[9fans] IBM X40 installation

[9fans] IBM X40 installation

[Michal Hajek]

Hello,

I have some trouble installing plan9 on IBM Thinkpad X40.

Since I do not have any docking station or port replicator or whatever
enhancements IBM sells, I tried to install only using USB-CDROM and
USB-FLOPPY.

Beforehand, I have already linux installed on that machine. That is,
only linux (no windows).

So far I succeeded to install plan9 in such a way, that I am able to
boot from cd and than proceed to the plan9 system on the hdd.

Now I would like to make plan9 bootable without any usb-cdrom.

My idea is to use grub with

rootnoverify (hd0,1)
chainloader +1
boot

But unfortunately, this does not work. (the loader asked for floppy -
which I cannot supply, since I do not have any floppy drive).

So I booted from usb-cd, moved to plan9 system on the disk nad issued:

%disk/format -b /386/pbslba /dev/sdC0/9fat

which responded with:

% 0 bytes used

Now if I reboot and supply manualy above stated commands to grub,
I get this:
PBS2...Bad format or I/O error
Press a key to reboot...

I am new to plan9 but I guess something analogical to
"grub-install" is perhaps needet from inside of plan9 system, right?

I have searched through tha 9fans archives and also I have ask at irc
channel, but without any succes. Can anyone help me to sort this out? :)

Thank you in advance.

One other way would be to install everything from screatch, if only that
would be possible using just usb-key. Unfortunately, I could not find
any info on plan9 installations from usb-key. Does it mean this way is
not supported?

Best regards
Michal

Re: [9fans] IBM X40 installation

[tlaronde]

Hello,

On Sat, Jun 30, 2007 at 04:11:38PM +0200, Michal Hajek wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have some trouble installing plan9 on IBM Thinkpad X40.
>[..]
>
> Beforehand, I have already linux installed on that machine. That is,
> only linux (no windows).
>
> So far I succeeded to install plan9 in such a way, that I am able to
> boot from cd and than proceed to the plan9 system on the hdd.
>
> Now I would like to make plan9 bootable without any usb-cdrom.
>
> My idea is to use grub with
>
> rootnoverify (hd0,1)
> chainloader +1
> boot
>
> But unfortunately, this does not work. (the loader asked for floppy -
> which I cannot supply, since I do not have any floppy drive).

I dropped GRUB (and some development on GRUB) more than 5 years ago so
take this with caution (and I'm brand new to Plan 9).

When using the MBR the idea is to allocate a chunk of disk space to
different OSes and to let these ones behave alone, that is to let the
MBR that is a BIOS program with some data (the partition table) load the
first sector of each chunk belonging to the different OSes and let them
do their job.

GRUB, if its first stage is put as a MBR, doesn't use the partition
table to launch the active partition (to load the first sector of the
active partition) but loads itself.

This means that in this case, launching Plan 9 is done passing by an
intermediate step: GRUB, that complicates the matter if additional disks
(removable like USB) are present since this modifies the naming scheme
in GRUB.

So first, what is your disk layout (partition table)?

>
> So I booted from usb-cd, moved to plan9 system on the disk nad issued:
>
> %disk/format -b /386/pbslba /dev/sdC0/9fat

>From the man page :

---quote
Format checks for a number of common mistakes; in particular, it will
refuse to format a 9fat partition unless r is specified with nresrv
larger than two.
---endquote

So it shall be hoped that indeed nothing was done or you have blanked
the 9fat table.

I hope this helps. But:

1) what is your partition table;
2) what option did you enter when installing (the installation script
handles this);
3) before installing, write down the partition table (starting sector,
chs values, and so on) since plan9 disk/fdisk may recompute some values
leading to problems---I have promised to give a look to it, but this is
not done at the moment.

Cheers,
--
Thierry Laronde (Alceste) <tlaronde +AT+ polynum +dot+ com>
                 http://www.kergis.com/
Key fingerprint = 0FF7 E906 FBAF FE95 FD89  250D 52B1 AE95 6006 F40C

Re: [9fans] IBM X40 installation - long description

[Michal Hajek]

Hello, 

thanks for response :)

* tlaronde@polynum.com (tlaronde@polynum.com) [070630 17:17]:

> This means that in this case, launching Plan 9 is done passing by an
> intermediate step: GRUB, that complicates the matter if additional disks
> (removable like USB) are present since this modifies the naming scheme
> in GRUB.

