Re: PA/Linux CD Image

Re: PA/Linux CD Image

[schaecsn]

Hello,

I am interested in trying out the PA Linux cdrom. Before I put much
effort into installing it on my 735 i have a few questions.

my understanding of the current state of the port is that the kernel
boots and some user applications run at ... at least a few seconds.
right?

how "complete" is the cdrom image, e.g. does there exist a /etc
directory with some rc.d files and similiar essential things? if i put
some effort into installing it then I'll like to use it as a basis for
further updates, e.g. when there will be eventually a stable kernel I
want to install it over this distribution. I'll have to install probably
some further programs, too. Will this be possible with a "reasonable"
effort?

aehm, i have a 200MB SCSI disk. That is enough, isn't it?

thank you,

- Stefan

Re: PA/Linux CD Image

[Bdale Garbee]

In article <39917C97.4DC81F31@gmx.de> you wrote:

> if i put
> some effort into installing it then I'll like to use it as a basis for
> further updates, e.g. when there will be eventually a stable kernel I
> want to install it over this distribution. I'll have to install probably
> some further programs, too. Will this be possible with a "reasonable"
> effort?

That depends on your definition of "reasonable".  :-)  I don't think anyone
expects you to "install" the bits on this CD.  The image is bootable, and it
should be possible to play around quite a bit running from the CDROM root.

My personal spin on this is that if it's not hard for you to burn a CR-R, or
if you were to acquire a physical disk at LWCE, then it's probably worth 
dropping it in a CDROM drive and booting it to see what's there and what does
and doesn't work.  It may not be worth trying to install this onto your hard
disk for any reason other than intellectual curiosity unless you intend to
dive in and help the team complete the porting work.  Even then, I find it 
desireable to work over an nfsroot and not a local disk installation.

We're getting close (a couple of months, maybe) from being able to offer 
a relatively normal Debian installation/upgrade process.  If you want to 
*use* parisc-linux (as opposed to helping get the port finished), that is
probably a better trigger event to wait for.

Bdale

Re: PA/Linux CD Image

[Grant Grundler]

schaecsn wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I am interested in trying out the PA Linux cdrom. Before I put much
> effort into installing it on my 735 i have a few questions.

The CD targets the 712/715/A180/B180 -like machines.
Check the HWDB to see what devices in the 735 are supported.

> my understanding of the current state of the port is that the kernel
> boots and some user applications run at ... at least a few seconds.
> right?

Yes. I was even able to dd from one disk to another w/o crashing. :^)

> how "complete" is the cdrom image, e.g. does there exist a /etc
> directory with some rc.d files and similiar essential things?

Yes. It gets to a login prompt and is multitasking.
I believe the CD-image at:

  ftp://puffin.external.hp.com/pub/parisc/cd-images/palinux-0.1-noftp.raw.gz

is basically the same bits as in:

  ftp://puffin.external.hp.com/pub/parisc/binaries/nfsroot/nfsroot-20000804.tgz

I've placed the "tar tzvf" output of nfsroot-20000804 in
.../nfsroot-20000804.contents.

BTW, kudos to Paul Bame and Matt Taggart for putting these images together.
(I'm not ignoring previous and other contributors - just want to
give credit for this particular one)

> if i put
> some effort into installing it then I'll like to use it as a basis for
> further updates, e.g. when there will be eventually a stable kernel I
> want to install it over this distribution.

I think the goal is to completely clobber this once shared libs are
useable...the image sizes will be much smaller then too.

It's pretty easy to install....took me < 30 minutes, including
writing up feedback on the alpha version of the README.INSTALL.

Read the "WARNINGS" several times and heed them.  If you don't
know what you are doing, parisc-linux isn't ready for you yet.
You are welcome to learn by trying but don't be to surprised
by the results...

> I'll have to install probably
> some further programs, too. Will this be possible with a "reasonable"
> effort?

Networking userspace wasn't clearly working last I tried.
You can xenv build the apps and then mount the parisc-linux disk on a
x86-linux. Not sure that fits your definition of "reasonable" but it's
do-able.

> aehm, i have a 200MB SCSI disk. That is enough, isn't it?

I think so:
grundler <514>du -s lwe.nfsroot/
102924  lwe.nfsroot

I transferred that to a disk which has 10MB boot and 64MB swap partitions.
So 200MB should work (for now :^)).

FWIW, I have debian linux installed on my OB600 which only
has a 340MB disk. basic install (ie had networking and some
core X11 bits installed) left me with ~150MB or so free. But
for it to be useful to me, I had to install tools/source/etc
and now am down to ~20MB free.

But given that HP is scrapping older 525MB and 1GB SE SCSI disks, I
think you should be able to find something bigger for < $20 on
e-bay or at your favorite computer recycling center.

grant

Grant Grundler
Unix Systems Enablement Lab
+1.408.447.7253

Re: PA/Linux CD Image

[Andrew Shugg]

Grant Grundler said:
> But given that HP is scrapping older 525MB and 1GB SE SCSI disks, I
> think you should be able to find something bigger for < $20 on
> e-bay or at your favorite computer recycling center.

I was wondering, might anyone know of such a place in Australia?

Andrew.

--
Andrew Shugg <andrew@neep.com.au>                http://www.neep.com.au/

  "Just remember Basil, there's always someone worse off than yourself."
  "Oh, really?  I'd like to meet him ... I could do with a good laugh."
                 [ Sybil and Basil Fawlty, "Fawlty Towers" ]