Subject: IRIX Partations with HardHat Linux

From: "Shane W." <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 29 Jun 1999 15:19:09 +0000

Hi,

  I am trying to install HardHat linux on an "Indy r5000", the SCSI disk
was blank and I was running into problems so I did a mkfs on it.  Now
the install script keeps asking me to initalize the drive.  I do not
have access to an Irix machine to repartation it or anything of the
such.  Any ideas?

-s

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From: "Roald Lygre" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 08:43:27 +0000

On Jun 29,  3:19pm, Shane W. wrote:
> Subject: IRIX Partations with HardHat Linux
> Hi,
>

If you have an IRIX operating system CD available (must be marked with
"Contains installation tools"), you could boot the disk maint tool "fx" from
the CD.

Contact me directly if you have the CD (and CDROM player) and need specific
instructions on how to repartition.

-Roald

--

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From: "Shane W." <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 09:20:57 +0000

I do have an IRIX CD-ROM, but I do not have a SCSI CD-ROM drive.  Am I out of
luck as far as installing SGI Linux goes?

-s

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From: [email-masked] (Tor Arntsen)
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 15:24:49 +0200

>luck as far as installing SGI Linux goes?

The Indy can access a CD-ROM drive on another host (it's via tftp when
from the PROM I believe).

-Tor

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From: Tom Woelfel <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 15:48:36 +0200

Dag Bakke writes:
 > No, you're not. Install linux 2.2.7 (.9?) on any i386 and enable experimental
 > options and EFS.
 > 
 > Then you should be able to mount the CD on the linux-i386 box and set up tftp,
 > bootp and nfs for remote booting/installing. (You don't need nfs for booting
 > fx, though.)
 > Something for a rainy day....

Hmm, is there a FAQ on how to set up such an environment ? 

I've alreayd tried to boot/install from a remote mounted cdrom. This
always results in an error. Then I've tried to copy the Irix-CD to a
directory and install from this directory. I was able to invoke fx on
the Indy, but I was not able to proceed with the installation.

(During Linux/SGI install I made propably an error which results in a
corrupted Indy-filesystem - so I'm forced to reinstall Irix on my
Indy.)

//Tom

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From: Vince Weaver <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 10:06:07 -0400 (EDT)

> Hmm, is there a FAQ on how to set up such an environment ? 

my friend and I managed to upgrade Irix6.2 to Irix6.5 on a Indigo2 with no
CD-ROM this way.

It involved a Linux box with an early 2.3.x kernel on it [2.3.2 I think]
with efs support compiled it.

It took many hours of tweaking the booptab file and tftp, but finally we
got the SASH off the Irix CD to load, and eventually a miniroot.  

The one thing that really helped was putting the Debug Messages in bootp
up as high as possible, so you can see what files the SGI is requesting,
and then mess around with your bootp server until it gets the file it is
looking for.

I would be a bit more explicit but the final breakthrough was made late at
night after many, many, many randomly guessed attempts, and we were so
happy to get it working we were afraid to try and replicate it because we
never thought we'd figure it out again.

Vince

____________
\  /\  /\  /  Vince Weaver          
 \/__\/__\/   [email-masked]     http://www.glue.umd.edu/~weave

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From: Tom Woelfel <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 16:49:55 +0200

Dag Bakke writes:
 > As I understand it, you only need to partition the disk with the SGI tools
 > (fx).
 > (If this is wrong, please feel free to correct me.)
 > Thus, you only need bootp and tftp to boot fx.

Yep. 

 > To boot fx on the Indy from the prom monitor (command monitor) enter:
 > setenv -p netaddr 123.456.789.123
 > boot -f bootp()remotemachine:/path/to/stand/fx.ARCS

After endeavouring with the bootp/tftp options for a couple of hours I
finally managed to get sash or fx loaded. But I've seen lot of
rejected requests during this session from the i386 server. But what's
the next step ? Do I have to change the bootfile-entry in bootptab to
point to the next requested file ? (Ooops, I'm at work - so I don't
have access to my Indy, but after partitioning the disk the Indy
requested something like sash(NN).)

I will try it once again and write down my experiences.

//Tom

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From: "Dag Bakke" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 15:25:00 +0000

Dag B

On Jun 30,  9:20, Shane W. wrote:
> Subject: Re: IRIX Partations with HardHat Linux
>-- End of excerpt from Shane W.

-- 
Dag Bakke   -   System Support Engineer, SGI Norway
-------------------------------------------------------------------
        SGI Norge			tel:	67 11 46 01
        Strandveien 20			fax:	67 11 47 00
        1325 Lysaker			email:	[email-masked]

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From: "Roald Lygre" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 15:32:37 +0000

> from the PROM I believe).

But you still need to be able to read the IRIX OS CD (it is in efs format). So
you need the kernel that supports efs, as Dag pointed out.

-Roald

--

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From: "Dag Bakke" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 16:27:42 +0000

I am sure there is a linux tftp and bootp howto somewehere. If not, please read
the man-pages and write the HOWTO afterwards.

And please note that 'remotemachine' should be by name, not IPaddress. Please
avoid routers between client and server. (It is doable, but often requires more
work.) If the server uses a 'non-standard' (very narrow) netmask, you may have
to tweak the bootp-line somewhat. I don't remember the exact syntax. Let us
know if this becomes a problem.

Dag B

On Jun 30, 10:06, Vince Weaver wrote:
>-- End of excerpt from Vince Weaver

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From: Ulf Carlsson <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 30 Jun 1999 18:48:32 +0200

> Something for a rainy day....

This would probably be much easier if you used the initrd stuff Thomas B.
recently wrote.  This is not tested, but I think it may work.  If it works you
may setup the initrd partition so that you have the tools you need to partition
the SCSI harddrive with a decent EFS disklabel (this partition is afterwards
appended on the end of the kernel).  I think Thomas has been working on a new
redhat installer using the initrd, but I doubt he finished it.

What's the current status?

Ulf