- Clean out ancient hardware issues

- Update Sparc specific information; many thanks to Jurij Smakov for his review of the Sparc manual

4 files changed, 27 insertions, 102 deletions

diff --git a/en/boot-installer/sparc.xml b/en/boot-installer/sparc.xml
index 22295dac4..5ab4ea5d8 100644
--- a/en/boot-installer/sparc.xml
+++ b/en/boot-installer/sparc.xml
@@ -13,9 +13,7 @@ machine which is being installed (see
 Use the command <userinput>boot net</userinput> to boot from a TFTP
 and RARP server, or try <userinput>boot net:bootp</userinput> or
 <userinput>boot net:dhcp</userinput> to boot from a TFTP and BOOTP
-or DHCP server. Some older OpenBoot revisions require using
-the device name, such as <userinput>boot le()</userinput>; these
-probably don't support BOOTP nor DHCP.
+or DHCP server.
 
 </para>
   </sect2>
@@ -29,10 +27,7 @@ probably don't support BOOTP nor DHCP.
 
 Most OpenBoot versions support the <userinput>boot cdrom</userinput>
 command which is simply an alias to boot from the SCSI device on ID 6
-(or the secondary master for IDE based systems). You may have to use
-the actual device name for older OpenBoot versions that don't support
-this special command. Note that some problems have been reported on Sun4m
-(e.g., Sparc 10s and Sparc 20s) systems booting from CD-ROM.
+(or the secondary master for IDE based systems).
 
 </para>
   </sect2>
@@ -42,6 +37,15 @@ this special command. Note that some problems have been reported on Sun4m
   <title>Booting from Floppies</title>
 <para>
 
+Floppy images are currently only avaible for sparc32, but, for techinical
+reasons, not for official releases. (The reason is that they can only be
+built as root, which is not supported by our build deamons.)
+Look under <quote>daily built images</quote> on
+<ulink url="&url-d-i;">Debian Installer project website</ulink> for links
+to floppy images for sparc32.
+
+</para><para>
+
 To boot from floppy on a Sparc, use
 
 <informalexample><screen>
@@ -51,8 +55,6 @@ Stop-A -&gt; OpenBoot: "boot floppy"
 Be warned that the newer Sun4u (ultra) architecture does not support
 floppy booting. A typical error message is <computeroutput>Bad magic
 number in disk label - Can't open disk label package</computeroutput>.
-Furthermore, a number of Sun4c models (such as the IPX) do not support
-the compressed images found on the disks, so also are not supported.
 
 </para><para>
 
diff --git a/en/hardware/supported-peripherals.xml b/en/hardware/supported-peripherals.xml
index edb8f69d3..88681b3c0 100644
--- a/en/hardware/supported-peripherals.xml
+++ b/en/hardware/supported-peripherals.xml
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ devices are not required while installing the system.
 
 USB hardware generally works fine, only some
 USB keyboards may require additional configuration
-(see <xref linkend="usb-keyboard-config"/>).
+(see <xref linkend="hardware-issues"/>).
 
 </para><para arch="x86">
 
diff --git a/en/install-methods/install-tftp.xml b/en/install-methods/install-tftp.xml
index 6376874e4..5cd1606d3 100644
--- a/en/install-methods/install-tftp.xml
+++ b/en/install-methods/install-tftp.xml
@@ -296,6 +296,13 @@ uppercase and if necessary append the subarchitecture name.
 
 </para><para>
 
+If you've done all this correctly, giving the command <userinput>boot
+net</userinput> from the OpenPROM should load the image. If the image
+cannot be found, try checking the logs on your tftp server to see which
+image name is being requested.
+
+</para><para>
+
 You can also force some sparc systems to look for a specific file name
 by adding it to the end of the OpenPROM boot command, such as
 <userinput>boot net my-sparc.image</userinput>. This must still reside
diff --git a/en/preparing/pre-install-bios-setup.xml b/en/preparing/pre-install-bios-setup.xml
index 025220a96..2e80da6b1 100644
--- a/en/preparing/pre-install-bios-setup.xml
+++ b/en/preparing/pre-install-bios-setup.xml
@@ -21,28 +21,10 @@ hardware; it is most critically invoked during the bootstrap process
 &bios-setup-sparc.xml;
 &bios-setup-s390.xml;
 
-  <sect2><title>Hardware Issues to Watch Out For</title>
-<para arch="not-s390">
+  <sect2 arch="m68k;x86;powerpc" id="hardware-issues">
+  <title>Hardware Issues to Watch Out For</title>
 
