Install on PC164, was: CentOS 4.2 for alpha

[Robert Williams]

Installing CentOS 4.2 on a PC164 where SRM "show dev" sees
only dqa0 (hda) and the floppy:

I've copied the cdrom.img, generic.img,  ramdisk.img, and vmlinux.gz
files to the /boot partition of my RH7.2 system and I can
use SRM and aboot to run the new kernel and load the images,
but:

1.  After loading cdrom.img, my BusLogic BT958 is initialized but
then I see an "Illegal CCD #...." error reported on console 4
that continues to retry until I stop it.  This device works fine
using the 2.4 kernel in RH7.2.

2.  After loading generic.img, and ramdisk.img, the boot panics
with a request to set the "root=" option.   Of course when I set
"root=/dev/hda4" where my current system is rooted, the system
does not boot to an install, but rather to that file system.

When I try "root=ramdisk.img"  (I'm just guessing now about
what SRM and aboot flags may work.  I can't find a complete list
of flags.) the system again initializes the BusLogic BT958 and
goes into the infinite error loop.

Short of disconnecting my BT958, is there a flag to inhibit
the loading of the scsi driver,  or are there any other options
available to me?

Best wishes,
Bob
Michal Jaegermann wrote:
>On Fri, Oct 21, 2005 at 10:48:17PM +0300, Pasi Pirhonen wrote:
>  
>>On Fri, Oct 21, 2005 at 02:30:11PM -0400, Robert Williams wrote:
>>    
>>>Now I'm looking at the floppy boot images, generic.img
>>>etc...they are too big.   My boxes only see the floppy
>>>device and one hard disk.  Can anyone give some advice
>>>about whether I should try this install and how to get
>>>started?
>>>      
>>From the methods you seem to be able to so, i'd say putting the 
>>
>>/kernels/vmlinux.gz
>>/images/cdrom.img
>>
>>on running system /boot dir and making suitable aboot entry for it,
>>should get one going. It would be one wat trip tho when installed over,
>>    
>
>If you have enough space on /boot to add your "run-kernel" to the mix
>then you do not have to reformat that partition and then you can try
>multiple times if some extra kernel options turn out to be handy.
>I would refrain from converting that partition to ext3 in any case.
>What you will reformat during an installation is indeed "one-way".
>
>If you do not have a suitable small partition to mount on /boot you
>should be able to carve one using resize2fs.  I do not know if it is
>available in an installation image but once you booted into a "rescue"
>mode you can bring a network up and pull in various extra tools
>(assuming, of course, that you have a network and something to put there
>as a server - at least some of ftp, http, ssh, rsync will be available).
>
>  
>>When there actually is no CD-ROM and the rest of the installer, it
>>failsafes and ask you from where you want to fetch the sencond stage
>>installer (ftp,http,nfs) and walk you thru from there.
>>    
>
>A network install should be actually faster than swapping CDs in
>a slow drive, even if one available.  You need a disk space, even
>if only for a time beeing, for a content of installation CDs.
>In a pinch you should be able to install from a partition of your
>own drive.  Whatever will later become /home likely should be big
>enough.  You can always reformat that one later.  I did not ever
>try something of that sort to that extent but it should work.
>
>If you can attach that disk to some other Linux machine then
>a "screwdriver solution" for preparing an initial disk layout is
>also possible; aboot surely fits on a floppy.  Check first that
>you indeed can boot using installation images.
>
>   Michal
>
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-- 
Dr. Robert Williams
Department of Biomedical Informatics
Uniformed Services University
301-295-3568