I see. 

> So first, what is your disk layout (partition table)?


# fdisk /dev/hda

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 2432.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
   (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/hda: 20.0 GB, 20003880960 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2432 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1               1         122      979933+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/hda2   *         123         244      979965   39  Plan 9
/dev/hda3             245         256       96390   83  Linux
/dev/hda4             257        2432    17478720   83  Linux

Command (m for help): 

The idea is to have 1GB swap at the very beginning due to speed. Next I
put a plan9 partition, since according to rumours in 9fans [1] it is
better to have it before 1024 cylinder (and it does not hurt anyway).
After that I keep small linux partition (intedned as /boot, since
otherwise I experience problems with loading linux kernel too - grub
complains about kernel beeing byond cylinder 1024). And finaly, one big
last partition for linux sytem. 

[1] e.g.  http://marc.info/?l=9fans&m=115505125527189&w=2

in the grub command line I have: 

grub> geometry (hd0)
drive 0x80: C/H/S = 1022/240/63, The number of sectors = 32059073, LBA
   Partition num: 0, Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x82
   Partition num: 1, Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x39 
   Partition num: 2, Filesystem type ext2fs, partition type 0x83
   Partition num: 3, Filesystem type ext2fs, partition type 0x83

I do not know why it says ext2fs even I am sure the partition contains
ext3 filesystem.



> 2) what option did you enter when installing (the installation script
> handles this);

To be honest, this is a bit experimental from my side, since I could not
find any howto or instruction how to do that using only usb-cd/usb-fdd. 

So here is what I did (at least as I remember it): 

1. make /dev/dha2 a DOS partition (type 6 in linux fdisk) and format it
using mkdosfs. 

2. copy files from plan9.flp.gz to /dev/hda2

3. boot from usb-cd using bootable CD created from plan9.iso.bz2

   - here the installer asks about some file, so I satisfy this demand
     by giving !sdC0!dos!9pcflop.gz

   - installation process continues smoothly up to the point of disk
     partitioning. Here the partitioning software says that there is no
     room left. Thus I try do delete /dev/hda2 and create plan9
     partition instead of it. Now I do not understand well, but the
     partitioning software complains, but if I quit it the installation
     proceeds with the very same step (i.e. partitioning) and this time 
     I can see plan9 partition table created. Well once again I try to
     quit the partitioning software and it again complains
     (unfortunately I do not remember the error exactly, but it is
     something about not beiing able to write the partition table). 
     But than I am able to quit partitioning software and the
     installation continues. No complains. 

   - installation process continues with fossil and makes various
     operations on plan9 partition
   
   - it asks about plan9.iso.bz2. I instruct it to use network with
     DHCP. I can see the response from our dhcp server. That is, I
     receive correct IP. The installation sw than says it will download
     the image. After a moment, it asks me again, where it should find
     the image and suggests basicaly /dev/hda2 as 9dos, /dev/hda3 and
     /dev/hda4 as linux. Also it gives me the possibility to browse
     and find the file manualy. Unfortunately, I am not able to locate
     the file. Not only that, I am quite sure it is not there. Since I
     went all over the directories. And also I did not notice any
     increased network activity. 

   - So I hit ctrl-alt-del nad reboot to linux. Here I mount /dev/hda2
     as plan9 partition and copy plan9.iso.bz2 to it. Reboot again and
     start plan9 installatio. Reboot once again and boot using usb-cdrom         and start plan9 installation. 

   - I think now I went through all the process of installation once
     more basicaly same way, except now I see plan9 partition ready and
     also after trying to download the image once again (again not
     successfully) I am able to locate the beforehand prepared
     plan9.iso.bz2. The installation sw is now satisfyed and I can
     proceed. 

