OpenStep on Abit IP35 Pro

[AP]

Hi,

I am currently trying to set up a multi-OS system.  I had a problem with my IDE card seeing cd-drives, so I sourced a new one. (I guess I had a different raid BIOS)  It's a Promise Ultra tx2.  Will I be able to make use of this with OpenStep?

What's the best way for me to set this up.  I did read another thread about using a cd, but would it make more sense for me to install to an ide drive from a virtual machine?  I've had an OpenStep virtual machine for a while.  Sorry if I am asking redundant questions.

 Any special considerations for my computer?  I don't think I can really change the graphics card, and would rather be able to keep all 4gb of memory installed, even if I can't use it.

Abit IP35 Pro motherboard. (P35 Chipset)
Promise Ultra 100 Tx2 ide pci card
Radeon x300se (or I also have an x700)
512-4GB memory
IDE to CF card. (I would like to have the OS on here.)
A SATA ssd for other OS.
IDE cd drive.

[Apple2guy]

I currently have a Core i7-2600 running Openstep 4.2. I did that by installing onto a scsi drive on an older machine (A Pentium III). Then I installed the same scsi card in my Core i7 and moved my drive over to it. I checked that legacy option roms were enabled and legacy boot was enabled. I get best speeds with a Adaptec 2940UW or 2940UW PRO.

AIMB-701G2
Nvidia GTX1050TI
Adapted 2940UW Pro
3x Atlas 36G 15k Scsi Drives
Smc 9332 Pci Ethernet
Creative SB 16 Pci

I use a kernel flag of maxmem=917504 it gets me 896M of ram. any more crashes on me with the vesa driver.


REPORT.txt LOGS.RTF
 

[Nitro]

Hi,

I am currently trying to set up a multi-OS system.  I had a problem with my IDE card seeing cd-drives, so I sourced a new one. (I guess I had a different raid BIOS)  It's a Promise Ultra tx2.  Will I be able to make use of this with OpenStep?

What's the best way for me to set this up.  I did read another thread about using a cd, but would it make more sense for me to install to an ide drive from a virtual machine?  I've had an OpenStep virtual machine for a while.  Sorry if I am asking redundant questions.

 Any special considerations for my computer?  I don't think I can really change the graphics card, and would rather be able to keep all 4gb of memory installed, even if I can't use it.

Abit IP35 Pro motherboard. (P35 Chipset)
Promise Ultra 100 Tx2 ide pci card
Radeon x300se (or I also have an x700)
512-4GB memory
IDE to CF card. (I would like to have the OS on here.)
A SATA ssd for other OS.
IDE cd drive.

I think that the Promise Ultra IDE PCI card should work, but you'll just have to try it to be sure. I have a few of the IDE > CF cards and they work fine, but they're not very fast.

You can leave all of the memory installed and change the amount of memory used by OPENSTEP after installation.

Either one of those video cards should work with the VESA driver, but you'll need to test them to verify. You can do the installation with the VGA driver and then switch to the VESA driver after installing the patch 4 update.

I don't have any experience with installing or running OPENSTEP in a VM, so I won't be much help there. If you try any settings that prevent OPENSTEP from booting then you can enter the following at the boot prompt to boot into the default configuration (case sensitive):

config=Default

This thread may be helpful to get you up and running:

https://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/index.php?topic=2801.0

Let us know if you run into any problems.

[AP]

Thanks.  How do I limit the RAM?  How do I set kernel flags?

[Nitro]

Thanks.  How do I limit the RAM?  How do I set kernel flags?

You can define the max memory setting by opening the /NextAdmin/Configure.app. Choose the document icon on the top left and select the expert button at the bottom right. Double click the "Kernel Flags" line until the cursor shows and then tab to the "Value" field. Enter a value similar to:

maxmem=900000

Next select another field so that the new value remains in the field, then select OK and then Save. You'll have to experiment to find the maximum value for your individual computer and setup. If you choose a value that's too high then it won't boot and you'll have to enter config=Default at the boot prompt to get back in to change the value. Hopefully that gets things working for you.

[Apple2guy]

If you want to test a kernel flag you can enter it at the boot: prompt. Just don't forget to add it permanently as Nitro explained.

[AP]

That flag worked.  I used VirtualBox.  Had a pain in the neck time installing to a cf card on Mac OSX, with mapping it.  I ended up installing to a VDI file and then converting that to an IMG, then using dd to image that to the cf card.

Took me a while to get this far, so I'll stop now.  This is as far as I got.

[AP]

1

[AP]

That last timeout happened about 5 times before continuing.

[AP]

No help from monitor here...  Any tips?

[pTeK]

ID=0x2363197b at Dev=0 Func=0 Bus=3

Photo 03 is telling me that OpenStep hasn't loaded a driver to properly read/write to a OpenStep 4.2 partition and then mount it.

When OpenStep boots it uses slow BIOS calls to read the drivers and mach_kernal of the partition and run them.

My IDE hard drive on my Dell Inspiron 5150 also can not boot in IDE compatibility mode (I don't know why)

But it's a good sign that you can get that far. What storage controller are you using on your virtual machine? What program is it?

Photo 02, tells me that you still have the floppy driver enabled in /private/Drivers/i386/System.config/Instance0.table and that your physical hardware does not have a floppy drive which is why it is displaying the error:

Code Select Expand

Registering: fc0
Floppy Controller Reset: Command Timeout

Photo 01, tells me that no IDE hardware is replying to the systems probe at port 0x1f0 (IRQ 14, 15) which is how computer hardware boots up in compatibility mode

Code Select Expand

hc0: no devices detected at port 0x1f0
Instance 0 of Dual EIDE failed the probe.
On my system it prints the IDE HD device info in Cylinders/Heads/Sectors.

[AP]

I used oracle VirtualBox on a Mac.  I used the virtual IDE controller: PIIX4.

Then I took the CF card, and put it in a CF-IDE adapter.  That is attached to a Promise Ultra 100 TX2 ide card.

Now one thing I didn't test yet is trying to disable the on-board ide controller.

[pTeK]

can you on your virtualbox image display the results of

Code Select Expand

# cat /private/Drivers/i386/System.config/Instance0.table
This will tell us what drivers are loaded at boot time.

Code Select Expand

# cat /private/Drivers/i386/EIDE.config/Default.table
This will tell us what your IDE driver is at boot time.

if the command doesn't work that is because I got the uppercase mixed up on the directory and file name, just manually cd in to the directory and cat the file.

[AP]

I'll do that when I get a chance.  I also pulled a floppy drive and some floppies, and may try to install directly.  We will see when I get back to it.  Thank you, by the way.

[AP]

By the way, I used this driver.

EIDE and ATAPI Device Controller (v4.03)

From the driver floppy image.