On Thu, 2 Dec 2004, Brian R. Gaeke wrote: > Now, it is my understanding that, having a pre-REX PROM, the DECstation > 5000/200 would not be able to successfully execute the REX calls > (rex_gettcinfo(), rex_slot_address()) in drivers/tc/tc.c. Therefore, > I have found it necessary to use a patched kernel in my efforts to boot > Linux on VMIPS (http://www.dgate.org/vmips), which has lately gained some > (limited) DECstation 5000/200 emulation capabilities. They've got it wrong. While there were a few DECstation 5000/200 systems around 1990 that were shipped with pre-REX firmware, they were soon updated to REX fimware under service contracts. I'm inclined to believe there is no /200 system with pre-REX firmware in existence anymore. In particular there are no entries for these firmware versions on the NetBSD PROM list -- the oldest one reported is 5.3c which is already REX-compliant. > If you find this patch useful, you're quite welcome to it. I'm also > interested in hearing from anyone who has access to a 5000/200 who can > tell me whether I'm right or wrong, as I only have old manuals and > header files to work from. Real /200 systems work more or less correctly with Linux 2.4. A port of 2.6 hasn't really started yet -- some drivers are broken. The /200 is one of the best documented DECstations. Maciej
