On Tue 11 Nov, Neil Farnham-Smith wrote:
> On Tue 11 Nov, Thomas Boroske wrote:
> > In message <9711111303.AA10558@btr0x1.rz.uni-bayreuth.de> you wrote:
> > 
> > > I did not manage to use a partition on a SCSI harddisc for RiscBSD. I
> > > configured the partition to be 'empty', did *not* use the BSD partition
> > > tool, as told in the manual, but BSD refused to use the partition as it
> > > didn't find the partition data of just the tool one is told not to use
> > > here. The problem is contained in the FAQ list of the install manual, but
> > > no solution or indeed not any comment is supplied! =8-O
> > 
> > Well, I keep repeating that: I use a Powertec controller and I *did* 
> > use bb_riscbsd, always. I've had problems with the system, but that 
> > was prior to the RBSD stuff so wasn't related.
> > Of course, I won't tell you to use bb_riscbsd on this controller...

This worked with earlier versions of the Power-tec firmware, but my
experience is that it doesn't anymore.

The reason for that, I believe, is that bb_riscbsd is ruining the
Power-tec partition table, so that the Power-tec firmware is not
able to recognize it.
Maybe the partition table wasn't verified in earlier firmware.
Could you please check into this Neil?

> > I can't find a mention of this in my copy of the FAQ (may be outdated),
> > but it's obvious that if you don't use bb_riscbsd you'll need to do 
> > what it's meant to do in another way. I remember that meant changing
> > some values using a disc editor ...
> 
> Kjetil B. Thomassen is the man that knows how to do it.

Should now is a better word.

In the releases prior to the new beta release, here is what
needs to be done in addition to what is described in the manual.

Please bear in mind that I have only tested this on two of my
own drives with firmware from 18-Feb-1997 on my v. 1.01 Power-tec
SCSI-2 card. This was on a Risc PC 600 with RISC OS 3.5.

	Do as described using PowerMgr, but in addition to this,
	change the partition type of the last partition to RiscBSD
	(no colon) with a sector editor. Then boot RiscBSD and
	proceed as normal.

	The R should start in the same position as the E.

I recommend the program !DiscEdit by Chris E. Poole for this
operation. My current, licensed version is 2.28 (13-Nov-96),
and that is the one I have used.


In the beta release that was available, OTOH, I was not able to do
this no matter what I did. I tried every method I could think of,
but it failed in one way or the other.

I have discussed this problem with Scott Stevens (the SCSI guy
in RiscBSD), and he has not been able to provide a solution to
this problem.

I'll have to check if this problem has been fixed on the CD-ROM
of 1.3_Alpha, and if it hasn't, then I just have to talk some
sense to Scott. He does have a Power-tec SCSI-2 card.

So, please try to see if you can make it work, and if not,
then we will have to wait until my CD-ROM arrives. It was
shipped this week, so I may get it tomorrow.

Kjetil B.
mailto:kjetil.b.thomassen@eunet.no
http://login.eunet.no/~kjetilbt/ (contains the latest install manual)