1 ARM Linux 2.1.99 2 ================ 3 4 Since this is a development kernel, it will not be as stable as the 2.0 5 series, and can cause very nasty problems (eg, trashing your hard disk). 6 When running one of these kernels, I advise you to back up the complete 7 contents of all your hard disks. 8 9 10Contributors 11------------ 12 13 Here is a list of people actively working on the project (If you 14 wish to be added to the list, please email me): 15 16 Name: Russell King 17 Mail: linux@arm.uk.linux.org 18 Desc: Original developer of ARM Linux, project co-ordinator. 19 20 Name: Dave Gilbert 21 Mail: linux@treblig.org 22 Desc: A3/4/5xx floppy and hard disk code maintainer. 23 24 Name: Philip Blundell 25 Mail: Philip.Blundell@pobox.com 26 Desc: Architecture and processor selection during make config. 27 28 29Todo list 30--------- 31 32 This is the list of changes to be done (roughly prioritised): 33 34 * fully test new MEMC translation code 35 * fully test new AcornSCSI driver. 36 * reply to email ;) 37 38 39 Notes 40 ===== 41 42Compilation of kernel 43--------------------- 44 45 In order to compile ARM Linux, you will need a compiler capable of 46 generating ARM ELF code with GNU extensions. GCC-2.7.2.2 is good. 47 48 To build ARM Linux natively, you shouldn't have to alter the ARCH = line in 49 the top level Makefile. However, if you don't have the ARM Linux ELF tools 50 installed as default, then you should change the CROSS_COMPILE line as 51 detailed below. 52 53 If you wish to cross-compile, then alter the following lines in the top 54 level make file: 55 56 ARCH = <whatever> 57 with 58 ARCH = arm 59 60 and 61 62 CROSS_COMPILE= 63 to 64 CROSS_COMPILE=<your-path-to-your-compiler-without-gcc> 65 eg. 66 CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/bin/arm-unknown-linuxelf- 67 68 Do a 'make config', followed by 'make dep', and finally 'make all' to 69 build the kernel (vmlinux). A compressed image can be built by doing 70 a 'make zImage' instead of 'make all'. 71 72 73Bug reports etc. 74---------------- 75 76 Please send patches, bug reports and code for the ARM Linux project 77 to linux@arm.uk.linux.org. Patches will not be included into future 78 kernels unless they come to me (or the relevant person concerned). 79 80 When sending bug reports, please ensure that they contain all relevant 81 information, eg. the kernel messages that were printed before/during 82 the problem, what you were doing, etc. 83 84 For patches, please include some explanation as to what the patch does 85 and why (if relevant). 86 87 88Modules 89------- 90 91 Although modularisation is supported (and required for the FP emulator), 92 each module on an arm2/arm250/arm3 machine when is loaded will take 93 memory up to the next 32k boundary due to the size of the pages. Hence is 94 modularisation on these machines really worth it? 95 96 However, arm6 and up machines allow modules to take multiples of 4k, and 97 as such Acorn RiscPCs and other architectures using these processors can 98 make good use of modularisation. 99 100 101ADFS Image files 102---------------- 103 104 You can access image files on your ADFS partitions by mounting the ADFS 105 partition, and then using the loopback device driver. You must have 106 losetup installed. 107 108 Please note that the PCEmulator DOS partitions have a partition table at 109 the start, and as such, you will have to give '-o offset' to losetup. 110 111 112Kernel initialisation abort codes 113--------------------------------- 114 115 When the kernel is unable to boot, it will if possible display a colour 116 at the top of the screen. The colours have the following significance 117 when run in a 16 colour mode with the default palette: 118 119 Stripes of white, red, yellow, and green: 120 Kernel does not support the processor architecture detected. 121 122 123Request to developers 124--------------------- 125 126 When writing device drivers which include a separate assembler file, please 127 include it in with the C file, and not the arch/arm/lib directory. This 128 allows the driver to be compiled as a loadable module without requiring 129 half the code to be compiled into the kernel image. 130 131 In general, try to avoid using assembler unless it is really necessary. It 132 makes drivers far less easy to port to other hardware. 133 134 135ST506 hard drives 136----------------- 137 138 The ST506 hard drive controllers seem to be working fine (if a little 139 slowly). At the moment they will only work off the controllers on an 140 A4x0's motherboard, but for it to work off a Podule just requires 141 someone with a podule to add the addresses for the IRQ mask and the 142 HDC base to the source. 143 144 As of 31/3/96 it works with two drives (you should get the ADFS 145 *configure hard drive set to 2). I've got an internal 20 MB and a great 146 big external 5.25" FH 64 MB drive (who could ever want more :-) ). 147 148 I've just got 240 K/s off it (a dd with bs=128k); that's about half of what 149 RiscOS gets, but it's a heck of a lot better than the 50 K/s I was getting 150 last week :-) 151 152 Known bug: Drive data errors can cause a hang; including cases where 153 the controller has fixed the error using ECC. (Possibly ONLY 154 in that case...hmm). 155 156 1571772 Floppy 158----------- 159 This also seems to work OK, but hasn't been stressed much lately. It 160 hasn't got any code for disc change detection in there at the moment which 161 could be a bit of a problem! Suggestions on the correct way to do this 162 are welcome. 163 164 165Kernel entry (head-armv.S) 166-------------------------- 167 The initial entry into the kernel made via head-armv.S uses architecture 168 independent code. The architecture is selected by the value of 'r1' on 169 entry, which must be kept unique. You can register a new architecture 170 by mailing the following details to rmk@arm.uk.linux.org. Please give 171 the mail a subject of 'Register new architecture': 172 173 Name: <name of your architecture> 174 ARCHDIR: <name of include/asm-arm/arch-* directory> 175 Description: 176 <description of your architecture> 177 178 Please follow this format - it is an automated system. You should 179 receive a reply the next day. 180--- 181Russell King (03/05/1998) 182