Boot into 32-bit kernel on 64-bit platform

Sometimes you need to boot into the 32-bit kernel on a 64-bit platform. Perhaps you have an application that is 32-bit only. Or perhaps you have developed a device driver for the Solaris OS. In general, Solaris device drivers must work both in 32-bit mode and in 64-bit mode.

To boot into the 32-bit kernel on a 64-bit platform, edit the GRUB menu. Either edit the file /boot/grub/menu.lst and reboot, or reboot and enter e at the grub menu.

For Solaris 10, the lines in the menu.lst file look something like this:

title Solaris 10 11/06 s10x_u3wos_10 X86
root (hd0,2,a)
kernel /platform/i86pc/multiboot
module /platform/i86pc/boot_archive

Change the kernel line to this:

kernel /platform/i86pc/kernel/unix

For Solaris Express (nevada, SXDE, SXCE, OpenSolaris), the lines in the menu.lst file look something like this:

title Solaris Express Community Edition snv_79 X86
kernel$ /platform/i86pc/kernel/$ISADIR/unix
module$ /platform/i86pc/$ISADIR/boot_archive

Change the kernel and module lines to this:

kernel$ /platform/i86pc/kernel/unix
module$ /platform/i86pc/boot_archive

Save and reboot

To make this change persistent across reboots, become the root user and make this change using

eeprom boot-file="kernel/unix"

See also Forcing Solaris to load 32 bit kernel.

For more information on the GRUB menu, see GRUB's user interface on the GNU web site.

Posted at 08:14PM Jan 30, 2008 by alta in Device Support  |  Comments[7]

Device Drivers Contest

Sun is sponsoring several contests, and part of the prize money is designated for device drivers for the Solaris/OpenSolaris OS.

Join the contest planning here:
OpenSolaris Community Innovation Awards
Awards program email archives

What drivers does the Solaris OS need most? How much prize money should be awarded for different types of drivers? How should entries be judged? By whom?

Contest announcement

Community Innovation Awards Program web site

Posted at 12:29AM Dec 18, 2007 by alta in Device Support  |  Comments[0]

SJSU Computer Engineering Project Exposition

Computer Engineering graduates at San Jose State University showed off their projects yesterday. I had interesting conversations with several of the students and very much enjoyed the day.

A project called Green Solutions had a laptop controlling the angle of the window blinds to minimize use of the home heater or air conditioner. As the room gets warmer, the blinds close. Their plan is to have the temperature in every room of the house monitored wirelessly and the blinds in every room of the house controlled wirelessly.

Other green projects also were presented, and several projects to assist health care professionals were shown.

Another project I enjoyed was a performance comparison between RoR and Java. The presenter had, among other things, spoken with a couple of people from Joyent at the 2007 JavaOne conference. Joyent are big users of RoR and Solaris ZFS and Zones.

Digression: Ben Rockwood of Joyent presented at JavaOne 2007 on OpenSolaris. Here is the description of his presentation:

Lots of operating systems are available to you, but how do you decide which to use? What are the pros and cons? As a developer, do you really care? This presentation discusses the OpenSolaris operating system and why it isn't a platform to simply run your applications on but, rather, a natural extension of your development environment. The OpenSolaris OS is free and commercially backed; sports a large user base and community; is open-source, highly observable, mature, and stable; and is driving the cutting edge in operating system design. Technologies such as ZFS and Dynamic Tracing (DTrace) aren't just for sysadmins; rather, savvy developers can easily leverage the best aspects of the operating system to improve the experience your application delivers and to speed deployments. Security such as role-based authentication and Solaris Auditing; resource control such as Zones, memory, and CPU capping; and much more all enhance your deployment. Put a large developer community behind it that is passionate about Java technology and Sun projects such as the GlassFish project; Mustang; and Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) 5, and you have a winning combination.

Thank you, Ben, and good luck to all the SJSU Computer Engineering graduates!

Posted at 09:21PM Dec 09, 2007 by alta in General  |  Comments[2]

Intel 4965 802.11agn, Marvell Libertas Wireless Drivers

New drivers are available on the Wireless Networking OpenSolaris community site.

1. Intel 4965 802.11agn chipsets (iwk). This driver supports WPA-PSK (both TKIP and AES). Both dladm and wificonfig are supported for configuration.

2. Marvell Libertas 8335/8310 802.11b/g chipsets (malo). This driver supports Marvell Libertas 8335/8310 chipset based Cardbus/PCI adapters, PCI ID "11ab,1faa" or "11ab,1fab".

For additional drivers that might not yet be integrated into a Solaris release, see Ethernet controller drivers and other drivers on the Device Drivers OpenSolaris community site.

