NetWinder information resources
Last updated Dec 31, 2003

This page is maintained by Ralph Siemsen and provides information on NetWinder kernels, firmware, disk images and related matters.

Firmware

The NetWinder has 1 MB of flash memory which contains bootstrap code as well as a stripped-down Linux kernel (the "minikernel"). A real kernel can then be loaded from disk or via the network, and the full boot follows. It is also possible to put a small ramdisk in the flash memory.

• News: we've been forced to remove all firmware from the netwinder.org site, because we are unable to comply with the GPL requirement of providing source code. We'd like to, but until the Copyright holder grants us the necessary permission, we are in a holding pattern.
• Stable versions of the firmware can be found in the pub/netwinder/firmware directory.
• For StrongARM the recommended version of firmware is nettrom-2.3-3.
• Installation and usage are described in the Firmware-HOWTO.
• Firmware/kernel compatibility guide and revision history
• Always update the firmware first when upgrading an old machine.

Kernels

The 2.2 and 2.4 linux kernel series are know to work well on NetWinder. The 2.6 series is still "experimental" at this time. In the past, our kernels were named 2.x.y-YYYYMMDD (in other words, we used date stamp). Since th 2.4 era we use RPM packages with a "release" number that goes up by one as necessary, etc. 2.4.19-8 is the eigth release of 2.4.19 kernel. To determine the kernel version on a NetWinder, use the uname -a command (or, equivalently, cat /proc/version also works).

• Official kernels are available in pub/netwinder/kernel. Be sure to read the README file in that directory.
• Development versions can be found in users/r/ralphs/kernel.
• The latest official kernel is version 2.4.19-rmk7-nw3 (package name is 2.4.19-8), and contains fixes for both the ptrace and do_brk exploits.
• Please see the Kernel-HOWTO for information on building and installing the kernel.

Disk Images

NetWinders currently ship with a RedHat linux system preinstalled, and possibily other things added (such as KDE, WordPerfect, etc). There are separate disk images for each of the NetWinder models, though they are all based on a common master (the DM model). Disk images can be identified by looking at the /etc/redhat-release file and noting the model and build number. The contents of this file are also displayed at the login prompt.

• Disk images can be obtained in the pub/netwinder/images directory.
• We support rsync for downloading the images. Please see http://samba.anu.edu.au/rsync/ for details.
• Details on the various disk images is available on the disk images page.
• The Disk-Update-HOWTO provides suggestions on how to get a new image onto your system. It covers network-booting in various forms, and is aimed at the more advanced users.
• The Rescue-HOWTO is a covers the use of the OfficeServer rescue system. This is the simple, straightforward method of re-imaging a system back to its factory condition using the built-in recovery software. All units shiped since Jan 2000 have this software.

Miscellaneous

Here are some other tidbits of documentation that I have assembled that might be of interest to NetWinder owners:

• How to use parallel port devices (such as ZIP drives, Imation LS-120, parallel CD drives, and printers) on the NetWinder.
• Problems with the floating point emulator, and why you should care.
• There are notes for people who are upgrading to an ELF kernel for the first time.

Links to other resources

These links point off to information resources that are maintained by other people, and contain additional helpful information about NetWinder hardware and software.

• The NetWinder FAQ, maintained by Eric LaForest and Jim Tittsler, is probably the best collection of NetWinder information around.