On Fri, Jul 07, 2006 at 09:27:02AM -0600, Brook Milligan wrote:
> I am trying to make a bootable i386 CD from netbsd-current (checked
> out yesterday).  Using build.sh I can make the entire system,
> including an iso-image (which I burned to a cd).  However, that cd
> will only partially boot.  It loads the kernel, goes through part of
> the device probing, and resets.

I'm in the same position, I've got a few images I'm trying to get working on a Cisco Netranger, with no good luck...

I did find this, though, which I hope will help me:
http://mail-index.netbsd.org/tech-install/2006/05/11/0001.html

No good luck yet, but I'm hoping ;)


To anybody who knows more about this, is the above url going to help me? I figured if I build a custom kernel and set it up with the ramdisk image and created a ustarfs floppy image, I could use it to boot the iso image. I've experience the complete restarts that I think Brook is talking about, as well as hanging on probing my SATA disk (a Western Digital hanging off a Silicon Image (satalink(4)) controller). I think I need to make a driver as 'dumb' as possible (ie: turn off DMA, etc), and go from there...



> My recollection is that this is a symptom of too small a memory disk
> in the install kernel.  Is that the case?
> 
> I understand how to change the memory disk size in the INSTALL kernel
> configuration file.  However, I have some questions.
> 
> First, since that kernel is being used by several different boot
> images (e.g., floppies, cds, etc.), are there any constraints on how
> large the memory disk can be?  Can I arbitrarily increase it from
> 10,000 blocks to 20,000 blocks and expect it to work?  Is there some
> means of figuring our directly how large it must be?
> 
> Second, suppose I created a special kernel config file for my bootable
> cd (e.g., with a customized memory disk size), how do I populate its
> memory disk with the appropriate image and how do I inform build.sh to
> use it when constructing the iso-image?  I understand that kernel=XXX
> and releasekernel=XXX will build and install a special kernel, but how
> can it be used during the iso-image phase?
> 
> Finally, what is the difference between the cdrom images and the
> floppy images in the release directory?  It seems like iso-image is
> using the floppy images, whereas it would seem that it should be using
> the cdrom images.  What don't I understand about these?
> 
> Thanks alot for your help.
> 
> Cheers,
> Brook

-- 

-bch