Re: Upgrading a 90s laptop from 5.1 to 10 -- no FD or CDROM

[joelp%sdf.org@localhost]

> On Thu, Dec 21, 2023 at 4:07â?¯AM <joelp%sdf.org@localhost> wrote:
>>
>> > Hi I would say to take to hard drive out and use some other computer
>> to
>> > install NetBSD 10 on it or use qemu.
>> > to use qemu install the drive in a linux machine with the linux boot
>> drive
>> > and run "qemu-system-i386 -cpu pentium -m 64 -cdrom
>> > NetBSD-10.0rc1-i386.iso -hda /dev/oldlaptopsdisk"
>> > where NetBSD-10.0rc1-i386.iso is the netbsd install iso and
>> > "/dev/oldlaptopsdisk" is the device to the old laptops drive
>> > xuser%sdf.org@localhost
>> > SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.org
>
> There are several more things you could do:
>
> 1. Install NetBSD 10 onto a CF card. Update the bootloader on the HDD,
> then boot with "boot /netbsd10 root=sd0a" or something like that. That
> will show you if NetBSD 10 works at all.
>
> 2. Update the bootloader, install the NetBSD 10 kernel and
> https://cdn.netbsd.org/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-10.0_RC1/i386/installation/miniroot/miniroot.kmod.
> Load the miniroot module from the bootloader, and you will have an
> installer. You could perhaps use that installer to do the installation
> as per #1.
>
> 3. Instead of gdt's scripts, there is also sysupgrade from pkgsrc. You
> can do "sysupgrade fetch kernel modules", reboot, then do the other
> steps.
>
> --
> Benny
>
>

This is great info, thanks.

I did get a chance to confirm GENERIC NetBSD 10.0_RC1 will boot. From the
'10 boot.iso, I copied the kernel as /netbsd10, rebooted to the boot
prompt, and did:
  boot netbsd10 -s
I will have to do some trimming with a custom kernel!
 [   1.0000000] total memory = 81660 KB
 [   1.0000000] avail memory = 57384 KB
The full dmesg is below.

As noted, ifconfig from 5.1 didn't work with the '10 kernel.

I couldn't get the version of boot I have to recognize any USB or CF
drives. I guess because not recognized by BIOS? I guess I could upgrade
boot as a first step?

Back to 5.1, I then prepared a USB thumb drive from the '10 boot.iso to
get userland working. For completeness, here's what I did:
1. Created partitions on the thumb drive for /sbin, /bin, /usr, /lib,
/libexec (using disklabel -i -I sd0) as /dev/sd0f, g, h, i, j,
respectively.
2. Mounted boot.iso, which is pretty nice using vnconfig; something like
this:
  vnconfig vnd0 boot.iso
  mount -t cd9660 /dev/vnd0a /mnt
3. mount'd each partition and did rsync -av /mnt/sbin/ /dev/sd0f and so on.
4. Rebooted and again: boot netbsd10 -s.
4. Running '10 in single user, I did a /rescue/mount for each of those
partitions and was able to assign an ip address using the '10 userland's
/sbin/ifconfig -- the old pcmcia 3Com NIC works. Awesome! I gave various
other userland commands a try and things looked pretty good.

So: NetBSD 10 runs on my old 90s laptop :-)

I'll try to get brave enough to actually upgrade in place on the original
drive. As also mentioned, and since it feels like I have one shot at this
similar to doing this remotely, I'll practice with another 2010s era
device going from 9.3 to 10_RC1 in place.

Thanks to everyone for the great info.

-Joel

[   1.0000000] Copyright (c) 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003,
[   1.0000000]     2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012,
2013,
[   1.0000000]     2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023
[   1.0000000]     The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.  All rights reserved.
[   1.0000000] Copyright (c) 1982, 1986, 1989, 1991, 1993
[   1.0000000]     The Regents of the University of California.  All
rights reserved.

