AlphaCore 10 DVD ISO Bare Metal Install

[Stephen Lewis]

Short install report on Dual Alpha server without graphics card,
without DVD reader and without using a DVD burner or a CD burner...

System is an API CS20 with one hard disk, CD reader, serial port and ethernet.

Install new Hard Disk drive, attach dumb terminal and network
Boot from an HP RedHat 7.2 CD (or any other "rescue disk")
Partition disk with at least 3 partitions (plus 'swap') and install RH 7.2
  into partition A.
Format and mount partition B, configure network and fetch the AlphaCore DVD ISO
  to partition B.
Mount the ISO using the loopback device and copy the two directories
  'images' and 'kernels' and the file 'boot/bootlx' also into partition B
Edit 'etc/aboot.conf' and add a line to boot the installer like this
  "8:2/kernels/vmlinux.gz initrd=/images/initrd.img console=ttyS0"
Now before you reboot must write a new 'aboot' to the disk because the
'aboot' on RH 7.2 is 0.9a and it won't load the AC10 kernel!
So 'swriteboot /dev/sda /bootlx' where 'bootlx' is the one copied from the DVD,
Now reboot and choose Aboot configuration "8", this should start the AC10 installer.
Install into partition C using the Hard Disk, partition B "/" as the source
Use "custom partitioning" and make *sure* that you only format partition C and *not* A or B
This will install AC10 _from_ the hard disk, _to_ the hard disk.
When install is complete, reboot into AlphaCore 10. After successful install
you can reclaim partitions A and B for use with new system.
I chose "almost" everything and successfully installed over 1200 packages
in about 40 mins. System boots into AC10 and runs SMP kernel on both CPU's

Stephen Lewis
ps a big Thank You to everyone keeping Linux on Alpha alive!