swapping .boot with .altboot

QNX Newsgroups (Archives) qdn.public.qnxrtp.installation
1

I believe this is a simple question to answer:

I’ve installed QNX 6.2 but the DMA version is not compatible. No problem,
since pressing ESC loads .altboot at startup, which does not use DMA.

How can I easily swap the non-working .boot with the working .altboot so
that I don’t have to press ESC every startup.

Thanks,

Matt

2

On Tue, 11 Jun 2002 14:43:22 -0400, “Matthew Herberg” <matthew.herberg@yale.edu> wrote:

I believe this is a simple question to answer:

I’ve installed QNX 6.2 but the DMA version is not compatible. No problem,
since pressing ESC loads .altboot at startup, which does not use DMA.

How can I easily swap the non-working .boot with the working .altboot so
that I don’t have to press ESC every startup.

cp /.altboot /.boot
Better yet, build a new image with dma disabled.

3

Alex Cellarius wrote:

On Tue, 11 Jun 2002 14:43:22 -0400, “Matthew Herberg” <> matthew.herberg@yale.edu> > wrote:

I believe this is a simple question to answer:

I’ve installed QNX 6.2 but the DMA version is not compatible. No problem,
since pressing ESC loads .altboot at startup, which does not use DMA.

How can I easily swap the non-working .boot with the working .altboot so
that I don’t have to press ESC every startup.


cp /.altboot /.boot
Better yet, build a new image with dma disabled.
Huh? Why would it be better to build a new image? (And you can’t in NC,

since mkifs is removed…)


4

On Wed, 12 Jun 2002 10:46:09 +0200, phearbear <phearbear@home.se> wrote:

Alex Cellarius wrote:
…

cp /.altboot /.boot
Better yet, build a new image with dma disabled.
Huh? Why would it be better to build a new image?

So you can put in what you need, and also possibly understand
better what goes in & on during the boot…

(And you can’t in NC, since mkifs is removed…)

OK

5

On Tue, 11 Jun 2002 20:23:06 GMT, Alex Cellarius
<acellarius@yahoo.com> wrote:

On Tue, 11 Jun 2002 14:43:22 -0400, “Matthew Herberg” <> matthew.herberg@yale.edu> > wrote:
I believe this is a simple question to answer:

I’ve installed QNX 6.2 but the DMA version is not compatible. No problem,
since pressing ESC loads .altboot at startup, which does not use DMA.

How can I easily swap the non-working .boot with the working .altboot so
that I don’t have to press ESC every startup.

cp /.altboot /.boot
Better yet, build a new image with dma disabled.


I also have this same problem.

How do I go ahead and build this new image with DMA disabled ?
Or how do I disable DMA when I’m installing 6.2?

Thanks,

Erick

6

On Mon, 05 Aug 2002 19:08:42 GMT, mechlab@nospam.me.wisc.edu wrote:

On Tue, 11 Jun 2002 20:23:06 GMT, Alex Cellarius
acellarius@yahoo.com> > wrote:

On Tue, 11 Jun 2002 14:43:22 -0400, “Matthew Herberg” <> matthew.herberg@yale.edu> > wrote:
I believe this is a simple question to answer:

I’ve installed QNX 6.2 but the DMA version is not compatible. No problem,
since pressing ESC loads .altboot at startup, which does not use DMA.

Actually My problem is a little different. The boot hangs if I don’t

do both - Hit to get .altboot to load with DMA disabled and if
I don’t select the boot option for verbose mode. If I do any other
combination It just hangs.

Erick

How can I easily swap the non-working .boot with the working .altboot so
that I don’t have to press ESC every startup.

cp /.altboot /.boot
Better yet, build a new image with dma disabled.


I also have this same problem.
How do I go ahead and build this new image with DMA disabled ?
Or how do I disable DMA when I’m installing 6.2?