[   1.0000000] NetBSD 10.0_RC1 (GENERIC) #0: Sun Nov  5 18:30:08 UTC 2023
[   1.0000000] 
mkrepro%mkrepro.NetBSD.org@localhost:/usr/src/sys/arch/i386/compile/GENERIC
[   1.0000000] total memory = 81660 KB
[   1.0000000] avail memory = 57384 KB
[   1.0000000] timecounter: Timecounters tick every 10.000 msec
[   1.0000000] Kernelized RAIDframe activated
[   1.0000000] timecounter: Timecounter "i8254" frequency 1193182 Hz
quality 100
[   1.0000040] mainbus0 (root)
[   1.0000040] Firmware Error (ACPI): A valid RSDP was not found
(20221020/tbxfroot-275)
[   1.0000040] autoconfiguration error: acpi_probe: failed to initialize
tables
[   1.0000040] ACPI Error: Could not remove SCI handler (20221020/evmisc-316)
[   1.0000040] cpu0 at mainbus0
[   1.0000040] ACPI Error: AE_BAD_PARAMETER, Thread 3242920000 could not
acquire Mutex [ACPI_MTX_Tables] (0x2) (20221020/utmutex-326)
[   1.0000040] ACPI Error: Mutex [ACPI_MTX_Tables] (0x2) is not acquired,
cannot release (20221020/utmutex-367)
[   1.0000040] cpu0: Use cpuid to serialize rdtsc
[   1.0000040] cpu0: Intel 586-class, 132MHz, id 0x543
[   1.0000040] cpu0: node 0, package 0, core 0, smt 0
[   1.0000040] pci0 at mainbus0 bus 0: configuration mode 1
[   1.0000040] pci0: i/o space, memory space enabled, rd/line, rd/mult,
wr/inv ok
[   1.0000040] pchb0 at pci0 dev 0 function 0: Toshiba Host
Bridge/Controller (rev. 0x27)
[   1.0000040] vga0 at pci0 dev 4 function 0: Chips and Technologies 65554
(rev. 0xc2)
[   1.0000040] wsdisplay0 at vga0 kbdmux 1: console (80x25, vt100 emulation)
[   1.0000040] wsmux1: connecting to wsdisplay0
[   1.0000040] drm at vga0 not configured
[   1.0000040] ohci0 at pci0 dev 11 function 0: NEC USB Host Controller
(rev. 0x01)
[   1.0000040] ohci0: interrupting at irq 11
[   1.0000040] ohci0: OHCI version 1.0
[   1.0000040] usb0 at ohci0: USB revision 1.0
[   1.0000040] isa0 at mainbus0
[   1.0000040] lpt0 at isa0 port 0x378-0x37b irq 7
[   1.0000040] com0 at isa0 port 0x3f8-0x3ff irq 4: ns16550a, 16-byte FIFO
[   1.0000040] com1 at isa0 port 0x2f8-0x2ff irq 3: ns16550a, 16-byte FIFO
[   1.0000040] pckbc0 at isa0 port 0x60-0x64
[   1.0000040] pckbd0 at pckbc0 (kbd slot)
[   1.0000040] pckbc0: using irq 1 for kbd slot
[   1.0000040] wskbd0 at pckbd0: console keyboard, using wsdisplay0
[   1.0000040] pms0 at pckbc0 (aux slot)
[   1.0000040] pckbc0: using irq 12 for aux slot
[   1.0000040] wsmouse0 at pms0 mux 0
[   1.0000040] attimer0 at isa0 port 0x40-0x43
[   1.0000040] wdc0 at isa0 port 0x1f0-0x1f7 irq 14
[   1.0000040] atabus0 at wdc0 channel 0
[   1.0000040] wdc1 at isa0 port 0x170-0x177 irq 15
[   1.0000040] atabus1 at wdc1 channel 0
[   1.0000040] sb0 at isa0 port 0x220-0x237 irq 5 drq 1: dsp v3.01
[   1.0000040] audio0 at sb0: playback, capture, half duplex
[   1.0000040] audio0: slinear_le:16 -> ulinear_le:8 2ch 20000Hz, blk 400
bytes (10ms) for playback
[   1.0000040] audio0: slinear_le:16 <- ulinear_le:8 2ch 20000Hz, blk 400
bytes (10ms) for recording
[   1.0000040] midi0 at sb0: SB MIDI UART
[   1.0000040] opl0 at sb0: model OPL3
[   1.0000040] midi1 at opl0: SB Yamaha OPL3
[   1.0000040] wss0 at isa0 port 0x530-0x537 irq 10 drq 0,1: CS4231
[   1.0000040] audio1 at wss0: playback, capture, full duplex
[   1.0000040] audio1: slinear_le:16 2ch 48000Hz, blk 1920 bytes (10ms)
for playback
[   1.0000040] audio1: slinear_le:16 2ch 48000Hz, blk 1920 bytes (10ms)
for recording
[   1.0000040] pcppi0 at isa0 port 0x61
[   1.0000040] midi2 at pcppi0: PC speaker
[   1.0000040] sysbeep0 at pcppi0
[   1.0000040] isapnp0 at isa0 port 0x279
[   1.0000040] fdc0 at isa0 port 0x3f0-0x3f7 irq 6 drq 2
