On 17 Jan 2005, at 20:13, Greg Earle wrote:

> On Jan 17, 2005, at 12:05 PM, Matthis Rouch wrote:
>
>> On 17 Jan 2005, at 19:06, Manuel Bouyer wrote:
>>> On Mon, Jan 17, 2005 at 06:13:35PM +0000, Matthis Rouch wrote:
>>>> Dear all, I am trying to install NetBSD on my SPARCstation 5, 
>>>> through
>>>> the Netboot method, using as host my Apple PowerBook.  I have a
>>>> keyboard to tell the sparcstation to netboot, but I need to know its
>>>> MAC address to set things up in the host's ethers and hosts files.
>>>> I know I could get a USB to serial cable, or a screen, but my goal
>>>> is to do this without buying anything if possible.
>>>> So, my questions are:
>>>> 1. Is there any may to know the MAC address without a 
>>>> console/screen?
>>>> (would it be written inside or something?? ;)
>>>> 2. Alternatively, is there a way to configure rarpd so that it will
>>>> take any MAC address and put an IP on it?
>>>
>>> You could run tcpdump on another box and look for packets from the 
>>> sparc.
>>>
>>> But I'm not sure the keyboard is functional if no screen is 
>>> connected.
>>> On sparc, if the POST doesn't detect a keyboard or a screen, it
>>> switches to serial port A automatically.
>>>
>> I've tested it and the keyboard is functional: when I type netboot, 
>> the
>> host UNIX box's rarpd prints: "got a packet".  But arp is not tcp so I
>> don't know if tcpdump will work.  As there is no system on the
>> sparcstation, I would need to generate something from open prom which
>> would be caught by tcpdump ... any ideas?
>
> Just because it's called "tcpdump" doesn't mean it doesn't grok
> ARP and RARP packets.  Try it before making assumptions.
>
> Your "goal" of "to do this without buying anything if possible" is
> called being "Penny wise but Pound foolish".  What are you going
> to do in the future if it croaks (or crashes to ddb, or to the PROM)?
>
> All it takes to turn your PowerBook into a SPARCstation console
> are a null-modem adapter (about 2 quid), a Sun-DB25-to-8-pin
> cable (how much can that be???) and a KeySpan USB serial adapter:
>
> 	http://www.keyspan.com/products/usb/USA28x/
>
> which is about 33 to 40 quid, depending.  Smart shopping
> could keep the whole bundle to 40 quid, tops.
>
> 	- Greg

Thanks to everyone for their help, I will try using tcpdump. The 
netBSD/sparc community is always really helpful!!! Hopefully I will 
then be able to proceed to the netbsd diskless install.

Matthis