   - I guess the image gets unpacked and sw copied to right locations.
   - than I receive question regarding booting. Here there is no linux
     option. Only plan9 and two brands of widnows (a bit of surprise to
     me). No matter wheather I choose to install plan9 to MBR or use
     another bootloader (that is grub). I cannot boot into the system. 
     Actually I have tryied both ways (= going through the process from
     scratch after failure). With plan9 in MBR I get a message that disk
     is not bootable. If I do not use plan9 and use grub with
     "rootnoverify" and "chainloader" options, I get:
     "This is not bootable disk. Please insert a bootable floppy and
     press any key to try again...."
   
   - I reboot and use usb-cd this time. Now I get the question wheather
     I want plan9 release 4 or 3. And also I am informed that
     !sdC0!9dos!plan9.ini was used. 
     After I choose release 4, I can boot into plan9 sytem. Well, first
     I got question about using DMA (Y) and VGA and yet one another
     question which I do not remember right now but is about my hw
     anyway. Than I am left with user [none] question. So I put "glenda"
     and after that I am in window environment and the system seems to
     work well - at least to my newbie experience.  

   - Now I try that disk/format -b /386/pbslba /dev/sdC0/9fat command. 
     Reboot and try to boot using grub. 

   - now I get :
      PBS2...Bad format or I/O error
      press a key to reboot

 
And that is it. Now I can get to plan9 with usb-cdrom, but the drive is
heavy itself and I do not want to carry it with me just for the solely
purpose of being able to boot plan9. I would like to boot plan9 from my
hdd and not use any usb-cd drives. 


> 3) before installing, write down the partition table (starting sector,
> chs values, and so on) since plan9 disk/fdisk may recompute some values
> leading to problems

well, I have the above stated output of fdisk in a file. Than I issued
this command under linux:

dd if=/dev/hda of=/root/mbr.bin bs=512 count=1

But I do not really care about wiping all my hdd since I have backup of
the whole linux partition. The only point is that I do not want to wipe
my harddisk four times everyday :) 

....

Well, I do not insist on using this way of installation. I simply want
to get plan9 installed on my notebook without the necessity to buy a
docking station. I am completely happy with installing from usb-key or
usb-cdrom or network. Unfortunately I was not successfull with these
methods so far, thus I thought for the time-being the easiest way would
be to correct the existing installation to be able to boot form hdd. 

Best regards
Michal

Re: [9fans] IBM X40 installation - long description

[erik quanstrom]

>   - here the installer asks about some file, so I satisfy this demand
>     by giving !sdC0!dos!9pcflop.gz

i think you mean "sdC0!dos!9pcflop.gz".  

>   - So I hit ctrl-alt-del nad reboot to linux. Here I mount /dev/hda2
>     as plan9 partition and copy plan9.iso.bz2 to it. Reboot again and
>     start plan9 installatio. Reboot once again and boot using usb-cdrom

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.

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.  this man page may be helpful

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

hope this helps

- erik

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

[Michal Hajek]

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

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

[tlaronde]

Hello,

Since you write that you are able to boot from the cdrom, I do not
understand why you are playing with a floppy image put on a disk, image
meant for floppy or floppy emulation (CDROM El Torito).

If I understand correctly, take the following steps:

1) Under Linux, with fdisk(8) flag the second partition to a Plan 9
dedicated one and make this partition the active one (so that the MBR 
is already correct; Plan 9 will deal with
its space [partition chunk] and slightly with the MBR [and there may be
a bug] so the MBR is the thing shared and shall be saved). Flagging the
partition as active---GRUB doesn't care since it uses its menu---will
hopefully prevent the plan 9 disk/fdisk program from dealing with the
MBR;

2) Save the MBR somewhere on a USB or whatever (no need to reinstall 
everything if something goes wrong with the MBR, just put back the MBR 
everything else is untouched);

3) Boot from the cdrom with Plan 9 and install from there to the disk.
When you come to the boot method, select Plan 9 from disk (but don't
install the boot program from Plan 9, since you have already GRUB or
whatever). Since the Plan 9 partition has already been set to active,
the MBR should be left alone.

