Re: bootable mac68k iso (Was: Tools mkhybrid(8) for mac68k/macppcISO9660/HFS install ISO images

[Stan Johnson <userm57%yahoo.com@localhost>]

Hi Izumi,

On 6/4/24 10:10 AM, Izumi Tsutsui wrote:
> Hi,
> 
>> 1) I noticed that the installation only lists the first four available
>> SCSI disks. This would not be a problem in most situations, though with
>> BlueSCSI I have five targets defined specifically for this sort of testing.
>>
>> Recommendation: Include all of the SCSI disks in the list of available
>> drives.
> 
> What do you mean "the installation" here?
> Installer on MacOS, or sysinst on NetBSD?

I meant the sysinst installer in NetBSD in NetBSD-10.99.10-mac68k.iso.

Regarding the installer in MacOS (i.e. the Traditional Method), it (and
the MacOS Mkfs) should either be updated to support disks larger than 1
GiB and ffsv2 filesystems, or the traditional method should be removed
as an installation option. I've used the Traditional Method in the past
to quickly install NetBSD to an external SCSI disk for a slow system
(such as an SE/30) from a faster system, such as from MacOS 9 on a Beige
G3 Desktop, but the Traditional Method no longer works for current
NetBSD releases.

> 
> /dev/MAKEDEV script for NetBSD/mac68k creates only sd0, sd1, and sd2
> so maybe it isn't enough:
>  https://github.com/NetBSD/src/blob/db203c84/etc/etc.mac68k/MAKEDEV.conf
> 
> but users still can create device node manually like
> cd /dev; MAKEDEV sd3 sd4 sd5 sd6
> etc.

Yes, it was a minor issue (as it is, I couldn't install on my SCSI
target 5; i.e. sd4). Maybe just include a few more disks, or include the
four and an option to pick from a full list (similar to the way the
timezone is selected)?


> 
>> 2) I didn't use a real SCSI CD-ROM drive, though the iso would have fit.
>> The BlueSCSI simulated CD-ROM is faster at around 75-80 KiB/s, compared
>> to about 20-40 KiB/s for a real Apple SCSI CD-ROM drive.
>>
>> Recommendation: Include a DVD-sized iso that has all of the software,
>> including source code.
> 
> I guess it has pros. and cons., i.e. depends on demand vs size
> (capacity and bandwidth).
> 
> Not all users have BlueSCSI like devices, and writing extra ~300MB
> onto CD-R takes a several minutes (at least for me).

That makes sense. Perhaps just remove the option from the custom install
menu to install source?

> 
> Most users will get sources via cvs (or github), and ordinary(?)
> NetBSD developers will use crossbuild environment, so I guess
> there is less demand to get sources via CD image on poor m68k machines.

Before I set up a crossbuild environment, I tried to build a kernel on
the IIci, but I stopped it after about 60 hours. The only reason I
suggested including sources on the CD image was because of the option
(while doing a custom install) to install source, which fails because
it's not there and the network hasn't been configured yet.

> 
> Even if it's still required, anyone can create it (even on Linux)
> with the following commands:
> 
> ---
> git clone https://github.com/netbsd/src
> git clone https://github.com/netbsd/xsrc
> cd src
> sh build.sh -U -m mac68k -x -X ../xsrc -j 8 release sourcesets iso-image-source
> ls -l obj/releasedir/images

Thanks, that's helpful, and much easier than using FTP!

> ---
> 
>> 3) There is still an issue on the IIci with RAM-based video (RBV, i.e.
>> built-in video). The issue is described in NetBSD Problem Report #58164:
>> https://gnats.netbsd.org/cgi-bin/query-pr-single.pl?number=58164
> 
> This is a compilcated mac68k specific issue, I'll comment in
> another thread later.
> 
> Thanks,
> ---
> Izumi Tsutsui
> 

Thanks to all the volunteers/developers who make NetBSD available on mac68k!

-Stan