199 lines
6.3 KiB
Plaintext
199 lines
6.3 KiB
Plaintext
README and FAQ for the fla driver.
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==================================
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[0] COPYRIGHT & LICENSE
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Please read the COPYRIGHT file carefully. If you cannot
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agree to be bound by the terms of this license, please
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contact M-systems and make arrangements with them.
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[1] What does this driver do ?
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This driver supports up to eight M-systems DiskOnChip
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devices.
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The driver has been tested with the following devices:
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DiskOnChip2000 (8, 12, 24, 32, 40, 72, 144 MB)
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DiskOnChipMillenium (8 MB)
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DiskOnChipMillenium TSOP (8 MB)
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You can find full details, specs etc on M-systems homepage:
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http://www.m-sys.com
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[2] Which firmware version ?
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The driver has only been tested with version 1.21.
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[3] How many devices ?
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The driver supports up to 8 devices but have been tested only
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with 5 due to hardware limitations in my test setup.
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[4] Which FreeBSD versions ?
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The driver is tested for 4.0-CURRENT and 3.3-RELEASE.
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Porting to earlier versions of FreeBSD should be a simple
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matter of modifying the fla.c file. [patches are welcome]
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[5] Can I install FreeBSD with sysinstall ?
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Yes, it has been tested in FreeBSD-4.0-CURRENT and it works.
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You will need to build a kernel with the fla driver since
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the default "GENERIC" kernel doesn't contain the fla driver.
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[6] How to boot from a fla device ?
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FreeBSD 4.0 and forward find their root device by reading
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the /etc/fstab, so the DiskOnChip devices will work just
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like any other device.
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Earlier FreeBSD kernels recognizes the root device using
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various hacks. These hacks doesn't recognize the fla device
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so some "real" hacks are needed to boot from your fla
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device.
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In pre 4.0 versions specifying the boot device in the kernel
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config file this way is the easiest way to do it:
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config kernel root on major 28 minor 65538
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[7] How to disklabel a fla device ?
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Look at the script in prep.fla.sh, it will do the job for you.
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[8] Who to contact ?
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doc2k@phk.freebsd.dk will offer limited best-effort help
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to the extent time permits. Further support for special
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projects or configurations available at reasonable hourly
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rates.
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[9] Getting detailed
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The DiskOnChip product gets out in some odd corners of the
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PC-architecture, and chances are that things don't do what
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you expect. Here are some hints and random observations
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I've made during my work with these devices.
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[9a] Choosing an address for the DOC
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Each DOC needs a 8K memory window starting on an 8K boundary.
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The lowest possible address is C000:0, the highest is DE00:0
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If your hardware puts the DOC another place, you will need
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to modify the doc2k_probe() call in fla.c.
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It is important that you set the BIOS to not do "fancy things"
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with this window, in particular no kind of cache or shadowing
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can be enabled.
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Be aware that some hardware will decode a 32k memory window
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for the DOC device.
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If everything is OK, the DOC will print a message during
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the BIOS startup.
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For large devices it can take some time to check the flash
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data structures, but if it takes more than 3 minutes
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something is wrong.
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If you boot a MSDOS floppy and run FDISK you should be able
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to see the DOC device.
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If it doesnt work:
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If you machine never gets to the point where it will boot,
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but just hangs it could be because you have a BIOS which
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need the "slightly special" DOC firmware. Obviously you
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will need to put the DOC in another machine to load this
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firmware. You can download the firmware and utilities
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from M-systems website http://www.m-sys.com
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If the machine boots, but the device isn't visible it can
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be because some other device uses the same memory window,
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or because the BIOS prevents it from being used. If you
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boot MSDOS and enter DEBUG, you should be able to find a
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BIOS extension signature at the address using the 'd'
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command, for instance 'd d800:0'.
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A special case is when the DOC prints the BIOS message
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but disappears afterwards, this can happen because another
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card (NCR SCSI controllers for instance) steal the memory
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window later in the boot process. In such a case the
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above check with DEBUG will not show the BIOS signature.
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[9b] So just who is drive 'C' here anyway ?
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Using the DUPDATE program you can choose to have the DOC
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add itself at the front or the back of the device list.
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This is, unfortunately not the only thing affecting the
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drive order, the above mentioned NCR SCSI controllers also
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have some builtin AI, and the result can be very confusing
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because the DOC will come before even the floppy as a result.
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There is no simple solution for this case, only variuos
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work-arounds. But chances are good that most users will
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not use both a DOC and a SCSI in the same system, except
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maybe for initial programming.
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[9c] MBR/fdisk
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The boot firmware in the DOC and/or the FreeBSD bootblocks
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mandate that the first MBR slice/(partition in FDISK lingo)
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start exactly at "sector #1, head #1, cylinder #0." You
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will have problems booting from the fla if you don't get this
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right. The prep.fla.sh script will do this for you.
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DO NOT WRITE JUNK IN THE MBR! The DOC firmware relies on
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various fields and can get utterly confused if they don't
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make sense.
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[9d] Getting the FreeBSD kernel to use the fla as root
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Please see above under item 6.
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[9e] I turned the machine off while it was running and now my
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DOC hangs during boot/panics the machine/does weird things.
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If a write operation to the DOC gets interrupted by reset
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or power-failure, it can happen that the flash data structures
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are left in a state the sofware cannot cope with.
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Your best chance is to DUPDATE, DFORMAT the device again.
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If it hangs during boot, you can use this particular dirty
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trick ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK! DO NOT COMPLAIN IF THIS
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DOESN'T WORK FOR YOU OR IF YOU DESTROY YOUR COMPUTER OR
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DOC DEVICE DOING IT!
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Jumper the DOC for an address which will not work, but which
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will not interfere with the system either, C000:0 seems to
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work pretty universally for this.
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Boot MSDOS and rejumper the DOC for its real (working) address.
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Run DUPDATE and use the /win:xxxx argument to point it at the
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DOC device.
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[9f] Apart from that...
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...the DOC is just like any other disk, but it is silent,
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has better MTBF and doesn't take up a lot of space.
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[10] History
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The fla driver was written by Poul-Henning Kamp <phk@FreeBSD.org>
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under contract for M-systems, and using their "OSAK"
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development kit.
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Good Luck,
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Poul-Henning
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$FreeBSD$
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