On Wed, 20 Dec 1995, Mauricio Tavares wrote:

> While shopping for shruberries, Tom Samplonius pondered:
> > 
> > On Wed, 20 Dec 1995, Mauricio Tavares wrote:
> > 
> > > 	I am planning on installing NetBSD 1.1 in a currently diskless 
> > > 3/50.  To do that, I bought a Conner 1.08GB SCSI drive, which I will 
> > > install in an external case, and a DB50->Centronics 50 cable.  I will try 
> > > to install it from an Exabyte 8200 8mm tape drive.  Here are my questions:
> > > 
> > > 	o Will the 3/50 be happy with the Exabyte?
> > 
> >   I don't think so.  I believe 3/x systems can only boot from a QIC 24 or 
> > sometimes a QIC 150.  You will probably need to netboot it to install.  
> > The boot rom just isn't that smart in the Sun 3 line.
> > 
> 	Oh great.  I've already made the 8mm tapes.  It seems it is time 
> for me to find a victim I can borrow a QIC 24/150 tape drive from...
>
> 	About netbooting, wouldn't that require, as far as I could gather 
> from the guide, that I will need to start the 3/50 from a tape anyway.  
> If that is true, shouldn't I simply use the tape to install netbsd in the 
> first place?  I am confused.

  No, Sun's boot rom can tftp a kernel from a server.  It can be tricky 
to configure the boot server correctly though.  Sun's can run completely 
diskless, with even swap mounted via NFS.  You probably just want to 
netboot the netbsd-rd kernel once for the install, and once everything is 
setup boot from your hard drive.

  Remember:  your hard drive needs to have SCSI parity disabled for you 
to boot from it.  Non-boot drives don't matter.

> > > 	o I do not remember seeing much stuff in the install documentation 
> > > 	  regarding partitioning a drive before installing NetBSD.  Is it 
> > > 	  assumed we are using the default configuration, whatever it 
> > > 	  might be?
> > 
> >   The installation guide is a little thin in this area.  You do need to 
> > partition the disk into slices for root, swap and /usr.
> > 
> 	That I understand.  However, if I am not mistaken the a partition 
> defaults to 32MB, the b also is 32MB, and so on.  I know that I can 
> change that *once* I have a live machine to play with, but how to go 
> about doing that *before* having a fully operation netbsd box?

  No.  You can only set this *before* installing.  Once you boot the 
installer, you get access to a disk partition tool.  Once the disk is 
partitioned, you can copy the miniroot to the disk, and boot from it, and 
finish installing the rest of the system binaries.

> > > 	o The installation docs also mentioned using a terminal connected to
> > > 	  the Sun's serial port during the installation process.  Do I *need* 
> > > 	  that?  Can't I simply use the machine's screen/keyboard?
> > 
> >   Sure (well, works for me).  The install recommends run diagnostics.  
> > You need the terminal for that.  Also, many Sun 3 owners don't have 
> > working keyboards and/or monitors anymore so use a terminal all the time.
> > 
> 	I see.  If I were to run diagnostics, can't I simply slap a null 
> modem and a PC/Mac running some comm rpogram in its serial port and set 
> it to 9600 8/N/1?

  Yes, plus if the keyboard is disconnected, it auto-matically boots to 
the serial port too.


Tom