SGI: Discussion

Hey all,

First post here, this forum seems like a god-send so a big Hello to everyone.

Just wondering if it's possible to do a net-install of Irix via a CD unit hooked up to a Mac running OS X?

I've got an Octane running 6.5.11m, and have just got the discs for 6.5.21, problem being, no CD unit for the SGI, but various cd drives on the Mac, and a PC.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Do you want to do a compleet reinstall or just an upgrade?

I you want to upgrade just transfer the files via ftp/nfs or whatever works best for you.

For a compleet netinstall you need tftp, bootps and rsh. I'v done a few netinstalls from freebsd. MacOSX should be similar. This is roughly how it goes:

put cdrom content on nfs share (per cd)

cp sa fx.64 sash64 miniroot/unix.IPxx /tftpboot

enable tftp rsh in inetd.conf
restart inetd

start bootps

Boot sgi

Stop for maintenace
enter command monitor
printenv
setenv netaddr <ip>

add following to /etc/bootptab
indigo2:ha=08006909f00a:cs=mira:ds=mira:sm=255.255.255.0:gw=almach:hn:

add host to /etc/hosts

restart bootps

hostname
ha = hardware address (without the dots)
cs = Cookie server address list
ds = domain name server
sm = subnetmask
gw = gateway

command monitor:
boot bootp():/tftpboot/sash64 bootp():/tftpboot/fx.64

network install

hostname (full!!!! hostname)
dir /tftpboot

make new filesystem =yes
block size = 4096

admin
sh

mkdir /root/installtmp

rcp -r <installserver>:/dist files /root/installtmp

exIt

from ............
conflicts .......
go .......

I couldn't do a full netinstall, couse csh on FreeBSD is not exactly the same as SGI's
This is from memory so i might have forgotten something

OSX 10.2 and up use xinetd instead of inetd, so make certain to modify /etc/xinetd.conf if you're using a newer version.

bootpd, tftpd and rsh are all included with MacOS X so everything should work - I've never tried it though.

There are a couple of threads here in the forum on netbooting from Linux machines and the like, but the concept is pretty much the same.

That's great, cheers guys. I'm going to do a complete re-install since I've pretty much fuggered the OS over the years, could do with a cleanout now.

Think I might have to get hold of a scsi cd that works on the SGI, none of the cd units on the Mac, or PC can read the Irix disks.

IRIX disc filesystem is EFS. i dont know if OSX support that.
linux can read them.

Thanks, I reckon my options are, until I can get a CD for the machine, is to maybe install Linux on a spare partition on the Mac (yellowdog?), or to try and get the sgi to see the CD unit via NFS. I'll give it a bash.

P.s. What's the deal with SGI's Supportfolio? I'm not on any maintenance contract, but have registered with it, and I can get various patches and so on; but is there a way to maybe get the Maintenance releases online? Maybe sign up as a developer?

Some people have said if you sign up as a developer online, and have that account matching your supportfolio account (matching how I don't know) you gain access to the latest maintenance releses, but I've never had luck with this, so I'm unsure if it's truth or myth.

It's the truth!
However to get it right I needed to send SGI an email: mailto:[email protected] following was the mail I wrote:


And it really worked for me, took about 2 weeks before I got a mail back however. Running IRIX 6.5.22m on my Origin 200 now

Sounds pretty good to me. I signed up to the dev program, then supportfolio (same name), but get the little locks for the main. releases. Might try the pleading email approach

Yup, I am forced to plead with them also. Crossing my fingers. Did you have any luck rezonate ?

I had to plead as well. Two weeks later I got a response that my plead would be forwarded to the appropriate people. That was a couple days ago, nothin' more yet...

EDIT!
I just received email from Melissa Schumann, SGI Global Developer Program Manager, confirming that my account has been authorized for IRIX maintenance stream access through supportfolio.

Wheeee!

Use pdksh instead of csh, i've done several installs, even irix 4.0.1,5.3 and 6.2! I usually follow this recipe for Linux:



which contains the necessary instructions to netboot my Personal IRIS with IRIX 5.3. Along with 'ln -s /bin/pdksh /bin/sh'

Great timing for you. I hope I will not have to wait two weeks.

Yesterday I tried to access my Development Library CD in order to get the motif_dev* files (for iconbar, ). Since I don't have CDROM on my Indigo2, I tried to mount the CD under linux, but failed. I used the following command:

mount -t efs /dev/cdrom1 /somewhere -o loop

I can't remember the error message and I have no access to the linux box now.

Did I miss anything important? Or is it just because my CDROM can't handle 512 block size?

And are there other ways to access the CD (on windows or linux)? I found efssh (libfs) via google but coulnd't get it work.

Thanks.