[   1.0000040] pcic0 at isa0 port 0x3e0-0x3e1 iomem 0xd0000-0xdffff irq
[   1.0000040] pcic0: controller 0 (Intel 82365SL Revision 1) has sockets
A and B
[   1.0000040] pcmcia0 at pcic0 controller 0 socket 0
[   1.0000040] pcmcia1 at pcic0 controller 0 socket 1
[   1.0000040] attimer0: attached to pcppi0
[   1.0000040] isapnp0: no ISA Plug 'n Play devices found
[   1.0000040] WARNING: system needs entropy for security; see entropy(7)
[   1.0100670] timecounter: Timecounter "clockinterrupt" frequency 100 Hz
quality 0
[   1.0116368] timecounter: Timecounter "TSC" frequency 132728920 Hz
quality 3000
[   1.0310182] fd0 at fdc0 drive 0: 1.44MB, 80 cyl, 2 head, 18 sec
[   1.0310182] pcic0: controller 0 detecting irqs with mask 0xdeb8:..9
[   1.0310182] pcic0: autoconfiguration error: can't share irq with cards;
polling for socket events
[   1.0310182] autoconfiguration error: pcic0: WARNING:
powerhook_establish is deprecated
[   1.0310182] autoconfiguration error: pcic0: WARNING:
powerhook_establish is deprecated
[   1.0410499] uhub0 at usb0: NetBSD (0x0000) OHCI root hub (0x0000),
class 9/0, rev 1.00/1.00, addr 1
[   1.0410499] uhub0: 2 ports with 2 removable, self powered
[   1.0610086] IPsec: Initialized Security Association Processing.
[   1.9203576] wdc2 at pcmcia0 function 0: <TRANSCEND, TS8GCF133, >
[   1.9203576] pcic0: port 0x400-0x40f
[   1.9203576] wdc2: i/o mapped mode
[   1.9203576] pcmcia0: card irq 9
[   2.4199912] atabus2 at wdc2 channel 0
[   2.6198756] umass0 at uhub0 port 1 configuration 1 interface 0
[   2.6198756] umass0: SMI Corporation (0x090c) USB DISK (0x1000), rev
2.00/11.00, addr 2
[   2.6198756] umass0: using SCSI over Bulk-Only
[   2.6298760] scsibus0 at umass0: 2 targets, 1 lun per target
[   2.8596945] sd0 at scsibus0 target 0 lun 0: <SMI, USB DISK, 1100> disk
removable
[   2.8796821] sd0: 1920 MB, 3936 cyl, 16 head, 63 sec, 512 bytes/sect x
3932160 sectors
[   2.9196498] ep0 at pcmcia1 function 0: <3Com, Megahertz 574B, B, 001>
[   2.9196498] pcic0: port 0x420-0x43f
[   2.9196498] pcmcia1: card irq 9
[   2.9296636] ep0: address 00:50:04:fd:31:c2, 64KB word-wide FIFO, 1:1
Rx:Tx split
[   2.9396540] tqphy0 at ep0 phy 0: 78Q2120 10/100 media interface, rev. 10
[   2.9396540] tqphy0: 10baseT, 10baseT-FDX, 100baseTX, 100baseTX-FDX, auto
[   4.1587436] wd0 at atabus0 drive 0
[   4.1687641] wd0: <IBM-DMCA-21215>
[   4.1687641] wd0: drive supports 16-sector PIO transfers, LBA addressing
[   4.1687641] wd0: 1160 MB, 2358 cyl, 16 head, 63 sec, 512 bytes/sect x
2376864 sectors
[   4.2886694] wd0: drive supports PIO mode 4, DMA mode 1
[   4.2886694] atapibus0 at atabus1: 2 targets
[   4.2886694] cd0 at atapibus0 drive 0: <TOSHIBA CD-ROM XM-1502BN,
1200002133, 1001> cdrom removable
[   4.2988612] cd0: drive supports PIO mode 3, DMA mode 1
[   4.2988612] wd1 at atabus2 drive 0
[   4.2988612] wd1: <TS8GCF133>
[   4.2988612] wd1: drive supports 1-sector PIO transfers, LBA addressing
[   4.2988612] wd1: 7647 MB, 15538 cyl, 16 head, 63 sec, 512 bytes/sect x
15662304 sectors
[   4.3186449] wd1: drive supports PIO mode 4
[   4.6184071] swwdog0: software watchdog initialized
[   4.6883787] pcmcia0: card irq 9
[   5.7276145] pcmcia0: card irq 9
[   5.9074806] entropy: best effort
[   6.8567998] pcmcia0: card irq 9
[   7.7961255] pcmcia0: card irq 9
[   8.8154123] WARNING: 4 errors while detecting hardware; check system log.
[   8.8154123] boot device: wd0
[   8.8154123] root on wd0a dumps on wd0b
[   8.9653054] root file system type: ffs
[   8.9952696] kern.module.path=/stand/i386/10.0/modules
[  27.1222303] pcmcia0: card irq 9