28-Mar-2024 14:30 GMT.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
[News] OpenBSD end pegasos support, (Dale's Story)ANN.lu
Posted on 26-Mar-2004 06:10 GMT by Dale Rahn125 comments
View flat
View list
OpenBSD/pegasos gone. From what originally sounded like promising Open Source support, the relationship between Genesi and Dale Rahn has turned quite sour. OpenBSD/pegasos gone.

From what originally sounded like promising Open Source support, the relationship between Genesi and Dale Rahn has turned quite sour.

I was initially contacted in Oct 2002 regarding porting OpenBSD to the Pegasos I system. After some months, they contracted me to port and support OpenBSD on the Pegasos I for a small amount of money and 5 boards for the use of myself and other OpenBSD developers. Due to the production/hardware problems in the Pegasos I boards, I ended up receiving one board. After the port was up and running with snapshots and source changes available, it became clear that those systems were not to ship in quantity, and the effort was stopped.

I was then contacted early in October 2003 asking me to update the port for the 3.4 release. Because the funding for the DARPA Grant which had been paying me was running out, I updated the code, made several improvements and had it ready for a simultaneous release with the official OpenBSD release.

I was hired on Oct 27 2003 as a non-benefits employee. Genesi wanted me to port and support OpenBSD on the Pegasos II system. When I was hired, I tried to impress on Bill Buck (who hired me over the phone) that documentation was required to write the software and support a commercial offering based on the Pegasos boards. I was reassured that documentation would not be a problem.

Genesi was in talks with ShopIP regarding shipping Pegasos based firewall boxes running ShopIP's crunchbox software. They were chasing the high revenue opportunity. Because of my status in OpenBSD and the fact that Genesi was (to be) paying me a salary I worked on finishing the Pegasos port and getting it into the OpenBSD tree.

Things appeared to be going well, however a minor delay was announced with our Dec 1 paychecks. They were to be delayed until about Dec 10 due to 'stock market issues'. I was flown out to New York City to help with the presentation of the 'Guardian', the Pegasos Crunchbox at the InfoSec conference. When at the conference some unusual negotiation was occurring between ShopIP and Genesi, there were some questions raised as to who the 'IP' of ShopIP belonged as apparently the developer had not been paid for nearly 2 years. This apparently came out about the time that Genesi and ShopIP were negotiating how the guardian was to be configured and the proceeds distributed.

As the conference ended, the delayed payday arrived. Several of the other 'employees' of Genesi were quite anxious to receive their checks and a plan was made to FedEx the checks from the conference. Since I was at the conference with Paul, I was written a check (for Oct and Nov) and handed it.

Later I find out that the other checks which were to be FedEx'ed were never sent. The check which I was handed (for $10,000) turned out to be dated 12/11/01 (two years previous), the bank refused to honor the check and did not even attempt to cash it. (Much later I find out that the account did not have the money present, even if the check had gone thru the bank).

After living thru a very uncomfortable Christmas, my smallest and most miserable in my life because I had not seen any money from Genesi, I finally blew up shortly after the new year and told them I was ready to walk. Part of me was still hoping to get the 15,000 they owed me at that point, or I would have walked then. This resulted in them paying me for one month of work ('we have no money left') to keep me around.

The Pegasos II which had just shipped and was still sitting unopened on the floor might have also influenced that money. So, I was mollified and the OpenBSD port was started. Unfortunately, because of non-standard PCI probing methods in the new northbridge, porting the software took longer than expected.

After some workarounds from hints from thrice forwarded emails, I was able to configure the system and get it running. It would have been quite straightforward to have written this properly if they had provided the documentation as they had planned. I pointed this out and stated that to write the gigabit ethernet which was to be used in the Guardian product, it would need that documentation otherwise a performant correct driver could not be written. bPlan and the Linux developer Sven (who by that time was unemployed due to Thendic-France closing) had the documentation. I, however, as a Genesi employee was not allowed to obtain the documentation.

Finally, (to shut me up I think), I was sent the linux driver for the onboard gigabit. I had previously told them that having a linux driver as reference would be nice but could not replace documentation, as most linux drivers do not lend themselves to being comprehended in such a way that the hardware is understandable and that a driver for OpenBSD could be written. That and the fact I found they were not configuring the gig-E interrupt correctly, but were tying it to the generic IRQ9 so that it gets serviced occasionally, was quite amusing.