HTH
-- 
Thierry Laronde (Alceste) <tlaronde +AT+ polynum +dot+ com>
                 http://www.kergis.com/
Key fingerprint = 0FF7 E906 FBAF FE95 FD89  250D 52B1 AE95 6006 F40C

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

[erik quanstrom]

he's copying the boot stuff to the hard drive because although bios can
access the usb cdrom, 9load cannot.  it doesn't know how.  this means
9load can't load a kernel unless he puts it someplace else.

- erik

Re: [9fans] IBM X40 installation

[Michal Hajek]

* erik quanstrom (quanstro@coraid.com) [070702 16:50]:
> he's copying the boot stuff to the hard drive because although bios can
> access the usb cdrom, 9load cannot.  it doesn't know how.  this means
> 9load can't load a kernel unless he puts it someplace else.

yes, exactly. I cannot just install form usb-cd. So my solution was to
make a dos partition (since 9load obiously can see it) and put
9pcflop.gz there. I choose 9pcflop,gz, because that was the only obvious
choice to me.  

The rest is described in my previous emails. 

Also I do not insist on using grub. Lilo would do as well, if that makes
any difference in this case. 

Best regards
Michal

Re: [9fans] IBM X40 installation

[erik quanstrom]

why not make your linux swap partition temporarly into a dos partition.
then install plan 9 where you had the dos partition.  then teach grub
to boot plan 9 and you can have your linux swap back.

- erik

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

[tlaronde]

On Mon, Jul 02, 2007 at 10:45:20AM -0400, erik quanstrom wrote:
> he's copying the boot stuff to the hard drive because although bios can
> access the usb cdrom, 9load cannot.  it doesn't know how.  this means
> 9load can't load a kernel unless he puts it someplace else.

Well, I interpreted this:
---quote
3. boot from usb-cd using bootable CD created from plan9.iso.bz2

   - here the installer asks about some file, so I satisfy this demand 
		by giving !sdC0!dos!9pcflop.gz
---endquote

so I understand that by giving fd0!dos!9pcflop.gz (since BIOS should
have arranged with El Torito that the floppy image appears as fd0)
should be enough? (9pcflop.gz is on the floppy image, isn't it?).

-- 
Thierry Laronde (Alceste) <tlaronde +AT+ polynum +dot+ com>
                 http://www.kergis.com/
Key fingerprint = 0FF7 E906 FBAF FE95 FD89  250D 52B1 AE95 6006 F40C

Re: [9fans] IBM X40 installation

[Michal Hajek]

* erik quanstrom (quanstro@coraid.com) [070702 17:21]:
> why not make your linux swap partition temporarly into a dos partition.
> then install plan 9 where you had the dos partition.  then teach grub
> to boot plan 9 and you can have your linux swap back.

just tried it and this scenario doesn't work either. 

Originaly I made partitions like this:

primary 1: dos containing files form plan 9 install floppy
FREE SPACE
primary 3: small linux (/boot)
primary 4: big linux (/)

Boot from usb-cdrom, supplied it with sdC0!dos!9pcflop.gz 
and began installation. 

Critical is the [partdisk] stage. 
The partitioning software asks about which disk to use, I answered sdC0, 
than it finds free space and makes it a plan9 partition. 
I want to write it and quit. But after "w" I got an error. 
"linux1: i/o error"

So I tried "q" and the software quited and let me continue. So I went to
further partitioning newly created plan9 partition. So far so good. 

Again I went through all the process until the question about booting. 
So I instructed the software to use MBR. But I got failure again. 
Thus I tried "stop" option and it made the installer somehow continue
but wanted to save the state of affairs onto floppy. Which of course
failed since I do not have any floppy. Finaly I had to reboot.
(ctrl-alt-del). 

After reboot, I could get to boot plan9 up to the point where it asks
about kernel. At the same time it shows these bootable devices: 

fd0, sdC0!dos, sdC0!9dos.

So I feed it with: 
sdC0!9dos!9pcf

Now the kernel starts loading and I can proceed as far as to 
user[none]: 

Here I supply "glenda" and get: 

user[none]: glenda
boot: can't connect to file server: '/boot/bzroot' does not exist
panic: boot process died: unknown
panic: boot process died: unknown
dumpstack disabled
cpu0: exiting

And the system is dead. 

