IRIX and Software

Hi together,

Maybe one of you can help me with my problem:

I got a used fine old O2 with 300 MHz and 384 MByte RAM and tried to install Irix 6.5(.29) which works fine and also Irix 6.3, which does not work.

No problems at 6.5.29, but with 6.3 (from CD Irix 6.3 including R10000) I cant get a running system.
After installing (with no error-Messages) the machine reboots and gets a black screen.
I have tried a plain installation without any patches as well as a installation including the set of two patch-CDs, everytime the same effect.

Maybe there is a limitation of maximum disk-size in Irix 6.3? I have a 74 GByte harddisk in the O2, it is formatted with xfs and a block-size of 4096 without error-messages by the installer, so I thought it will work under 6.3, but who knows?

Thank you

Thomas

6.3 was specifically built for the o2, so it does seem strange.
What if... Installing 6.5 has updated the PROM and it's incompatible with 6.3? Just a wild guess here.

Do you have a serial cable? Maybe check what going on with that?

The 300MHz R5000 hardware didn't exist when IRIX 6.3 was released, so it probably doesn't support it. Your best bet is to boot from the "6.3 recommended/required" patch CD. The last one was from late '99.

From this miniroot you can install the original IRIX 6.3 CD, and then you swap the "6.3 recommended/required" patch CD back in before you quit the installation, and install the applicable patches. Otherwise you will be left with an installed, but unbootable system.

Alternatively, you could put in a supported CPU (e.g. 180MHz R5000), do the base installation, install the "6.3 recommended/required" patch CD, and then put the 300MHz CPU back in.

The PROM version shouldn't matter. An older OS will work fine with the last PROM version.

thomasrichinger wrote: Maybe there is a limitation of maximum disk-size in Irix 6.3? I have a 74 GByte harddisk in the O2, it is formatted with xfs and a block-size of 4096 without error-messages by the installer, so I thought it will work under 6.3, but who knows?

I suspect jan-jaap is more likely to be on the nail here, but just in case ...

Did you create the XFS filesystem under 6.5.29 before trying to install 6.3? Maybe an issue with "directory version" - AIUI version 2 came in with one of the minor releases of 6.5 and is not backwards compatible - so might you be trying to install 6.3, which only understands version 1, onto an XFS-with-version2-directories filesystem?

Hi and thanks,

Maybe its worth a try with installing plain 6.3 and after the installation the two patch-CDs as you said.
Before I hae installed them at once (the 6.3-Base, the patches and the application-CD).
So I try to finish the installation and install the patches after the base-installation in a second step.

The other hint with the "directory version" - AIUI version 2 should not match, I have wiped the first million blocks of the harddisk with fx.ARCS before I had created a new label, and the filesystem itself was created by the installer of 6.3.

I hope I can do it this evening, a computer with only one OS is a boring guy

Thank you all

Thomas

Hi all,

Thanks again, the last evening I got a little bit more success: booting but not useable

Splitting the installation as you told me:
I have installed the irix 6.2-CD and after the Installation was finished I installed my three CDs with the patches.
The result was a booting 6.2, but only with a stupid X11 and a single console-window without a titlebar.
I think thats the effect of the missing Applications-CD.

Today (if I have time) I try to install 6.2, the applications and after all the patches.
I wonder if I need all three patches-disks? I have a pair of disks from june 1999, an a little earlier single cd named "patches for 6.2 including R5200".
Yesterday I used all three, my other tries before was only with the two 1999ers _or_ the single 1998er.

I dont know what has made 6.3 booting, the three patches-CDs or the installation-Split in two steps? I will do both for todays try.

Seems like the installation of Irix 6.3 is not so easy as 5.3 or 6.5.
But I want to have it, on my indys I have 5.3 and 6.5, and I like dual-boot-Systems, so on my O2 there has to be 6.3 and 6.5.
I will never give up.

Have a nice day

Thomas

thomasrichinger wrote: I have installed the irix 6.2-CD and after the Installation was finished I installed my three CDs with the patches.
The result was a booting 6.2, but only with a stupid X11 and a single console-window without a titlebar.
I think thats the effect of the missing Applications-CD.

Today (if I have time) I try to install 6.2, the applications and after all the patches.
I wonder if I need all three patches-disks? I have a pair of disks from june 1999, an a little earlier single cd named "patches for 6.2 including R5200".

i guess you mean 6.3 because 6.2 wasn't available for the o2.

Hi foetz,

foetz wrote: i guess you mean 6.3 because 6.2 wasn't available for the o2.

Yes, I mean 6.3, dont know where I have my head today.

thomasrichinger wrote: Seems like the installation of Irix 6.3 is not so easy as 5.3 or 6.5.

Well, again, the issue is that the base 6.3 installation cd didn't support the 300 MHz cpu. Most people who had 300 MHz O2s either bought them new, in which case they came with IRIX 6.5 as the original OS, or they were upgrading an existing O2, in which case they had to install the patches before putting in the new cpu. When the hardware matches the software, installing 6.3 is at least as easy as installing any other flavor of IRIX.

Personally, I think IRIX 5.x can be a much bigger challenge. Since there were so many 5.3 installation cds tied to specific hardware, it's often difficult for hobbyists to find one that will work their machines.

josehill wrote: Personally, I think IRIX 5.x can be a much bigger challenge. Since there were so many 5.3 installation cds tied to specific hardware, it's often difficult for hobbyists to find one that will work their machines.

not to mention 4 with all the maint. cds

Hi together,

Many thanks at you all, it works, it runs, it boots.
As you suggested, the installation in splitted pars has done the trick.

At first irix 6.3 and the apllications, then closed all distributions and the old single cd with patches in the second step, and finally the two patch-cds from june 1999 in the third step.

Irix 6.5 with the foundation and overlays was all done in one step, that was easier.

But my new 6.3 boots faster, and thats worth the work.

I dont plan to try 5.3 on the o2, for this I have my Indys.

And I have no plan how to make a multiboot-harddisk, is this possible?
As I see the O2 boots at first the sash in the volume-header and then the unix from the root-disk, maybe I create a small third partition and put the files from the volume-header of the second os in this little partition, and a fourth partition for the second root? I dont think I can have two volume-header-partitions on one disk, eh?

OK, I will stop for today.

Again, thanks for your help guys.

Have a nice evening
Thomas

thomasrichinger wrote: I dont plan to try 5.3 on the o2, for this I have my Indys.

and you never will
6.3 is the first release that supports the o2. as mentioned before you can't run 6.2 nor anything older there.

And I have no plan how to make a multiboot-harddisk, is this possible?

yes but it's not very comfortable. you'd have to manually partition the disk via fx so that it has enough space in partition 0 and 6. then you have to dump another system partition onto that and if you wanna boot the second one you have to change the SystemPartition and OSLoadPartition nvram values. then manually load the right sash and in there manually load the right kernel.

foetz wrote:

thomasrichinger wrote: And I have no plan how to make a multiboot-harddisk, is this possible?

yes but it's not very comfortable.

For an O2, it's about a hundred times easier to use two disks and just switch them around. Disks aren't expensive like they were in 1990 and the tray system makes swapping a breeze.