[9fans] Building a Floppy Disk

[9fans] Building a Floppy Disk

[Bob]

I have been trying to build a custom boot disk. I have a computer with
the intel 945g chipset, it seems that if I modify sdata.c it will
recognize the sata bus. The problem I have is that when it builds the
root image for the floppy it can't find several programs, i.e touch lc
and many others. I have looked at the posts in this group, but it
seems that they are out of date or don't address this issue. What do i
have to build in order for the floppy to be built correctly.

Thanks
Bob

Re: [9fans] Building a Floppy Disk

[erik quanstrom]

On Fri Dec 14 04:54:54 EST 2007, rpangrazio@gmail.com wrote:
> I have been trying to build a custom boot disk. I have a computer with
> the intel 945g chipset, it seems that if I modify sdata.c it will
> recognize the sata bus. The problem I have is that when it builds the
> root image for the floppy it can't find several programs, i.e touch lc
> and many others. I have looked at the posts in this group, but it
> seems that they are out of date or don't address this issue. What do i
> have to build in order for the floppy to be built correctly.
> 
> Thanks
> Bob

if you alter your bios settings to set the sata mode to enhanced/ahci,
plan 9 should boot directly from livecd on your machine.

something's amiss if touch and lc are missing.  they are part of the
distribution.

nonetheless, i'm not sure that it's possible to build a floppy anymore
9pcf.gz is awful big.

- erik

[9fans] Re: Building a Floppy Disk

[Bob]

On Dec 14, 8:47 am, quans...@quanstro.net (erik quanstrom) wrote:
> On Fri Dec 14 04:54:54 EST 2007, rpangra...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > I have been trying to build a custom boot disk. I have a computer with
> > the intel 945g chipset, it seems that if I modify sdata.c it will
> > recognize the sata bus. The problem I have is that when it builds the
> > root image for the floppy it can't find several programs, i.e touch lc
> > and many others. I have looked at the posts in this group, but it
> > seems that they are out of date or don't address this issue. What do i
> > have to build in order for the floppy to be built correctly.
>
> > Thanks
> > Bob
>
> if you alter your bios settings to set the sata mode to enhanced/ahci,
> plan 9 should boot directly from livecd on your machine.
>
> something's amiss if touch and lc are missing.  they are part of the
> distribution.
>
> nonetheless, i'm not sure that it's possible to build a floppy anymore
> 9pcf.gz is awful big.
>
> - erik

It will boot from the livecd , it just won't recognize my sata drive.
When i put it in ata mode, or legacy mode or what ever, i have noticed
some os's recognize it as a sata, some as an ata. Plan 9 unfortunatly
is in the sata relm.

I can build 9pcf.gz and put it on a floppy and the new kernel with my
changes will boot, and see the sata bus. But the floppy root system is
missing those components, therefore it won't get to a working system.

Is there a way I can boot the floppy  kernel but use the CD's root fs?

Bob

Re: [9fans] Re: Building a Floppy Disk

[erik quanstrom]

> >
> > if you alter your bios settings to set the sata mode to enhanced/ahci,
> > plan 9 should boot directly from livecd on your machine.
> >
[etc]
> 
> It will boot from the livecd , it just won't recognize my sata drive.
> When i put it in ata mode, or legacy mode or what ever, i have noticed
> some os's recognize it as a sata, some as an ata. Plan 9 unfortunatly
> is in the sata relm.

like i said, you need to turn on "enhanced" mode in the bios.  for
some chipsets/bios you need to enable ahci.  on phoenixbios this
option only appears once enhanced mode is enabled.

if this is not working, either i misunderstood which file you modified.
sdata.c or sdiahci.c.  it's possible that there are missing dids in sdiahci.c
or i am a bit confused as to the southbridge that comes with the 945.
what is the output of "pci|grep disk"?

> I can build 9pcf.gz and put it on a floppy and the new kernel with my
> changes will boot, and see the sata bus. But the floppy root system is
> missing those components, therefore it won't get to a working system.
> 
> Is there a way I can boot the floppy  kernel but use the CD's root fs?

i've done this.  it's how i got my first system working.  it would boot from
cd, but then couldn't find the cd.  (or something, it's bee n a long time.)

if sdaoe is built into the distribution, you could run vblade on another
machine and install onto that.  once you fix the sata issues, you could
copy to local media.