-Many people have tried operating their 90 MHz CPU at 100 MHz, etc.  It
-sometimes works, but is sensitive to temperature and other factors and
-can actually damage your system. One of the authors of this document
-over-clocked his own system for a year, and then the system started
-aborting the <command>gcc</command> program with an unexpected signal
-while it was compiling the operating system kernel. Turning the CPU
-speed back down to its rated value solved the problem.
-
-</para><para arch="not-s390">
-
-The <command>gcc</command> compiler is often the first thing to die
-from bad memory modules (or other hardware problems that change data
-unpredictably) because it builds huge data structures that it
-traverses repeatedly.  An error in these data structures will cause it
-to execute an illegal instruction or access a non-existent
-address. The symptom of this will be <command>gcc</command> dying from
-an unexpected signal.
-
-</para><para arch="m68k">
+<para arch="m68k">
 
 Atari TT RAM boards are notorious for RAM problems under Linux; if you
 encounter any strange problems, try running at least the kernel in
@@ -54,66 +36,9 @@ FIXME: more description of this needed.
 
 </emphasis></phrase>
 
-</para><para arch="x86">
-
-If you do have true-parity RAM and your motherboard can handle it, be
-sure to enable any BIOS settings that cause the motherboard to
-interrupt on memory parity errors.
-
-</para>
-
-   <sect3 arch="x86"><title>The Turbo Switch</title>
-<para>
-
-Many systems have a <emphasis>turbo</emphasis> switch that controls
-the speed of the CPU.  Select the high-speed setting. If your BIOS
-allows you to disable software control of the turbo switch (or
-software control of CPU speed), do so and lock the system in
-high-speed mode. We have one report that on a particular system, while
-Linux is auto-probing (looking for hardware devices) it can
-accidentally touch the software control for the turbo switch.
-
 </para>
-   </sect3>
-
-   <sect3 arch="x86"><title>Cyrix CPUs and Floppy Disk Errors</title>
-<para>
 
-Many users of Cyrix CPUs have had to disable the cache in their
-systems during installation, because the floppy disk has errors if
-they do not.  If you have to do this, be sure to re-enable your cache
-when you are finished with installation, as the system runs
-<emphasis>much</emphasis> slower with the cache disabled.
-
-</para><para>
-
-We don't think this is necessarily the fault of the Cyrix CPU. It may
-be something that Linux can work around. We'll continue to look into
-the problem.  For the technically curious, we suspect a problem with
-the cache being invalid after a switch from 16-bit to 32-bit code.
-
-</para>
-   </sect3>
-
-   <sect3 arch="x86"><title>Peripheral Hardware Settings</title>
-<para>
-
-You may have to change some settings or jumpers on your computer's
-peripheral cards.  Some cards have setup menus, while others rely on
-jumpers.  This document cannot hope to provide complete information on
-every hardware device; what it hopes to provide is useful tips.
-
-</para><para>
-
-If any cards provide <quote>mapped memory</quote>, the memory should be
-mapped somewhere between 0xA0000 and 0xFFFFF (from 640K to just below 1
-megabyte) or at an address at least 1 megabyte greater than the total
-amount of RAM in your system.
-
-</para>
-   </sect3>
-
-   <sect3 arch="x86" id="usb-keyboard-config">
+   <formalpara arch="x86">
    <title>USB BIOS support and keyboards</title>
 <para>
 
@@ -126,21 +51,12 @@ Consult your main board manual and look in the BIOS for <quote>Legacy
 keyboard emulation</quote> or <quote>USB keyboard support</quote> options.
 
 </para>
-   </sect3>
+   </formalpara>
 
-   <sect3><title>More than 64 MB RAM</title>
-<para>
-
-The Linux Kernel cannot always detect what amount of RAM you have.  If
-this is the case please look at <xref linkend="boot-parms"/>.
-
-</para>
-   </sect3>
-
-   <sect3 arch="powerpc">
+   <formalpara arch="powerpc">
    <title>Display-visibility on OldWorld Powermacs</title>
-<para>
 
+<para>
 Some OldWorld Powermacs, most notably those with the <quote>control</quote>
 display driver, may not reliably produce a colormap under Linux when the
 display is configured for more than 256 colors. If you are experiencing such
@@ -151,6 +67,6 @@ interface, try changing your display settings under MacOS to use 256
 colors instead of <quote>thousands</quote> or <quote>millions</quote>.
 
 </para>
-   </sect3>
+   </formalpara>
   </sect2>
  </sect1>