From peeweelinux@adis.on.ca Tue Oct 21 09:22:09 2003 From: peeweelinux@adis.on.ca (Michael McCallum) Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2003 18:22:09 +1000 Subject: [Peeweelinux] Help request booting IBM Netvista thin client Message-ID: <3F94ECB1.8020502@forge.com.au> This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------000701030405030006030101 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hi! I've got an IBM NetVista 8364 TUS thin client I am trying to get PeeWeeLinux to boot on from CF card. The specs of the client are here : http://reviews.cnet.com/NETVISTA_2800_THIN_CLIENT_64MB_TR_8364_TUS/4507-3119_7-776185.html?tag=subnav (Sorry for the CNet link - can't find the IBM specs anymore...) This is basically a Pentium 266 with 64MB RAM on a custom IBM motherboard with integrated SIS graphics chip. I unfortunately have the Token ring version, but the machine does have a PCI slot for an ethernet card. I've read quite a few IBM FAQ's and deja comments that state it should be possible to boot off a Compact Flash card for this machine (the board has an integrated CF slot, and the BIOS recognises a 32MB hard disk on IDE0 in the BIOS when I plug in my CF card - which is a Sandisk as required IBM) I'm not sure I've built my CF card correctly as I don't get anything other than "Operating System not found" displayed by the client. It's also possible that I need to update the BIOS to a later version (I have the server downloads from IBM to do this, but am having difficulty getting token ring hardware (without paying an arm and a leg for something I want to use once just to flash the BIOS!!)) To update the BIOS requires PIX booting from the IBM tftp server and then having the IBM software flash the BIOS. I have tested this by DD'ing a 1.44" floppy image onto the CF card and booting that, but I still get the same error. ("No OS found") Firstly, has anyone booted the IBM 8364 netvista series from CF card??? Is DD'ing a floppy image onto a CF card a valid process (I could mount the card and see the contents of the image filesystem correctly on my host). Are CF card images available for download to test my hardware so I can rule out PeeWeeLinux configuration problems?? Thanks Heaps in advanve for any pointers or advice!!!! -- Kind Regards Michael McCallum --------------000701030405030006030101 Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Hi!

I've got an IBM NetVista 8364 TUS thin client I am trying to get PeeWeeLinux to boot on from CF card.
The specs of the client are here :
http://reviews.cnet.com/NETVISTA_2800_THIN_CLIENT_64MB_TR_8364_TUS/4507-3119_7-776185.html?tag=subnav
(Sorry for the CNet link - can't find the IBM specs anymore...)
This is basically a Pentium 266 with 64MB RAM on a custom IBM motherboard with integrated SIS graphics chip.

I unfortunately have the Token ring version, but the machine does have a PCI slot for an ethernet card.

I've read quite a few IBM FAQ's and deja comments that state it should be possible to boot off a
Compact Flash card for this machine (the board has an integrated CF slot, and the BIOS recognises a 32MB hard disk
on IDE0 in the BIOS when I plug in my CF card - which is a Sandisk as required IBM)

I'm not sure I've built my CF card correctly as I don't get anything other than "Operating System not found" displayed by the client.

It's also possible that I need to update the BIOS to a later version (I have the server downloads from IBM to do this, but am having difficulty
getting token ring hardware (without paying an arm and a leg for something I want to use once just to flash the BIOS!!))
To update the BIOS requires PIX booting from the IBM tftp server and then having the IBM software flash the BIOS.

I have tested this by DD'ing a 1.44" floppy image onto the CF card and booting that, but I still get the same error. ("No OS found")

Firstly, has anyone booted the IBM 8364 netvista series from CF card???

Is DD'ing a floppy image onto a CF card a valid process (I could mount the card and see the contents of the image filesystem correctly on my host).

Are CF card images available for download to test my hardware so I can rule out PeeWeeLinux configuration problems??

Thanks Heaps in advanve for any pointers or advice!!!!

-- 
Kind Regards
Michael McCallum

--------------000701030405030006030101-- From peeweelinux@adis.on.ca Tue Oct 21 21:53:56 2003 From: peeweelinux@adis.on.ca (Barry Gershenfeld) Date: Tue, 21 Oct 2003 13:53:56 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Peeweelinux] Help request booting IBM Netvista thin client Message-ID: <2.2.16.20031021135440.5df7aa78@zmicro.com> Michael, I don't have any experience with you hardware but if it says it can boot off IDE0 then you ought to be able to get *something* out of it. Look at the text of the OS boot failure message carefully. Also compare to what you see if you pull the CF card out and try to boot. Most non-bootable media still has a boot program in it that says in effect "Can't boot this". Is there a BIOS message that shows it detects the flash disk? Next, dd the first sector of your CF card back off the card and look at it, and see if it looks like a boot sector. Or post a hex dump of it if you don't have that experience. Make sure the IBM really boots that drive as IDE0 and that you told peeweelinux that it is "hda". A lot of boards that have a CF drive use hdc (master drive but second controller.) Make sure peewee didn't throw an error, especially in the lilo installation. A floppy's boot sector, and a hard drive's boot + partition table aren't the same. I don't think the floppy sector will boot a hard drive but I don't recall trying (now I'll have to...) A linux kernel will boot from a floppy if you dd it. But again I don't think this would work on a hard drive. The point I'm trying to make is to find out what happens in that first access to IDE0. If that doesn't happen, then it matters little how your Linux was built. Barry