- erik

Re: [9fans] Re: Building a Floppy Disk

[Russ Cox]

> I can build 9pcf.gz and put it on a floppy and the new kernel with my
> changes will boot, and see the sata bus. But the floppy root system is
> missing those components, therefore it won't get to a working system.
> 
> Is there a way I can boot the floppy  kernel but use the CD's root fs?

The kernel that knows how to read the CD is called 9pccd.gz.
Copy it to a boot floppy, boot the floppy, and at the 9load
boot from: prompt, type fd0!9pccd.gz.

Russ

[9fans] Re: Building a Floppy Disk

[Bob]

On Dec 14, 10:54 am, quans...@quanstro.net (erik quanstrom) wrote:
> > > if you alter your bios settings to set the sata mode to enhanced/ahci,
> > > plan 9 should boot directly from livecd on your machine.
>
> [etc]
>
> > It will boot from the livecd , it just won't recognize my sata drive.
> > When i put it in ata mode, or legacy mode or what ever, i have noticed
> > some os's recognize it as a sata, some as an ata. Plan 9 unfortunatly
> > is in the sata relm.
>
> like i said, you need to turn on "enhanced" mode in the bios.  for
> some chipsets/bios you need to enable ahci.  on phoenixbios this
> option only appears once enhanced mode is enabled.
>
> if this is not working, either i misunderstood which file you modified.
> sdata.c or sdiahci.c.  it's possible that there are missing dids in sdiahci.c
> or i am a bit confused as to the southbridge that comes with the 945.
> what is the output of "pci|grep disk"?
>
> > I can build 9pcf.gz and put it on a floppy and the new kernel with my
> > changes will boot, and see the sata bus. But the floppy root system is
> > missing those components, therefore it won't get to a working system.
>
> > Is there a way I can boot the floppy  kernel but use the CD's root fs?
>
> i've done this.  it's how i got my first system working.  it would boot from
> cd, but then couldn't find the cd.  (or something, it's bee n a long time.)
>
> if sdaoe is built into the distribution, you could run vblade on another
> machine and install onto that.  once you fix the sata issues, you could
> copy to local media.
>
> - erik

I modified sdata.c. Added the device id, which was 27c1. I can provide
the whole pci output from Solaris. Its rather long.   Then the kernel
seemed to recognize it once i added the id. I'll look at the other
file.

The only other computer I have is a work PC that I installed VMWare
server onto and got plan 9 working there. So it looks like VBlade is
my best option. I found a live CD and i'll have to find a windows
client. I am hoping I can export the whole disk, not just partitions.
Then maybe use a physical disk in Vmware and have Plan 9 partition,
but that may be a pipe dream.

To be complete if anyone else finds this post. I am using a dell xps
200. It has the intel 945g chipset. It seems that the dell bios has
two modes for the sata operation. AHCI and ATA. No other options are
given. Neither work with the standard kernel at this time.

Once I get it working I'll post exactly everything I did, in case
someone has a similar problem. I'll also see about adding the dev id's
to the code base.


Thanks for the suggestion

Bob

Re: [9fans] Re: Building a Floppy Disk

[erik quanstrom]

> I modified sdata.c. Added the device id, which was 27c1. I can provide
> the whole pci output from Solaris. Its rather long.   Then the kernel
> seemed to recognize it once i added the id. I'll look at the other
> file.

is this a sata or pata disk?  

if this is a sata disk, i believe this chipset is already supported in ahci mode.
we have machines around here with the same south bridge.

to enable ahci mode in bios, generally one needs to change the sata mode
to enhanced and, for this particular chipset, i believe it's necessary to enable
ahci mode. for the esb chipsets enabling ahci mode is not necessary.  
when you enable ahci, you should have a second device show up that starts
0x27cx.

- erik

[9fans] Intel Sata

[Bob]

On Dec 17, 7:56 am, quans...@quanstro.net (erik quanstrom) wrote:
> > I modified sdata.c. Added the device id, which was 27c1. I can provide
> > the whole pci output from Solaris. Its rather long.   Then the kernel
> > seemed to recognize it once i added the id. I'll look at the other
> > file.
>
> is this a sata or pata disk?
>
> if this is a sata disk, i believe this chipset is already supported in ahci mode.
> we have machines around here with the same south bridge.
>
> to enable ahci mode in bios, generally one needs to change the sata mode
> to enhanced and, for this particular chipset, i believe it's necessary to enable
> ahci mode. for the esb chipsets enabling ahci mode is not necessary.
> when you enable ahci, you should have a second device show up that starts
> 0x27cx.
>
> - erik

Well 9load seemed to recognize it from the get go. The kernel however
did not. I added the device ID, which after many hours turned out to
be 27C0 not 27C1, and it recognized the hard drive, i think. The
kernel prints a message detailing the sata port. 9load says its #S/
sdE0, but when I try to tell the kernel the root fs is local!#/sdE0!
fossil the kernel panics because it can't connect to the given server.

