[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Ok...FINALLY got the Indy...



On Tue, 29 Aug 2000, Stephen Frost wrote:

> *	Get a 2nd disk.
> *	Use fx -x to set up the partitions on the 2nd disk, use fx -x to give 
> 	yourself expert ability and adjust the partitions such that you
> 	have around a 10M volume header (it's useful later).  Also, you need
> 	a minimum of 2 regular partitions.

Ok...wiped the second disk and am partitioning it now.  Am I correct in
thinking that I can use fx -x to set it up like an option drive, add a
second efs partition, then adjust the sizes of the others as noted
above?  How big should each be and what are they for?  Coming from Alpha,
this sure looks quite a bit like our MILO booting method (where you need a
small FAT partition to hold the boot loader).  I just want to avoid having
two 2GB paritions if I'm only using a small portion of one for booting
from...

> *	Get a kernel like 'vmlinux-2.2.14-r4x00-cvs-INDY.ecoff'

Ok...where do I find this?  I also need a URL for the tarball...

> *	Use 'dvhtool' to drop the kernel into the volume header on the 2nd
> 	disk.  Something along these lines:
> 	dvhtool -v add vmlinux-2.2.14-r4x00-cvs-INDY.ecoff linux /dev/rdsk/dks0d2vh
> *	Set up a dhcp server somewhere on the lan using something like this:
> 	------------------------
> 	host test {
> 	  hardware ethernet 03:00:23:0e:13:20;
> 	  fixed-address 10.1.1.10;
> 	  option host-name "test";
> 	  option domain-name-servers 10.1.1.1;
> 	  option broadcast-address 10.1.1.255;
> 	  option routers 10.1.1.1;
> 	  option root-path "/home/sgi-linux";
> 	}

Ugh!  I forgot how to get the hardware address!  Any
tips?  Nevermind...just found it :-P

> *	Remove the IRIX disk from the system
> *	Change the SCSI ID of the other disk to '1'

Is this really necessary?  Couldn't I alter the environment vars in sash
(SystemPartition and OSLoadPartition)?

> 	You don't *have* to go through the 'dvhtool' part if you
> don't want to, but if you don't you'll always be having to boot off of the 
> network or have a efs partition on the disk that you can put the kernel on to
> and then boot to that.  I'm hoping to at some point be able to figure out the
> format of that volume header and be able to write something like dvhtool to
> allow you to modify it.

I'll look into this once I get booted up and running.  I've helped Alpha
out a lot, so maybe I can apply some of that knowledge here... :-)  I'm
assuming docs are lacking on the format of the volume header, but other
than that, what would help to figure this out?

> 	Be very careful with fx -x, obviously.  You don't want to mess up your
> Irix install (well, probably not anyway).  If you don't care about Irix and
> don't mind using the net boot stuff all the time and nuke Irix.  At the moment 
> I've got a pair of Indy's up, one in Irix and one in Debian that I'm playing 
> with.

Must be nice :-)  My Irix install seems ok thusfar.  It boots and runs
fine, despite me playing with the second drive.  I'm lucky for that since
I cannot re-install due to lack of media :-P

> 	I havn't figured out how to get the prom to pass a parameter to the 
> kernel by default.  You can do 'setenv OSLoader linux', which will make it use
> the linux kernel by default, but 'setenv OSLoader linux root=/dev/sda1' doesn't
> work (it's too long to be saved in the prom).

Good to know.  Does quoting help?  I can't imagine that they made the env
var THAT limited.

> 	Anyhow, this is mostly off the top of my head, so read over it carefully
> and if you have questions/problems feel free to email me and I'll do what I can
> to help...

Thanks!
C



Reply to: