Testing on real hardware

[ltning]

Hi! I have a number of 486SX-class systems I can test on. Some are 386 boards with 486DLC or SXL CPUs, some are 286 or 386sx boards with 486SLC upgrade-CPUs. I believe they all should - in theory - be able to run NetBSD either with an FPU installed (387-type in all cases) or your emulation code (much more fun).

I tested booting a homegrown _TINY kernel (tested on 486 and pentium) on a 486DLC this weekend. As soon as the floppies were read, before any kernel messages whatsoever, the machine either hung or produced "interesting" screen output before rebooting[1]. Tested 10.3, 9.4 and 8.3.

I'll test on some other machines as soon as I have some time, and once I get past the loader issues I'll give your patches a spin. Hints about figuring out the loader issues would be welcome.

[1] NetBSD boot loader failing on 486DLC

[mezantrop]

First of all, thank you very much for your efforts and good luck resolving the loader issue ! The INSTALL guide says, 486 machines with FPUs should work, but I still unsure, if I hooked the FPU emulation correctly. Let me know in any case, please. With hope for success, Mike