Re: NetBSD 7.0.1 on a Quadra 660AV

[Mac User <userm57%yahoo.com@localhost>]

On 8/15/16 1:18 AM, Martin Husemann wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 14, 2016 at 03:38:41PM -0600, Mac User wrote:
>> I installed NetBSD 7.0.1 on a 68 MB Quadra 660AV using
>> the traditional method (no CD-ROM drive). NetBSD 7.0.1
>> was installed on a partition that fit within the first
>> GB on the disk. The NetBSD Installer apparently can't
>> handle partitions larger than 1 GB, though Mkfs seems
>> able to create them.
> 
> What exactly fails?
> This is from my 660AV running -current:
> 
> Filesystem         Size       Used      Avail %Cap Mounted on
> /dev/sd0a           13G       1.8G        11G  14% /
> kernfs             1.0K       1.0K         0B 100% /kern
> procfs             4.0K       4.0K         0B 100% /proc
> ptyfs              1.0K       1.0K         0B 100% /dev/pts
> 

I did some more testing. I think the problem is that the
Mac OS NetBSD Installer can't access a disk beyond the
first gigabyte. For any filesystems (even ones < 1 GB,
created using Mkfs v1.47) that are entirely past the first
gigabyte, I get the following from the NetBSD Installer
Mini Shell:

  > mount /dev/sd1g /usr
  Error on SCSIRead(), # 5
  /usr : Invalid argument

Although I can create and mount with no errors filesystems
that span the first gigabyte, I'm guessing that the NetBSD
Installer would have an error the first time it tried to
access a block past the first gigabyte (though I haven't
tested that).


> and I created it with sysinst, as that is the only working way I found
> to prepare the apple partition stuff and get it booted from a single
> disk.

I didn't use sysinst. I formatted the disk with Apple HD
SC Setup 7.3.5 and partitioned it with pdisk (with my
NetBSD Root & Usr partition entirely within the first
gigabyte). Then I used Mkfs v1.47 to create my "NetBSD
Root & Usr", "NetBSD Swap" and other filesystems. After
installing the base system, I could boot into NetBSD
single user to complete the installation.


>> 3) Boot and login times seemed a little slow. A couple
>> months ago some changes were made to the startup scripts
>> to speed them up, and that worked on a Mac IIfx running
>> NetBSD 6.1.5. I haven't tried installing NetBSD 7.0.1 yet
>> on my Mac IIfx, so I don't know whether those changes
>> ended up in 7.0.1.
> 
> That is:
> 
> etc/rc.subr                                     1.97
> 
>         Speed up multiuser boot time on slow machines.  PR#50046.
>         [phx, ticket #1015]
> 
> which only made it to netbsd-7 (and not any of the more restrictced
> branches).
> 
> You can grab the latest version of netbsd-7 from the daily builds
> on nycdn.netbsd.org.

Thanks, I'll try the latest version.

-Stan