Any ideas?

Bob

Re: [9fans] Intel Sata

[erik quanstrom]

> Well 9load seemed to recognize it from the get go. The kernel however
> did not. I added the device ID, which after many hours turned out to
> be 27C0 not 27C1, and it recognized the hard drive, i think. The
> kernel prints a message detailing the sata port. 9load says its #S/
> sdE0, but when I try to tell the kernel the root fs is local!#/sdE0!
> fossil the kernel panics because it can't connect to the given server.
> 
> Any ideas?

great.

souldn't that be "local!sdE0!fossil"?

- erik

[9fans] Re: Intel Sata

[Bob]

On Dec 17, 8:35 am, quans...@quanstro.net (erik quanstrom) wrote:
> > Well 9load seemed to recognize it from the get go. The kernel however
> > did not. I added the device ID, which after many hours turned out to
> > be 27C0 not 27C1, and it recognized the hard drive, i think. The
> > kernel prints a message detailing the sata port. 9load says its #S/
> > sdE0, but when I try to tell the kernel the root fs is local!#/sdE0!
> > fossil the kernel panics because it can't connect to the given server.
>
> > Any ideas?
>
> great.
>
> souldn't that be "local!sdE0!fossil"?
>
> - erik

Well I tried local!sdE0!fossil and local!sdE0!fs to no avail. I also
tried sdE1 sdE2 and sdE3, since it says I have four sata ports I am
assuming sdE3 would be the highest drive. I'll keep trying other
things and let you know

I really appreciate all the help. I hope I can repay the list with
some good information.

Bob

Re: [9fans] Re: Intel Sata

[erik quanstrom]

wearing dunce cap ...  unfortunately the 9load format and kernel format
are different and i confused them.  so modulo a missing 'S' (typo?), your initial
guess was correct:
	local!#S/sdE0/fossil
you can use the silkscreen on the motherboard to eliminate the guessing about
which port your hard drive is plugged into.

there are many other problems you could have.  can you boot from the live
cd and poke around to see what's available on your hard drive?  once you
get booted, you can open a new window, bind devsd (don't know if
the livecd does this)
	bind -a '#S' /dev
recognize the partitions
	cd /dev/sdE[whatever]
	disk/fdisk -p data>ctl
	test -f plan9 && disk/prep -p plan9>ctl
you should then be able to use fossil/conf and other programs to inspect
your installation.  9fat: will mount 9fat on /n/9fat.

these manual pages
	boot(8)
	dossrv(4)
	fossil(4)
	prep(8)
	plan9.ini(8)
might be useful (http://plan9.bell-labs.com/sys/man/)

- erik

> > > kernel prints a message detailing the sata port. 9load says its #S/
> > > sdE0, but when I try to tell the kernel the root fs is local!#/sdE0!
> > > fossil the kernel panics because it can't connect to the given server.
> >
> > > Any ideas?
> >
> > great.
> >
> > souldn't that be "local!sdE0!fossil"?
> >
> > - erik
> 
> Well I tried local!sdE0!fossil and local!sdE0!fs to no avail. I also
> tried sdE1 sdE2 and sdE3, since it says I have four sata ports I am
> assuming sdE3 would be the highest drive. I'll keep trying other
> things and let you know
> 
> I really appreciate all the help. I hope I can repay the list with
> some good information.

[9fans] Re: Intel Sata

[Bob]

Well I checked the motherboard, sdE0 is what my drive should be. So
there must be something wrong with the install if it won't recognize
the filesystem. It recognizes it in VMWare, so I am confused. I guess
I will keep on plugging away.

