[ On Tue, May 12, 1998 at 18:01:30 (-0700), Jonathan Stone wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: Ultrix Install
>
> 
> On Tue, 12 May 1998 17:23:24 -0700, John Refling writes:
> 
> [need Ultrix gunzip  binary]
> 
> OK, then. Assume there's a CD in the same format as release(7), and
> there's a RISC Ultrix 4.2 gunzip binary in
> ./NetBSD-1.3.2/pmax/installation/misc/gunzip

That's not a very good assumption, though it is a good starting point
for one possible scenario.

> How does this look as a "Guide for the Impatient":?
> -------
> 
> NetBSD 1.3.2 includes the install materials on CD.  However, we cannot
> make a single CD bootable on a dozen systems, so the CD cannot be
> booted directly. but If your DECstation already has an OS installed
> and has a CD, you can install NetBSD by  mounting the CD and copying
> a miniroot to your swap partition.
> 
> Assuming your CD is on rz4c and your root at rz0, Under Ultrix, do:
> 
>       # single-user root prompt

This should be described in exact step-by-step detail.  The INSTALL
and/or NOTES documents alread have other instances of showing how to
boot from various versions of the monitor, so why not spell it out in
detail here too.  (Actually NOTES & INSTALL should be combined, and
INSTALL should have a pointer to the section where the real meat starts.
If there are short form documents then they should be explicit step by
step instructions for each possible scenario,
eg. INSTALL.quick.5000-1xx, etc.)

>       mkdir /cdrom
>       mount -r -t cdfs -o nodefperm,noversion /dev/rz4c /cdrom
>       PATH=$PATH:/cdrom/NetBSD-1.3.2/pmax/installation/misc; export PATH
> 
>       # check for space on swap
>       chpt -q /dev/rz0c		

I've found that using "pstat -s" is another half decent way to determine
how much swap space there is (at least so long as there's only one
swap partition.)

>       cp  /cdrom/NetBSD-1.3.2/pmax/binary/kernel/netbsd.ecoff.gz /
>       gunzip  /netbsd.ecoff.gz
>       gunzip -c /cdrom/NetBSD-1.3.2/pmax/installation/diskimage/diskimage.gz \
>           dd of=/dev/rrz0b

and of course add the missing "|" as has already been mentioned....

>       # ... halt and follow install from instructions for booting
>         diskimage from swap partition.


It would also be good to describe how to do this with only network
access (I'll only show boot commands for the 5000/xxx) [formatting and
extra comments could probably be improved a lot more]:

	# halt
	>> boot 3/rz0/vmunix -s
	# mount -a		# possibly needs '-t ufs' or whatever
	# df			# check for free space
				# need ~2MB on / and ~10MB on /tmp
	# cd /tmp		# or someplace with enough spece
	# ftp ftp.netbsd.org	# or whatever local "mirror" site
	ftp> cd DISTDIR		# i.e. the NetBSD dist top dir
	ftp> cd pmax/installation/misc
	ftp> get gunzip
	ftp> cd ../diskimage
	ftp> get diskimage.gz
	ftp> cd ../../binary/kernel
	ftp> get netbsd.ecoff.gz
	ftp> exit
	# ./gunzip -c -d < netbsd.ecoff.gz > /netbsd.ecoff
	# ./gunzip -c -d < diskimage.gz | dd of=/dev/rrz0b
	# halt
	>> boot 3/rz0/netbsd.ecoff n
	root: .....  # I've not done this yet....

	now proceed to instructions for running sysinstall

I don't really like step-by-step instructions that force me to jump
around much, esp. not those that make me back up to something I've
alread read (assuming I read the file top to bottom).  It should be
possible to break down all the steps such that the alternatives at each
major milestone are all presented together and then each milestone
proceeds in logical succession.  The current INSTALL and NOTES are
really bad for this if you're doing anything like the install from
Ultrix.

BTW, I would also (again) recommend stressing the "install with
diskimage from Ultrix" mechanism as the primary and preferred first-time
method.  Installing from netboot, or installing with a helper machine,
are only for experts who really know what they're doing, esp. in the
netboot case where not all systems are capable of netboot.  The Ultrix
approach will always work, even if your swap is <32MB and you have to
over-write some other partition with the diskimage install filesystem.

-- 
							Greg A. Woods

+1 416 443-1734      VE3TCP      <gwoods@acm.org>      <robohack!woods>
Planix, Inc. <woods@planix.com>; Secrets of the Weird <woods@weird.com>