At this point, I doubt something will change if I wipe the whole disk,
that is remove those linux partitions. Something else is wrong here I
suppose. 

Especially, I can't figure why I get those linux1 i/o errors when trying
to make partitions with plan9 installer. Linux fdisk never failed with
my hdd. Thus hw failure is unlikely. 

So, after all this fuss, maybe it is time to also try network install
:))) 
But I could not find any howto or description how to do it. 


Best regards
Michal

Re: [9fans] IBM X40 installation

[tlaronde]

On Tue, Jul 03, 2007 at 05:06:21PM +0200, Michal Hajek wrote:
> After reboot, I could get to boot plan9 up to the point where it asks
> about kernel. At the same time it shows these bootable devices: 
> 
> fd0, sdC0!dos, sdC0!9dos.
  ^^^
> 
> So I feed it with: 
> sdC0!9dos!9pcf


Please note my previous message: fd0 appears (this is a "floppy") since
the BIOS supporting El Torito (boot from CDROM in short) presents a
virtual floppy that points to the floppy image embedded in the CDROM.

So please at least try my previous tips:

1) Let your already allocated primary partitions, including swap (reput
it as swap) alone;

2) Use Linux fdisk(8) to flag the second partion as a Plan 9, active;

3) Save the MBR somewhere;

4) Boot from CDROM and when 9load asks for a bootfile enter:

fd0!9pcflop.gz /* idem as fd0!dos!9pcflop.gz */

or whatever kernel is on the floppy image (embedded in the CDROM; shall
be the same as the one you copied).

5) Normal installation here follow carefully the steps.
-- 
Thierry Laronde (Alceste) <tlaronde +AT+ polynum +dot+ com>
                 http://www.kergis.com/
Key fingerprint = 0FF7 E906 FBAF FE95 FD89  250D 52B1 AE95 6006 F40C

[9fans] [SOLVED] IBM X40 installation

[Michal Hajek]

Hello :)

Let me report that I finaly succeeded!

Unfortunately, I do not know what was wrong. If somebody is interested
into researching the reasons, please let me know. Otherwise I just enjoy
exploring plan9 system. 

Here is somewhat more detailed description of what I have done:

I have deleted linux swap and converted it into dos partition. Than I
left some free space and than I left 2 primary linux partitions.

------
Orig:

primary 1: linux swap (1GB)
primary 2: dos        (1GB)
primary 3: linux      (/boot 100MB)
primary 4: linux      (/  cca 18GB)

booted into linux and using fdisk I have changed partitioning into: 

primary 1: dos (1GB)
free        (1GB)
primary 3: linux      (/boot 100MB)
primary 4: linux      (/  cca 18GB)


Rebooted and started installation from usb-cdrom. 

However, still I got some errors during partitioning in plan9. But I
could overcome them. I choose to load plan9 form MBR. Finaly I had
system installed. Well, reboot...

At this point, the system failed during booting. Eg. it refused to boot. 
So I inserted _linux_ boot disk, booted into linux, mounted my linux
partition, chrooted into it and rerun grub-install (to be able to boot
at least into linux). That went fine. 

Reboot. 

Ok, grub works and I can boot without troubles to my linux sytem. 
Now I turn back primary 1 partition into swap. 
(using $>mkswap /dev/hda1)

Now I want to check, wheather I am able to boot into plan9 using
usb-cdrom. So I put cd into usb-cdrom and reboot. 

The system boots into plan9 without any questioning. Cool. 

At this moment, I returned to my work pc and read more emails from
9fans. Although I checked when I was in linux - and /dev/hda2 _was_ set
as active - now following tlaronde@polynum.com instructions, I rebooted
into linux (remove cd from usb-cdrom  and use %fshalt 1).

Inside linux (with fdisk), I removed active flag from /dev/hda2 and set
it *again* in a wild hope, that this seemigly nonsense action can change
something.  Write partition table and reboot.