Posted at 07:37PM Nov 19, 2007 by alta in Device Support  |  Comments[0]

Solaris for x86 Device Support

The Solaris for x86 Device Support page has been updated!

Now you can more easily find which Solaris release supports the devices you are using.

For example, the latest Solaris Express Developer Edition (SXDE 9/07) contains more new network drivers, including new wireless drivers. To see which devices are supported:

1. Go to the Solaris for x86 Device Support page.

2. Near the bottom of the page, click the arrow to the right of the Select Release field, and click "Solaris Express Developer Release 9/07."

3. Click the arrow to the right of the Select Device Type field, and click "Network." The list of all network devices that have drivers in SXDE 9/07 appears below the selection fields.

See the information at the top of the Solaris for x86 Device Support page to find drivers that are not yet included in a Solaris release, or for instructions to drive your device with the driver for a similar device.

Posted at 05:10PM Sep 25, 2007 by alta in Device Support  |  Comments[0]

More Wireless Drivers

The latest Solaris Express Developer Edition (SXDE 5/07) includes five new wireless drivers plus new WPA (WiFi Protected Access) personal mode support.

Wireless drivers included in SXDE 5/07 (driver download and installation not needed):

• ath - Atheros 52xx chipset
• ipw - Intel Pro/Wireless 2100 chipset New in SXDE 5/07
• iwi - Intel Pro/Wireless 2200BG/2915ABG chipsets New in SXDE 5/07
• pcan - Cisco Aironet 340/350 New in SXDE 5/07
• pcwl - Agere 11b and PrismII 11b chipsets New in SXDE 5/07
• wpi - Intel 3945 chipset New in SXDE 5/07
• wpa support for nwam, dladm, net80211, and ath New in SXDE 5/07

See the Wireless Networking site on the Laptop community site on the OpenSolaris web site for a complete list of available wireless drivers for the Solaris OS, including ral and rtw. On that page, click the name of the driver for information about how to download, install, and configure the driver.

Supported WPA/IEEE 802.11i features:

• WPA-PSK ("WPA-Personal")
• Key management for CCMP, TKIP, WEP104, WEP40
• WPA and full IEEE 802.11i/RSN/WPA2

Access the WPA wireless network by using either dladm(1M) or nwam(1M). For more information about NWAM, see the Network Auto-Magic phase 0 project site on the OpenSolaris web site.

Posted at 08:30PM Jun 12, 2007 by alta in Device Support  |  Comments[1]

Fault Management in the Solaris OS

The Solaris OS has implemented fault management for years, but now the I/O fault services interfaces are documented in the Writing Device Drivers book.

1. Go to the Solaris Express Developer Edition version of Writing Device Drivers
2. Click “Designing Device Drivers for the Solaris Platform”
3. Click “Chapter 13, Hardening Solaris Drivers”
4. Click “Sun Fault Management Architecture I/O Fault Services”

The other material in this driver hardening chapter also is very important. It was all selected for inclusion by the Sun fault management engineering team.

For more information about fault management in the Solaris OS, see the fault management community site on the OpenSolaris web site.

To ask questions or make comments, use the fm:discuss forum on the OpenSolaris site.

Posted at 03:16PM Jun 12, 2007 by alta in Fault Management  |  Comments[0]

Thank You, JavaOne Attendees

Develop on SXDE, Build and Deploy on Solaris 10

Last week I helped in the Solaris Express Developer Edition information booth at the JavaOne conference in San Francisco. Information flowed both ways. Some JavaOne attendees learned some things about the Solaris OS that they didn't know before, and I listened to your comments about the Solaris OS.

Watch this great video presentation about Solaris Express Developer Edition.

Some of you did not know:

• Solaris Express Developer Edition (SXDE) is the version after Solaris 10. Most of the features in SXDE will appear in Solaris 10 in six months or so, but SXDE delivers new features and drivers first. SXDE releases every three months, while Solaris 10 updates release approximately every six months.
• SXDE includes the latest available versions of Sun Studio and NetBeans IDE, Enterprise Pack, Visual Web Pack, and Profiler. On x86 platforms, these developer tools install automatically.
• Both Solaris 10 and SXDE come with DTrace, a superior performance tool that no one else has. The forthcoming release of Sun Studio includes a DTrace plugin to help you find the source of performance problems in your code. Also, please see the Chime visualization tool for DTrace.
• SXDE also comes with up-to-date versions of Firefox, Thunderbird, and StarOffice, and comes with GNOME enhancements.
• Both Solaris 10 and SXDE come with Zones and ZFS.
• Both Solaris 10 and SXDE get high marks from users for performance, security, and stability.
• Both Solaris 10 and SXDE can cohabitate with other operating systems on the same x86 platform.