I continued attempting to improve the port for some time, meanwhile working on OpenBSD/cats, however little progress was made on Pegasos.

It was announced that a new Pegasos II board run would occur and hints appeared on the developer chat areas that new firmware enhancements were to appear. Wanting OpenBSD to be able to support the new features (reset!) of this firmware, I attempted to obtain a copy. After about a week of begging on the chat sessions, I was able to locate someone who had a copy of the early firmware and obtain a copy. The normal source, the developer and the other bPlan representatives ignored all requests.

When I tested this new firmware on my machine, I panicked. OpenBSD would not boot. It would load the kernel and hang. I IMMEDIATELY contacted the Genesi and bPlan people claiming that this firmware had problems and that these problems needed to be resolved before the hardware was released. I offered my time to help locate the change which caused the problem, whether it was an error in the new firmware or modified assumptions that both the firmware and the OpenBSD kernel make. I received exactly one response stating some things had changed, however the reply was not specific enough to use to start debugging the issue. All other attempts at contact were ignored. About 1.5 weeks later the new boards were released and according to information by one of the users, released with firmware made the day I contacted them (which was newer that what I tested). No further communication was received after _many_ attempts were made.

After over a week of this, the announcement that (again?) there would be no payments made (was the end of the month again) and that the health benefits which they had been promising for the last 3 months would be delayed at least another month, I resigned (the date, March 1st). It was quite clear that Bill Buck who was supposed to be CEO of Genesi and 'in charge' had no power over bPlan. bPlan didn't care at all about OpenBSD or the overall quality of the board in the embedded market. I received a simple reply that was an acceptance of my resignation, and a statement that "We will make every effort to pay you for the services you have provided over the past several months".

At the point I left Genesi, I did not threaten or put any conditions on OpenBSD/pegasos. I continued asking Genesi/bPlan for fixed firmware or comments on what changed. No response ever came.

Finally I sent them a note stating that it was too late for any changes to go into the OpenBSD release (which is at the end of the 3.5 release cycle) and that we would not be able to release OpenBSD/pegasos based on the support provided and that it would be removed from the tree after 3.5. This finally provoked a response: Since "you were not able to work on Genesi related projects after February 4th" any "consulting fees" would not paid past that date. In addition, I was to be billed for the two boards which were sent to Theo de Raadt.

This is how I was treated in the employ of Genesi, I hope that no others will be hurt by this company's empty promises or as a result of using their shoddy products.

So here I am after having worked for Genesi for 4.5 months, paid for almost _5_weeks_, and searching for a job. Sigh.

