[TUHS] Bringing up any 4.3BSD on a MicroVAX without tape....

[TUHS] Bringing up any 4.3BSD on a MicroVAX without tape....

[Michael Sokolov]

Aharon Robbins <arnold at skeeve.com> wrote:

> Wasn't there an "installboot" program that told the bootblock where
> to find the /boot file?

The installboot program in the original 4.3BSD, whose function has been
incorporated into disklabel(8) in 4.3-Tahoe/Quasijarus, writes the boot
blocks to the disk, but it does not patch them with the location of
/boot, the bootblock code is smart enough to understand the filesystem.

As for Robert's problem, I don't know where he got screwed - but man,
use your head, what do you think your god-given brain is for?  You can
single-step through the code with the MicroVAX ROM monitor's N command,
you can put some printf's in the code to see where it dies, etc, the
possibilities are limitless.  Just debug it the same way you would debug
any other problem.  What do you think I do when I get a similar
mysterious snafu?  I debug it like a real programmer, don't go crying to
a mailing list.

MS

[TUHS] Bringing up any 4.3BSD on a MicroVAX without tape....

[Jose R Valverde]

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>It is in the same boat as the one Robert is writing 
>about. I know I can install NetBSD/vax on it using
the 
>net boot concept. But I'd like to run one of the 
>appropriate distributions from "our" collection. Any
>suggestions?

The most obivous ones are

 - Quasijarus
 - Ultrix-32M
   -- ultrix 1.2 is in the archives
   -- from ifctvax.harhan.org you can get sources for
      ultrix 2.0.0
      ultrix 4.2.0
   (see previous posts in the list)
 - 32V


                           j



		
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[TUHS] Bringing up any 4.3BSD on a MicroVAX without tape....

[Jochen Kunz]

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On Thu, 20 Oct 2005 11:04:04 -0400
robertdkeys at aol.com wrote:

> Could there be anything in the hardware settings (CMD controller)?
I dim remember that the CMD SCSI MSCP controllers behave slightly
different then the DEC MSCP controllers. I think NetBSD had problems
with some CMD SCSI MSCP controllers at one point in time. Maybe you can
scan the port-vax at NetBSD mailing list archive...
-- 


tschüß,
       Jochen

Homepage: http://www.unixag-kl.fh-kl.de/~jkunz/

[TUHS] Bringing up any 4.3BSD on a MicroVAX without tape....

[robertdkeys]

 Yes, there is an installboot buried, uncompiled in the sources that is pretty
much the same identical source from 4.2-4.4.  I have dug that out, just in case.
But, disklabel, I was thinking was supposed to handle that.  Maybe it doesn't
do that correctly?  Could there be anything in the hardware settings (CMD
controller)?  I wouldn't think so, since all the other OS's work fine.  I have a
set of root dd images from a friend's working machine.  Maybe I should hexdump
the front end of the drives and compare them to see where things have gone
afoul.  I haven't actively read hexdumps in years, so that ought to be fun
to try.....(:+\\.....
 
Anyone remember which exact disklabel or installboot incantation was used?
I recall that the first boot sector had to be rdboot on a MicroVAX, but the
second boot block could be rdboot or raboot.  I tried both combos of rd+rd
or rd+ra and never got past the "loading boot" msg.  /boot is there in the
root fs.
 
What is curious is that these things supposedly boot fine in simh, but on
my real hardware (and a friend's VAX, too), they don't.
 
Could it be anything strange like odd bytes carried over in the bootblock or
disklabel area or start of the fs causing it to lock up?  Probably not, but,
stranger things have happened.....  Maybe a dd fill of the front few tracks
of the drive might help?
 
Since I am not installing from tape, but manually from another OS, could
there be anything in the install scripts I am inadvertently missing?
 
So close and yet so far....
 
Bob Keys
 
 
-----Original Message-----

Wasn't there an "installboot" program that told the bootblock where
to find the /boot file?

Boy was it a lllloooonnnngggg time ago that I dealt with this stuff.
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[TUHS] Bringing up any 4.3BSD on a MicroVAX without tape....

[Aharon Robbins]

Wasn't there an "installboot" program that told the bootblock where
to find the /boot file?

Boy was it a lllloooonnnngggg time ago that I dealt with this stuff.

Arnold

> Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2005 13:28:31 -0400
> From: robertdkeys at aol.com
> Subject: Re: [TUHS] Bringing up any 4.3BSD on a MicroVAX without tape....
> To: msokolov at ivan.Harhan.ORG, tuhs at minnie.tuhs.org
>
>  The /boot is there, so it is somewhere between the bootblocks
> and /boot that the connection is lost.  The /boot is apparently
> not correctly found.  But, it is there......
>  
> Bob Keys
>  
> -----Original Message-----
>
> > The problem is that it won't install boot blocks that work.
> > None of the raboot/rdboot/bootra/bootrd combos get
> > any farther than the cryptic "loading boot" message.
>
> The "loading boot" message comes from the bootblock code and indicates
> that the bootblocks are good and working.  If it stops there, it means
> that you are missing the /boot file in the root filesystem (that's what
> it's loading).
>
> MS

[TUHS] Bringing up any 4.3BSD on a MicroVAX without tape....

