QNX on DiskOnChip

QNX DEVELOPERS Realtime and Embedded
1

Hello,

I want to install QNX on a DiskOnChip 2000 on a RTDUSA PC104. I only have a cpuModule with no monitor (no graphical output).

Now, I can boot the system in Fail safe mode (ROM-DOS). With that, I can map the DiskOnChip on another Windows workstation trought the serial port.

What should I write on the DiskOnChip from my Windowa station to have QNX installed???

Thank you very much

Guy

2

I had to figure out the same thing last year. It took quite a while.
Here is a procedure for doing the job for Neutrino 6.1. If you have any
specific questions, please post again or email me at “musko at umich dot edu”.
-Steve

Building and Loading the LRR-X QNX Operating System
8/20/02 S. Musko
Doc. #087-0044A

Overview
A PC-104 computer stack controls the LRR-X instrument. The stack contains:

  • 233 MHz Pentium Embedded PC module (flight computer)
  • Ethernet 10BaseT Network Interface module
  • SVGA Video module
  • PCMCIA module with 660 MB flash disk
  • GPS module
  • Power supply module
    The QNX operating system (QNX Op Sys) is stored on the solid-state disk (288MB
    DiskOnChip) on the flight computer. The op sys is built on a development PC (Dev PC)
    and then uploaded to the flight computer via Ethernet or serial port.

QNX Build File Description
The following is a description of all the files used to build the LRR-X QNX operating
system. All these files are stored in the LRR-X Project Visual Source Safe database.

bldImage.bat – A batch file that runs the QNX mkifs utility. Mkifs input is
qnximage.bld. Mkifs output is qnximage.ifs.

qnximage.bld – A text file that contains the instructions to build the QNX Op Sys.
Input to the mkifs utility.

qnximage.ifs – A binary file that contains the compressed QNX Op Sys. Output
from mkifs. This file is downloaded to the C:\ (/doc) directory of the flight computer
DiskOnChip.

MS-DOS Prompt – Command line environment used to build the QNX Op Sys

bootfiles\xconfig.sys – A DOS text configuration file that contains only one
line:
driver=c:\loadqnx.sys c:\qnximage.ifs. This file is downloaded to the C:\ (/doc) directory
of the flight computer DiskOnChip. The flight computer startup ROM executes
config.sys at startup.

bootfiles\loadqnx.sys – An executable DOS program that is obtained in a
roundabout way from QNX. Loadqnx.sys is downloaded to the C:\ (/doc) directory of the
flight computer DiskOnChip. At startup, loadqnx.sys loads the qnximage.ifs file into
memory, decompresses it and executes the code it contains. Loadqnx.sys is obtained by
setting up a Windows PC as a dual-boot QNX machine (with no QNX partition). The
installation writes loadqnx.sys to the C:\ directory of the windows machine.

doc_driver\devb-doc – The QNX driver for the DiskOnChip. DiskOnChip
emulates a hard disk with flash memory. Obtained from the DiskOnChip website.

ifsfiles\inetd.conf – A text file that configures the inetd daemon that runs on
the flight computer. Inetd.conf is input to mkifs.

ifsfiles\slpasswd and ifsfiles\slshadow – Are binary files that contains
user and password information for the QNX Op Sys. Both files are input to mkifs. Both
files are generated with the passwd utility running on a dual-boot QNX machine (with no
QNX partition). The passwd and shadow files are then copied from the /etc directory on
the QNX dual-boot machine to a DOS format diskette (and renamed slpasswd and
slshadow). From the floppy they are copied to the Dev PC.

ifsfiles\suid_profile – This is a script file that is executed by the Korn shell
when it starts up. suid_profile is located in /etc on the flight computer.

