On Sun, 13 Feb 2005 13:20:12 +0200, Andreas Fuchs <fox@tcnet.ch> wrote:
> Hello
> 
> I have a running Qube2 with NetBSD 1.6.1 and i wonder if it is possible to
> upgrade to 2.0

It's possible to run, but I'm not sure how successful it is to
upgrade. I did it so long ago I can't really remember.
 
> - are there some short instructions somewhere?

No, but I'll give it a shot.

> - does it make sense ?

Of course. Well, depending on your sensibilities :) You can probably
run 1.6.1 for a while, or just update to the 1.6 stable branch and
leave it at that if you like.

> - is pci and usb support now included

PCI support has always been included. USB support can be added, I
don't think anyone actually added it into this kernel. This also
implies, of course, that you have a USB card to use. If not, the USB
built into the Qube has no external connectors.

> - is there still patching neede for the display

Display? Which display? Are you planning on using a pci video card? I
was going to try that but I could never find one that would fit inside
the Qube. It's a little tight in there...


OK, in order to be successful at upgrading, you need to know something
about the fundamentals of NetBSD. These directions aren't going to be
wrong, but they may be incomplete just because I've been doing this so
long. I take no responsibility if this doesn't go right!

If you don't have a serial cable connected to get a serial console,
then don't do this. You can't install a new OS while you are in multi
user mode, unless someone can tell me different.

Here are the VERY simplfied steps:

1. Download and install the GENERIC NetBSD 2.0 kernel. Get it here:

ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-2.0/cobalt/binary/sets/kern-GENERIC.tgz

Unpack this, but do it someplace other than /:

# cd /someplace 
# tar xvzpf kern-GENERIC.tgz

Copy your current kernel to a different name:

# cd /
# cp netbsd netbsd.1.6.1 (or something)

Copy in your new kernel:

# cp /someplace/netbsd /

Reboot. It should boot cleanly, and you should have a 2.0 kernel
running with a 1.6.1 userland  at this point. I can't remember for
sure if this is a good idea or not to do this part... I'm pretty sure
it worked for me, but I started in the 2.0 branch quite a while before
it was released, I'm not sure how much is changed.

Ok, the next part, you're kind of on your own. This is a step for semi
advanced NetBSD users.

2. Go to single user mode, save your old /etc, unpack the sets, then reboot.

First you should download the sets somewhere. They are here:

ftp://ftp.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-2.0/cobalt/binary/sets/

Then copy your old etc directory:

cp -r /etc /etc.old

Then move all the sets to the / directory. Then unpack them:

tar xvzpf sets.tgz

Then reboot. This is where it's a good idea to have a serial console,
because I *think* the cobalt is going to boot the kernel, find that
rc_configured=NO, then dump you into single user mode. At this point,
you can manually set up /etc to your liking, set up your users,
whatever, and then bring it up to multi user mode.

All the software you had running before you should re-compile for the
new kernel, and also to get the latest rc.d scripts for them to start,
if necessary.

Ok, that's about the best I can do on short notice. If you don't
understand it, just don't do it. maybe I can answer a few questions,
but this type of install is basically a manual install with no
sysinst. It's a real good idea to learn how to do this, you really
learn a lot about the way NetBSD boots.

Note that if you have another NetBSD machine, this is all quite a bit
easier to do if you just take the disk out of the Qube, put it in the
other NetBSD machine, then set up the disk that way. If you have the
space, you can always dump it too just in case.

I think someone might be working on the 2.0 install CD, but this
probably won't be an upgrade, it will be a clean install.

Andy