On Wed, Apr 09, 2003 at 06:52:54AM -0500, Phil Howard wrote: > I have some Linux/390 and Hercules questions which I haven't seen > answered (or at least not indexed as I would expect) in FAQs. If > you know of the FAQ with the answers, a URL to there would be the > succinct answer. > > 1. How are partitions normally done on CKD and FBA DASD? Can > I use any partition format Linux recognizes? Does the boot > loader require a certain partition scheme be used to boot > from that device?
ZIPL works with either LDL or CDL, I think; use Linux dasdfmt to set it up. I don't know if IPL from FBA is supported. > 2. I'm familiar with IPL-ing from past experience with S/370. > Beyond the basic IPL channel commands, what does the Linux > boot loader do from there? Is the source code for it > available outside of a distribution somewhere to look at? Yes, it's in s390-tools on IBM Developerworks. Leland Lucius has a set of patches to enable multiboot, too. ZIPL is the program you want. > 3. How does Hercules format DASD images on host files when the > device is an FBA, such as 3370? Would it just be a one for > one sector identity mapping, or is there more to it? I can > image CKD would be more complex to be able to handle all the > variety of variable block sizes that could be written by > non-Linux OSes. Do empty DASD images need to be initialized > to make them usable by Hercules? I think it's one-to-one (you can mount an ISO image as a 3370, for instance), and yes, you need to use dasdinit to prepare the device file. > 4. Are there any "outside of S/390" tools for preparing FBA or > CKD DASD image files in advance of running them on Hercules, > either from a directory tree, or from an already populated > filesystem partition (such as ext2 or reiserfs)? Not that I'm aware of. > 5. Are there any instructions available on IPLing/booting a > Linux kernel under Hercules and mounting an NFS volume as > the root filesystem? Can this even be done without having > to load kernel modules? Um, I guess if you built your network device into the kernel and passed the parms in you could. > 6. Has anyone tried or succeeded at doing Linux From Scratch > under a Linux/390 system and then making the resultant > system actually run? I've done LFS under both Intel x86 > and Sun Sparc successfully and would like to do this for > S/390 under Hercules next. Rick Troth ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) is working on this. > 7. Are there any other pre-installed Linux/390 images for use > with Hercules besides the Debian 3.0r1 image for 3390 that > Matt Zimmerman made available (I'm already downloading it > right now). I'm looking for some variety to try out. Not that I know of. > 8. Who has run the deepest nesting of Linux under Hercules under > Linux under Hercules under Linux under Hercules under ... ? > I once did VM/370 to 4 levels and have heard of it done to > as many as 15 levels. I've done Linux under z/VM under Hercules under Linux under z/VM on an H70. Adam -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] "My eyes say their prayers to her / Sailors ring her bell / Like a moth mistakes a light bulb / For the moon and goes to hell." -- Tom Waits
