Re: SLILO

[edmundo@rano.demon.co.uk]

> I 've installed a debian potato on sparc 1 without problem (exept mysql ;) 
> but now o a sparc station LX (sun4m) slilo don't run , in fact the install
> is ok but when slilo run, after reboot, the system tell me : wrong label

(You mean SILO?)

Earlier I suggested that something like the following be added to the
installation manual. I think something similar but more concise was in
fact added.

Note that fdisk has a hidden command "s" meaning "create a new empty
Sun disklabel".

(How hard would it be to make the installation program check the type
of partition table and warn the user?)


Partitioning a disc

The installation system gives you the option of partitioning a disc. If
you select this option, it runs the command fdisk for you. The fdisk
program can understand several different kinds of partition table. (The
kernel can understand even more kinds; see
linux/drivers/block/genhd.c.) The Sun's PROM, however, only understands
Sun partition tables, so, if you want to be able to boot off your disc,
make sure that fdisk mentions "Sun disk label" when you print the
partition table using the command "p". If you start with a blank disc,
fdisk will create a Sun partition table by default. However, if your
disc was previously partitioned by a different system you will have to
be careful at this point, or you will end up with an unbootable disc.

In addition to having a Sun partition table, to be able to boot from
the disc, the first partition, /dev/sdX1, must start at cylinder 0.
This means that /dev/sdX1 contains the partition table and the boot
block, as these are the first two sectors of the disc. Therefore you
must be careful what you use /dev/sdX1 for. In particular, you must
not use a partition starting at cylinder 0 for Linux swap, as that
would overwrite the partition table and the boot block. You may,
however, use such a partition for a UFS or EXT2 file system, as these
file systems leave the first 1024 bytes undisturbed.

It is also advised that the third partition, /dev/sdX3, should be of
type "Whole disk" (5), though this may not be an absolute requirement
for booting.