Pre-release of boot floppies for SPARC !!!
This is my first attempt to release Debian pre2.0 boot disks for sparc.
It suffers from some bugs, but I'm succeeded in installing Debian for sparc
with it :-))
I discovered several bugs and listed those I didn't already fixed at the end
of this document.
The files are available on my ftp site:
ftp://lix.polytechnique.fr/pub/Linux/debian/sparc/exp/disks-sparc/980226
Installation methods:
---------------------
1/ over the network (TFTP):
.put the tftpboot.img image on your TFTP server, then create a link
from <your client IP addr in hex form>.SUN4<type> (eg. C0A80103.SUN4M)
for a SparcClassic with IP=192.168.1.3.
.create a rarp table entry on your server:
rarp -a <your client IP addr or hostname> \
<your client MAC addr in hex form>
(eg. rarp -a 192.168.1.3 08:00:20:1c:50:90).
.then boot your client by typing the next command on SUN monitor:
boot net
.now you can follow the Debian instructions to install the system.
2/ over the network (TFTP + NFS for low memory workstations):
.put the linux kernel image on your TFTP server after you have uncompressed
it (zcat linux > kernel-2.0.33).
.untar the root archive on your NFS server (could be the same as your TFTP
server):
cd /tftpboot
tar xvzf root.tar.gz
Be sure to use the GNU tar (other tar programs, like the SunOS one, handle
devices as plain file).
.export your /tftpboot/debian-sparc-root directory with root access to your
client.
.create a rarp table entry and the symbolink link as above.
.create another symbolic link from <your client IP addr in dotted notation>
to debian-sparc-root in the /tftpboot directory
(eg. ln -s debian-sparc-root 192.168.1.3).
.now you can boot your client as above.
3/ using floppy disks:
.put resc1440.bin, root1440.bin and drv1440.bin on separate floppy disks.
.boot using the rescue floppy (boot floppy at the monitor prompt) then
insert the root disk after automatic ejection of the former.
.
Notes:
------
1/ to be able to install kernel & drivers & base disks over the net, you have
to configure the network before processing these steps. You can put these
images in your Debian distribution on an NFS server:
.../debian/dists/unstable/main/disks-sparc/current
(in effect, in any directory under the mount point).
Known bugs:
------------
1/ huge amount of time spent in searching for drivers floppy image & base.tgz
if you have chosen the NFS access to install them.
Just wait several minutes...
2/ dinstall segfaults after base is installed.
It is automatically respawn. Then process to the next step (ie. base
system configuration).
3/ "make a boot floppy" step fails on my workstation. An error occurs while
formatting the floppy disk :-(( Don't know whether is it kernel or floppy
drive related. Any advice on this topic is welcome.
4/ sysklogd isn't up-to-date (has the sys_errlist linkage bug).
The next release will provide the right one ;-)
5/ silo is still libc5 linked. I managed to use it by installing the libc5
package on base disks and the ld-linux.so.1 on the miniroot.
6/ The "linux" kernel provided here is a gzipp'ed release of the ELF kernel,
not the a.out one. It should be converted to the latter format using
elftoaout before booting any workstation via TFTP.
The next release will provide the right binary format.
Enjoy with it.
I'd appreciate any feedback about it.
Eric.
--
Eric Delaunay | "La guerre justifie l'existence des militaires.
delaunay@lix.polytechnique.fr | En les supprimant." Henri Jeanson (1900-1970)
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