> At 03:56 PM 12/17/2000 -0800, Chuck McManis wrote:
> >Bruce Lane asked the question as to why there wasn't a copy of boot.fs 
> >available for tape installs. I have attempted to create one. This image is 
> >here:
> >         <http://www.mcmanis.com/~cmcmanis/boot.img.gz>

Thanks Chuck... I will try it!

> Thinking about this, I think the answer is two part: I don't think sysinst
> supports tapes.  And two, tapes don't use bootfs.  It isn't useful.
> 
> How if i could only recall what ULTRIX boot tapes were like.  I seem to recall
> that they had 1 or 2 512-blocked files, followed by a 512-blocked kernel.
> I don't know if the netbsd boot blocks support booting from tape.

Well, I have the sources if we need a lookiesee, and I can unroll a
tape and see what the bits are.  The first several files are as you
describe, but I don't remember if a miniroot followed the kernel or not.
The rest of the tape is compressed tarball install sets.  Although
tape installs are slow and kludgy, I, for one, would like to see
that capability remain in VAXen, since not everyone with a cold VAX
to bring up has a bootable network up and running.  Tape is so
simple.  And, how do I hook up a CD to an MVII?.... not so easy.

For the sake of discussion, and keeping the low-ram capability for
oldeVAXen around, should we rewrite a VAX specific low-end tape
install that is more traditional in nature rather than late-model
sysinstall based?  It would require we keep a second VAX-specific
tapeboot readme for just that instance.  But, I sense that a
minimal traditional install might be good.

Also, for the sake of discussion, can any sort of tapeboot run off
9 track reel scsi tape drives?  I have a couple of those that would
be nice to use, in lieu of a cd boot or a TK50 boot.  I am not sure
what differences in coding would be required, but it probably would
not be too much.

Thanks, and if I can help in any way, holler.

Bob