Hi everybody.
I am a QNX user because I am customer of a SCADA software which use QNX as OS.
I am trying to install the most recent version (6.3.2) of QNX Neutrino x86 Runtime kit on a brand new machine.
It is a Dell Optiplex 780 and unfortunately it is a USB only machine (no PS/2 keyboard nor mouse).
I have just read that this kind of machines have problems with such a hardware at booting phase (someone suggested to buy a PCI/PS2 card).
As a matter of fact when it boots it stops after “Press Esc for .altboot…”
On the same machine I have installed an Evaluation version of QNX Momentics 6.5.0 and everything works fine.
Do you have any idea how to correct the boot problem on the 6.3.2 system? Is there any update available?
thanks a lot for your support.
Cheers
G
First of all, QNX 6.3.2 is not the most recent version. Later versions are 6.4.0, 6.4.1, and 6.5.0, although 6.5.0 now has a service pack.
USB support has improved over 6.3.2, although it is possible to run 6.3.2 with a USB keyboard and mouse. You might need a 2nd development machine in order to create a custom .boot file.
I had a similar booting problem to the one you described with 6.3.2. I don’t know if it would have gone away with 6.5.0. I was booting a Dell server. The problem occurred because the 6.3.2 .boot file was larger than the bios could handle.
The default .boot file includes a number of disk drivers, scsi and eide, that might be on the system. Since any particular system usually on has one type of controller, the extra disk drives are not needed. By customizing the .boot file, making it smaller, I was able to get it to boot.
To make your system work with the newer OS, you may have to recompile the SCADA software. Do you have the source? Otherwise you will need the support of the manufacturer. Otherwise you might be SOL.
Thank you very very much maschoen for your quick reply and for your hints.
Unfortunately my license is valid for the x86 runtime kit only and it does not work for a Development suit or SDP. It is a pity because I tried the new SDP 6.5.0 with a 30-days evaluation and I was able to perfectly install it on the Dell machine.
Now I have contacted the Realflex support team (the SCADA I use) to requested an updated runtime kit. Let’s hope.
Thank you anyway
The Runtime-Kit basically was an OS-only installation of QNX Neutrino to ease deployment on x86 based hardware. It made many things simple, especially because it featured automatic hardware detection and Photon was completely configured. Without the Runtime-Kit, you had to build your own boot image (fair enough) but also build your own filesystem with all the various components Photon needed. This wasn’t very well documented.
Unfortunately, the Runtime-Kit was discontinued with the release of 6.4. Probably it was too much work to maintain next to the full “self-hosted” SDP. However they created a docfile for customers to enable them doing their own Runtime-Kit. If your vendor did that, you are lucky.
Overall, I guess QNX doesn’t want to mess around with end users buying individual licenses. QNX sells their platform to vendors of devices (embedded systems) - and if those vendors supply a CD to install, they have to make sure it only gets installed as often as legally allowed (e.g. once, if they bought one license per device).