[9fans] IDE socketed FLASH memory

[9fans] IDE socketed FLASH memory

[lucio]

I have been trying without success to configure a 32MB IDE flash
module to operate under Plan 9.  The geometry is one of two options,
c=489, h=4, s=32 or c=31, h=32, s=32, the sector size is the normal
512 bytes and the full capacity is 62592 sectors.  I can't convince
Plan 9 to accept the latter geometry and, in my rather ignorant state,
I believe that accessing parts (partitions) of the flash using the
former geometry is responsible for the I/O errors that occur.

I can read and write the entire image using dd(1), irrespective of
geometry and I have used disksim to build an image using the second
geometry, but installing this on the flash has not made it possible to
boot a Plan 9 kernel.

I'm not sure what I should try next, I would like to force a different
geometry on the sd(3) driver, but writing a new geometry to the ctl
file, in keeping with the documentation, just triggers an error.

++L

Re: [9fans] IDE socketed FLASH memory

[ron minnich]

On Sat, Aug 23, 2008 at 12:04 PM, erik quanstrom <quanstro@quanstro.net> wrote:
>> I can read and write the entire image using dd(1), irrespective of
>> geometry and I have used disksim to build an image using the second
>> geometry, but installing this on the flash has not made it possible to
>> boot a Plan 9 kernel.
>
> the fact that you can dd but can't boot a kernel hints that
> the problem might not be with the ide flash.
>
> could you explain more about what happens when you try
> to boot from this device?

serial console log is always helpful.

ron

Re: [9fans] IDE socketed FLASH memory

[erik quanstrom]

> I can read and write the entire image using dd(1), irrespective of
> geometry and I have used disksim to build an image using the second
> geometry, but installing this on the flash has not made it possible to
> boot a Plan 9 kernel.

the fact that you can dd but can't boot a kernel hints that
the problem might not be with the ide flash.

could you explain more about what happens when you try
to boot from this device?

is it possible that you have a machine with boot sector anti-virus
protection?

- erik