Installation of Debian on R5K Indy

["Trey Shewmake" <tshewmak@netdoor.com>]

After installing Debian the "hard way" (i.e., using Flo's 2.4.2 kernel and
the base2_2.2.tgz file, putting the root filesystem on NFS, and having to
hand copy the filesystem over because the tar binary in the base filesystem
crashes with illegal instructions on R5k) last week, I decided to go ahead
and spend the morning installing it the "easy way" (i.e., using the
tftpboot.img file).

First thing I noticed with both installations - on this R5k Indy, you *must*
unset the netaddr environment variable in the PROM, or it will not boot
using DHCP and bootp(). Second, the only way I could get the R5k to boot
from the image was with "boot -f bootp()tftpboot.img" - just typing "boot -f
bootp()" would not work, as the PROM returned an error.

So far this morning, the installation has proceeded without further
incident.  Should this change, be assured that I will happily submit more
documentation of the errors. :)

I've noticed the documentation for an Indy install is scattered widely
across the 'net - unless anyone objects, I'll probably be putting together a
more comprehensive HOWTO, and submitting it to the list for fine-tuning.  I
also have an R4600 here, and will be attempting to install on it later in
the week, so that the HOWTO will be more complete, and less specific to the
R5k system.

Any comments/questions are welcomed - I've got several years experience with
Linux, but not with any other architectures other than i386 and Alpha.

- Yert

(Trey Shewmake - tshewmak@netdoor.com)