Alpha Core ISO Images

[Jay Estabrook]

On Wed, Sep 29, 2004 at 06:59:11PM +1000, Mike Barnes wrote:
> On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 16:04:09 -0400, Jay Estabrook <jay.estabrook at hp.com> wrote:
> > OK, the kernel will make LEGACY_START_ADDRESS known in its messages if
> > it is configured, and this one does, so the current install kernel
> > will NOT work on DS15/DS25/ES45/MARVEL.
> 
> OK - so if that option is changed, is there any effect on the other
> systems? I'd love to get a generic kernel that'll fire up on any
> system.

Unfortunately, it's either/or.

Because the TITAN boxes and Wildfire/Marvel have really BIG console
footprints (8MB or more, as contrasted to 2MB on older machines),
those MUST have the kernel starting up beyond the console. The higher
start address causes great pain on MILO machines, as it conflicts with
where MILO itself lives...

> Any suggestions welcome for tweaking the kernel config for maximum
> compatibility. I've popped the current .config from the Kernel SRPM up
> at:
> ftp://ftp.maths.monash.edu.au/pub/alphacore/kernel-2.6.6-alpha.config
> 
> There's an awful lot of room for improvement in there, I know.

I'll check it later after my 9am meeting...

> In this case, will disabling CONFIG_ALPHA_LEGACY_START_ADDRESS have
> any negative effect on anything? Anyone? If we need to provide
> multiple kernel packages, it could get messy, but I'm sure a solution
> could be found.

When we (internally) respun RH 7.2 for Alpha and made it work on MILO
machines much more gracefully, we had to have 2 kernels: one for MILO
machines (ie LEGACY_START_ADDRESS=y), and one for all the others.

This is not really a problem, since we can ALWAYS boot the alternate
for all SRM machines (via aboot.conf) and the MILO one via milo.conf,
so long as those are appropriately set up.

If you want, I can help you get it set up for AC...

 --Jay++

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Jay A Estabrook                            HPTC - LINUX support
Hewlett-Packard Company - ZKO2-3/N30       (603) 884-0301
110 Spit Brook Road, Nashua NH 03062       Jay.Estabrook at hp.com
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