Gentoo Forums
Gentoo Forums
Gentoo Forums
Quick Search: in
hppa 735/125 NCR53C720
View unanswered posts
View posts from last 24 hours

 
Reply to topic    Gentoo Forums Forum Index Gentoo on Alternative Architectures
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
oenone
n00b
n00b


Joined: 28 Mar 2005
Posts: 11

PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 8:30 am    Post subject: hppa 735/125 NCR53C720 Reply with quote

Hi..

I'd like to install Gentoo on my 735/125, on a scsi disk hanging at the ncr53c720 fw scsi controller.
sadly i have to see that it doesn't seem to work.
trying the 2004.3 live cd ends in error messages like this (repeated very often):
Code:
HP SDC: Transaction add failed: transaction already queued?

I read in another thread that the 2004.3 has some difficulties, so I tried 2004.2.
It boots ok, without errors. But when I try to load the 53c7,8xx module I get following error:
Code:
/lib/modules/2.4.26-pa6-r1-livecd32/kernel/drivers/scsi/53c7,8xx.o: init_module: No such device
Hint: insmod errors can be caused by incorrect module parameters, including invalid IO or IRQ parameters.
      You may find more information in syslog or the output from dmesg
/lib/modules/2.4.26-pa6-r1-livecd32/kernel/drivers/scsi/53c7,8xx.o: insmod /lib/modules/2.4.26-pa6-r1-livecd32/kernel/drivers/scsi/53c7,8xx.o failed
/lib/modules/2.4.26-pa6-r1-livecd32/kernel/drivers/scsi/53c7,8xx.o: insmod 53c7,8xx failed

anybody know how to solve this? or should I give up this scsi controller now and wait for the next hppa release?

cu
JRL
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
HPRichard
Tux's lil' helper
Tux's lil' helper


Joined: 02 Feb 2005
Posts: 96
Location: KA, Germany

PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 9:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

The fwscsi controller does not work with linux.
AFAIK there exists a ncr53c720 fw scsi driver, but it does rely on a DMA controller preserving cache coherency.
The DMA on the 735/{99,125} does not do this, so someone would have to add lots of cache flushes to the driver which (as someone told me) would be an ugly mess.
There are only two possibilities:
1) Use fwscsi on HP-UX or
2) use the single ended SCSI controller of your machine.
In the second case, you won't be able to use your fwscsi harddrive (even with an adaptor) as the fwscsi controller (and thus the disk) are using HVD signaling, and only LVD disks have a fallback to single ended SCSI. If you attach that HVD disk to your SCSI bus, the whole bus will refuse to work.
This message
Code:
HP SDC: Transaction add failed: transaction already queued?

also appears on my 735/99 when booting, but the machine works without any problems.
For installing a single ended SCSI disk internally, the HDD tray of a 730 (which has single ended cabling) fits perfectly in the 735.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
oenone
n00b
n00b


Joined: 28 Mar 2005
Posts: 11

PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 12:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

HPRichard wrote:
The fwscsi controller does not work with linux.
AFAIK there exists a ncr53c720 fw scsi driver, but it does rely on a DMA controller preserving cache coherency.
The DMA on the 735/{99,125} does not do this, so someone would have to add lots of cache flushes to the driver which (as someone told me) would be an ugly mess.

hum.. do you think it'll be never done or can i hope that someday it works?
Quote:
There are only two possibilities:
1) Use fwscsi on HP-UX or
2) use the single ended SCSI controller of your machine.

i'm using these two possibilities, hp-ux is running on a fwscsi disk and i've connected a disk to the single ended controller on which OpenBSD is installed. it works very well this way. i thought i could be able to install linux on another fwscsi disk, but i'll have to add another disk to the single ended controller.
Quote:
For installing a single ended SCSI disk internally, the HDD tray of a 730 (which has single ended cabling) fits perfectly in the 735.

do you know where i could get one?

thanks for your answer
JRL
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
HPRichard
Tux's lil' helper
Tux's lil' helper


Joined: 02 Feb 2005
Posts: 96
Location: KA, Germany

PostPosted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 6:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Considering the age of the 735 I do not believe that someone is still working in that driver. So I believe that you will have to adjust the driver yourself. The effort on http://www.parisc-linux.org is focused on more powerful/recent machines nowadays, and there are more urgent issues than the fwscsi driver on some older machines.

The HDD tray should be hard to get. I got mine when these machines were at their "end of production use" on my University. If you are from Germany or do not mind the shipping cost, here http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=65572&item=5762331513&rd=1 is one, the first time I see such a thing on EBay Germany.

And be warned about the gentoo install, it will take several days on that machine (I myself did a stage 1 install), XOrg 6.8.2 takes about 20 hours@99 MHz and 224 Megs of RAM. (Your machine has 125 MHz, but you alredy knew)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
oenone
n00b
n00b


Joined: 28 Mar 2005
Posts: 11

PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2005 11:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

HPRichard wrote:
This message
Code:
HP SDC: Transaction add failed: transaction already queued?

also appears on my 735/99 when booting, but the machine works without any problems.

anybody know where this message comes from and/or how to remove it? i'm using serial console and it gets spammed with these messages, so that i can't see where my hppa is while booting..

gentoo is installed now, but it doesn't want to boot fully.. it hangs after "starting local... [ok]" (sth like this). Should i wait a little longer or could it be that i configured sth wrong?
[edit] last point was my fault.. i thought, gentoo would automagically enable logins from serial console (as i was installing it through one), after editing /etc/inittab it works... the handbook may add a note, it only says you have to add ttys/0 to /etc/securetty if you want to enable root logins via serial console...

cu
oenone


Last edited by oenone on Fri Apr 22, 2005 10:26 am; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
squawker
n00b
n00b


Joined: 16 Mar 2004
Posts: 43
Location: Lommedalen, Norway

PostPosted: Thu Apr 21, 2005 6:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

HPRichard wrote:
Considering the age of the 735 I do not believe that someone is still working in that driver. So I believe that you will have to adjust the driver yourself. The effort on http://www.parisc-linux.org is focused on more powerful/recent machines nowadays, and there are more urgent issues than the fwscsi driver on some older machines.


One possibility could be to hack on the lasi700 driver to support the ncr53c720 chip - might not get the greatest performance out of the 720 chip, but it avoids the DMA cache coherency muck.

Ryan Bradetich was looking at 53c720/zalon support on the non-coherent boxes, and I tried digging myself without getting anywhere. Its not just a 735 thing, it affects 755, 725 with Bluefish card - any PA-7000 or PA-71x0 system that has onboard HVD scsi or an add-in HVD scsi card.

There's an unused 735/125 in my basement - but no time for hacking on it at the mo:(
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Gentoo Forums Forum Index Gentoo on Alternative Architectures All times are GMT
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum