From: Jun Ebihara <jun@soum.co.jp>
Subject: Re: Instal NetBSD to CompactFlash from FreeBSD laptop
Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2001 11:02:42 +0900

jun> From: Marty Cawthon <mrc@ChipChat.com>
jun> Subject: Instal NetBSD to CompactFlash from FreeBSD laptop
jun> Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2001 00:24:56 GMT
jun> 
jun> > HERE IS WHERE I NEED SOME GUIDANCE:
jun> > 5) Some success, however I cannot format the DOS partition from FreeBSD
jun> > and it seems that I cannot 'newfs' the NetBSD FFS from FreeBSD.
jun> 
jun> You can format your CF with mobile pro 800.
jun> 
jun> > copy PBSDBOOT.EXE to it, and also format the NetBSD FFS partition, mount
jun> > and copy 'netbsd' to it, then I would be in good shape.
jun> 
jun> 1. download "Kernel for Install" and set with pbsdboot.exe
jun> ftp:/pub/NetBSD/NetBSD-1.5.1/hpcmips/installation/netbsd.gz
jun> 
jun> 2. exec pbsdboot.exe and start netbsd.gz
jun> 
jun> please report it work or not.
jun> --
jun> jun ebihara

Hello to Ebihara-san and Mr Warner Losh,

  Thanks for your replies to my request for help.

  My life became much simpler when my Thinkpad, Thinkpad power supply, 
and MobilePro 800 Power Supply were stolen while under the care of the
Bellhops at the hotel in San Diego.  The MobilePro was not stolen.  
  That ended my attempts to get the MobilePro to work until now.
I have a replacement power supply for the MobilePro, and continue my
efforts to get the MobilePro 800 to boot NetBSD.

  Here is what I have done, and the trouble I now have:

  1) I have used FreeBSD FDISK to create (2) partitions (slices) on the
Compact Flash (CF).  "da1s1" is the larger and intended to be for the Unix File
System. "da1s2" is smaller and is for the DOS File System.

  2) I formatted the DOS partition and put pbsdboot.exe there.

  3) I used FreeBSD disklabel to create labels on the Unix 'partition' (slice).
 
  4) I used FreeBSD 'newfs' to create a new fs on /dev/da1s1
     I did this:
           # newfs /dev/da1s1
           # newfs /dev/da1s1a
           # newfs /dev/da1s1e
           # newfs /dev/da1s1f
     I think I did more than I needed, but this is my first work with
     using 'newfs' other than from an automatic install, so I am learning.

  5) Copied 'netbsd.gz' onto /dev/da1s1a, like this:
           # mount /dev/da1s1a /mnt
           # cp -p /home/mrc/netbsd/hpcmips/netbsd.gz /mnt/
           # umount /mnt

  6) Insert the CF into the MobilePro 800

  7) Run the pbsdboot.exe program - it runs successfully at first, then error.
        GUI screen
        Select "kernel name"  /netbsd.gz
        Select "frame buffer"  Mobile Pro 800
        Push the [Boot] button
        Popup window appears: Data in memory will be lost. Are you sure?  [YES]
        Popup window appears: Loading [               ]  (but no loading occurs)
        About 1/2 second later another popup window appears:
              (X) read program header table error

        I don't know what to think about this message.
        I have tried different paths for the "kernel name"
        such as "Storage Card 2/netbsd.gz" etc.
        Also I put the "netbsd.gz" file on the DOS partition along with pbsdboot.exe
        Still, I am stuck.

  I am able to mount the DOS partition to a FreeBSD 4.3 machine, and also the
BSD partition to a FreeBSD machine.  So, to FreeBSD the DOS and FFS filesystems
seem OK (I can copy files to/from the mounted CF, I can do 'ls' on the mounted CF).

  Any thoughts?

Marty Cawthon
ChipChat