Some comments I heard from you:

• The install experience is painful.
  We hear you and have been hard at work to fix this problem. SXDE is easier to install than Solaris 10 and gets easier with each new release. The forthcoming SXDE release will include NWAM (Network Auto-Magic) to automate your network setup. Also, please follow the Caiman project. In the meantime, see whether the install cheat sheet helps you.
• You don't have all the drivers I need.
  Every new release comes with more drivers. Please check this list. Use Sun Device Detection Tool to help you find a driver. Some of you were sympathetic with our plight to get the hardware specifications necessary to write drivers. Some of you did not know that we cannot simply look at Linux drivers for the same hardware (they are GPL).
• Too difficult for software vendors to create an intstaller for their software, and too difficult for users to install it.
  We hear your complaints about the package tools (pkgmk(1), pkgadd(1M), etc.). Creating a GUI installer that ISVs can hook into is on our to-do list.

Thank you for your feedback. Please keep those comments coming, and in the meantime, Develop on SXDE, Build and Deploy on Solaris 10.

Posted at 12:35PM May 14, 2007 by alta in General  |  Comments[1]

Need a Wireless Driver?

The Solaris OS provides the ath(7D) driver for Atheros AR52xx 802.11b/g wireless NICs. Sun has several other wireless drivers under development that you can access today.

Go to http://www.opensolaris.org/os/community/laptop/wireless/. Click the name of a driver to see what devices that driver supports and to get download, installation, and configuration information for that driver, including how to use ifconfig(1M) and wificonfig(1M) with that driver. The wificonfig utility is a command line wireless LAN configuration utility.

Driver	Devices Supported
cardbus	Nexus driver with support for 32-bit PC Cards
ipw	Intel Pro/Wireless 2100B Chipset
iwi	Intel Pro/Wireless 2200BG/2915ABG Chipsets
pcwl	Agere/Prism-II 802.11b Chipsets
pcan	Cisco Aironet 340/350 Chipsets
ral	Ralink RT2500 802.11b/g Chipset
rtw	Realtek 8180 802.11b Chipset
wpa	WPA/WPA2/IEEE802.1X supplicant

Click the name of the driver on the OpenSolaris wireless site to see a list of specific devices supported by each driver. If your device is not listed, but a similar device is listed, try to use the driver for the similar device. See the instructions in “Assigning a New Device to an Existing Driver in the Solaris OS” for adding device support in the /etc/driver_aliases file.

Before you install one of these drivers, make sure you are running either Solaris 10 or Solaris Express. See additional requirements, notes, and FAQs when you click the name of the driver on the OpenSolaris wireless site.

Use the inetmenu graphical network configuration tool to “easily manage your wired, wireless, and dial-up network configurations.” The inetmenu tool is a GUI network configurator tool that plumbs and sets the right route and DNS and works with NIS.

See also the Network Auto-Magic OpenSolaris site. NWAM is “a project to simplify and automate network configuration on Solaris.”

Use the frkit tool to keep up-to-date with these drivers and to get additional goodies such as a battery meter for some laptops.

When the above drivers are integrated into the Solaris OS, of course you will not need to download, install, and configure them. So watch for release announcements and watch the Solaris for x86 Device Support page for new wireless support.

Posted at 03:23PM Mar 22, 2007 by alta in Device Support  |  Comments[6]

Does the Solaris OS run on your x86 system?

Does the Solaris OS support your x86 PCI devices? Your answer may be only a click away with the new Sun Device Detection Tool.

Nothing to install - just click and run.

Sun Device Detection Tool detects devices in your x86 system and then displays a report that shows the major PCI components in the system and whether Solaris drivers exist for these devices. The report tells you whether the driver is built in to the Solaris OS or whether a third-party driver is available.

Posted at 06:51AM Oct 26, 2006 by alta in Device Support  |  Comments[1]

Solaris for x86 PCI Device Support

The Solaris for x86 PCI Device Support table is a new resource on the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) web site.

This table lists PCI devices that are supported in the Solaris 6/06 OS for x86 platforms. Also included are links to other Sun and third-party driver resources and a section on how to assign a new device to an existing driver.

Posted at 07:18AM Sep 21, 2006 by alta in Device Support  |  Comments[0]

6K' and 11 miles is only halfway

6K' and 11 miles and you're only halfway - now you have to get back down!:)

"What is life? Life is a test." - Black Uhuru

http://altawhitney.shutterfly.com/

I met so many wonderful people on this trip.

The camp host at Tuolumne Meadows who told me to go 30 minutes to Lee Vining to get a shower instead of 90 minutes to the valley floor.


