[9fans] Installation on supermicro X9SCAA

[Pierre-Jean <plan9@utroff.org>]

Hello 9fans !

Here is a short review of my attempts to install
some plan9 distribution on a supermicro MBD-X9SCAA-O
motherboard (atom N2800 cpu), followed by some questions.

# 9legacy iso cd
================
With the sata CDR configured as ide, the boot fails after the
following messages:
	Plan9 from Bell Labs
	i8042 kbdinit failed
	pcirouting: ignoring south bridge PCI.0.31.0 8086/27BC
	disk loader
	CPU0 1867MHZ GenuineIntel P6 (cpuid: AX 0x30661 DX 0xBFEBFBFF)
	Elcr 00A0
	497M memory: 497 kernel data, 0M user, 18M swap

It's ashame, because I liked the spirit of 9legacy...

# 9atom iso cd
==============
With the sata CDR configured as ide, the boot fails after the
following messages:
	PBS1... Plan9 from Bell Labs
	ELCR: 00A0
	i8042: kbdinit failed
	cpu0: 1866 Mhz P6 loop 64544
	ether#0: i82574	link down
	ether#1: i82574	link down
	dev A0 port F0C0 config 8SC0 capabilities 0F00 mwdma 0007 udma 203F
	sdata: blind probe 1f0
	sdata: blind probe 170
	aoepnp (<nil>)


# 9front iso cd
===============
With the sata CDR configured as ide, the boot processes
correctly, so that I can log in as glenda and use the
system. I did not try the installation yet.


# 9atom AMD64 usb iso
=====================
I could perform the installation by choosing the AMD64 set,
without needing to configure the sata ports as ide.

But the first time I tried, I failed on what seems to be a
bug: I had choosen to install both AMD64 and i386 sets, but
the installer failed after asking me if I wanted to build
all the binaries, with a typo 'yns' instead of 'yes'. I
tried to answer 'yes', 'y', and 'yns', but none of them were
understood by the script.


# 9atom AMD64 questions
=======================
I'm currently getting some trouble to configure my 9atom
system:

1) I can't figure how to configure plan9.ini to get a menu.
I tried a plan9.ini '[menu]', as explained in plan9.ini(8),
but the bootloader does not seem to understand that syntax.
I also tried, without more result, to write two 'bootfile='
entries, as explained in 9load(8). Which manual page should
I follow ?

2) I had a hard time to figure where were the sources of my
current kernel. I first thought it was a patched pc kernel,
and finally used 'find | grep termf' to learn it was a
nix/k10 kernel. What does k10 means? May I have some hope
to get a working 9atom Plan9 kernel for this board or should
I stay with nix ?

3) I could not compile the nix/k10 cpuf, with the following
errors:
	; cd /sys/src/nix/k10
	; mk 'CONF=cpuf'
	[...]
	6l -o 9cpuf
	kbdputsc: undefined: drawactive
	mk 6c -FVTw '-DKERNDATE='`{date ...: exit status=rc 1124: 6l 1129:error
	; grep DKERNDATE mkfile
	$CC $CFLAGS '-DKERNDATE='`{date -n} $CONF.c

4) Is there any documentation of the build process
somewhere ? I'd like to know how to build binaries for a
custom architecture, and such other things.

5) How should I stay up to date with the 9atom development?
Is there any sources repository that I can mount or should I
use the iso ? Does 9atom plans to synchronize its sources
with the labs ones time to time or does it follow its own
way ?


I'd be happy to receive some tips and help, and I hope this
long message to be usefull.

Cheers,

Pierre-Jean.