To copy and rename the passwd and shadow files to DOS diskette on a dual-boot
Windows PC running QNX:

  1. Put a DOS formatted diskette in the diskette drive.
  2. In QNX: Open a terminal window.
  3. In the terminal window enter: mount –t dos /dev/fd0 /mnt/fd0
  4. In the terminal window enter: cp /etc/passwd /mnt/fd0/slpasswd
  5. In the terminal window enter: cp /etc/shadow /mnt/fd0/slshadow

Build the QNX Op Sys

  1. On the Dev PC: Get the LRR_X_QNX_Op_Sys project from Visual Source Safe.
  2. On the Dev PC: In the root directory of the LRR_X_QNX_Op_Sys project, open
    a command prompt window and enter bldimage . Bldimage.bat is a
    batch file that runs mkifs to produce the qnximage.ifs file. Qnximage.ifs contains
    the compressed QNX Op Sys.

Create the QNX Op Sys Load Diskette

  1. Copy the entire contents of the Datalight ROM-DOS Version 6.22 diskette to a
    blank diskette and label it “QNX Op Sys Load Disk”.
  2. Delete all the files on the QNX Op Sys Load Disk except:
    ? COMMAND.COM,
    ? \DOS\FORMAT.COM
    ? \DOS\REMSERV.EXE
  3. Copy the following files from the LRR_X_QNX_Op_Sys project to the root
    directory of the diskette:
    ? QNXIMAGE.IFS
    ? bootfiles\LOADQNX.SYS
    ? bootfiles\XCONFIG.SYS

Create a DiskOnChip C Drive on the PC-104 Stack
The PC-104 stack is shipped with the ROM-DOS 6.22 operating system. ROM-DOS is
stored in ROM and is executed when the stack is booted in “Fail-Safe Boot” mode.
Before we can load the QNX Op Sys, we have to initialize the DiskOnChip flash disk as
a bootable DOS drive. The steps required to do this are listed below. The steps in this
section are only required if the DiskOnChip does not exist as drive C. If the DiskOnChip
is already initialized as drive C, you can skip this section and go to Upload the QNX Op
Sys to the PC-104 Stack.

  1. Connect a three-wire null modem cable between the Dev PC COM1 port and the
    flight computer COM1 serial port.
  2. On the PC-104 stack: Reset the flight computer.
  3. On the PC-104 stack: When the RTD splash screen appears, press the
    several times to enter setup mode.
  4. On the PC-104 stack: Select “Integrated Peripherals”.
  5. On the PC-104 stack: Enter Power Management Setup and turn on all the
    interrupts. Exit Power Management Setup.
  6. On the PC-104 stack: Enter Integrated Peripherals.
    a. Set BIOS Extension Window to D000:0000.
    b. Set Device in SSD Socket to BiosExt.
    c. Set SSD Window to C800:000.
    d. Set “Fail Safe Boot” to Enabled.
  7. On the PC-104 stack: Enter Y to save the changes and
    reboot the flight computer.
  8. After the stack reboots, the C: drive should be the DiskOnChip (about 290
    mbytes).
  9. On the PC-104 stack: Enter D:
  10. On the PC-104 stack: Enter remdisk /b115200 - /t5
  11. On the Dev PC: Insert the QNX Op Sys Load Disk in the diskette drive.
  12. On the Dev PC: Reboot and wait until the command line prompt appears.
  13. On the Dev PC: Enter \dos\remserv a: /b115200 - /t5
  14. On the PC-104 stack: Enter E:
  15. On the PC-104 stack: Enter \dos\format c: /q /s
  16. On the PC-104 stack: When the formatting is completed, reset the PC-104 stack.
  17. On the PC-104 stack: When the RTD splash screen appears, press several
    times to enter setup mode.
  18. On the PC-104 stack: Disable Fail-Safe Boot. Save the change and reboot the
    stack. The stack should now boot DOS from the DiskOnChip (C: drive).
  19. On the PC-104 stack. Reset the PC-104 stack.
  20. On the PC-104 stack: When the RTD splash screen appears, press several
    times to enter setup mode.
  21. On the PC-104 stack: Enable Fail-Safe Boot. Save the change and reboot the
    stack.
  22. Go to the Downloading Using Serial Port section to upload the QNX Op Sys to
    the PC-104 stack.

