UltraLinux
UltraLinux is a 64bit port of Linux
to Sun UltraSPARC machines.
UltraLinux is based on the 32bit SparcLinux port
which is being developed since 1995. UltraLinux port has been started in November 1996.
UltraLinux is currently maintained by David S.
Miller, Jakub Jelínek and
Eddie C. Dost.
Supported Hardware
The following hardware is supported by UltraLinux:
- CPUs:
- UltraSPARC SBUS based workstations: Ultra1, Ultra2, Ultra1 Creator, Ultra2 Creator
- UltraSPARC PCI based workstations: Ultra30, UltraAX, UltraAXi, Ultra5, Ultra10, Ultra60
- UltraSPARC SBUS based servers: Enterprise 1, 2, 150
- UltraSPARC SBUS based large servers: Enterprise 3000, 4000, 5000, 6000, 10000
- UltraSPARC PCI based servers: Enterprise 250, 450
- SCSI interfaces:
- NCR53c9x-based Sbus SCSI interface (esp), including SCSI component of FSBE/S and similar Sbus cards
- QLogic ISP1000 based Sbus SCSI interface (QLGC,isp, Performance Technologies - qlogicpti)
- SparcSTORAGE Array 1xx and 2xx (pluto) on top of on-board and Sbus SOC Fibre Channel adapter (soc)
- Adaptec AIC7XXX PCI SCSI interface (aic7xxx)
- NCR53C8XX PCI SCSI interface
- Further PCI SCSI interfaces may be quickly ported from Linux/Intel
- Disks:
- most SCSI disks and CD-ROMs
- IDE disks on PCI based machines
- built-in floppy drive (note: currently there are problems with formatting floppies, but hopefully this will be fixed soon)
- Tape drives:
- Serial interfaces:
- built-in Zilog 8530 serial ports which can be used as the system
console if desired.
- built-in Siemens SAB82532 serial ports (likewise can drive serial console)
- Network interfaces:
- on-board and Sbus LANCE ethernet found on Sbus boxes (sunlance)
- the LANCE ethernet component of FSBE/S Sbus cards
- on-board and Sbus HappyMeal 10/100Mbps ethernet on Sbus boxes (sunhme)
- on-board and PCI HappyMeal 10/100Mbps ethernet on PCI boxes
- Sun QuadEthernet (sunqe)
- Myricom Gigabit Ethernet Sbus card (myri_sbus)
- Digital Etherworks PCI and other DECchip based PCI cards (de4x5)
- Further PCI network cards may be quickly ported from Linux/Intel
- Framebuffers:
- UPA Creator, Creator3D
- Sbus cgthree
- Sbus cgsix
- PCI ATI Mach64 based
- Input devices:
- Sun keyboard and mouse
- PC keyboard and PS/2 mouse on PCI boxes
- Parallel interfaces:
- ECP parallel port on PCI machines
- Miscellaneous:
- on-board CS4231 based audio
Currently unsupported Hardware
The following hardware is not yet supported by UltraLinux:
- CPUs:
- Any UltraIII based machines (though we aim to support that as soon as we get in touch with it)
- Parallel interfaces:
- SunBPP parallel port on Sbus machines
- Miscellaneous:
- SunATM Sbus adapter
- Cisco ATM Sbus adapter, Zeitnet based (though this may change in a not too distant future)
- SunVideo
If you have a device that's not listed, it might be compatible with something
else, or we might have simply forgotten it. If all else fails, maybe you could
write a driver!
The UltraLinux port features extensive binary compatibility with
SunOS 4.1.x programs. Statically linked SunOS executables will run with
minimal setup. To run dynamically linked executables, you'll need to
provide the shared libraries that came with your SunOS installation.
SunOS programs that will not work include those that use the SunOS
kvm library, certain (low-level) disk manipulation utilities, and programs
making explicit use of Sun's STREAMS subsystem. UltraLinux also includes
some support of Solaris 2.x binaries. This are is in the works, so not all
programs are known to run yet, but that may change really soon.
Distributions
If you're interested in installing UltraLinux, you should probably consider
install a distribution. There are two distributions of UltraLinux so far:
- Old distribution
UltraPenguin 1.0, released in July 1997, based
on libc5. To get it running, you should install all the
updates,
copy /etc/ld.so.conf to /etc/ld.so.conf32 and compile and
install a recent kernel.
- The stable distribution UltraPenguin 1.1, released in November 1998,
based on GNU libc and RedHat 5.0.
This distribution should run on your older 32bit SPARCs as well, including
SparcServer1000 and SparcCenter2000.
- A "beta" distribution UltraPenguin 1.1.9, released in December 1998,
based on GNU libc and RedHat 5.2.
Please test this distribution as much as you can and send all your bug
reports, requests, comments to the UltraLinux mailing list.
We hope to release a final distribution (version 1.2) soon, right after a
couple more issues and problems will be solved.
Other Useful Information
32bit SparcLinux port.
For those who can read Czech, you can look at my slides about UltraLinux
from CZLUG conference in Brno 1/1998.
Credits
- David S. Miller
- Jakub Jelínek
- Eddie C. Dost
- Richard Henderson
jj@ultra.linux.cz