Thanks
Bob


On Dec 18, 9:29 am, quans...@quanstro.net (erik quanstrom) wrote:
> wearing dunce cap ...  unfortunately the 9load format and kernel format
> are different and i confused them.  so modulo a missing 'S' (typo?), your initial
> guess was correct:
>         local!#S/sdE0/fossil
> you can use the silkscreen on the motherboard to eliminate the guessing about
> which port your hard drive is plugged into.
>
> there are many other problems you could have.  can you boot from the live
> cd and poke around to see what's available on your hard drive?  once you
> get booted, you can open a new window, bind devsd (don't know if
> the livecd does this)
>         bind -a '#S' /dev
> recognize the partitions
>         cd /dev/sdE[whatever]
>         disk/fdisk -p data>ctl
>         test -f plan9 && disk/prep -p plan9>ctl
> you should then be able to use fossil/conf and other programs to inspect
> your installation.  9fat: will mount 9fat on /n/9fat.
>
> these manual pages
>         boot(8)
>         dossrv(4)
>         fossil(4)
>         prep(8)
>         plan9.ini(8)
> might be useful (http://plan9.bell-labs.com/sys/man/)
>
> - erik
>
> > > > kernel prints a message detailing the sata port. 9load says its #S/
> > > > sdE0, but when I try to tell the kernel the root fs is local!#/sdE0!
> > > > fossil the kernel panics because it can't connect to the given server.
>
> > > > Any ideas?
>
> > > great.
>
> > > souldn't that be "local!sdE0!fossil"?
>
> > > - erik
>
> > Well I tried local!sdE0!fossil and local!sdE0!fs to no avail. I also
> > tried sdE1 sdE2 and sdE3, since it says I have four sata ports I am
> > assuming sdE3 would be the highest drive. I'll keep trying other
> > things and let you know
>
> > I really appreciate all the help. I hope I can repay the list with
> > some good information.

[9fans] Re: Intel Sata

[Bob]

So now the update. The dev id 27c0 corresponds to my sata in ata mode.
27c1 is the sata in ahci mode. If I add 27c1 to sdiahci.c and 27c0 to
sdata.c I get nothing from the kernel at boot up saying it found
anything. If I add 27c1 to both I get the response from the kernel. I
wonder if the driver can't handle the drive. Maybe the sata controller
I have is different enough from the controller used to write the
driver that it won't work. I find that hard to believe, but stranger
things are true.


On Dec 19, 4:56 am, Bob <rpangra...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Well I checked the motherboard, sdE0 is what my drive should be. So
> there must be something wrong with the install if it won't recognize
> the filesystem. It recognizes it in VMWare, so I am confused. I guess
> I will keep on plugging away.
>
> Thanks
> Bob
>
> On Dec 18, 9:29 am, quans...@quanstro.net (erik quanstrom) wrote:
>
> > wearing dunce cap ...  unfortunately the 9load format and kernel format
> > are different and i confused them.  so modulo a missing 'S' (typo?), your initial
> > guess was correct:
> >         local!#S/sdE0/fossil
> > you can use the silkscreen on the motherboard to eliminate the guessing about
> > which port your hard drive is plugged into.
>
> > there are many other problems you could have.  can you boot from the live
> > cd and poke around to see what's available on your hard drive?  once you
> > get booted, you can open a new window, bind devsd (don't know if
> > the livecd does this)
> >         bind -a '#S' /dev
> > recognize the partitions
> >         cd /dev/sdE[whatever]
> >         disk/fdisk -p data>ctl
> >         test -f plan9 && disk/prep -p plan9>ctl
> > you should then be able to use fossil/conf and other programs to inspect
> > your installation.  9fat: will mount 9fat on /n/9fat.
>
> > these manual pages
> >         boot(8)
> >         dossrv(4)
> >         fossil(4)
> >         prep(8)
> >         plan9.ini(8)
> > might be useful (http://plan9.bell-labs.com/sys/man/)
>
> > - erik
>
> > > > > kernel prints a message detailing the sata port. 9load says its #S/
> > > > > sdE0, but when I try to tell the kernel the root fs is local!#/sdE0!
> > > > > fossil the kernel panics because it can't connect to the given server.
>
> > > > > Any ideas?
>
> > > > great.
>
> > > > souldn't that be "local!sdE0!fossil"?
>
> > > > - erik
>
> > > Well I tried local!sdE0!fossil and local!sdE0!fs to no avail. I also
> > > tried sdE1 sdE2 and sdE3, since it says I have four sata ports I am
> > > assuming sdE3 would be the highest drive. I'll keep trying other
> > > things and let you know
>
> > > I really appreciate all the help. I hope I can repay the list with
> > > some good information.

