Quick bootstrap of NetBSD on Raspberry Pi and Cobalt machines
NetBSD is a fine operating system, but the installation
sometimes leaves a lot of rope to hang yourself on non-PC
platforms. To make things easier to get a recent NetBSD
version on the Cobat Raq and Qube machines,
Izumi Tsutsui has
released a Restore CD/USB image based on NetBSD 5.2.1
that allows for a quick bootstrap.
There is also a
Restore CD HOWTO
available with more information.
If you're into somewhat more recent machines, the Raspberry Pi
is for you. For easy bootstrapping of NetBSD, Jun Ebihara
offers a SD card image
with -current NetBSD and pkgsrc from October 2013 preinstalled.
This also includes support for hardware floating point and DMA.
Instructions
are available on line in Japanese language.
The important commands still are readable, so have a look!
The files are available at http://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/cobalt/restore-cd/5.1.2/. Citing from the announcement:
``The only changes from 5.1.1 version are CHANGES file and 5.1.2 binaries,
so the following instructions are same as 5.1.1 ones:
restorecd-5.1.2-20120205.iso.gz is a gzipped RestoreCD ISO9660 image
as prior releases.
restoreusb-5.1.2-20120205.img.gz is a new "RestoreUSB" image
which has almost identical functions with RestoreCD but is
intended to be burned into USB memory sticks for USB bootable PCs.
To use the RestoreUSB for cobalt installation, write the image
into >=512MB USB memory stick (or USB HDD etc.) and boot your PC
from it, then all other procedures are same as RestoreCD.
You no longer have to burn a coaster for every installation ;-)
Cobalt RestoreCD/RestoreUSB Beta based on NetBSD 5.1.1
Izumi Tsutsui
writes on port-cobalt:
``It seems NetBSD 5.1.1 release is pending, but binaries are there
and it also contains telnetd vulnerability fix (which is rather
important for restorecd), so I'd announce 5.1.1 based NetBSD/cobalt
RestoreCD and brandnew RestoreUSB as Beta test for future 5.1.x release:
restorecd-5.1.1-20120112.iso.gz is a gzipped RestoreCD ISO9660 image
as prior releases.
restoreusb-5.1.1-20120112.img.gz is a new "RestoreUSB" image
which has almost identical functions with RestoreCD but is
intended to be burned into USB memory sticks for USB bootable PCs.
To use the RestoreUSB for cobalt installation, write the image
into >=512MB USB memory stick (or USB HDD etc.) and boot your PC
from it, then all other procedures are same as RestoreCD.
You no longer have to burn a coaster for every installation ;-)
NetBSD ketchup - news from my mailbox
Here's another bunch of NetBSD-related news that has
been lingering in my inbox for far too long:
Izumi Tsutsui's
NetBSD/cobalt
restore CD is available based on NetBSD versions
5.0.25.1_RC2.
See the
for information on what it is and how to use it.
A negative symbol lookup cache was added
to NetBSD's loader
for shared libraries and shared objects, ld.so_elf, by
Roy Marples:
``I've been researching why Evolution from GNOME takes over 5 minutes to load on my quad core amd64 beast. It boils down to dlsym looking for a symbol that does not exist directly and as such examining every needed library. However, the current implementation does not remember what libraries it as already checked. Normally this isn't a problem, but with the way Evolution is built the search chain is massive.
[...]
With this patch, Evolution (without the patches to and a glib I added to pkgsrc a few days ago) loads in under 2 seconds (5 seconds with initial disk thrashing). ''
The NetBSD Logo
is available in many variants, but a new variant was submitted
via www@ these days by "Tim" - which is actually plain HTML,
no image:
⚑NetBSD Powered!
SafeNet's ProtectDrive is
``a full disk encryption solution that encrypts the entire hard drive of laptops, workstations and servers, as well as USB flash drives, to protect data in the case of the theft or loss of a hardware device.''
How do you implement such preboot authentication and
harddisk encryption software,
esp. if you want to provide thinks like LDAP integration for
the user/key handling and two-factor authentication?
Little is known, but rumors say the 32bit version of the software
is based on NetBSD, as is backed by
this worker bio info:
``Duties: Working on pre-boot restricted environment with loads before operation system and implemented on NetBSD.
Ported and optimized the KDrive X server to NetBSD.
Developed and implemented user secure authentication interface with smart card support.
Environment and tools : NetBSD (3.0), C/C++, FLTK''
A german-language introduction of pkgsrc on OpenSolaris
was given by Michael 'kvedulv' Moll at the Munich
OpenSolaris User Group back in march.
Slides
and a
video
are available.
Are you still looking for a nice small
ARM-based board to start hacking on NetBSD/arm?
