Re: 2.1_r0 install experience
On 10 Mar 1999, Mark W. Eichin wrote: >> Hmmm. If that's correct then it's a bug - the comment should say to run >> _dselect_ with the last binary CD in the drive, not to boot that way... > >Indeed, I misremembered. The comment was really from README.multicd, >and it very clearly says *after* you've done the install, etc. Sorry >about that... _Mark_ OK, thanks. You had me very worried for a minute then... -- Steve McIntyre, CURS CCE, Cambridge, UK. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Getting a SCSI chain working is perfectly simple if you remember that there must be exactly three terminations: one on one end of the cable, one on the far end, and the goat, terminated over the SCSI chain with a silver-handled knife whilst burning *black* candles. --- Anthony DeBoer
Re: 2.1_r0 install experience
> On the sparc, fdisk has: >s create a new empty Sun disklabel Indeed, it *has* that option - but it won't *show* it to you if it finds a DOS partition table already there, for example. That's another one to either (1) fix (2) put in the install notes (3) mention in the "partition a disk" dialog in the install kit...
Re: 2.1_r0 install experience
> Hmmm. If that's correct then it's a bug - the comment should say to run > _dselect_ with the last binary CD in the drive, not to boot that way... Indeed, I misremembered. The comment was really from README.multicd, and it very clearly says *after* you've done the install, etc. Sorry about that... _Mark_
Re: 2.1_r0 install experience
Mark Eichin writes: >another minor nit: one of the install docs suggests that one should >boot off of the last binary cd in your set - so disk 1/1, 2/2, or 2/4 >(in the set that is 2 bin + 2 src.) binary-sparc-2 doesn't appear to >be bootable, though - or at least, it has no /boot and no >disks-sparc. (As mentioned earlier I can't boot ISO disks on my >machine anyway.) Probably the doc should be changed, though there's >plenty of room on b-s-2 if we wanted to make it bootable as well... Hmmm. If that's correct then it's a bug - the comment should say to run _dselect_ with the last binary CD in the drive, not to boot that way... -- Steve McIntyre, CURS CCE, Cambridge, UK. [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~stevem/comp/>My PC page "Can't keep my eyes from the circling sky, +-- "Tongue-tied & twisted, Just an earth-bound misfit, I..." |Finger for PGP key
Re: 2.1_r0 install experience
> On the sparc, fdisk has: >s create a new empty Sun disklabel Hmmm, does it only have this if it *doesn't* find some existing disklabel? (I'll try it when I get back home, but I didn't see it...) > sure if all the endian issues are worked out.) Intelsilo is at: > http://www.cse.msu.edu/~dunham/debian/silo/ tnx. There isn't one in unstable, at least not as of last night... and it wasn't obvious how to build it from the silo-0.8.5.tar.gz, which seemed to be stripped down to sparc-only. (I did have an old 0.6.7 intelsilo binary but it seems to be cd-rom specific...)
Re: 2.1_r0 install experience
another minor nit: one of the install docs suggests that one should boot off of the last binary cd in your set - so disk 1/1, 2/2, or 2/4 (in the set that is 2 bin + 2 src.) binary-sparc-2 doesn't appear to be bootable, though - or at least, it has no /boot and no disks-sparc. (As mentioned earlier I can't boot ISO disks on my machine anyway.) Probably the doc should be changed, though there's plenty of room on b-s-2 if we wanted to make it bootable as well...
Re: 2.1_r0 install experience
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Mark W. Eichin) writes: > So, I went through the install, and an old problem reappeared... > When booting off of this disk (sd(0,2,0)), I get > Bad magic number in disk label! > S > Bad magic number in disk label! > IProgram terminated. > ok > I assume this is because (1) the disk was originally formatted on an > x86 linux box, so it has a DOS partition table (2) fdisk isn't a "big > enough hammer" to fix that... > I did note that fdisk had a "b" option for "edit bsd partition table" > but all it said was "/dev/sdb has no BSD-style partition table"... > I did find (after rebooting with the rescue zip disk) the eXpert mode > "g" option for "create an IRIX partition table" which is somewhat > distressing... and in fact, that looks like what it *does* do. Very > very strange. On the sparc, fdisk has: s create a new empty Sun disklabel which is what you want. (It appears that "s" is in the intel version too - although it doesn't appear in the menus, and I don't know for sure if all the endian issues are worked out.) Intelsilo is at: http://www.cse.msu.edu/~dunham/debian/silo/ as soon as the maintainer folds my changes into the package in potato, I'll generate a potato intelsilo. (May be done already, I'll have to check.) Steve [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: 2.1_r0 install experience
