Dezember 2012 - Vax-linux

Merry Christmas or Happy Chanukah & A very Happy New Year .
by Mr. James W. Laferriere 25 Dez '12

25 Dez '12

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Firmware Dumper Utility
by Jan-Benedict Glaw 16 Dez '12

16 Dez '12

Hi! Just to let you know, I've fetched my old firmware dumper sources from SourceForge (http://linux-vax.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/linux-vax/usr/firmware_dumper/) and moved them to a new GIT repo (see http://vax-linux.org/gitweb/) I tried to build it, which broke horribly at my first try. It's eight years old code and ... seems it wasn't too portable *cough*. Some fixes applied, at least it builds without warnings with a recent compiler, though I haven't tested it again (yet.) MfG, JBG -- Jan-Benedict Glaw jbglaw(a)lug-owl.de +49-172-7608481 Signature of: If it doesn't work, force it. the second : If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway.

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Git / GitWeb
by Jan-Benedict Glaw 10 Dez '12

10 Dez '12

Hi everybody! I've just installed GitWeb and pushed a very first GIT repo to it. For now, it's only a recently started project: Disassemble the Firmware update program for Cougar systems. They use (probably) early Flash chips to hold their boot code. That's not too much for now, but a start. I hope that more code will show up soon, especially the (bitrotten) old kernel sources, but also other code. I can host GIT repos for other people, too, of course. A GIT server (opposed to the HTTP-based cloning that's available right now) will follow, too. http://vax-linux.org/gitweb/ Have fun, JBG -- Jan-Benedict Glaw jbglaw(a)lug-owl.de +49-172-7608481 Signature of: They that give up essential liberty to obtain temporary safety, the second : deserve neither liberty nor safety. (Ben Franklin)

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Wiki, bitrot, code and greetings!
by Joel Heikkila 08 Dez '12

08 Dez '12

Hi all, A few points, questions and so on. First of all, it's exciting to see some new life to this project in the last year! I've noticed the wiki isn't configured still, which is a bit of a hindrance for starting to document things. The repository mentioned by Maciej in the Dec 2011 message > Anyway, the derivative has been made by taking a LMO kernel (i.e. one > from linux-mips.org) and applying VAX-specific bits from Jan-Benedict's > repository that used to live at: > > git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/jbglaw/vax-linux.git > > and was last updated up to 2.6.23-rc4 according to my most recent daily > snapshot. I have no idea if the repository has been restored after the > kernel.org outage earlier this year. And I don't really know what the > status of the kernel port is as Jan-Benedict has been busy and distracted > with some more important matters recently. I have cc-ed him in case > (hope?) he has anything to add. is still down and presumably will continue to be. For that matter, ftp.linux-mips.org with Maciej's RPMs is also down. Perhaps related to their late Sept. move to a new host? The only code I can find is on the SourceForge site in the CVS -- untouched since ~2005? Hosting some repositories on vax-linux.org seems natural. Speaking of the SourceForge site, does anyone subscribed have write access to it? Changing it to a redirect to vax-linux.org would be useful, as a search on Google for "vax linux" current returns the SF site and the vax-linux.org site first and second, respectively. The two sites look fairly similar so it's confusing for someone searching those terms to determine which is the right place. (I had sent a couple emails and registration requests to the pergamentum mailing list before I realized this one existed.) As for me, well, I'm a fan of the VAX but I don't currently have any hardware, so my contributions will have to be limited to what can be done under SIMH, as a pair of eyes and hands for poking code, writing docs and as moral support. Regards, Joel

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IRC
by Jan Prunk 06 Dez '12

06 Dez '12

Hello ! I would like to invite you also to Live chat (irc), there is the #vax channel on irc.freenode.net And also my little vax fan page at http://www.vax.si so you are welcome to suggest me additional usefull links/relevant information, which I could add on this page. Welcome ! Kind regards, Jan Prunk

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Linux/VAX boot protocol
by Pekka Enberg 04 Dez '12

04 Dez '12

Hello, Where can I find documentation on Linux/VAX boot protocol? The vmlinux images in vaxroot package: http://linux-vax.sourceforge.net/download/README.vaxroot-20010920 seem to have the following structure: +------------------+ 0x0000 | Padding | +------------------+ 0x0200 | Jump instruction | | Command line | +------------------+ 0x0300 | Kernel code | The jump instruction points to 0x104 so I assume the first 0x200 bytes are simply discarded? Pekka

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Re: Linux/VAX boot protocol
by Jan Prunk 03 Dez '12

03 Dez '12

Hi ! I can sponsor VAX remote access if you dont have machine and you want to hack the code on them. I got microvax 3100 and vaxstation 3100 and 4000/90. Its hard to say when I can find the time to install something to them, because I am busy with work lately, it surely wont happen before new year. Keep up with the good work I am looking forward to that. Kind regards, Jan Prunk On Dec 3, 2012 4:07 PM, "Maciej W. Rozycki" <macro(a)linux-mips.org> wrote: Toby, > > > I too have a working mopd based netboot for a MicroVAX II. I did however > > > have > >... I've had a look and it seems to me that your tree has none of the changes I made over 10 years ago (I can see my last build, rev. 15, is dated 17th Nov 2002). Chances are you've been working on issues that have been long fixed. :( If you have a record of changes readily available (I can't see offhand how to extract any diffs out of github.com) then I can see how I can integrate them into my sources. It may be easier than the other way round as I have collected 16 patches so far, on top of the genuine 2.5.3 tarball (dated 21st Aug 1996) that has since gone from its original distribution site at ftp.stacken.kth.se. If there are any conflicts, it may take less effort to resolve them in your change rather than in the other 16. I've got copies of mopd-2.5.3.tar.gz mentioned above at: ftp://ftp.linux-mips.org/pub/linux/mips/people/macro/mopd/ and in the source RPM packages elsewhere at my site. > Since I have three MicroVAX IIs here, maybe I could find time next year to > play with Linux/VAX.... No idea, perhaps someone else could comment. I can see there is an arch/vax/kernel/cpu_ka630.c module in the tree, but I have no such hardware, so I can't say how functional or complete it is. The devil might lie in the peripherals, at the very least the serial console and the network interface need to work for the kernel to be of any use. Your best bet might be to try out and report your findings here. ;) > Thanks for your hard work, Maciej. My pleasure! :) Maciej _______________________________________________ Vax-linux mailing list Vax-linux@vax-linux...

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