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FreeBSD (& now NetBSD) Laptops - Install Tricks & Release Statushttp://www.berklix.org/~jhs/hardware/laptops/By Julian H. StaceyIndexIntroduction
Based on
posting of 2007.06.12 to mobile @@ freebsd.org
FreeBSD has progressively broken support for 5 of my older laptops. One needs massive time reading manuals etc, only then to fail anyway, getting beyond FreeBSD-4.11. (Only 1 modern laptop here takes FreeBSD-6.2). FreeBSD-4.11 is nominally dead, yet on many older laptops is all that Works. Newcomers may give up after FreeBSD-6.2 & dump FreeBSD, not knowing to use FreeBSD-4.11 with working { ATA access, Geom / FDISK, PCMCIA (ether & cdrom), PLIP }. Developers may use newer laptops or towers, but support for older laptops should not be So damaged as now, many older laptop are still fine as office X terminals, UPS/PBX status monitors etc. Suggestion: A colossal slow_and_safe option in loader.conf (like a BIOS has), so at least one can install, then until it''s turned off, a grep at boot to mail root reporting machine was deliberately slowed to ensure install. Then installer can disable slow_and_safe and debug- edit on a working platform, not repetitively do 5 floppy installs typing screeds of "set" magic hopefully to loader. I''m analysing broken-ness since FreeBSD-4.11, & documenting it here: http://www.berklix.org/~jhs/hardware/laptops/ Inc. URL to PLIP failure (where I hope to later try back porting FreeBSD-4.11 PLIP src to FreeBSD-6.2).
FreeBSD
in last few years has chased more functionality while
breaking & abandoning some existing support. Others
will have tried FreeBSD on some
older laptops & given up, largely remained silent &
left FreeBSD
developers in blissful ignorance, thinking all is rosey in
the garden. A visitor pointing at slugs eating the
strawberries may not be popular, but if no one mentions it,
damage persists.
Some old laptops still run OK, eg Julian Elischer''s 1999 Dell Inspiron runs fine on 2007.06 -current Current status of some laptops may be found in FreeBSD laptop compatibility indexes Hosts
See Also
/boot/loader.confGeneric
Normal content just:
userconfig_script_load="YES"
Live Syntax To Loader
Things That May Help Force Old Machines To Boot / Install
From Posting:
Which of those & other options should I add to
"BootSafeKey" in
/sys/boot/forth/beastie.4th to help a "Safe" boot ?
Then I''ll send-pr a diff to
extend chance of other older laptops booting. &
will roll new floppies(*) & put up for ftp; (no
problem, done releases before).
BootSafeKey in 7.0BETA3
/sys/boot/forth/beastie.4th:
dup bootsafekey @ = if s" arch-i386" environment? if drop s" acpi_load" unsetenv s" 1" s" hint.acpi.0.disabled" setenv s" 1" s" loader.acpi_disabled_by_user" setenv s" 1" s" hint.apic.0.disabled" setenv then s" 0" s" hw.ata.ata_dma" setenv s" 0" s" hw.ata.atapi_dma" setenv s" 0" s" hw.ata.wc setenv s" 0" s" hw.eisa_slots" setenv s" 1" s" hint.kbdmux.0.disabled setenv 0 boot then dup bootverbosekey @ = if
Extra Rescue Hooks
For a better chance of booting an old laptop, try this,
eg
mdconfig -a -t vnode -f /pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/ISO-IMAGES/7.0/7.0-BETA4-i386-disc1.iso mount -t cd9660 -r /dev/vn0c /mnt cd /pub/FreeBSD/releases/i386/7.0-RELEASE (cd /mnt ; tar cf - . ) | tar xf - umount /mnt mdconfig -d -u 0 cd floppies mdconfig -a -t vnode -f boot.flp mount /dev/md0 /mnt cat > /mnt/julian << EOF set boot_verbose="yes" set debug.bootverbose=1 set hint.acpi.0.disabled="1" set hw.acpi.disable_on_reboot=1 set hw.acpi.verbose=1 set loader.acpi_disabled_by_user=1 set verbose_loading="yes" # Ethernet ? set if_dc_load="YES" set hint.apic.0.disabled="1" set hint.apm.0.disabled="1" set hw.ata.ata_dma=0 set hw.ata.atapi_dma=0 set hw.ata.wc=0 set hw.eisa_slots=0 set hw.pci.enable_io_modes=0 set hw.pcic.ignore_pci=1 set hw.pcic.irq="0" set hw.pcic.pd6729_intr_path # Debug non working pccard slot: set hw.cardbus.cis_debug=1 set hw.cardbus.debug=1 set hw.cbb.debug=1 set hw.pccard.cis_debug=1 set hw.pccard.debug=1 set machdep.bios.pci=disable set machdep.bios.pnp=disable set machdep.pccard.pcic_irq="0" EOF umount /mnt mdconfig -d -u 0 Boot target host with floppy, select Escape to loader. Maybe with key 4 ? include julian boot -v To allow USB keyboard in single user modeset hint.atkbd.0.flags="0x1" My Host Specifichost=lapa
with BIOS set to PIO=On # From Jim Mock mij @@
geekhouse.net
host=lapdhost=lapnhost=laplhost=laps
loader.conf
Test of wifi cards: # if_acx_load="YES" # now in my kernel so not here if_ndis_load="YES" if_t1130_XP_sys_load="YES" t1130_XP_sys.ko # man kldstat /boot/device.hints
First appeared in FreeBSD 5.0
Most (all?) drivers don''t probe for the hardware if you set the variable hint.[device].[instance].disabled="1". For example, to disable probing for p4tcc0, hint.p4tcc.0.disabled="1" in /boot/device.hints From 6.1-src/src/sys/i386/conf:
# AVM A1 or AVM Fritz!Card options AVM_A1
host=park: Has added:
hint.isic.0.at="isa" hint.isic.0.port="0x340" hint.isic.0.irq="5" hint.isic.0.flags="4" # Reassign ep0 from default 5 which only intermittently works, stickily. hint.ep.0.irq="11" /boot/kernel.confhost=lapl 4.10 # The system boots with or without this file present # di bt0 # dmesg reports for 4.10-RELEASE LAPL kernel: No such device: bt0 # di ata1 # dmesg reports for 4.10-RELEASE LAPL kernel: Invalid command or syntax. # di aic0 # dmesg reports for 4.10-RELEASE LAPL kernel: No such device: aic0 # di aha0 # dmesg reports for 4.10-RELEASE LAPL kernel: No such device: aha0 # di adv0 # dmesg reports for 4.10-RELEASE LAPL kernel: No such device: adv0 q PLIP - IP on Parallel Port
Seems broken on FreeBSD-5 & 6
last know working on FreeBSD-4.11.
