[parisc-linux] Newbie found an hp 712-80 :)

[no one <neverbefound@subdimension.com>]

Hello,

Sorry for asking these rather simple questions, but I've spent an evening reading all the documentation that I could find on the parisc sites, and am still a little be unsure.

Yesterday I realised that the cute little box sitting by the bin for 3 weeks was actually a computer - a hp 712-80 to be precise; and I am now desperate (after failing to hear the psu fan above the fridge) to run linux on it, eventually headless (if I dare to reset the default console thingy...) as a network server or as a lightweight webbrowser (i.e. dillo).

It came with no floppy, no harddrive, and no memory - I've bought a el-cheapo 2nd hand generic 2Gb SCSI drive; and now need to squeeze linux onto it :)

As soon as I find myself some simms, I'll be able to get past the pretty hardware-failure screen (look! it even draws where the failing/missing part is on the motherboard!) and have the following installation method planned out.

1) Setup dhcpd on my slackware box to serve the 'lifimage' for the latest net-boot iso
2) Lan-Boot the 712 with a crossover-cable into the main computer, via dhpcd
(don't want to confuse true lan dhpcd requests...)
3) This lifimage will load a kernel and a initrd with the standard debian install tools.
4) I could now 'ifconfig eth0 down', plug the hp into the actual lan, bring the net connection back up (dhcp or static lan config...)
5) Do a install from my closest debian mirror.

I'm sure there must be a fatal flaw in there somewhere... after reading through all those fearful references to NFS-roots et al., it seems so simple now that I've written it down :)

Also, I read somewhere that you can flash the latest firmware to the machine by serving it the firmware as a net-boot image - is this correct? Would it be safer by some other method? - for instance (no idea of actual possibility), copy the firmware to /boot & get AILO (sic?) to boot it...

Thankyou for your patience, ;)
When I get this all set up I promise to write a 'basic 712 install' walkthrough... :)

Jarvist