List of all comments to this article
Sorted by date, most recent at bottom
Comment 1gary_c26-Mar-2004 05:27 GMT
Comment 2red troll26-Mar-2004 06:12 GMT
Comment 3SenexRegistered user26-Mar-2004 06:13 GMT
Comment 4gary_c26-Mar-2004 06:22 GMT
Comment 5Mr. Anonymous26-Mar-2004 06:35 GMT
Comment 6Atheist226-Mar-2004 06:37 GMT
Comment 7JKD26-Mar-2004 06:39 GMT
Comment 8Leo26-Mar-2004 06:52 GMT
Comment 9SenexRegistered user26-Mar-2004 06:58 GMT
Comment 10Anonymous26-Mar-2004 07:05 GMT
Comment 11oGALAXYo26-Mar-2004 07:12 GMT
Comment 12Eva26-Mar-2004 07:16 GMT
Comment 13Eva26-Mar-2004 07:20 GMT
Comment 14takemehomegrandmaRegistered user26-Mar-2004 07:23 GMT
Comment 15Anonymous26-Mar-2004 07:24 GMT
Comment 16takemehomegrandmaRegistered user26-Mar-2004 07:25 GMT
Comment 17Anonymous26-Mar-2004 07:27 GMT
Comment 18takemehomegrandmaRegistered user26-Mar-2004 07:33 GMT
Comment 19Emeric SH26-Mar-2004 07:36 GMT
Comment 20Anonymous26-Mar-2004 07:40 GMT
Comment 21Jope26-Mar-2004 07:41 GMT
Comment 22takemehomegrandmaRegistered user26-Mar-2004 07:43 GMT
Comment 23JoannaK26-Mar-2004 07:48 GMT
Comment 24Anonymous26-Mar-2004 07:48 GMT
Comment 25Anonymous26-Mar-2004 07:49 GMT
Comment 26takemehomegrandmaRegistered user26-Mar-2004 07:50 GMT
Comment 27Eva26-Mar-2004 07:51 GMT
Comment 28Abuse26-Mar-2004 07:54 GMT
Comment 29Ronald26-Mar-2004 07:54 GMT
Comment 30takemehomegrandmaRegistered user26-Mar-2004 07:55 GMT
Comment 31Eva26-Mar-2004 07:55 GMT
Comment 32tarbos26-Mar-2004 07:59 GMT
Comment 33IanSRegistered user26-Mar-2004 08:02 GMT
Comment 34Anonymous26-Mar-2004 08:03 GMT
Comment 35SenexRegistered user26-Mar-2004 08:06 GMT
Comment 36takemehomegrandmaRegistered user26-Mar-2004 08:14 GMT
Comment 37SenexRegistered user26-Mar-2004 08:19 GMT
Comment 38takemehomegrandmaRegistered user26-Mar-2004 08:23 GMT
Comment 39Mikey C26-Mar-2004 08:25 GMT
Comment 40Elwood26-Mar-2004 08:28 GMT
Comment 41Amon_ReRegistered user26-Mar-2004 08:32 GMT
Comment 42Amon_ReRegistered user26-Mar-2004 08:33 GMT
Comment 43Amon_ReRegistered user26-Mar-2004 08:34 GMT
Comment 44Anonymous26-Mar-2004 08:35 GMT
Comment 45Amon_ReRegistered user26-Mar-2004 08:35 GMT
Comment 46Amon_ReRegistered user26-Mar-2004 08:39 GMT
Comment 47bluvi26-Mar-2004 08:40 GMT
Comment 48takemehomegrandmaRegistered user26-Mar-2004 08:42 GMT
Comment 49Amon_ReRegistered user26-Mar-2004 08:42 GMT
Comment 50Amon_ReRegistered user26-Mar-2004 08:43 GMT
Comment 51Fabio AlemagnaRegistered user26-Mar-2004 08:46 GMT
Comment 52takemehomegrandmaRegistered user26-Mar-2004 08:48 GMT
Comment 53Anonymous26-Mar-2004 08:55 GMT
Comment 54SenexRegistered user26-Mar-2004 08:57 GMT
Comment 55JoannaK26-Mar-2004 09:00 GMT
Comment 56Christian KempRegistered user26-Mar-2004 09:04 GMT
Comment 57Amiga is dead26-Mar-2004 09:29 GMT
Comment 58Amon_ReRegistered user26-Mar-2004 09:35 GMT
Comment 59itix26-Mar-2004 09:48 GMT
Comment 60ujb26-Mar-2004 09:57 GMT
Comment 61Bill Hoggett26-Mar-2004 10:03 GMT
Comment 62Rassilon26-Mar-2004 10:16 GMT
Comment 63Anonymous26-Mar-2004 10:41 GMT
Comment 64Anonymous26-Mar-2004 10:41 GMT
Comment 65itix26-Mar-2004 10:44 GMT
Comment 66Johan Rönnblom26-Mar-2004 10:47 GMT
Comment 67Anonymous26-Mar-2004 10:47 GMT
Comment 68Amon_ReRegistered user26-Mar-2004 10:51 GMT
Comment 69ujb26-Mar-2004 11:10 GMT
Comment 70-D-26-Mar-2004 11:23 GMT
Comment 71ikirRegistered user26-Mar-2004 11:24 GMT
Comment 72redrumloa26-Mar-2004 11:59 GMT
Comment 73Eva26-Mar-2004 12:03 GMT
Comment 74cecilia26-Mar-2004 12:15 GMT
Comment 75SlimJimRegistered user26-Mar-2004 12:26 GMT
Comment 76Anonymous26-Mar-2004 12:31 GMT
Comment 77Damien McKenna26-Mar-2004 12:42 GMT
Comment 78hooligan/dcsRegistered user26-Mar-2004 13:18 GMT
Comment 79porneL26-Mar-2004 14:38 GMT
Comment 80Bill Hoggett26-Mar-2004 14:47 GMT
Comment 81Bill Hoggett26-Mar-2004 14:54 GMT
Comment 82Darth_XRegistered user26-Mar-2004 15:35 GMT
Comment 83hooligan/dcsRegistered user26-Mar-2004 16:10 GMT
Comment 84Been There, Done That26-Mar-2004 16:24 GMT
Comment 85Darth_XRegistered user26-Mar-2004 17:02 GMT
Comment 86Interesting26-Mar-2004 18:40 GMT
Comment 87Interesting26-Mar-2004 18:45 GMT
Comment 88amighista26-Mar-2004 18:47 GMT
Comment 89Interesting26-Mar-2004 18:57 GMT
Comment 90Interesting26-Mar-2004 19:03 GMT
Comment 91Been There, Done That26-Mar-2004 19:04 GMT
Comment 92Interesting26-Mar-2004 19:10 GMT
Comment 93Interesting26-Mar-2004 19:21 GMT
Comment 94Graham_nli26-Mar-2004 20:57 GMT
Comment 95corpse26-Mar-2004 21:38 GMT
Comment 96Mikey_C26-Mar-2004 23:13 GMT
Comment 97-D-26-Mar-2004 23:44 GMT
Comment 98Wayne Dresing, PhD.26-Mar-2004 23:55 GMT
Comment 99Wayne Dresing, PhD.27-Mar-2004 00:15 GMT
Comment 100itix27-Mar-2004 01:14 GMT
Comment 101Wayne Dresing, PhD.27-Mar-2004 01:16 GMT
Comment 102itix27-Mar-2004 01:29 GMT
OpenBSD end pegasos support, (Dale's Story) : Comment 103 of 125ANN.lu
Posted by Wayne Dresing, PhD. on 27-Mar-2004 01:31 GMT