Re: [9fans] Re: Intel Sata

[erik quanstrom]

On Thu Dec 20 04:47:55 EST 2007, rpangrazio@gmail.com wrote:
> So now the update. The dev id 27c0 corresponds to my sata in ata mode.
> 27c1 is the sata in ahci mode. If I add 27c1 to sdiahci.c and 27c0 to
> sdata.c I get nothing from the kernel at boot up saying it found
> anything. If I add 27c1 to both I get the response from the kernel. I
> wonder if the driver can't handle the drive. Maybe the sata controller
> I have is different enough from the controller used to write the
> driver that it won't work. I find that hard to believe, but stranger
> things are true.

either you can recognize the drive as ahci, or as a normal ata drive,
but not both at the same time.  that's prohibited.

- erik

[9fans] Re: Intel Sata

[Bob]

On Dec 20, 8:12 am, quans...@quanstro.net (erik quanstrom) wrote:
> On Thu Dec 20 04:47:55 EST 2007, rpangra...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> > So now the update. The dev id 27c0 corresponds to my sata in ata mode.
> > 27c1 is the sata in ahci mode. If I add 27c1 to sdiahci.c and 27c0 to
> > sdata.c I get nothing from the kernel at boot up saying it found
> > anything. If I add 27c1 to both I get the response from the kernel. I
> > wonder if the driver can't handle the drive. Maybe the sata controller
> > I have is different enough from the controller used to write the
> > driver that it won't work. I find that hard to believe, but stranger
> > things are true.
>
> either you can recognize the drive as ahci, or as a normal ata drive,
> but not both at the same time.  that's prohibited.
>
> - erik

So adding the same dev id to both drivers is wrong. But then why does
it not work when I add the corresponding dev id's to the appropiate
driver. It should then be able to recognize it in both instances.

Bob

Re: [9fans] Re: Intel Sata

[erik quanstrom]

> > > So now the update. The dev id 27c0 corresponds to my sata in ata mode.
> > > 27c1 is the sata in ahci mode. If I add 27c1 to sdiahci.c and 27c0 to
> > > sdata.c I get nothing from the kernel at boot up saying it found
> > > anything. If I add 27c1 to both I get the response from the kernel. I
> > > wonder if the driver can't handle the drive. Maybe the sata controller
> > > I have is different enough from the controller used to write the
> > > driver that it won't work. I find that hard to believe, but stranger
> > > things are true.
> >
> > either you can recognize the drive as ahci, or as a normal ata drive,
> > but not both at the same time.  that's prohibited.
> >
> > - erik
> 
> So adding the same dev id to both drivers is wrong. But then why does
> it not work when I add the corresponding dev id's to the appropiate
> driver. It should then be able to recognize it in both instances.

intel like to have multiple dids for the same hardware.  the various
dids represent the programming interface.  the problem is that you
can't use both programming interfaces at the same time because,
evidently, the different programming interfaces have internal state.
even if you could, i don't think you'd want /dev/sdC0 and /dev/sdE0
representing the same hardware.

for example, on one machine i use in testing i have

neponset; pci|grep disk|grep 8086/
0.31.1:	disk 01.01.8a 8086/269e 255 0:00000001 16 1:00000001 16 2:00000001 16 3:00000001 16 4:00001881 16
0.31.2:	disk 01.06.01 8086/2681  10 0:000018b1 16 1:000018a5 16 2:000018a9 16 3:000018a1 16 4:00001891 32 5:d9000400 1024

i use the 2681 did.  i know that's the ahci did because bar#5 shows up.
(well that, and the intel documentation says so.)  269e is not used.
as you can see the pata drives are available through the traditional interface:

neponset# cat /dev/sdctl
sdC ata port 1F0 ctl 3F4 irq 14
sdE ahci port 0xe008b400: 64a alp led ncq pm pslum slum iss 2 ncs 31 np 6; ghc 80000002 isr 0 pi 3f 0-5 ver 10100
neponset# lc '#S'
sdC0	sdE0	sdE1	sdE2	sdE3	sdE4	sdE5	sdctl

by the way, i've never been able combine sata and pata under the
traditional interface with intel southbridges of any description,
with the exception of the case of a pata cdrom and a sata hard drive,
combined mode notwithstanding.

- erik