Upload the QNX Op Sys to the PC-104 Stack
The QNX Op Sys can be uploaded from the Dev PC to the flight computer via serial port
or FTP over Ethernet. Use Ethernet if QNX is already running on the flight computer.
Use the serial port otherwise.

Upload Procedure Using Serial Port

  1. On the PC-104 stack: Connect a keyboard and monitor to the PC-104 stack video
    module.
  2. Connect a three wire null modem cable between the Dev PC COM1 port and the
    flight computer COM1 serial port.
  3. On the Dev PC: Boot the QNX Op Sys Load Diskette.
  4. On the Dev PC: Enter \dos\remserv a: /b115200 – /t5
  5. On the PC-104 stack: Turn on the PC-104 stack or reset the flight computer if it’s
    already powered up.
  6. On the PC-104 stack: When the RTD splash screen appears, press the
    several times to enter setup mode.
  7. On the PC-104 stack: Select “Integrated Peripherals”.
  8. On the PC-104 stack: Set the “Fail Safe Boot” to Enabled. This will cause the
    flight computer to boot up into ROM-DOS when next reset.
  9. On the PC-104 stack: Enter Y to save the change and
    reset the flight computer.
  10. On the PC-104 stack: At the DOS prompt, enter:
    remdisk /b115200 - /t5 .
    This will cause the flight computer to attach to the drive that is being served by
    the Dev PC. Remdisk will assign a drive letter to the served drive. In this
    procedure, we assume that the assigned drive is E. Normal DOS commands are
    used to copy files from one drive to another.
  11. On the PC-104 stack: Copy the following files from the E: drive to the C:\
    directory. C:\ is the DiskOnChip. You won’t get any copy status feedback. It takes
    several minutes to copy one megabyte.
    E:\qnximage.ifs to C:\qnximage.ifs
    E:\loadqnx.sys to C:\loadqnx.sys
    E:\xconfig.sys to C:\config.sys (IMPORTANT NOTE: Source and
    destination filenames are not the same).
  12. On the PC-104 stack: Press the flight computer reset switch or enter
    ++ to reset the flight computer.
  13. On the PC-104 stack: When the RTD splash screen appears, press the
    several times to enter setup mode.
  14. On the PC-104 stack: Select “Integrated Peripherals”.
  15. On the PC-104 stack: Set the “Fail Safe Boot” to Disabled. This will cause the
    flight computer to boot up the QNX Op Sys when next reset.
  16. On the PC-104 stack: Enter Y to save the change and reset
    the flight computer.
  17. On the PC-104 stack: QNX should now boot up.

Upload Procedure using Ethernet
This section assumes that the Dev PC and the PC-104 are both connected to an
Ethernet LAN and that QNX is running on the flight computer.

  1. On the Dev PC: Open your favorite FTP client application.
  2. On the Dev PC: Open a connection to the PC-104 stack for IP
    Addr=xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx, user=root, password=whatever.
  3. On the Dev PC: Open the flight computer /doc directory. /doc is the flight
    computer DiskOnChip.
  4. On the Dev PC: Copy qnximage.ifs from the root directory of the
    LRR_X_QNX_Op_Sys project to the /doc directory of the flight computer.
  5. On the Dev PC: To reset the flight computer and boot up the newly uploaded
    QNX Op Sys, start a Telnet session (user=root, pw=whatever) with the PC-104
    stack and execute the QNX shutdown utility.
3

I’ve the same problem - install qnx4 on DoC in microPC CPU686. Want to install via IDE hdd with preinstalled qnx4. Connected this hdd to this motherboard, but it don’t see hdd. Changed IDE modes in BIOS, nothing new :frowning: BIOS updated to version with fix hdd > 8GB. What else can I do?