Dear all,
I'm trying to boot a recent PXELINUX on a brand new Soekris net4501
(comBIOS 1.33). This combination appears to not work out of the box...
I see much advice floating around from a few years ago, hinting that
earlier versions of PXELINUX might have worked. However before resorting
to archaeology I'd be interested in feedback from others who might have
got through this.
I managed to get to the point where the PXELINUX copyright banner
displays fined after fixing several issues:
* incorrect video BIOS emulation in the Soekris BIOS
(solution: rebuild PXELINUX with DisplayCon initialized
to 0, and BaudDivisor set to the appropriate speed while
we are at it)
* missing stdio initialization: apparently com32 routines
make a liberal amount of printf() calls which go nowhere
because it seems to me that openconsole is never called
(worked around by patching com32/lib/sys/write.c to
call write_serial directly if fd==1, crude hack but
allows me to use printf() for debugging).
But then I'm stuck with the box hanging in pxe_init_isr for no obvious
reason.
So, question:
* is Soekris net4501 + PXELINUX 6.02 a supported combination?
* are there known caveats that I have missed?
* if the combination is unsupported, what is the latest PXELINUX
version that is known to be work with the net4501?
Thanks!
Thomas.
On 06/10/2014 11:41 AM, Thomas Quinot wrote:> Dear all, > > I'm trying to boot a recent PXELINUX on a brand new Soekris net4501 > (comBIOS 1.33). This combination appears to not work out of the box... > > I see much advice floating around from a few years ago, hinting that > earlier versions of PXELINUX might have worked. However before resorting > to archaeology I'd be interested in feedback from others who might have > got through this. > > I managed to get to the point where the PXELINUX copyright banner > displays fined after fixing several issues: > * incorrect video BIOS emulation in the Soekris BIOS > (solution: rebuild PXELINUX with DisplayCon initialized > to 0, and BaudDivisor set to the appropriate speed while > we are at it) > * missing stdio initialization: apparently com32 routines > make a liberal amount of printf() calls which go nowhere > because it seems to me that openconsole is never called > (worked around by patching com32/lib/sys/write.c to > call write_serial directly if fd==1, crude hack but > allows me to use printf() for debugging). > > But then I'm stuck with the box hanging in pxe_init_isr for no obvious > reason. > > So, question: > * is Soekris net4501 + PXELINUX 6.02 a supported combination? > * are there known caveats that I have missed? > * if the combination is unsupported, what is the latest PXELINUX > version that is known to be work with the net4501? >You probably want to test both pxelinux.0 and lpxelinux.0... if it is sticking in pxe_init_isr you're using the latter. Have you considered talking to Soekris about this? As you probably can understand, it isn't like we have specimens of every box from every manufacturer... -hpa
* H. Peter Anvin, 2014-06-10 :> You probably want to test both pxelinux.0 and lpxelinux.0... if it is > sticking in pxe_init_isr you're using the latter.Correct. And indeed pxelinux.0 goes much further than lpxelinux.0! I have a few issues yet to fix: * Undef symbol FAIL: __syslinux_debug_enabled (I must have done something wrong while building) * find proper fix for serial i/o (my crude hack handles output, but not input; I now end up with a boot: prompt but cannot enter anything). Is there a known correct way of setting up pxelinux for serial-only I/O?> Have you considered talking to Soekris about this? As you probably can > understand, it isn't like we have specimens of every box from every > manufacturer...I do understand :-) Once I work my way to getting a succseful boot with pxelinux.0 (thanks for pointing in the right direction!!), I'll bring the issue up with Soekris as well. (I'll also experiment with a net5501 instead of the 4501). Thanks again for your help! Thomas.