GNU pre0.3-J2 image for Bochs

[Robert Millan]

Hello!

After some time and a lot of people trying it, looks like
either the problems on running GNU/Hurd in Bochs are now
fixed or they were a particular curse of my system :>

As it's working fine, I sent a new image for Bochs and
its on their sourceforge site now. It has installed
and configured network, X and Marcus' console server.
See the mini-FAQ for details.

Note that the console server only works with ncursesw driver,
not with vga/kbd combo. there are some problems with X too.

It will eventualy be added to the diskimage site:

  http://bochs.sourceforge.net/diskimages.html

For now, you can get it from:

  http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=12580


mini-FAQ follows (it's in the tarball also):

GNU pre0.3-J2 for Bochs mini-FAQ
--------------------------------

- What do you mean "GNU", the GNU Hurd?

  Yes and no. See http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/faq.en.html#q1-2

- Disk line for .bochsrc?

  for Bochs CVS version:

    ata0-master: type=disk, path="gnu.img", cylinders=1024, heads=16, spt=63

  for older versions:

    diskc: file="gnu.img", cyl=1024, heads=16, spt=63

- My PATH and prompt are weird, and X clients fail

  the profile is not loaded properly, do it manualy
  with ". /etc/profile".

- How can i change terminals?

  The Mach console doesn't have multi-terminal capability, and the
  usual solution is the "screen" program, but..

  ..the new console server is installed and configured with 6 terminals.
  beware it hasn't been properly tested. You can launch it with the
  ncursesw driver:

    console -d ncursesw /dev/vcs

  and then switching via C-w 1 (or 2, 3, ...). you can exit it with C-w x

  see http://lists.debian.org/debian-hurd/2002/debian-hurd-200209/msg00054.html
  for more details

  IMPORTANT: note that X doesn't work well while running the console server.

- Does X work?

  Somewhat:

   - DRI and speedo modules won't load so they're deactivated.
   - The VESA driver also failed so VGA is being used.
   - more than 8 bpp won't work.
   - for some weird reason the mouse server in /dev/mouse doesn't respond,
     so the mouse is inoperative.
   - GNU is still an unstable OS which makes X crash often on it.

  To reconfigure it:

    dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86

  then apply a patch to fix the mouse section:

    patch /etc/X11/XF86config-4 /root/XF86Config-4.diff

  Installed clients are blackbox window manager and rxvt terminal emulator.

- Is network configured?

  Yes, to change parameters use:

    settrans -apfg /servers/socket/2 /hurd/pfinet [options to pfinet]

  (see /hurd/pfinet --help for details)

- How do i mount stuff?

    settrans -afg <node> /hurd/<translator> <options to translator>

  Where node is your mount point and translator is the filesystem
  server. Add -p to settrans if you want it to stay over reboots (fstab-like)

- Anything neat to try?

  yes! instead of "su" use "sush", a more flexible version that
  manages multiple UIDs.

  you can also play with userspace filesystems for NFS and FTP in
  /hurd/{nfs,ftpfs} that you can run as user, debug with GDB, etc.

- More questions?

  Read the FAQ (http://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/faq.en.html) for a
  general overview on the GNU system.


-- 
Robert Millan

"5 years from now everyone will be running
free GNU on their 200 MIPS, 64M SPARCstation-5"

              Andrew S. Tanenbaum, 30 Jan 1992