Subject: Odd install issues with 1.5.2 on a PB165
To: None <port-mac68k@netbsd.org>
From: Jon <k_m34@yahoo.com>
List: port-mac68k
Date: 11/14/2002 13:35:23
I finally figured out the problems I've had with installing NetBSD
1.5.2 on my PB165.  It's pretty basic, 8MB RAM, 160MB SCSI disk and a
small System 7.1 boot partition.  I used the tools included to try to
install NetBSD but found several problems.

1.  If is used sysinst only to install, it could format the BSD
partiton, mount the CD, and install.  When I went to boot with Booter
1.11.4a3 I always got one two specific problems.  Either it "failed to
set kernel symbol _boothowto" or it owuld think the kernel would be
extraordinarily large (50+ megs) and the boot would hang or fail.

2.  I couldn't use the "Traditional" method to install because I
couldn't mount the CD with the install files on the 165 under MacOS. 
Even if I could it would likely be PAINFULLY slow.

So I had to devise a method to install that eliminated the problems I
was finding.  I finally figured out through much trial and error that
the new inode style that sysinst made was not working correctly with
the booter.  I figured out that I should use mkfs under MacOS to format
the partition with the old style format.  The trouble is that sysinst
will not do a fresh install without reformatting the partition, using
the new style.  This then goes back into problem 1 above.  To upgrade
requires an fstab on the partition.  Soooo, I had to use the installer
to build devices and generate an fstab.  Then back into sysinst and try
for an upgrade.  When asked to update to the new indoe format, I gave
it a "no", then went ahead and got the system installed fine.  It took
about 30 mins or so to install from the 6x CD-ROM, so it wasn't really
very slow.  Reboot, try the Booter, and BINGO off we go to the regular
editing rc.conf and all that.

Now, it seems that I get random freezes and lockups and core dumps. 
I'll try to salvage any info from the next one(s), but does anyone
think this is related to the inode problems or is it something to do
with the emulated FPU?  Or something else I missed?  Occassionally, it
drops to the debugger when configuring ADB at boot, but I think that
only happens after a lockup.

I will try to get 1.6 installed, if I can figure out a way to get it on
the thing.

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