Subject: Netbooting... argh!
To: None <port-sun3@NetBSD.ORG>
From: Black Ice <STEVE@argonaut.com>
List: port-sun3
Date: 09/05/1995 20:02:40
Right... inspired by one or two replies I had from my earlier posting, I've 
spent the evening trying to get my machine to netboot....  Is there a
particular method to netbooting a 3/60 ??  I did see some mention of problems 
in the mailing list archive, but nothing that really helped....

Having got a Sun in our other building to happily provide the address via 
rarp, download the netboot program via tftp and run that, it contacts the 
bootparamd on the same Sun which points it at a local Linux box which has the 
NFS drives, exported and ready for use...

It mounts /, loads the kernel, and is away... at least, I think it is - I'm
using a serial console rather than a real one, but the kernel seems to think
otherwise... it gets as far as the 3rd line of the startup messages: 'console
on kd0 (keyboard/display)' and then stops.  Following a hunch about machines
with frame buffers, I removed it, in diagnostics mode it now came up with a 
message while going through the tests about having no keyboard, and got to
exactly the same point......

Is it hanging there, or diverting all output to the real console?  Is there 
anyway to make it use the serial console?  I've tried fiddling around in 
/dev, but haven't come up with anything yet.. (out of interest, is there 
supposed to be a /dev/kd0?)

Assuming it is continuing, what is it supposed to do next?  I'm fairly sure 
it never mounts any swap - does the swap file have to be specifically 
exported, or will it just pick it up from the higher level '/export' ?
The network never gets set up... at least, pings never get answered...

Does anyone have any suggestions??  I'm dazed, confused and generally lost!

Oh, the other thing is that if I have diagnostic mode off, it doesn't really 
seem to do very much at all... but it could just be that I can't see what its 
trying to do... ;)

Thanks in advance for all help!
Steve.
--
Two plus two does not equal five, even for moderately large values of two.
--
Steve Kersley, Assistant Network Services Manager & Postmaster,
Argonaut Software and Argonaut Technologies Ltd, London, UK.
Tel: +44 181 200 5777 or +44 181 358 2918.  Fax: +44 181 200 9866.