2.1_r0 install experience
I have a vintage SS1+, ROM 1.3. It has been running a crufty Debian
install for a while, so 2.1 seemed a good replacement.
Using the 2.1_r0 binary-sparc-1.iso, I discovered that the 1.3 roms
can't boot it, at least using the drive I have (which *does* have the
right blocksize support that it works, otherwise.)
I then discovered that the floppy drive doesn't work ("couldn't read
sector 1, self test failed" so it is probably mechanical.) At this
point, things start getting complicated; probably moreso than a normal
install... certainly more than the would have been if I could find a
version of "intelsilo" and just make a bootable zip disk. This led me
to discover a few minor holes in the install along the way, though
nothing that needs fixing before 2.2...
Rather than deal with tftp, I copied the rescue image on to a *zip* disk,
dd if=resc1440.bin of=/dev/sda
and tried booting from the scsi zip drive. That worked:
boot sd(0,5,0)
got me the Debian 2.1 rescue banner and silo prompt.
However, now I need to tell it to get the rest off the cdrom. This
should work from here, but I didn't get to far with the install.txt:
it has what appear to be non-silo instructions...
> 6.2. Booting with the Rescue Floppy
> You can do two things at the `boot:' prompt. You can press the
> function keys _F1_ through _F10_ to view a few pages of helpful
In fact, F1..F10 are a loadlin or whatever feature; silo only supports
TAB and "help".
Searching /install/install.txt for root.bin was kind of vague; nothing
ever suggested I actually *put* the file anywhere.
% dd if=root.bin of=/dev/sda
However, since the rescue is *really* looking for the root on a
floppy, I still lose. I've tried a few arguments to the rescue disk:
boot: /linux root=/dev/sde load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=1
# just mounted the rescue zip disk as the root. Suggest
# adding a dummy /bin/sh or /sbin/init to the rescue disk to
# at least echo why it failed...
boot: /linux root=/dev/sde initrd=/dev/sde initrd-prompt
# complained about not finding /dev/sde, *then* booted, and
# mounted the zip disk as root...
boot: linux initrd=!cd5
# got "Loading initial ramdisk...", then booted, then
# "RAMDISK: couldn't find ramdisk image starting at 0"
# and "insert floppy and press enter".
boot: linux show_arguments
# said
# Kernel args: silo() root=/dev/fd0 rw load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=1
boot: linux root=/dev/scd0 initrd=!cd5 load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=1 show_arguments
# seems to have ignored the show_arguments, and blasted
# straight on to booting and mounting the cd as /.
# Unfortunately, the CD doesn't have /sbin/init or /bin/sh either...
I suspect the problem with the !cd paths is that they'd work if I were
really booting off the cd, but from the zip disk, they don't seem
to...
Any suggestions from here? or do I need to set up a special silo
config on the zip disk, to get it to look at the cd?
other bits:
% cat /mnt/cdrom/dists/slink/main/disks-sparc/2.1.8.1-1999-03-01/fdisk.txt
** man page not found **
% ls -l /mnt/cdrom/dists/slink/main/disks-sparc/2.1.8.1-1999-03-01/fdisk.txt
-r--r--r-- 2 root root 26 Feb 24 22:03 fdisk.txt
In silo/second/main.c, the PROM_V0 "You have to type image name..."
help message doesn't fit in 80 columns.
_Mark_ <eichin@thok.org>
The Herd of Kittens
Debian Package Maintainer
Reply to: