[9fans] readme for THNX

[9fans] readme for THNX

[ron minnich]

The intent is that this USB disk is a starting point for your machine.
We did not set up the usb stick with all the friendly automagic
/etc/rc.d/init.d stuff because that is all so slow and ugly. The
intent is that you start from this simple base and extend as much as
needed for your platform. It does not take much to customize it.

I think the talk today left people confused a bit, and I'm sorry if it
did. I think I went too fast.

When you boot and get the grub prompt
grub>
enter configflie /boot/grub/menu.lst
and hit return. And if you know how to make it stop asking this, let me know.

When the kernel  boots, you'll get the screen modes prompt for vga.
Hit return, then enter the mode.
For x60, 317 is a safe choice, 318 works too.  -- 1024x768
For t60, I know 318 works, but there are better modes -- Aki?

You need to set up an MTRR for the graphics. X11 does this normally,
but we're not running X11. So you do this:

[rminnich@xcpu ~]$ lspci | grep -i vga
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS,
943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
[rminnich@xcpu ~]$ lspci -v -v -v -s 0:2.0
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS,
943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03) (prog-if 00
[VGA])
        Subsystem: Lenovo Thinkpad R60e model 0657
        Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop-
ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B-
        Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort-
<TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR-
        Latency: 0
        Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 20
        Region 0: Memory at ee100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]
        Region 1: I/O ports at 1800 [size=8]
        Region 2: Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
        Region 3: Memory at ee200000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>

See that Region 2 above? The BIG one (256M) with the "prefetchable"?
That's the frame buffer. You need to set an mtrr for it. Note the base
address (0xd0000000) and size (0x10000000). Just do this:
. FIXMTRR 0xd0000000 0x10000000
Now the frame buffer will be fast. Note on different systems that
"Region 2" can be Region 0 or other things.

Now you need a network.

I am pretty sure I have all the modules for linux network drivers on the disk.

There is wireless support in the form of all the linux wireless
drivers, and the ipw3945 and madwifi stack as well as wpa_supplicant.
The supplicant/ipw3945 combo is tested and works.

The one remaining secret is that there are two network modes to run
in. You should probably run BRIDGE if you are going with a wire, and
NAT otherwise.

Figure out which network you want to use, and, e.g.:
modprobe e1000

For the ipw3945,
cd ipw3945/ipw3945-1.2.0/
./load

for madwifi+atheros there is a script
ath0
which ought to work.

If you are going to BRIDGE run the BRIDGE script. This will dhcp.
Modify to taste.

Then run RUNLGUESTNAT for nat
or RUNLGUESTBRIDGE.

If running BRIDGED, note the IP address that the plan 9 guest got; it
is the prompt.

Once the guest is up, use <ALT>F2 to get to vt 2.

Then:
If running NAT:
drawterm -a hanska -c hanska
if running BRIDGE:
drawterm -a <ip address from above>  -c <ip address from above>

user is bootes,
password is lguestgood

now you are up in drawterm. To get to other VTs from drawterm,
^T^T1 (for the one you were on) or ^T^T3 for VT3 and so on for up to VT 6.
To exit drawterm ^T^TR and note: UPPER CASE R.

We don't supply reboot or other commands. To shut down, in Plan 9,
fshalt
To exit the Plan 9 guest,
^C^C^C (i.e. three ^C)

To make the root file system ready to shut down in Linux,
CTL-ALT-SYSRQ-u will magically remount the file system read-only. At
that point you can power off.

CTL-ALT-SYSRQ-b will magically reboot

OK, this is a lot of typing, right? This is the raw material. Once you
figure out what bits you need for your laptop, write
a script (I recommend calling it 9load),
==>starting with the /bin/runme script, <==
and adding in the modprobe from above, and the other bits you need.

Then, next time you boot, just type
9load
and watch Plan 9 boot.

Also, if you really want to use the local disk on your laptop, go for
it. Just use fdisk to set up a partition, mount it on e.g. /mnt/thnx,
mount the usb disk on e.g. /mnt/usb, then
rsync -av /mnt/usb /mnt/thnx
Then set up grub so it can boot this partition.

ron

Re: [9fans] readme for THNX

[Aki Nyrhinen]

On Dec 4, 2007 5:23 AM, ron minnich <rminnich@gmail.com> wrote:
> When the kernel  boots, you'll get the screen modes prompt for vga.
> Hit return, then enter the mode.
> For x60, 317 is a safe choice, 318 works too.  -- 1024x768
> For t60, I know 318 works, but there are better modes -- Aki?

318 might give you the funny red color bug  (probably all my fault,
but i'm not going to figure it out, i'm too lazy), so instead use 317.
for t60 i think 31a would be the mode that doesn't need to be scaled,
so should look better.

Re: [9fans] readme for THNX

[Martin Harriss]

ron minnich wrote:
> The intent is that this USB disk is a starting point for your machine.
> We did not set up the usb stick with all the friendly automagic
> /etc/rc.d/init.d stuff because that is all so slow and ugly. The
> intent is that you start from this simple base and extend as much as
> needed for your platform. It does not take much to customize it.
> 
> I think the talk today left people confused a bit, and I'm sorry if it
> did. I think I went too fast.
> 
> When you boot and get the grub prompt
> grub>
> enter configflie /boot/grub/menu.lst
> and hit return. And if you know how to make it stop asking this, let me know.

Have you tried this:

cd /boot/grub
mv menu.lst grub.conf
ln -s grub.conf menu.lst

(This will make it look like it does on my Red Hat system.  I think the 
grub.conf name is built in to grub...)

I was sorry not to be able to make it to the conference, especially as 
I'm close by - too busy at work this week.  Maybe next time.

Martin

Re: [9fans] readme for THNX

[ron minnich]

On Dec 4, 2007 10:41 AM, Martin Harriss <martin@princeton.edu> wrote:

> cd /boot/grub
> mv menu.lst grub.conf

Thank you martin, this did it, I can not believe I forgot that :-)

Thanks again

ron