[robertdkeys]

 The /boot is there, so it is somewhere between the bootblocks
and /boot that the connection is lost.  The /boot is apparently
not correctly found.  But, it is there......
 
Bob Keys
 
-----Original Message-----

> The problem is that it won't install boot blocks that work.
> None of the raboot/rdboot/bootra/bootrd combos get
> any farther than the cryptic "loading boot" message.

The "loading boot" message comes from the bootblock code and indicates
that the bootblocks are good and working.  If it stops there, it means
that you are missing the /boot file in the root filesystem (that's what
it's loading).

MS
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[TUHS] Bringing up any 4.3BSD on a MicroVAX without tape....

[Gregg Levine]

Hello from Gregg C Levine
I have here a DEC VAXstation 3100M76.

It is in the same boat as the one Robert is writing about. I know I
can install NetBSD/vax on it using the net boot concept. But I'd like
to run one of the appropriate distributions from "our" collection. Any
suggestions?
--
Gregg C Levine gregg.drwho8 at gmail.com
"This signature was once found posting rude
messages in English in the Moscow subway."

On 10/18/05, Michael Sokolov <msokolov at ivan.harhan.org> wrote:
> robertdkeys at aol.com wrote:
>
> > The problem is that it won't install boot blocks that work.
> > None of the raboot/rdboot/bootra/bootrd combos get
> > any farther than the cryptic "loading boot" message.
>
> The "loading boot" message comes from the bootblock code and indicates
> that the bootblocks are good and working.  If it stops there, it means
> that you are missing the /boot file in the root filesystem (that's what
> it's loading).
>
> MS
> _______________________________________________
> TUHS mailing list
> TUHS at minnie.tuhs.org
> http://minnie.tuhs.org/mailman/listinfo/tuhs
>

[TUHS] Bringing up any 4.3BSD on a MicroVAX without tape....

[Michael Sokolov]

robertdkeys at aol.com wrote:

> The problem is that it won't install boot blocks that work.
> None of the raboot/rdboot/bootra/bootrd combos get
> any farther than the cryptic "loading boot" message.

The "loading boot" message comes from the bootblock code and indicates
that the bootblocks are good and working.  If it stops there, it means
that you are missing the /boot file in the root filesystem (that's what
it's loading).

MS

[TUHS] Bringing up any 4.3BSD on a MicroVAX without tape....

[robertdkeys]

Hello to the list, from a lurker, supposedly retired, but....
having run across one last MVIII crate for a lowly buck,
in surplus..... you know the rest.   It just has to run some
form of ancient BSD again.....(:+}}.....

Anyway, it is sans tape, and all my TK50 cartridges have
decomposed to dusty oxide, so it will have be resurrected
from something other than tape.

As luck has it, it has a scsi controller, and I happened to
have a scsi floppy from a decishbox long since gone to
the great bit crusher in the sky.  So, with some prodding
it booted off a NetBSD 1.4.1 vax floppy and was made
to run NetBSD 1.4.3 as a starter, to get the rest of the
early BSD bits onto the machine.  After making fsck trip
all over itself, and pushing some Tahoe and Reno bits
onto it, it now RUNS Tahoe (q0c variety) or Reno (archive
variety) quite happily.

The problem is that it won't install boot blocks that work.
None of the raboot/rdboot/bootra/bootrd combos get
any farther than the cryptic "loading boot" message.
The machine locks up hard then.  Yet, I can boot and run
things fine off a NetBSD 1.1A VAX tk50 boot file ("stand")
dd'd to that lonely scsi floppy off the far end of the bus,
with the usual b/3 duaX.... followed by "ra0a" as the root
and ^D to multiuser baby.  Years ago, the first time around,
I had this working fine, but, when I backed up the then
running system, I forgot (like a dummy) to dd off a set of
working boot blocks or a working bootable root.  Ahh, stupid
me.....(:+}}.....

The nearest that I can tell is that it is not writing (using the
disklabel executable) a correct set of block addresses to
find the real /boot and kernel.  Once, however done, the
kernel is actually loaded, it runs fine (like off NetBSD tape
boot "stand").

Any of you old timers got any thoughts as to where my suite
is going afoul of the real way?  It is probably something quite
simple, but, my greymatters just can't seem to get it figured
out.  Any insights are appreciated.

Thanks!

Bob Keys
Olde Pfarte with too many VAXentoyz.....(:+}}.....