Baslinux mailing list

[sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>]

On Thu, 1 Dec 2005, David Moberg wrote:

> On 11/29/05, sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org> wrote:
> > I notice you have 1,453,897 bytes on the boot disk (leaving about 2K free)
> > and therefore had to omit less
>
> Busybox has a small version of less available. I will see if it will fit.
> But I cannot see much purpose in a pager when the main intent
> of this disk is to allow you to view pictures and copy them.

I just noticed it was in BL3 but not here (or in BL2).  But you left 
some other unusable programs, I think (telnet?).

> > and nano
>
> It would be e3pi if anything. nano is just too big.
>
> > and even e3pi (about 9 bytes).
>
> I will see if it will fit. This was just a "beta" release, so I will
> add more functionality later once I verify that everything works.
>
> > You also omitted libvga.config, which means there is no simple way to add
> > chipset VESA or chipset VGA,
>
> mkdir /etc/vga
> echo "chipset VESA" >/etc/vga/libvga.config

simple if you know how.

> > or to change the horiz syn and vert refresh

Can you add lines to libvga.config with echo?
zgv works on s3 virge, in 640 or 800 res (defauts).

> I will try to add an editor.


Thanks, is there something even smaller then e3?
Does busybox have a line editor?

> > to get more than plain VGA resolution.
>
> But high color works by default, doesn't it?

Good color, but we are taking 1280 resolution photos and can see only part 
of the photo without scrolling.

> > I have some video cards (Tseng and
> > Trident and SiS) which either don't display, or display badly, without
> > chipset VESA.
>
> OK. I will try to add an example libvga.config.

I don't think we need a mouse for zgv, but just chipset VGA, chipset VESA, 
horizsync and vertrefresh (perhaps several likely combinations, like 
XF86Config offers,31-50 ((14"), 31-54 (15");  50-90 (15"), 50-120 (17")

 >> Our only ohci
> > computer would not boot, but it could not find the kernel so I doubt this
> > was related to the ohci, but I will try to test the kernel with an add-on
> > ohci card eventually.
>
> Why did it fail to boot? Was it syslinux's fault? syslinux has a 'stupid'
> mode for buggy BIOSes.


I tried your second kernel, the one that came with initrd and loadlin, and 
that did not boot on the ohci computer.  The DOS drivers that work on all 
the ohci add-on cards worked some of the time on this computer ( and it 
has many other problems so we will replace the computer).  So I don't see 
the point in testing the 1-floppy version on here.  DOS drivers don't work 
for me with uhci, I will use linux for everything.

> > I don't have ehci anything.
>
> I have ehci but no USB 2 camera, so ehci support will not be added
> anytime soon.

I have only USB 1 (computer, reader, camera).

> > [zgv] did not work on the AMD K6/2 with Matrox card.
> > Do you need a libvga.config for it to work? Could it possible
> work with chipset VESA or VGA?

In BL2 the delilinux zv does not need chipset VESA.  I did not try chipset 
VGA since I had no editor.  I did copy over the libvga.config from BL2 but 
it did not help, still got just vertical stripes.  I will try with another 
matrox card.

> > It is not recognized in BL2 or BL3 - ls -l
> > says it is there, but it won't run.  -sh:  zgv:  not found.  ldd can't
> > find it either.  Did you compile it to need a post-SW81 libc?
>
> No, I compiled it for uClibc. Since neither BL2 or 3 are
> uClibc-based, it will not work unless you copy over the libs
> from the floppy (WARNING, this may break your existing
> library configuration if you are not careful)

Maybe uClibc does not like Matrox.


> > The Matrox card does not need chipset VESA.  It works with the delilinux
> > zgv in BL2, but with the zgv from your boot disk it displays vertical
> > stripes (black, white, grey and blue, with some repeating pattern).
>
> Is this the same Matrox card as above?

Yes.

> > If you wanted to include e3 (9K) to edit a very short libvga.config (just
> > to be able to add chipset VESA and post-VGA horiz sync and vert refresh)
> > you could leave out:
> >
> > 1).  The last three sections of rc (cd-rom, ppp, and ethernet support).
>
> That's on the todo list. As well as some other fixes.
>
> > 2).  A few devices (audio, scd, ttyS0).
>
> A cleanup of /dev is also planned.
>
> > 3).  Compile a smaller busybox.  Omit things like wget and ftpput and
> > telnet.
>
> Right.
>
> > Is there a 2K text editor?
>
> No need, e3 will work fine.
>
> > I attempted to reboot with Ctrl-Alt-Del and was told there is no
> > /sbin/reboot.
>
> Oops. I should have anticipated that.
>
> > Inittab has lines about /sbin/reboot, /sbin/swapoff,
> > /sbin/init, and they are actually in /bin so please rewrite inittab or
> > make a symlink from sbin to bin,
>
> Or move the binaries to sbin, which is what I will do.

Are they part of busybox?

> > and I don't think there is a swapon so you don't need swapoff.
>
> There is a swapon binary.

Are we expected to use it after booting with this floppydisk?

> > I doubt that a computer new enough to have USB
> > will need swap space to view even a 5 megapixel image with zgv.
>
> And so swapoff, swapon, and mkswap's days are numbered.
Not if people are using regular linux with X, etc.

> > There is no shutdown.
>
> poweroff or halt.
>
> > When I 'reboot' it does not automatically unmount the /hd
>
> I will fix this.
>
> > Can umount /hd be added to inittab?
>
> I will instead add support for a real /etc/mtab so that busybox
> will know that /hd is mounted and automatically unmount it at
> poweroff time.
>
> > I was able to mount /fd and /hd without -t vfat, tho it still tells me it
> > is not ext2.
>
> It tries ext2 first because ext2 is built into the kernel.
And vfat and fat are insmodded?  Why not build them all in?

> > I notice you have insmodded all the modules automatically,
> > including fat and vfat and the ide modules.
>
> More modules are possibly on the way if I can make busybox
> small enough. The kernel that you have has networking support so
> you should be able to mount a BL3 partition and use Xvesa.
> There might be something else required, though. I will test and
> report back.

Interesting.  No BL3 on this computer because it won't work with loop and 
I never copied it over from elsewhere.

Will you eventually add the same features to the kernel to be used to boot 
from loop linux and hd linux?

> > and I can remember to umount /hd before reboot.
>
> It is mentioned in README.

I read it but forgot.

> > Do airport metal detectors mess up floppy disks?
>
> I think that's a myth. See
> http://www.pcguide.com/care/care/mediaAirport-c.html

I just read somewhere else that film can be damaged but not digital media.

Good news about smartmedia in another email.  My    connectionis 
abominable.

> David
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keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org