NetBSD on Mobilepro 780

On 2/25/07, Rich <richardson_00yahoo.com> wrote:
> I have a Mobilepro 780, a 1GB CF card and a WaveLAN
Silver wifi card. I did
> a FTP installation and everything when fine. All the
packages installed,
> answered the settings questions then was returned to
the SYSINST main menu.
> I select reboot the computer but it turns off instead.
I have to press the
> reset button to get the device on again. Win CE then
boots up. I go back to
> pbsdboot and all I get is the SYSINST install menu. I
have reinstalled over
> and over but I get the same results.

I don't believe that there is any way to automatically boot
NetBSD on
one yet. You must boot into WinCE and then use pbsdboot.exe
to load
the kernel from the FAT partition. It's kind of tedious, but
a fact of
life so far.

If you're in NetBSD, you should be able to do a reboot and
it will
stay in NetBSD.

Andy

Try booting with kernel /netbsd, that makes it boot the
kernel
installed on your netbsd partition. Works fine on my MP770.
Please not
that this is a forward slash, as in a UNIX filename, and not
a
backslash, like with windows filenames. The latter would
look for the
kernel in your filesystem in windows CE. Let me know if it
worked.

Kind regards,

Wim Vander Schelden

On 2/26/07, Rich <richardson_00yahoo.com> wrote:
> I have a Mobilepro 780, a 1GB CF card and a WaveLAN
Silver wifi card. I did
> a FTP installation and everything when fine. All the
packages installed,
> answered the settings questions then was returned to
the SYSINST main menu.
> I select reboot the computer but it turns off instead.
I have to press the
> reset button to get the device on again. Win CE then
boots up. I go back to
> pbsdboot and all I get is the SYSINST install menu. I
have reinstalled over
> and over but I get the same results.

> I select reboot the computer but it turns off instead. 
I have to
> press the reset button to get the device on again.  Win
CE then boots
> up.

I have a WorkPad z50 and experience very similar symptoms -
there seems
to be no way to do an unattended reboot, or indeed any
reboot without
going through wince's annoying "I'm going to be helpful
and get in your
way" init screens.

Once I get the machine set up (which is mostly waiting on my
getting a
larger microdrive right now) I'm going to see what I can do
about this,
but it's likely to be kludges at best.  I might be able to
arrange
unattended reboot, if nothing else....

Best would be to replace the ROM that holds wince, but I
doubt that
will be trivial. 

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On 2/26/07, der Mouse <mouserodents.montreal.qc.ca>
wrote:
> Once I get the machine set up (which is mostly waiting
on my getting a
> larger microdrive right now) I'm going to see what I
can do about this,
> but it's likely to be kludges at best.  I might be able
to arrange
> unattended reboot, if nothing else....

I remember reading that certain machines will do alternate
boots if
you put files in specific locations, but it's very machine
specific
and I don't think there was anything specific to the NEC
Mobilepro
line, which is what I have. This was way back, and I think
it was a
Linux hacking page I was reading.

Andy

>> Once I get the machine set up (which is mostly
waiting on my getting
>> a larger microdrive right now) I'm going to see
what I can do about
>> this, but it's likely to be kludges at best.  I
might be able to
>> arrange unattended reboot, if nothing else....
> For what reason are unattended reboots necessary?

Installing a new kernel, and testing changes to the
boot-time setup, to
name just the first two that come to mind.

> Personally, I never turn my MP780 off, or reboot it. 
Essentially,
> the battery can never be allowed to have no charge.  I
have an
> external battery that I use to maintain this.

That'd be nice, but mine has only about two hours of battery
life, and
I not infrequently am away from mains power for more than
two hours.

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On 2/26/07, der Mouse <mouserodents.montreal.qc.ca>
wrote:
> I have a WorkPad z50 and experience very similar
symptoms - there seems
> to be no way to do an unattended reboot, or indeed any
reboot without
> going through wince's annoying "I'm going to be
helpful and get in your
> way" init screens.

Make sure the Shift key is held down when booting the
Workpad. This
will skip the setup questions on the z50. I always make sure
I hold it
down just as the fifth or sixth period (".") is
printed at the initial
boot screen, and keep it held down until the CE desktop
comes up
fully, then I clear the CompactFlash warning I get with Esc,
then
launch the boot utility.

  -jrs