On Fri, 29 Jun 2001, Michael Wolfson wrote:

> > Who maintains the install doc?
>
> I didn't get a chance to change anything for 1.5.1, because
> macppc's install doc overhaul took more time than I expected.  I've got a
> list of things that need work in the sparc INSTALL notes for 1.6.

Ah.

> What did you have in mind?

If you look at:

ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/arch/sparc/snapshot/20010510-1.5.1_BETA2/INSTALL.txt

Regarding booting from floppies:

-----
     Installing NetBSD by using the bootable floppies
     The NetBSD install floppies only work on the sun4c and sun4m
     machines. Making the install floppies is fairly straightforward.
     NetBSD and SunOS use the same commands.  First, get two 1.44 MB
     floppyd disks and format them either using the fdformat(8)
     command or a PC.

           # fdformat

     Be sure that the `fdformat' command completes successfully before
     pro-ceeding; on NetBSD success is a string of all `V 's', and on
     SunOS suc-cess is a string of `. 's'.

     Next, transfer the two floppy images (installation/floppy/disk1.gz
     and installation/floppy/disk2) to the disks you just formatted.  You
     can do this step from NetBSD, SunOS, or a Windows machine using
     rawrite.exe (available in the NetBSD/i386 distribution).  Insert the
     first floppy  and  run the following commands:

           # gunzip disk1.gz
           # dd if=disk1 of=/dev/rfd0a bs=36k
           # eject floppy

     Insert the second floppy and run the following commands:

           # dd if=disk2 of=/dev/rfd0a bs=36k conv=sync
           # eject floppy

     Be sure to label your floppies so you can later identify them.

     Insert the floppy made from disk1 into your Sparc.  From the OpenBoot
     prompt, boot the floppy with the following command:

           OpenBoot PROM 1              ok boot fd(,,1)
           OpenBoot PROM 1 (alternate)  ok boot /fd
           OpenBoot PROM 2              ok boot floppy

-----

These instructions are great.  Great improvements over 1.4.x install docs
(especially those damn DD flags).  My concern is that no where do we
mention setting the OpenBoot "boot-file" flag to "netbsd" or "netbsd.gz".
I always forget them, and we all know Sun floppies have a tendency to go
bad.  I would just be nice if it said:

"boot floppy netbsd.gz" or "setevn boot-file netbsd.gz ; boot floppy".

And of course, changing it after the first reboot, I do see some vague
comments down below, it would just be nice if they were clear up above.

--lava


>
> For future reference, you can use the "cvs log" feature to list prior
> changes to a particular file, and the authors of those changes.
>
>   -- MW
>
>
>

--Brian

 ----

"GNU/Linux: About as stable as the elements at the bottom of the periodic
table"