Re: shiny new rp2430 (A400) won't boot :-(
On Fri, May 14, 2004 at 02:00:35PM -0500, Glascock, Donald S. wrote:
> 0. The partitioning software probably works like a dream on Intel
> boxes.
No it doesn't. It's almost as bad - but not quite.
> On hppa, it does not automatically create a PALO
> partition, and it is not clear to me what the difference
> is between a regular "/boot" partition and a PALO partition.
> Do I need both? I think so, but I'm not sure. Is this
> just LIF space for the firmware?
No. Read the "HOW-TO Install" again. It explains all this:
http://www.pateam.org/parisc-linux-boot/PA-RISC-Linux-Boot-HOWTO.html
The PALO documentation is also very good:
http://www.pateam.org/parisc-linux-boot/PA-RISC-Linux-Boot-HOWTO/palo.html
> 1. The installation process should tune the firmware to boot from
> the correct partition with the correct path to the kernel on
> the correct disk.
That's not quite as easy for parisc-linux to do as it was for
HPUX. The difference is parisc-linux doesn't know much about
"HW Paths" (2.6 knows more than 2.4.x kernels) and HPUX is designed
around HW paths.
Secondly, at one point in time, folks who wanted to dual boot boxes
don't want parisc-linux mucking with primary boot path.
> My rp2430's primary boot path was not set,
> and after installation, PALO did not have the correct partition
> or path for the kernel. What does a "path pri ..." statement
> look like which will set all of these values so that a simple
> "boot" will boot the expected kernel from the expected place?
The "How-TO Install" explains that.
http://www.pateam.org/parisc-linux-boot/PA-RISC-Linux-Boot-HOWTO.html#bootadmin
> 2. There is a helpful message which says, "run 'base-config' later
> if you need to.". It should also say, "Run ______ to configure
> your system's network, printers, etc." We've probably all seen
> the old RedHat "redhat-config-*" mechanism. How is this done
> with Debian Linux?
dpkg-reconfigure <pkgname>
Or "man -k dpkg" to get an overview of commands.
> 3. I've very concerned about trying to build cpqfc & get it into
> the kernel,
One thing at a time! :^)
http://www.parisc-linux.org/kernel/index.html
> since I'm having even the most basic stty-related
> problems with the console. It is shared via an RS232 switch
> with our other rp2430s that are running HP-UX 11.00, and is
> set for 8N1-9600. The problem we're seeing looks like a
> stop-bits or flow-control problem. Is Debian HPPA setting
> serial console characteristics to something other than what
> might normally be seen on HP-UX?
No. In fact, you want to "apt-get remove setserial" if that
package is installed.
> 4. Many of the ftp & http download sites near me listed in the
> installation menus refused to offer or did not have the Debian
> packages as the installer expected. After a few tries, it
> looks less & less like an "overloaded server" situation and
> more & more like a "don't got it" situation. Are these sites
> verified right before the image containing their respective
> references are written, to make sure they work?
sites should be full mirrors.
Can you be more specific about which mirrors you tried?
In general just use the line suggested by the installer.
Later, when you understand how apt-get works, you can
muck with /etc/apt/sources.list by hand.
> 5. The installation process wanted to look up the box's MAC
> address on our BOOTP/DHCP server.
You mean the box wanted to use DHCP to configure the networking card?
> After getting useful info,
> it did not write system files that would configure the
> network interface, populate resolv.conf, set up NIS, or
> anything else network-related, AFAICT. Is there something
> I was supposed to have done to make this happen during the
> installation process so that networking is configured upon
> reboot?
IF you used DHCP, the DHCP server can (and will if permitted) provide
all of those things. The only file that should get written is
/etc/resolv.conf - and it's content is subject to change everytime
one brings up the NIC and restarts dhclient (or pump).
> Those are the biggest issues. I'll bet I too can get the
> install process down to a half hour, but I'm concerned that
> it will take me a week or so of practice, which will annoy
> my bosses greatly. :-)
I've got it down to 22 minutes: install second disk drive,
"dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=64k" and come back 22 minutes later. :^)
Otherwise it takes me two or three hours to partition/download/install
all the bits I need to make the box useful.
> Are HPPA installations from the Sarge CD set, when it becomes
> available, likely to make the installation process easier than
> this?
Yes - I expect much easier once it works.
thanks for the report,
grant
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