hugh@mimosa.com ("D. Hugh Redelmeier") writes:

  > Now I've moved on to the next problem.

  > I wish to run diskless.  The INSTALL.sun3 file doesn't really explain
  > how to do this.  It assumes that you will be installing onto a local
  > disk.  I just unpacked everything into the root-for-redvax directory.
  > I did a little bit of fiddling in /etc -- fstab and hosts, for now.
  > I should look at /etc/passwd.  Are there any others that I should
  > configure for my rather simple use?

  > I tried to boot the netbsd-rd and netbsd-gen kernels.  Both got hung
  > up contemplating SCSI.  Since I wish to run diskless, I've left all
  > the SCSI devices powered off (two disks and a tape drive).  Here are
  > the messages I got:

This should be OK but just might a bus termination problem. ie if the
termination at the far end is unpowered it could put the bus into a
state where the voltages are neither high nor low. If your termination
gets its power from the SCSI bus, and the Sun provides TERMPWR, then
it should all work even with the devices off, but some suns (3/50's at
least) don't conform to the SCSI spec wrt to termination. I don't
remember the details, but I got out a soldering iron and fixed mine.

Try unplugging the scsi bus completely is the first thing to try.

netbsd-gen should work.

  > Are these messages just because the devices are turned off?  Where can
  > I find a kernel that will plunk into this setup and not bother with
  > the devices?  Is this a job for the xkernel that Curt is mirroring?
  > If so, would it work with the files I've set up (from the current sun3
  > binaries)?

The /netbsd in the above mentioned xkernel distribution is a cut down
version of DISKLESS. It should work to get booted, but you may find
it a bit lacking (I don't recall exactly what is left out). You shouldn't
need that (unless of course you want an X terminal like set up as opposed
to a general computing environment.

Ian