Re: Setting up XL300 (fwd)
Hey all...
Found this on the AXP list re AlphaBIOS system setup/boot. If someone
actually has one of these beasts right now and wants to verify or try
this, please let us know if this is the actual procedure for inclusion in
the HOWTO :)
Chris
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 1997 08:31:16 -0500 (EST)
From: Sprag Johnson <bdwheele@indiana.edu>
Reply-To: axp-list@redhat.com
To: axp-list@redhat.com
Subject: Re: Setting up XL300
Resent-Date: 31 Oct 1997 13:31:35 -0000
Resent-From: axp-list@redhat.com
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If it comes up with a pretty drawing and then 2 windows one that
counts memory and then one that is looking for SCSI devices, then you've
got a machine with AlphaBIOS (yuk).
Since its a 300, its actually an XLT. If you go into setup (via
F2), and "OS selection" or something like that, you can create a new OS
entry for MILO/Linux on the floppy. the parameters should be:
name: you choose!
os boot partition: a: os loader: \linload.exe
os (something) partition: (doesn't matter) system directory:
(doesn't matter)
boot parameters: (doesn't matter at this point)
It might complain a bit about invalid selections, but say its okay
anyway.
save this and exit and exit the setup. YOu should have an option which
you just put in appear. Put the milo disk (for the XLT) into the floppy
drive and it'll boot milo from there. (the milo disk should just
contain linload.exe and milo (for xlt) on a FAT floppy).
When you've got milo running, you can put the redhat boot disk
into the floppy drive and type "boot fd0:vmlinux.gz root=/dev/fd0
load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=1" at the MILO> prompt. That'll boot the
kernel from your floppy and you can then install.
When you're installing, be sure to have a FAT partition (I use a 6M, but
it can be less than 1M) to put milo on.
After install, boot milo as before, but use this commandline to boot the
system: boot sda(whatever):vmlinux.gz root=/dev/sda(whatever) ro
The system will come up normally (if it installed correctly!). Format
the FAT partition using mkdosfs /dev/sda(whatever partition it is).
Mount the partition, and then mount the milo floppy. copy the contents
of the milo floppy to the fat partition. The alphabios has to have a
FAT partition to boot off of.
Reboot the machine and go into setup. Create a new OS selection with
these parameters:
name: you choose!
os boot partition: (partition that holds milo) os loader: \linload.exe
os (something) partition: (doesn't matter) system directory:
(doesn't matter)
boot parameters: (doesn't matter)
and then try to boot from there. you may get a warning, but who
cares..the alphabios is pretty damned annyoing, so it let it warn you.
that'll just boot up milo from the disk, so to get linux to boot up
automatically, put the "boot ..." line you use to boot the machine at
the MILO> prompt into the boot parameters.
Hope this helps
Brian Wheeler
bdwheele@Indiana.edu
>
>
> Hi all. Just purchased an XL300, and I don't know what to do next :)
>
> I've read the FAQ, but it doesn't seem to have any specific references to
> my model. It makes references to the ARC firmware, but I think I have the
> AlphaBIOS instead?
>
> I basically don't know how to get it to boot the RH install disks, or even
> which install disk I need. Is this a Cabriolet? Do I use milo.dd,
> milo.rom, etc, and how do I tell it to look to the floppy drive?
>
> Thanks for any pointers,
> Dave Wreski
>
>
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