[SPARCbook] Re: P9000 Linux Framebuffer "kind of" working

[d neal wise]

On Tue, 3 Dec 2002, Michael Schwarz wrote:

> If you have a Sparcbook 3GX, you should already be able to run Linux.  You
> might have to custom compile your kernel to get it working, but it should be
> quite do-able.  I'm willing to help anyone out with that.  If you have the
> older Sparcbook 3 or 3MX (I think it was MX), then you can install linux, but
> you will be without the GUI.

or you could run NetBSD or OpenBSD, both of which have had X11 support for
the sparcbook 3 family (certainly those with the p9100 chip) "out of the
box" with no fuss for years. No recompiling. No special kernels. I've run
OpenBSD on my sparcbook from version 2.7 onwards (current is 3.2).

I got my SB from someone else who was running OpenBSD on it then (hi bob)
so it's been natively supported in the sparc port (but missing a few handy
things like PCMCIA support :/) for a while. Like over five years even. The
framebuffer is treated like a cg3 which is only 8-bit (and not the 24bit I
understand my 3GS to be capable of but am unwilling to bear running a
modern solaris with 32MB of RAM).

I've been wondering if this would just work on an SB3 like yours. IIRC you
didn't have a cdrom or some kind of fundamental boot device. I've
installed Open & Net onto my 3GS using an install floppy and by netbooting
(RARP+TFTP). I imagine I could install off tape too but I haven't been
that much of a masochist. With OpenBSD it's easy enough to dd the cdrom
boot image onto another disk partition or, I guess, tape. Once the install
kernel and image is loaded you can clobber the disk partition and/or
install from the network more conventionally (DHCP & then
HTTP/FTP/NFS/whatever)

> This is not to say you can't have a GUI.  You have two options.  Both require
> another workstation.  The first option is to use any other X system, run your
> apps on the Sparcbook with DISPLAY pointing at the other X system
> (traditional network X-windows).  The other is to run VNCserver on the
> Sparcbook and run a VNC viewer on any platform that supports the client
> (including M$-Windows and even PalmOS -- Yes, I've used PalmVNC to look at my
> Sparcbook; I'm that geeky.  Pretty useless, though.  You have to scroll too
> much...).

VNC is a really, really bad idea from a security point of view. So's raw
X11 over a network for that matter. Both may be acceptible in your
environment though (home/test/trusted network).

> I'll post to this list with news if I make progress on this.  I will shortly
> post the diffs for what I've got so far (faster text mode), but this will be
> strictly "use at your own risk."

This would possibly be handy to backport to the BSDs. Nothing is more
irritating than a serial-speed sun console (under any OS).

Below is the OpenBSD manpage for the tadpole framebuffer and some other
tadpole stuff. If they wrap badly I'm sorry :) I'll gladly email you the
Diskless manpage which has generic pointers about network bootstrapping
sparcs (which worked for me for the SB) if you like.

regards & have fun hacking,

neal
___________
d neal wise - nwise at spy.net
SPY internetworking  -  will network for food
http://www.spy.net







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PNOZZ(4)              OpenBSD Programmer's Manual (SPARC)           PNOZZ(4)

NAME
     pnozz - Tadpole Weitek p9100 frame buffer

SYNOPSIS
     pnozz0 at sbus0 slot ? offset ?

DESCRIPTION
     The pnozz is a memory based color frame buffer found on Tadpole SPARCbook
     3GS and 3GX laptops.  It is based on the Weitek Power 9100 and an IBM
     RGB528 RAMDAC.

     The pnozz is configured to emulate a cgthree(4) with a resolution of
     800x600 with 256 colors.  It supports the minimal ioctl(2)s needed to run
     X(1).

     If the tctrl(4) device is also configured, the pnozz will be powered down
     when the lid of the laptop is closed or the screen is blanked.

SEE ALSO
     bwtwo(4), cgeight(4), cgfour(4), cgfourteen(4), cgsix(4), cgthree(4),
     cgtwo(4), sbus(4), tctrl(4), tcx(4)

BUGS
     There is currently no way to switch back and forth from the onboard dis-
     play to the external connector.  It is not possible to change resolutions
     or color depth.

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TCTRL(4)              OpenBSD Programmer's Manual (SPARC)            TCTRL(4)

NAME
     tctrl - Tadpole Microcontroller Interface

SYNOPSIS
     tctrl0 at obio0

DESCRIPTION
     The tctrl provides control over many functions on the Tadpole 3GS and 3GX
     laptops.  The microcontroller is used to power the tft display down when
     the laptop lid is closed and when the screen is blanked by the pnozz(4)
     driver.  The tctrl is also used to power the laptop off when the re-
     boot(2) system call is used with the RB_POWERDOWN flag is set.

SEE ALSO
     reboot(2), intro(4), pnozz(4)
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