Thanks,

Erick

7

On Mon, 05 Aug 2002 20:52:38 GMT, mechlab@nospam.me.wisc.edu wrote:

On Mon, 05 Aug 2002 19:08:42 GMT, > mechlab@nospam.me.wisc.edu > wrote:


On Tue, 11 Jun 2002 20:23:06 GMT, Alex Cellarius
acellarius@yahoo.com> > wrote:

On Tue, 11 Jun 2002 14:43:22 -0400, “Matthew Herberg”
matthew.herberg@yale.edu> > wrote:
I believe this is a simple question to answer:

I’ve installed QNX 6.2 but the DMA version is not compatible. No
problem,
since pressing ESC loads .altboot at startup, which does not use DMA.

Actually My problem is a little different. The boot hangs if I don’t
do both - Hit to get .altboot to load with DMA disabled and if
I don’t select the boot option for verbose mode. If I do any other
combination It just hangs.

HAve a look in /qnxsdk/target/qnx6/x86/boot/build
There is a qnxbase.build file in there.
Use that to create a new boot image

mkifs qnxbase.bld qnxbase.ifs
Copy the qnxbase.ifs to .boot or .altboot

8

On Tue, 06 Aug 2002 05:37:57 GMT, Alex Cellarius
<acellarius@yahoo.com> wrote:

HAve a look in /qnxsdk/target/qnx6/x86/boot/build
There is a qnxbase.build file in there.
Use that to create a new boot image

mkifs qnxbase.bld qnxbase.ifs
Copy the qnxbase.ifs to .boot or .altboot

This path does not exist on my system or on the install CD

9

On Tue, 06 Aug 2002 15:16:44 GMT, mechlab@nospam.me.wisc.edu wrote:

On Tue, 06 Aug 2002 05:37:57 GMT, Alex Cellarius
acellarius@yahoo.com> > wrote:


HAve a look in /qnxsdk/target/qnx6/x86/boot/build
There is a qnxbase.build file in there.
Use that to create a new boot image

mkifs qnxbase.bld qnxbase.ifs
Copy the qnxbase.ifs to .boot or .altboot

This path does not exist on my system or on the install CD

I don’t know about the CD, but it’s on my PE
edition under Windows.
I suppose you have the NC version…

10

mechlab@nospam.me.wisc.edu wrote:

On Tue, 06 Aug 2002 05:37:57 GMT, Alex Cellarius
acellarius@yahoo.com> > wrote:


HAve a look in /qnxsdk/target/qnx6/x86/boot/build
There is a qnxbase.build file in there.
Use that to create a new boot image

mkifs qnxbase.bld qnxbase.ifs
Copy the qnxbase.ifs to .boot or .altboot

This path does not exist on my system or on the install CD

On a windows system it looks like:
/qnxsdk/target/qnx6/x86/boot/build

On a native system:
/x86/boot/build
or
/boot/build

On a Solaris box, it probably looks something like:

/opt/qnxsdk/target/qnx6/x86/boot/build

-David

QNX Training Services
http://www.qnx.com/support/training/
Please followup in this newsgroup if you have further questions.

11

Yes I have NC but all I need is to swap .boot and .altboot since the
…altboot already disables DMA access to the hard disk and uses PIO
instead. the problem I have is how do I swap these two files around?
or better yet

I tried

cp .altboot .boot
this = reinstall

and both
cp -f /boot/fs/qnxbase.ifs .boot
cp -f /boot/fs/qnxbase.ifs .altboot

and get "cp: Can’t open destination file. (.boot or .altboot):
Resource Busy

any suggestions

I’m just trying to get an old machine up and running that doesn’t
support DMA access.