See Also Dec 2007 ire 7.0BETA4 in base of
http://www.berklix.com/~jhs/src/bsd/fixes/FreeBSD/src/gen/share/man/man4/lp.4.REL=ALL.diff
Link to thread on mail list. Frozen copy
From owner-freebsd-hackers @@ freebsd.org Sat Jun 9 23:21:12 2007
X-Original-To: hackers @@ freebsd.org
Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers @@ FreeBSD.ORG
Message-Id: <200706091602.l59G2psm042173 @@ fire>
To: ghozzy <ghozzy @@ gmail.com>
From: "Julian H. Stacey" <jhs @@ berklix.org>
In-reply-to: Your message of "Fri, 08 Jun 2007 22:59:26 +0400."
<a066eefc0706081159t1929b615j4391d91f48df4acc @@ mail.gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 09 Jun 2007 18:02:51 +0200
Cc: jhs @@ berklix.org, hackers @@ freebsd.org
Subject: Re: FreeBSD-6.2 & PLIP - does it still work ?
Reference:
> From: ghozzy <ghozzy @@ gmail.com>
> Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2007 22:59:26 +0400
> Message-id: \
<a066eefc0706081159t1929b615j4391d91f48df4acc \
@@ mail.gmail.com>
ghozzy wrote:
> On 6/8/07, Julian H. Stacey <jhs @@ berklix.org> wrote:
> > Anyone seen PLIP working on FreeBSD-6.2 release ?
> > I''ve tested my PLIP cable between 2 x 4.11 boxes. I''m trying to
> > install a laptop with 6.2 boot flops (with failed pcmcia/ether
> > recognition) I cant get that laptop & a 6.2 tower to talk to each
> > other. Neither will those 2 x 6.2 talk to 4.11. I haven''t quite
> > done all exhaustive tests, (but am exhausted & seems worth asking :-)
> >
> > Julian
>
> It seems to me PLIP has been broken somewhere after branching RELENG_5.
> Between two RELENG_4 it worked fine (used from about 4.3 to latest 4.11).
> If any end was using RELENG_5 or RELENG_6 it didn''t work any more.
> I thought first, maybe there were some incompatible changes in protocol
> or something, i tried to use the same FreeBSD versions on two ends
> (both RELENG_5 or both RELENG_6), but that was not the case.
>
> My tests were not exhaustive either, but i actually tried to fire it up again
> numerous times, enough for my own assurance.
>
> If anybody could shed some light, i would be curious.
> I could also make tests if needed.
Thanks for confirmation ghozzy,
Can anyone say eg "No it works for me" ?
Or now we know PL-IP is broken, Options:
- Post net @@ freebsd for specialists,
- Post mobile @@ freebsd (where it most hurts, as PLIP really needed when
pcmcia slots not recognised on older laptops so cant install FreeBSD).
- Send-pr for manual to declare plip broken.
- Read & compare source of 4.11 & 6.2 Release src/sys/dev/ppbus/if_plip.c
(interesting, but short of time, & others who''ve hacked / broken
it might fix quicker ?)
I viewed with /usr/ports/textproc/mgdiff & diff not that big, eg
diff -c 4.11/usr/src/sys/dev/ppbus/if_plip.c.~1~ \
6.1/usr/src/sys/dev/ppbus/if_plip.c.~1~ | wc
481 1466 11651
SLIP - Serial Line Internet Protocol
After an install using SLIP with FreeBSD-7.0BETA4,
& subsequent reboot ifconfig -a shows no sl0 interface (although /etc/rc.conf does contain eg This problem or fix needs to become a send-pr pro tem I have
/etc/start_if.sl0 with /sbin/slattach -a -h -l -s 9600
/dev/cuad0
& /etc/rc.local with
/etc/start_if.sl0
sleep 5 # next ifconfig does not work without some sort of sleep
ifconfig sl0 10.0.0.1 10.0.0.2
Send-Pr
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