Re: [9fans] IBM X40 installation - some more details, but long

[Michal Hajek <hajek1@karlov.mff.cuni.cz>]

Hello, 

thank you for more explanation :)

* erik quanstrom (quanstro@coraid.com) [070702 13:10]:
> >     by giving !sdC0!dos!9pcflop.gz
> 
> i think you mean "sdC0!dos!9pcflop.gz".  

yes. Sorry. 


> you will need two partitions to boot plan 9.  the dos partion can be
> about 10mb since all you need in this partition is a pbs, 9load,
> plan9.ini and kernel.  the plan9 partition should be at least 300mb.
> all normal plan 9 files go in this partition.

well, ... I do not have enough primary parititon slots. 
I have just verified that making the partitions

hda1 - linux swap
hda2 - small dos 

FREE SPACE HERE

hda3 - linux /boot
hda4 - linux /

will not suffice. Since plan9 installer wants a primary partition slot. 

That is.. I have deleted the second partition (plan 9) and made a small
dos partition instead. 

Just a philosophical question... aren't 2 primary partitions too much to
boot one system? What is the reason for it?  

> i believe you can create these partitions in advance and just tell the
> partitioning step of the installer to use them.  or you can leave some
> unpartitioned space and let the installer find it. 

as stated above... not only free space but also free primary partition
slots seems to be necessary. 

I am not sure if we understand each other correctly, so just for sake of
clarity, let me explain my possition: I cannot install everything just
from usb-cdrom. I even cannot run "plan9 live" from usb-cdrom. Thus I
_need_ some dos partition with 9pcflop.gz to at least start the
instalation. 

> 	http://cm.bell-labs.com/magic/man2html/8/prep

thanks! I have printed it and will read it in the first free moment :)


Well, I played with those partitions once again during installation
process: 

since the installer wants a free slot, I deleted second partition that
is the small dos partition which I just used for 9pcflop.gz during
bootup. 
So now the installer shows: 

>>> p
   p1            0 122  (122 cylinders, 956.99 MB) LINUXSWAP
   p2          122 135  (13 cylinders, 101.97 MB)  FATHUGE    
   empty       135 244  (109 cylinders, 855.02 MB)
   p3          244 256  (12 cylinders, 94.13 MB) LINUX
   p4          256 2432 (2176 cylinders, 16.66 GB) LINUX
>>> d p2
>>> p
   p1            0 122  (122 cylinders, 956.99 MB) LINUXSWAP
   empty       122 244  (122 cylinders, 956.99 MB)  
   p3          244 256  (12 cylinders, 94.13 MB) LINUX
   p4          256 2432 (2176 cylinders, 16.66 GB) LINUX
>>> w
adding part failed: linux1: i/o error
?warning: partitions could not be updated in devsd
>>> q

Anyway, now I am again in the installer and it want to repeat
partitioning. I assume since the partitioning step ended with error, it
wants to repeat it. So now I get a free slot for primary partition and
installation proceeds smoothly up to the point of [confignet]. Here I
enter dhcp and I leave my machine name blank. After that I see that I
received dhcp response and correct ip. 
Than I proceed to [mountdist]: 
----------------------------------------
Plese wait... Scanning storage devices...
/dev/sdC0/9fat
/dev/sdC0/data
/dev/sdC0/fossil
/dev/sdC0/linux
/dev/sdC0/linuxswap
/dev/sdC0/linuxswap
/dev/sdC0/nvram
/dev/sdC0/swap

The following storage media were detected.
Choose the one containing the distribution.

  /dev/sdC0/9fat (microsoft fat)
  /dev/sdC0/fossil (plan9 fossil)
  /dev/sdC0/linux  (linux ext2)

Distribution disk [no default]:

I choose /dev/sdC0/9fat and than [browse] to look into it. 
There I find exactly those files, which I have copied there (eventhough
I have removed the dos partition ...). 
Anyway, if I type exit in the mini-shell, the installation proceeds with
copying the distribution and then I am here:

Task to do [bootsetup]:
_________________________________________________
Initializing Plan 9 FAT configuration partition (9fat)

grep: can't open /tmp/plan9.orig: '/tmp/plan9.orig' file does not exist

There are myriad ways to boot a Plan 9 system 
You can use any of the following.

floppy - create a boot floppy
plan9 - make the plan 9 disk partition the default for booting
win9x - add a plan 9 option to windows 9x boot menu
winnt - add a plan 9 option to windows nt/2000/xp boot manager

If you are upgrading an extant third edition installation and booting
from something other than a floppy, you needn't run anything here. Just
type ctl-d. 
Enable boot method (floppy, plan9, win9x, winnt)[no default]:

.... here I am not sure what to choose, since I am _not_ upgrading an
extant third edition but I am booting from something other than a
floppy. 

Anyway, I hit ctl-d, since I tryed those other options before (but with
different partitions) and it did not bring anything useful. 

Anyway, I hit ctl-d, since I tryed those other options before (but with
different partitions) and it did not bring anything useful. Anyway, I
hit ctl-d, since I tryed those other options before (but with different
partitions) and it did not bring anything useful. Anyway, I hit ctl-d,
since I tryed those other options before (but with different partitions)
and it did not bring anything useful. 
So I proceed here: 

Task to do [finish]:
-----------------------------

We need to write the state of the current installation to the install
floppy, so that yhou can pick up from here if, for example, you want to
set up more boot methods. 

Please make sure the install floppy is in the floppy drive and press
enter. 

Here again I do not know what to do, since there is not even a floppy
drive. (actually, I have tried usb-floppy here, but no success). 
Anyway, whatever I do,k the process repeats and the installer asks for
floppy. So I have no choice than reboot (pressing ctrl-alt-del). 

After that, I use usb-cdrom to boot. I just asks about Plan 9 third or
fourth edition. I pick up fourth. Than I get: 

root is form (tcp, il, local)[local!#S/sdC0/fossil]: HIT ENTER
user[none] glenda

-- I am in rio. 

If I reboot and than in grub menu I use:
grub> rootnoverify (hd0,1)
grub> chainloader +1
grub> boot

This is not a bootable disk. Please insert a bootable floppy and
press any key to try again...


I think this "not a bootable disk" comes _not_ from grub itselves, since
why it should ask about _floppy_? I think the only way the floppy
entered the game was through plan9 installation. And since I kind of
cheated the installer (supplying 9pcflop.gz even though I am not
installing from floppy), the installation is still confused somehow. 

Well and here I am basicaly at the same position as before deleting
second partition at the begining of this long email :)

Any ideas? 

Best regards
Michal