The http://www.friendlyarm.net/products/mini2440
may be a good start, esp. after
Paul Fleischer is reaching completion of NetBSD support
for the board. Citing from
his mail to port-arm:
``I have now fairly good (i.e., it works for me) support for the
MINI2440 on NetBSD with support for the following:
- S3C2440 UART
- DM9000 (MAC+PHY)
- S3C2440 SD Controller
- S3C2440 DMA Controller
- S3C2440 IIS Controller
- FriendlyArm 3,5" LCD Display
- S3C2440 USB Host Controller (OHCI)
- S3C2440 Touch Screen
- UDA1341TS audio codec
Currently, support for three things on the S3C2440 are missing:
- S3C2440 NAND Controller
- S3C2440 USB Device Controller
- S3C2440 RTC
I've also created a stage2 bootloader for use with u-boot, which
ensures that the value of bootargs is passed to the NetBSD kernel.
At this point I have only tested the code with the 64Mb version of the
FriendlyArm MINI2440.
While talking about NetBSD on cool hardware:
How about NetBSD/hpcarm on
WILLCOM | W-ZERO3 (WS004SH) mobile devices?
Here is a screenshot of Ebihara-san's WS011SH with CCW screen,
and there is also a video "booting NetBSD/hpcarm on WILLCOM | W-ZERO3(WS004SH)"
posted on YouTube:
NetBSD 5.0 based Cobalt/Raq restore CD available
Izumi Tsutsui has
released
a version of his
Cobalt restore/install CD
based on NetBSD 5.0.
What is it? Citing from the
Restore CD HowTo:
``
The Cobalt Qube/Raq is a server appliance. To put it simply, they are just computers without keyboard and monitor and without the ability to attach one. There are several versions of Qubes and Raqs in existence, older MIPS based and newer AMD-K6 based.
[...]
Because the Qube does not have an easy way to attach a monitor, a keyboard and most importantly a CDROM drive, there is no easy way to install a new operating system on it. This is where the Restore CD comes in. The Qube has the ability to boot an operating system over the network. A Restore CD provides the environment allowing the Qube to boot an operating system and perform an unattended install of the operating system onto hard drive. ''
First Release Candidat for NetBSD 5.0 released
NetBSD 5.0 is progressing towards a release, and
a first release candidat
was released this week.
Probably the two most significant improvements in NetBSD 5.0
will be journalling for UFS (nore more fsck, yai!) and
the move from XFree to X.org.
Download
now, or have a look at the
changes in 5.0
if you need more reasons to check it out.
While talking about NetBSD 5, Izumi Tsutsui has updated his
Restore CD for MIPS based Cobalt machines, see
his email to the port-cobalt@ list
for more details.
Cobalt Qube 2700 progress
Izumi Tsutsui has made progress on getting NetBSD/cobalt
going on the
Cobalt Qube 2700,
the "original" cube and first product released by Cobalt Networks back then.
Interesting nit from the wikipedia page: apparently the "2700" model number
came from the atonic number of cobalt: 27.
The company was later on purchased by Sun Microsystems, which still
has things like
the Qube 2700 manual online.
Izumi got the machine going to a point where it can be
booted from network and the internal IDE disk,
show the dmesg output, and talk to the built-in
LCS display. See Izumi's messages
here and
here
for more information.
NetBSD 4.0/cobalt restore CD (Updated)
NetBSD's 4.0-release is out now, and products and pieces based on
it are starting to pop up. In that line, Sevan / Venture37 has
built a restore CD for Cobalt
(Cube, Raq) machines based on Izumi Tsutsui's scripts.
A copy is available
here,
and while there, Izumi has
updates his scripts for the NetBSD 4.0 release, too.
Major new features are NetBSD 4.0 release kernel and userland,
and a newfs_ext2fs(8) binary that was backported from NetBSD-current.
It also fixes a number of issues,
see Izumi's mail.
Update:
Sevan / Venture37 let me know that he has
updated his restore CD based on Izumi's latest scripts,
check
his blog page.
Catching up: netbsd.se web design contest, CuWIN, cobalt restore CD, ...
Ok, some more busy days have passed, and I feel like I should post
about things that have happened. Sorry for not being more upto
date. So, what happened in NetBSD land?
Andre Pettersson sent mail about a
web design contest for www.NetBSD.se.
Besides eternal fame, the winner will get $150US. Check the mail
for some requirements and where to send submissions!
Mike Volokhov pointed me at CUWiN, the the Champaign-Urbana Community
Wireless Network, which is
``a world-renowned coalition of wireless developers and
community volunteers committed to providing low-cost,
do-it-yourself, community-controlled alternatives to contemporary
broadband models.''
Of course they do use NetBSD,
and the package is available in precompiled form for various
Soekris machines, plus source (of course).
The
latest podcast at pofacs.de,
the german-language podcast for "alternative computersystems", has
an introduction of NetBSD by Stefan Schumacher, among other things.
Jared McNeill keeps on whacking the ACPI code into shape, and he
pointed me at an update to his
status report.
Testers are still every welcome, please see
the previous entry
for more information!
Cobalt: New restore CD ISO and build script
Dennis Chernoivanov has worked on more automation for updating the
Cobalt Restore CD, and produced an improved build script that
downloads a NetBSD release and assembles the restore CD that can
then be booted on a PC, and which will then offer DHCP and all the
services to boot and install a Cobalt machine.
Right after
NetBSD 5.1.2 is out, Izumi Tsutsui
has 