Jeanette, the camp host at Whitney Portal, who switched me to a better campsite and told me not to worry about the bear in it - just shoo him off.

My camp neighbor, Adolf, who hikes all the time at his home in the San Bernardino mountains, who has summited Whitney five times since having his hip replacement, and who advised me to get different boots "next time"(!) I do this.

Adelle(?), the woman who operates the Whitney Portal store, who is full of stories and advice from many, many hikers.


The Marine who urged me to the top while I urged him to the top.

Mary and Ed, who stuck by me almost the whole way, even though they could have hiked faster.


Clement and Tes, who summited early, came back down the trail at least twice to check on the rest of us, and waited at the top so that we could have a group photo.

Catherine, who got us into this - Hey, who wants to hike Whitney?

And Dana, who always stayed behind the last person in our group.

Thanks a lot, everyone. It was a great trip.

Posted at 01:04AM Sep 12, 2006 by alta in Personal  |  Comments[1]

Easier Hardware Certification

HCTS 3.0 has replaced HCTS 2.4.1. Many new features make certifying your hardware easier than ever.

• More automated setup. Network setup is mostly automated in HCTS 3.0, and therefore Test Manager system setup and System Under Test setup are mostly automated in HCTS 3.0. Be sure to follow the instructions in the HCTS 3.0 Getting Started Guide and the hctscli(1M) man page to set up your network and your test systems. Do not use instructions from previous HCTS releases.

• More automated testing. Most tests can be run with little or no input from you. HCTS probes the hardware to be tested and checks the test environment. HCTS does most of the hardware configuration and environment setup.

• No Level 1 and Level 2 testing. HCTS 3.0 automatically probes the hardware to be certified and runs the appropriate test cases for server or desktop certification.

• New command line interface. You can choose to run HCTS testing from the new GUI or by invoking the new hctscli(1M) command at the command line.

• New option to set up a Test Manager system as a Solaris install server. Test systems that meet specified criteria can automatically install the Solaris OS and HCTS from the Test Manager system and then automatically begin system certification.

• Certification of headless systems is supported.

• Certification of multiple network cards in one system is supported.

In addition to improving HCTS, the submission process also is simplified. The test results file from HCTS now includes the required prtconf information, so you no longer need to send that separately. Note: If you use HCTS 2.4.1 to certify, then you must send the prtconf data separately, even though the submission process no longer asks you for it. You should stop using HCTS 2.4.1 as soon as possible and use HCTS 3.0 instead. HCTS 3.0 is a free download and is a big improvement over HCTS 2.4.1.

And the HCL listings themselves have improved. See the changes for yourself.

Posted at 12:30AM Aug 09, 2006 by alta in HCTS  |  Comments[0]

More Examples!

Recently my documentation group received a presentation of Voice Of the Customer data. The most resounding request by far is for more examples. Interestingly, we also received high marks for the examples in our documentation, so I guess we do a good job of providing examples but users always want more.

I would love to provide you with more examples. It would be my greatest joy next to hiking Mission Peak at night with Dog. I work with Solaris developer docs (Writing Device Drivers, Device Driver Tutorial) but I am not a kernel programmer myself. I cannot just pull examples out of my hat. Engineering is busy. To get engineering assistance, I need to make specific requests.

To help me help you, please tell me what kinds of examples you would like to see. If you are a Solaris developer, perhaps you can even provide an example. Don't be shy.

OpenSolaris is a humongous example in a way, but locating exactly what you need to know by combing through the code can be challenging. Save yourself the blisters. Tell me exactly what you want, and I will do my best (which is not too bad) to get that information and publish it.

One of our OpenSolaris developers recently requested particular kstats examples, and now one of our engineers (thank you, Alan) is working with me to provide that.

If I get some responses, I will provide a wiki site for anyone to add to the Solaris developer examples wish list.

Posted at 11:55PM Jun 13, 2006 by alta in Documentation  |  Comments[1]

Help Improve Solaris Documentation

I can think of four ways that you can comment on Solaris Developer Documentation. If you can think of others, please let me know.

We strive to provide you with all the information you need, and we very much appreciate your input and feedback.

• Use the Send comments button at the bottom of any document on docs.sun.com. Notice that the dot latest versions of the Solaris documentation are available when you select "All Solaris versions" and then select "Software Express for Solaris".

• File a change request using the OpenSolaris bug database interface. For documentation requests, select Category "doc". In a day or two, you should be able to find your request when you search the database. Then you can monitor the progress of your request easily by searching for the bug ID number.

• Post or reply to a post on an OpenSolaris discussion.

• Post or reply to a post on a Sun forum.

Posted at 06:29AM Feb 03, 2006 by alta in Documentation  |  Comments[0]