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Re: debian on a pegasos2 for measurement apps with DAQ cards



On Fri, May 28, 2004 at 12:05:47PM +0200, ToPu wrote:
> hi all,
> 
> I would like to use Debian and Comedi on a pegasos2 together with DAQ
> devices for measurement and control applikations. 
> I don't have a pegasos2 yet -- that's the reason for my somewhat off-topic
> questions:
> 
> * Does the pegasos2 offer unique IRQs the each PCI device at least for
> those in the expansion slots?

Hello,

>  After some experiences with a Comedi supported DAQ card in a IA-32-PC the
> unique IRQ for the DAQ card is really necessary. The IRQ sharing causes too
> much trouble.

After some experience, it seems that this is not as important on powerpc
as it is on x86. That said, i suppose it is possible to set those IRQs
from the OF, but i am not sure you really would gain by doing such. I
would in any case be especially interested if you hqve proof and
experience to the contrary. 

> * Does the pegasos2 has its own partition scheme for hard disk drives? Is
> the machine able to work with Macintosh partition tables (of course
> with a linux kernel which supports those)?

It is using the amiga partition table, and naturally both the debian
powerpc kernel, the debian-installer and parted/libparted have full
support for it. 

> * Which bootloader will be needed for a pegasos2?

Well, work if underway to get yaboot ported, but due to Ethan's tirany,
it will never get accepted in the yaboot package, which is a shame. That
said, we have a little forth script which does the same kind of work
than what yaboot does, and i am working on a little tool generating this
forth script from a yaboot or grub like configuration file.

>  For the installation process I want to prepare (on my debian driven
> NewWorld PowerMac) an disk image or some kind of backup archive with all
> the packages in place I need for the pegasos. And I want to create the

Well, i would do the following. You partition the disk with parted, with
either the testing or unstable version of it naturally, make a
partition, copy the debian archive on it with debmirror (or download the
package, i don't know how your bandwidth is), and then use the netinst
beta4 debian-installer on it, and install with the archive on disk
method after the reboot.

Or simpler yet, just boot the debian-installer beta4 (or latest beta/rc
once you receive the board), and follow the instructions, and install
the rest of the stuff over the network, but you will get a base system
from the netinst CD iso, which is 170Mo or something such.

> partitions with mac-fdisk and filesystems on the disk for the pegasos while
> this disk is mounted in a firwire-case and connected to the PowerMac.
> I'm thinking of this procedure due to the fact I have to setup several more
> or less *identical* machines.

Well, partimage is your friend, or a setup with DD. That said, you
could also use something akind to what the SkoleLinux people use for
doing mass install. a prefilled debconf database, and setting the dpkg
selections mostly. But forget about mac-fdisk, parted is the way to go.

BTW, if you have more info, you can contact me directly, i suppose you
know who i am already.

Friendly,

Sven Luther



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