Thanks



On Tue, 06 Aug 2002 18:04:51 GMT, Alex Cellarius
<acellarius@yahoo.com> wrote:

On Tue, 06 Aug 2002 15:16:44 GMT, > mechlab@nospam.me.wisc.edu > wrote:
On Tue, 06 Aug 2002 05:37:57 GMT, Alex Cellarius
acellarius@yahoo.com> > wrote:


HAve a look in /qnxsdk/target/qnx6/x86/boot/build
There is a qnxbase.build file in there.
Use that to create a new boot image

mkifs qnxbase.bld qnxbase.ifs
Copy the qnxbase.ifs to .boot or .altboot

This path does not exist on my system or on the install CD


I don’t know about the CD, but it’s on my PE
edition under Windows.
I suppose you have the NC version…

12

First, make sure you do this as root.

Then you can just…

cp /boot/fs/qnxbase.ifs /.boot

chris

mechlab@nospam.me.wisc.edu wrote:

Yes I have NC but all I need is to swap .boot and .altboot since the
.altboot already disables DMA access to the hard disk and uses PIO
instead. the problem I have is how do I swap these two files around?
or better yet

I tried

cp .altboot .boot
this = reinstall

and both
cp -f /boot/fs/qnxbase.ifs .boot
cp -f /boot/fs/qnxbase.ifs .altboot

and get "cp: Can’t open destination file. (.boot or .altboot):
Resource Busy

any suggestions

I’m just trying to get an old machine up and running that doesn’t
support DMA access.

Thanks



On Tue, 06 Aug 2002 18:04:51 GMT, Alex Cellarius
acellarius@yahoo.com> > wrote:

On Tue, 06 Aug 2002 15:16:44 GMT, > mechlab@nospam.me.wisc.edu > wrote:
On Tue, 06 Aug 2002 05:37:57 GMT, Alex Cellarius
acellarius@yahoo.com> > wrote:


HAve a look in /qnxsdk/target/qnx6/x86/boot/build
There is a qnxbase.build file in there.
Use that to create a new boot image

mkifs qnxbase.bld qnxbase.ifs
Copy the qnxbase.ifs to .boot or .altboot

This path does not exist on my system or on the install CD


I don’t know about the CD, but it’s on my PE
edition under Windows.
I suppose you have the NC version…

\

–
Chris McKillop <cdm@qnx.com> “The faster I go, the behinder I get.”
Software Engineer, QSSL – Lewis Carroll –
http://qnx.wox.org/

13

cdm@qnx.com sed in <allujm$k1b$2@nntp.qnx.com>

cp /boot/fs/qnxbase.ifs /.boot

Many people tries to backup the original ifs by mv

mv /.boot /.boot-orig

which isn’t allowed in qnx4 filesystem.
This should be documented somewhere…
or listing in FAQ is enough?
(well it is somewhat mentioned as a virtual file entry in TechNotes)

mv /.boot /.boot-orig

mv: rename(/.boot,/.boot-orig) : Resource busy
The error message is confusing too… it isn’t busy after all.

Ah, the work-in-progress “System Administration Guide” qualifies mentioning.

kabe

14

What people should be aware is .boot (.altboot) is not allowed
to be renamed or be deleted. They are not “normal files”.
(Think about it, when this file be read into memory during boot,
there is no FILESYSTEM exist).

That’s why rm, mv, cp -f not working on them.

I think (somebody correct me), it only allowed (as root)
open/read/write/state/close operation.

-xtang

kabe@sra-tohoku.co.jp wrote:

cdm@qnx.com > sed in <allujm$k1b$> 2@nntp.qnx.com

cp /boot/fs/qnxbase.ifs /.boot

Many people tries to backup the original ifs by mv

mv /.boot /.boot-orig

which isn’t allowed in qnx4 filesystem.
This should be documented somewhere…
or listing in FAQ is enough?
(well it is somewhat mentioned as a virtual file entry in TechNotes)

mv /.boot /.boot-orig

mv: rename(/.boot,/.boot-orig) : Resource busy
The error message is confusing too… it isn’t busy after all.

Ah, the work-in-progress “System Administration Guide” qualifies mentioning.