There are a couple of ways to do this: 1) if you have a Windoze machine: a. get a *.fs from OpenBSD b. get physdiskwrite from m0n0wall c. plug CF-USB adapter into PC, write *.fs using physdiskwrite
2) you can also do this from Linux. I use a USB-CF device and dd... I don't recall off top of my head whether I used a *.fs or *.rd. If you're still stuck, email me & I'll dig up the details. Jay On Wed, Dec 14, 2005 at 10:44:05PM -0500, the unit calling itself Nick Holland wrote: > kyle wrote: > > Hi all, > > > > Im running into a (silly) problem where I am seem not to be writing the boot > > install images properly to a compact flash card. Ive been trying > > cdrom38.fsand > > floppy38.fs. I write the image under linux to the compact flash(seen as hde > > device) as so: > > > > cat floppy38.fs > /dev/hde > > > > or: > > > > dd if=floppy38.fs of=/dev/hde bs=512 > > > > But, whenever I boot off of the compactflash I get the: > > > > "ERR R" error when it tries to load. > > yep. > > > I read up that that message is due to disk geometry not seen properly by the > > BIOS..But, not sure how to work around it. > > uh..you are trying to treat a floppy disk image like a hard disk. Bad > plan. :) > > > If I boot a linux boot image on the flash, it works w/o issue(example > > bootnet.img from older redhat distros). > > "this isn't Linux" :) > "bootnet.img" doesn't sound like a floppy image, anyway. (ok, a bit of > googling seems to indicate that it is.) > > > Now, this is pretty much my only install option(via compactflash). PXE > > timesout(the arp timeout issue, on older intel eepro), and I dont have any > > ide ports(this machine is a nokia ip650 and no onboard eide, it's all > > compactpci). It does have a floppy controller, but I of course dont have the > > correct floppy drive for it..heh. So, compactflash is my only option(or, if > > someone can recommend a way to bootstrap via a linux install on the box). > > There are several things you could do. Dumping a floppy image to a > hard-disk-like device is not one of them. > > 1: Get a CF -> IDE adapter, plug it into another computer, install > OpenBSD on that system to the flash device, move to the ip650. Reconfigure. > > 2: mount the CF on another OpenBSD machine (anyway you can -- IDE->CF > adapter, USB adapter, PCMCIA adapter, whatever). fdisk the CF, do a > "reinit" from within fdisk to make sure it has a valid MBR. Disklabel > it, create a small "a" partition. newfs the "a" partition, copy over > bsd.rd and boot to the "a" partition (maybe rename bsd.rd to bsd at this > point). Do an installboot. Move CF to target machine, if you did > everything right, it should boot, if you didn't rename "bsd.rd" to > "bsd", you will need to manually do a "boot bsd.rd" when the boot> > prompt comes up, install. For extra credit, do this from the boot > media, without actually having OpenBSD installed on the machine you are > doing the config on -- should be possible. > > > I'd suggest option #1, esp. if you needed more advice than "create a > bootable disk on another machine", or wish I had provided more detail. > However, you would need a IDE to CF adapter, and they aren't the easiest > thing to buy at the corner electronics store, and you may be miffed by > the lack of utility after this one use. > > Option #2 is only for those willing to re-try things a few times until > they get it right -- I doubt I'd do all the steps right the first > time...but then, there is a reason I'm not into sky-diving. :) > > > Anyway, can someone give me a pointer on what I am doing incorrectly? I > > definitely would love to get openbsd on these boxes and not linux(I have a > > couple w/ linux on them already, but I only installed linux on them since > > Ive been running into this problem w/ openbsd). > > It is certainly doable. I've installed OpenBSD to a number of machines > without floppy or CDROMs It does take a little help from another > machine, however. > > Nick.
