Re: first review of boot-floppies doc for sparc
On Thu, 25 Feb 1999 00:16:19 +0100 (CET), Eric Delaunay <delaunay@lix.polytechnique.fr> said:
> I'm starting reviewing the installation manual for sparc specific
> parts. I'm sorry but I just have printed material handy, not the
> source therefore I'm unable to send you patches directly.
Wah. Ok.
BTW, I just got an Ultra 5!! Woo woo... so I'll be running
Debian/Sparc very soon now. You guys in the porter department need
help? Do you know where I can get a Debian/Sparc 2.1 CD?
> Here are some comments:
> sec 5.3: Description of Installation System Files
> -------------------------------------------------
> -- Root image is required to boot from floppy because it doesn't fit
> on the rescue disk. The root floppy should be made along with the
> rescue floppy to boot from floppy (have to be documented on sec 5.8
> too "Booting from floppies").
Well, there are plenty of other stuff wrong there. I've added mention
of the -2.2.1 and the -2.2.1-sun4u disks. It's obvious why someone
might need to run the sun4u disks; but why would they need the 2.2.1
disks, just for that newer kernel support? BTW, I've sync'd up this
file naming to use the actual altkver variable from the top level
makefile, cute, eh?
> sec 5.7: Installing from NFS ----------------------------
> rescue & drivers images could be also installed from NFS if the
> network is configured first. It is important if installation is
> done for a workstation without floppy and cdrom drives (tftp boot).
Huh.... how is different from the tftp options? Or is it the same?
Where can I get more information about this?
> sec 5.8: Booting from Floppies ------------------------------
> Create the rescue & root disks then insert the rescue disk first in
> the drive. Type "boot floppy" or "boot /fd" (for old PROMs) at the
> monitor prompt to boot from the rescue disk. After the kernel is
> loaded, the disk is ejected, and the kernel is waiting for the root
> disk to be inserted.
Ah. Ok... so the rescue floppy *requires* also a separate root
floppy. Added a new switch for this, enabled for sparc.
Don't you have to select one of the 'ramdisk' methods?
> chapter 7 =========
> 7.2: "Select Color or Monochrome display"
> ----------------------------------------- this step does not appear
> if booting on serial console.
Ok.
> 7.4: "Configure the Keyboard" ----------------------------- this
> step still appears even if no keyboard is connected to the host (eg.
> booting on serial console). It is a bug but it will not be fixed
> before the release. A message like "Cannot open /dev/tty0." is
> displayed when trying to load a keymap on inexistent device.
Ugh, yeah, ok. Is there a bug number open for this? Could you open
one and tell me the bug#?
Aren't there special boot parameters you have to use for serial
console booting?
> 7.6: "Partition a Hard Disk" ---------------------------- Steps
> ordering is slightly different if installing for a diskless
> workstation:
> "Configure the network" appears first (just after "Configure the
> Keyboard") followed by "Mount an already initialized partition"
> because there is no local disk hence no fdisk/mke2fs have to be run.
> After the network was configured, a new entry "NFS" is selectable in
> the listbox of possible sources for "Mount an already initialized
> partition" (in effect this is the only entry available because other
> are usually local disk partitions).
> After the user has selected this entry, a new box is displayed to
> enter the path to the server (in the form <server name or ip
> addr>:/<path on the server>). This path will then be mounted as the
> root fs.
> The installation process then continues to step 7.9 "Install
> Operating System..."
Ok, it's a little tricky winding through the text like this but its
not all that bad in this case.
> NB: diskless workstation cannot use swap at all (at least during
> installation; a patch for the linux kernel exists to allow
> swap-on-nfs).
Hmmm... kinda side-stepped this.
> NB2: step 7.14 "Make Linux Bootable Directly From Hard Disk" is not
> available to this kind of installation.
By "this kind" you mean nfs-root? Does dbootstrap actually skip this
step for nfs-root?
> You can still create a rescue floppy but the best way to reboot on
> the newly installed system is to reconfigure the server on which you
> have installed the root fs (assuming it is the one you boot from):
> symlink from linux-a.out to <CLIENT IP ADDR IN HEX FORM>.SUN4<TYPE>
> in /boot symlink from /tftpboot/client_root_fs_top_dir to <CLIENT IP
> ADDR IN QUAD DOTTED FORM>
> The reboot the client.
Um, well, on a sparc you have to tell the OpenProm to boot from the
network by default, right?
tftp server configuration is already described in ``<sect
id="install-tftp">Booting from <prgn>tftp</prgn>'', isn't it?
Made some pointers from this section to the other relevant sections.
> 7.9: "Install Operating system Kernel and Modules"
> --------------------------------------------------
> If you want to install rescue & drivers images from NFS, you need to
> configure the network first (already done if installing for diskless
> workstation but not in other cases). A new entry "nfs : NFS
> (network filesystem)" will be added to the end of the list of
> devices from which you can install the kernel & modules. Selecting
> it further display a new box to enter the path to the NFS server.
> resc1440.bin & drv1440.bin should be available on this server.
Ah... ok... added...
> Could you add these informations to your documentation ? Thanks in
> advance.
> PS: I will continue to review the doc tomorrow. PPS: undocumented
> features that still need to be added: dual sparc/ultrasparc boot
> using tftpboot-2.2.1.img image alternate 2.2.1 kernel for sparc
Yes, we need to iron out and probably correct the tftp, nfsroot, etc,
stuff. We need to talk more about how users cna figure out their own
architecture (pointing to the sparc/linux faq is probably ok) -- we
probably could use more external pointers in the "where to go for
further reading section". Documenation for ultra folks.
Oh, and SILO!
--
.....Adam Di Carlo....adam@onShore.com.....<URL:http://www.onShore.com/>
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