Everyone Note this:

1.) Garry Hare does NOT plan to pay former AmigaInc employee's.

2.) Garry Hare does NOT plan to honor coupons or t-shirt offer from AmigaInc.

3.) Garry Hare is a Liar! Prove me wrong!

4.) Ben Hermans is the BRAIN behind all this. Time to bring him into the spotlight!

Jump...
#104 Bill Hoggett #115 hammer #117 Graham_nli #122 Been There, Done That
TopPrevious commentNext commentbottom
List of all comments to this article (continued)
Comment 104Bill Hoggett27-Mar-2004 01:35 GMT
Comment 105Wayne Dresing, PhD.27-Mar-2004 01:37 GMT
Comment 106itix27-Mar-2004 01:53 GMT
Comment 107Daniel Miller27-Mar-2004 02:02 GMT
Comment 108Daniel Miller27-Mar-2004 02:15 GMT
Comment 109cecilia27-Mar-2004 03:33 GMT
Comment 110Don CoxRegistered user27-Mar-2004 07:11 GMT
Comment 111Jope27-Mar-2004 07:35 GMT
Comment 112Jope27-Mar-2004 07:37 GMT
Comment 113Jope27-Mar-2004 07:40 GMT
Comment 114Amon_ReRegistered user27-Mar-2004 09:28 GMT
Comment 115hammer27-Mar-2004 09:34 GMT
Comment 116hammer27-Mar-2004 09:45 GMT
Comment 117Graham_nli27-Mar-2004 10:02 GMT
Comment 118SenexRegistered user27-Mar-2004 10:12 GMT
Comment 119Daniel Miller27-Mar-2004 11:11 GMT
Comment 120Rob27-Mar-2004 11:30 GMT
Comment 121Been There, Done That27-Mar-2004 12:28 GMT
Comment 122Been There, Done That27-Mar-2004 12:32 GMT
Comment 123Joe27-Mar-2004 15:21 GMT
Comment 124priest27-Mar-2004 16:56 GMT
Comment 125-D-27-Mar-2004 22:05 GMT
Back to Top