On Wednesday 29 December 2004 05:04 pm, Andy Ruhl wrote:
> On Wed, 29 Dec 2004 16:52:00 -0600, Andrew L. Gould 
<algould@datawok.com> wrote:
> > I've been having trouble installing NetBSD 2.0 on NEC MobilePro
> > 780.
> >
> > Attempt #1:
> > I was able to get the 2GB Microdrive partitioned in the CF port.  I
> > had copied the contents of the installation CD onto a 128 MB memory
> > card which was in a PCMCIA adapter/slot.  (This worked when I
> > installed 1.6.2 onto a 1GB microdrive in the past.)  I was able to
> > mount the memory card; but I got the following message when the
> > installer tried to untar kern-GENERIC.tgz:
> >
> > panic: TLB out of universe: ksp 0xc2991fb8  epc 0x8014aee8  vaddr
> > 0xae71f000
> > Stopped at 0x801cdeb8:   jr   ra
> >                 bdslot:  nop
> > db>
> >
> > Attempt #2
> > Guessing that the kernel file may be corrupted, I cross compiled a
> > kernel on a x86 machine, tar-gzipped it and replaced
> > kern-GENERIC.tgz on the memory card mentioned in attempt #1.  I
> > then tried to repeat attempt #1; but had the same results.
> >
> > Attempt #3
> > I put the installation CDROM into my FreeBSD server and tried to
> > install via NFS using a pcmcia ethernet card (ne0).  I was able to
> > connect via NFS; but installation stalled for hours on
> > kern-GENERIC.tgz.  There was no progress bar; but the cursor moved
> > to the next line a couple of times.
> >
> > Attempt #4
> > I cross compiled the build and release on the x86 box, configured
> > rc.conf and fstab and copied the build onto the 2GB microdrive. 
> > The kernel booted and init started.  Init tried to create 'mfs on
> > dev', which was followed by a continuous flurry of messages.  I was
> > only able to make out parts of messages:
> >
> > 'command mknod on dev out of inodes' and
> > 'device out of space'
> >
> > After awhile, bootup continued; but the generation of keys for sshd
> > failed. I changed root's password, added a normal user in the wheel
> > group and rebooted -- which hung.  I'm not confident that the
> > installation is a good one.
> >
> > Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Andrew Gould
>
> I think what you're saying is in step 4 you just installed NetBSD
> onto the CF disk and had it all set up to boot, but even that
> failed... If that fails then it's likely this is some hardware error
> as far as I know.
>
> Does WinCE run OK? Not that it would tell you if the hardware was
> screwed up...
>
> I've got a Mobilepro 880 on the way. I'm hoping I have better luck.
> I've got a cobalt machine that I'm going to be doing the building
> from. It's pretty slow though.
>
> Andy

In attempt #4, the system finishes booting; but I can't use ssh because 
key generation failed; and I'm not confident that the system is running 
right "under the hood" because of all the 'out of inodes' messages 
during bootup.

Where does one find a cobalt machine?  Who makes them?

Andrew Gould