So, I went through the install, and an old problem reappeared... When booting off of this disk (sd(0,2,0)), I get Bad magic number in disk label! S Bad magic number in disk label! IProgram terminated. ok I assume this is because (1) the disk was originally formatted on an x86 linux box, so it has a DOS partition table (2) fdisk isn't a "big enough hammer" to fix that... I did note that fdisk had a "b" option for "edit bsd partition table" but all it said was "/dev/sdb has no BSD-style partition table"... I did find (after rebooting with the rescue zip disk) the eXpert mode "g" option for "create an IRIX partition table" which is somewhat distressing... and in fact, that looks like what it *does* do. Very very strange. Suggestions for hammering in a partition table/disklabel that silo will deal with? What would happen on a blank disk (which I can turn this one into, with dd)? _Mark_ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Herd of Kittens Debian Package Maintainer
Re: 2.1_r0 install experience
Woohoo, found the right hack (as usually happens *after* I send mail :-) Since I couldn't get it to treat switch disks, I looked more closely at the image naming code (main.c, misc.c)... On the same zip disk that I'd already put resc1440.bin on, I skipped over that to an easy-to-type offset, and dropped root.bin there: +% dd if=resc1440.bin of=/dev/sda +% dd if=root.bin of=/dev/sda seek=3000 1907+1 records in 1907+1 records out Then booted the zip disk boot: boot sd(0,5,0) Then at the silo prompt: boot: /linux initrd=sd(0,5,0)[3000-5000] root=/dev/ram (the root= may have been redundant...) and it worked! The installer is grinding through the badblocks check even as I type this. Anyway, if someone would like to turn this into English, it looks like we have a relatively easy "boot from zip disk" path to add to the install instructions... (I'd write it up more clearly myself, but it is 3am. Maybe later.) Whee! _Mark_ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Herd of Kittens Debian Package Maintainer
2.1_r0 install experience
I have a vintage SS1+, ROM 1.3. It has been running a crufty Debian
install for a while, so 2.1 seemed a good replacement.
Using the 2.1_r0 binary-sparc-1.iso, I discovered that the 1.3 roms
can't boot it, at least using the drive I have (which *does* have the
right blocksize support that it works, otherwise.)
I then discovered that the floppy drive doesn't work ("couldn't read
sector 1, self test failed" so it is probably mechanical.) At this
point, things start getting complicated; probably moreso than a normal
install... certainly more than the would have been if I could find a
version of "intelsilo" and just make a bootable zip disk. This led me
to discover a few minor holes in the install along the way, though
nothing that needs fixing before 2.2...
Rather than deal with tftp, I copied the rescue image on to a *zip* disk,
dd if=resc1440.bin of=/dev/sda
and tried booting from the scsi zip drive. That worked:
boot sd(0,5,0)
got me the Debian 2.1 rescue banner and silo prompt.
However, now I need to tell it to get the rest off the cdrom. This
should work from here, but I didn't get to far with the install.txt:
it has what appear to be non-silo instructions...
> 6.2. Booting with the Rescue Floppy
> You can do two things at the `boot:' prompt. You can press the
> function keys _F1_ through _F10_ to view a few pages of helpful
In fact, F1..F10 are a loadlin or whatever feature; silo only supports
TAB and "help".
Searching /install/install.txt for root.bin was kind of vague; nothing
ever suggested I actually *put* the file anywhere.
% dd if=root.bin of=/dev/sda
However, since the rescue is *really* looking for the root on a
floppy, I still lose. I've tried a few arguments to the rescue disk:
boot: /linux root=/dev/sde load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=1
# just mounted the rescue zip disk as the root. Suggest
# adding a dummy /bin/sh or /sbin/init to the rescue disk to
# at least echo why it failed...
boot: /linux root=/dev/sde initrd=/dev/sde initrd-prompt
# complained about not finding /dev/sde, *then* booted, and
# mounted the zip disk as root...
boot: linux initrd=!cd5
# got "Loading initial ramdisk...", then booted, then
# "RAMDISK: couldn't find ramdisk image starting at 0"
# and "insert floppy and press enter".
boot: linux show_arguments
# said
# Kernel args: silo() root=/dev/fd0 rw load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=1
boot: linux root=/dev/scd0 initrd=!cd5 load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=1
show_arguments
# seems to have ignored the show_arguments, and blasted
# straight on to booting and mounting the cd as /.
# Unfortunately, the CD doesn't have /sbin/init or /bin/sh either...
I suspect the problem with the !cd paths is that they'd work if I were
really booting off the cd, but from the zip disk, they don't seem
to...
Any suggestions from here? or do I need to set up a special silo
config on the zip disk, to get it to look at the cd?
other bits:
% cat /mnt/cdrom/dists/slink/main/disks-sparc/2.1.8.1-1999-03-01/fdisk.txt
** man page not found **
% ls -l /mnt/cdrom/dists/slink/main/disks-sparc/2.1.8.1-1999-03-01/fdisk.txt
-r--r--r-- 2 root root 26 Feb 24 22:03 fdisk.txt
In silo/second/main.c, the PROM_V0 "You have to type image name..."
help message doesn't fit in 80 columns.
_Mark_ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Herd of Kittens
Debian Package Maintainer