In grub command schell, I tried
grub> rootnoverify (hd0,1)
grub> chainloader +1
grob> boot

And voila! here I am in the plan9 system. No usb-cdrom needed. Great! :)


Best regards
Michal

Re: [9fans] [SOLVED] IBM X40 installation

[Gabriel Diaz]

hello

i would suggest to write your adventure on the wiki so others could
benefit from it, you can find the instructions on how to do it in the
wiki itself.

slds.

gabi


On 7/4/07, Michal Hajek <hajek1@karlov.mff.cuni.cz> wrote:
> Hello :)
>
> Let me report that I finaly succeeded!
>
> Unfortunately, I do not know what was wrong. If somebody is interested
> into researching the reasons, please let me know. Otherwise I just enjoy
> exploring plan9 system.
>
> Here is somewhat more detailed description of what I have done:
>
> I have deleted linux swap and converted it into dos partition. Than I
> left some free space and than I left 2 primary linux partitions.
>
> ------
> Orig:
>
> primary 1: linux swap (1GB)
> primary 2: dos        (1GB)
> primary 3: linux      (/boot 100MB)
> primary 4: linux      (/  cca 18GB)
>
> booted into linux and using fdisk I have changed partitioning into:
>
> primary 1: dos (1GB)
> free        (1GB)
> primary 3: linux      (/boot 100MB)
> primary 4: linux      (/  cca 18GB)
>
>
> Rebooted and started installation from usb-cdrom.
>
> However, still I got some errors during partitioning in plan9. But I
> could overcome them. I choose to load plan9 form MBR. Finaly I had
> system installed. Well, reboot...
>
> At this point, the system failed during booting. Eg. it refused to boot.
> So I inserted _linux_ boot disk, booted into linux, mounted my linux
> partition, chrooted into it and rerun grub-install (to be able to boot
> at least into linux). That went fine.
>
> Reboot.
>
> Ok, grub works and I can boot without troubles to my linux sytem.
> Now I turn back primary 1 partition into swap.
> (using $>mkswap /dev/hda1)
>
> Now I want to check, wheather I am able to boot into plan9 using
> usb-cdrom. So I put cd into usb-cdrom and reboot.
>
> The system boots into plan9 without any questioning. Cool.
>
> At this moment, I returned to my work pc and read more emails from
> 9fans. Although I checked when I was in linux - and /dev/hda2 _was_ set
> as active - now following tlaronde@polynum.com instructions, I rebooted
> into linux (remove cd from usb-cdrom  and use %fshalt 1).
>
> Inside linux (with fdisk), I removed active flag from /dev/hda2 and set
> it *again* in a wild hope, that this seemigly nonsense action can change
> something.  Write partition table and reboot.
>
> In grub command schell, I tried
> grub> rootnoverify (hd0,1)
> grub> chainloader +1
> grob> boot
>
> And voila! here I am in the plan9 system. No usb-cdrom needed. Great! :)
>
>
> Best regards
> Michal
>

Re: [9fans] [SOLVED] IBM X40 installation

[Michal Hajek]

* Gabriel Diaz (gabidiaz@gmail.com) [070704 11:47]:
> i would suggest to write your adventure on the wiki so others could
> benefit from it, you can find the instructions on how to do it in the
> wiki itself.

well, I do not refuse to do that. But at the moment it seems to me that
I have to gain some basics skills :))
E.g. edit files, browse www pages, move files, copy files, ... really
basic stuff.

I would say that not understanding plan9 fileserver concept is my
weakist point.

I have browsed through wiki (from linux box) and now I plan to
explore a bit plan9 installation offline at home. 

I guess I might look into wiki editation next week or so. 

If there is some other documentation e.g. user experience blog or "howto
switch from linux to plan9" or "beginners tips" which you might find
worth reading, I would be happy to do so :)

Best regards
Michal

Re: [9fans] [SOLVED] IBM X40 installation

[erik quanstrom]

> I would say that not understanding plan9 fileserver concept is my
> weakist point

these papers may be of some use:

	/sys/doc/9.ps
	/sys/doc/net/net.ps
	/sys/doc/auth.ps
	/sys/doc/prog4.ps
	/sys/doc/acme/acme.ps

page is the file viewer.  so "page /sys/doc/9.ps".
man works as on unix; lookman searches man pages.

- erik