Netbooting CoLo on the Cobalt RaQ1

Netbooting CoLo on the Cobalt RaQ1

[Stuart Longland]

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Hi All,

	Recently I updated the Gentoo/MIPS Handbook -- in amongst the complete
rewrite, was shiny new instructions for how to install Gentoo on a
Cobalt server.

	Now... in the instructions, it asks to download CoLo, extract the
colo-chain.elf file, and gzip it up as vmlinux_raq-2800.gz and to put
that in /nfsroot on the server.

	It appears the RaQ1 is a special case, and does not look there to
download its kernel.  Does anyone know exactly where these boxes look
for the kernel image when netbooting?  That way, I can ammend[1] the
handbook with the new details.

Regards,
--
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Stuart Longland -oOo- http://stuartl.longlandclan.hopto.org |
| Atomic Linux Project     -oOo-    http://atomicl.berlios.de |
| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
| I haven't lost my mind - it's backed up on a tape somewhere |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
Footnotes:
1. http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=85762

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Re: Netbooting CoLo on the Cobalt RaQ1

[Martin Michlmayr]

* Stuart Longland <stuartl@longlandclan.hopto.org> [2005-03-18 23:20]:
> 	It appears the RaQ1 is a special case, and does not look there to
> download its kernel.  Does anyone know exactly where these boxes look
> for the kernel image when netbooting?  That way, I can ammend[1] the
> handbook with the new details.

Possibly vmlinux_RAQ.gz.  In Debian, we have a file called vmlinux.gz
and the symlinks vmlinux_raq-2800.gz and vmlinux_RAQ.gz pointing to
it, and that seems to work for everyone.
-- 
Martin Michlmayr
http://www.cyrius.com/

Re: Netbooting CoLo on the Cobalt RaQ1

[Stuart Longland]

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Martin Michlmayr wrote:
> * Stuart Longland <stuartl@longlandclan.hopto.org> [2005-03-18 23:20]:
>
>>	It appears the RaQ1 is a special case, and does not look there to
>>download its kernel.  Does anyone know exactly where these boxes look
>>for the kernel image when netbooting?  That way, I can ammend[1] the
>>handbook with the new details.
>
>
> Possibly vmlinux_RAQ.gz.  In Debian, we have a file called vmlinux.gz
> and the symlinks vmlinux_raq-2800.gz and vmlinux_RAQ.gz pointing to
> it, and that seems to work for everyone.

Hi,
	Thanks for the reply.  I thought this might be the case.  I suspect
something weird is going on firmware wise.

	When this user tries to boot, the system reports back "Unknown
Compression Method".  A full log from the serial console is here:
<http://www.gurlinet.dk/upload/minicom.cap>.  I suspect the system, as
the colo-chain.elf is simply gzipped and named 'vmlinux.gz'.

	We also get the same error message when using the Debian netboot images
-- which is interesting to say the least.  I've looked around but
haven't seen any comments regarding Gentoo or Debian on a RaQ1.  Has
anyone tried installing a modern Linux distribution on these boxes?
--
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| Stuart Longland -oOo- http://stuartl.longlandclan.hopto.org |
| Atomic Linux Project     -oOo-    http://atomicl.berlios.de |
| - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
| I haven't lost my mind - it's backed up on a tape somewhere |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+

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Re: Netbooting CoLo on the Cobalt RaQ1

[Martin Michlmayr]

* Stuart Longland <stuartl@longlandclan.hopto.org> [2005-03-20 00:30]:
> When this user tries to boot, the system reports back "Unknown
> Compression Method".  A full log from the serial console is here:
> <http://www.gurlinet.dk/upload/minicom.cap>.  I suspect the system, as
> the colo-chain.elf is simply gzipped and named 'vmlinux.gz'.

Yes, gzipped with -9 (although I'm not sure whether this is a
requirement or just used to save space).

> 	We also get the same error message when using the Debian netboot 
> 	images
> -- which is interesting to say the least.  I've looked around but
> haven't seen any comments regarding Gentoo or Debian on a RaQ1.  Has
> anyone tried installing a modern Linux distribution on these boxes?

I don't know anyone who explicitly said they're running on a RaQ1 but
I've never heard of problems either (until now).  A Debian person
might be getting a RaQ1 soon so we'll see whether it works for him.
-- 
Martin Michlmayr
http://www.cyrius.com/

Re: Netbooting CoLo on the Cobalt RaQ1

[Martin Michlmayr]

* tbm <tbm@cyrius.com> [2005-03-20 11:56]:
> I don't know anyone who explicitly said they're running on a RaQ1 but
> I've never heard of problems either (until now).  A Debian person
> might be getting a RaQ1 soon so we'll see whether it works for him.

I just reconfirmed with someone and the successful installation report
in http://bugs.debian.org/287321 was done on a RaQ1.
-- 
Martin Michlmayr
http://www.cyrius.com/