Subject: YASU (Yet Another Stupid User)
To: RiscBSD Mailing List <port-arm32@NetBSD.ORG>
From: Robert Malcolm Speed <R.M.Speed-iq2j9367@lmu.ac.uk>
List: port-arm32
Date: 02/18/1997 14:21:08
Once again, that time has come, inter-semester weeks, so I have come back
to try to install BSD (yet again.....)

My setup is ;-
RPC 600, 16+1MB, 850 Conner, 6x Mitsumi CD-ROM drive.

My problem is ;-
Getting the xxxxing thing to install.

I've partitioned the drive, run bb_riscbsd, I use the October 1996 loader
which is setup thus ;-

Root :- /dev/rd0a
Swap :- /dev/wd0b
single user mode ticked
native kernel ticked

no other boxes are ticked
ramdisk setup to be 1440

If I use kernel 3598 I get through the installation program.
(this gets IDE drive, wd0, call is what I want, setup the bytes/sector
(512), the cylinders (1656), heads (16), sectors (63).
I then specify 655 cylinders for the size of BSD partition
1001 for the offset, 50 for root, 50 for swap and the rest (555) for the
main partition.

I set the mount point to be /usr/mnt
(Jasper corrected me once, but again, I've deleted the mail and forgotten
where to actually set the mount point to - I remember it didn't work
though.)

It then goes away creating super-blocks and so forth, but I get
ffs:/dev/wd0a on /mnt : operation not supported by device

before the screen fills with messages about running out of space (that's
'cause it's trying to install to the ram-drive).

Another problem with this kernel is that at the start, the last line is
filled with different coloured pixels, this then changes after a
screenfull to be text that has previously scrolled up off the screen.....
Odd !!!

If I try kernel 4554 I get initial text (about 10 lines) then the screen
goes blank, the HD light stays on and I have to reboot (reset switch).

If I use the kernel Voyager-4956 I get 8 lines (about 1 cm high (each))
over the normal grey screen (textured backdrops disappear), the mouse
pointer stays on-screen but will not take input (keyboard also locks (no
caps-lock)) and again I have to re-boot.

I've been through the FAQ and the installation guide a few times, quite a
few people have helped me in the past, but it just does not seem to do any
good.

On another note, if this helps, I can't copy anything via unixfs (get
permission denied errors)

Thanks in advance
Rob S.