- snail-mail: Beethovenstr. 44 // 67655 Kaiserslautern // Germany
-