Subject: Booting linux from sgi indy.

From: Jens Oeser <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 09:36:58 +0200

Hi!

How can i cause an indy to boot linux automatically, the bootloader
seems to drop that root=/dev/... parameter.
Is there a way to boot without having an irix running? The most unusual
way would be to build a 20mb efs partition for some kernels and mount it
at another sgi, to copy over new kernels, but that won't be the
solutions i'm looking for.
Is there a way to use the sound processor and/or the indycam?

It would be very kind if someone helps me.

regards
Jens Oeser.
Apprentice for IT-Systemelectronics @ GMD - Research centre for
information technology.

---

From: "Andrew R. Baker" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1999 08:14:43 -0500 (CDT)

> solutions i'm looking for.

I have managed to get my Indigo2s to boot by themselves (actually with the
help of a bootp/tftp server).  I modified init/main.c like so:

static struct kernel_param raw_params[] __initdata = {
+       { "OSLoadOptions=", root_dev_setup },
        { "root=", root_dev_setup },

Then, at the boot prom prompt, I typed:

setenv -p OSLoadOptions /dev/sda1

This string is passed by bootp into the loaded kernel and everything boots
up without any user intervention.

Personally, I would like to have a better way to do this, but this works
for me, and I haven't found any drawbacks except needing to add on line to
kernel code.

-Andrew