Gentoo on SGI o2

[Izzo]

Hi all,

i'm trying to see if i can get gentoo to run on my old SGI o2, but i'm having some problems.

i'm trying to get it to load the netboot img but i'm getting errors

on the server side i'm getting this logerror :

Jun 5 18:39:51 izzo tftpd[8810]: Serving /home/izzo/tftpboot2.img to 192.168.0.50:14048
Jun 5 18:39:56 izzo tftpd[8810]: timeout: retrying...
Jun 5 18:40:01 izzo tftpd[8810]: timeout: retrying...
Jun 5 18:40:06 izzo tftpd[8810]: timeout: retrying...
Jun 5 18:40:11 izzo tftpd[8810]: timeout: retrying...
Jun 5 18:40:16 izzo tftpd[8810]: timeout: retrying...

and on my sgi i'm seeing this :

Unable to execute bootp()/home/izzo/tftpboot2.img: invalid argument.

anybody got any ideas?
if you need more info just ask.

Regards,
Izzo

[zaratustra]

Hi, you should type the following

bootp(): root=/dev/ram0

And it should load the kernel image. Watch your dhcpd.conf, mine is:

default-lease-time 8600;
max-lease-time 57200;
ddns-update-style ad-hoc;

shared-network MEZCAL {
subnet 192.168.2.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 192.168.2.50 192.168.2.99;
allow bootp;
option root-path "/tftpboot/initrd_gentoo";
option routers 192.168.2.1;
option broadcast-address 192.168.2.255;
}
}

group {
host pulque {
# Ethernet address of the client machine
hardware ethernet 08:65:29:9c:32:17;
# IP address to assign
fixed-address 192.168.2.69;
# The name of the file to be downloaded by the PROM
#filename "ip32-r5k-20040426.img";
filename "ip32-2.6.6-fb.kernel";
}
}

You need NFS, and download the initrd tarball from Kumba directory: http://dev.gentoo.org/~kumba/mips/netboot/ip32/initrd/initrd-20040426.tar.bz2

and i have downloaded another kernel image, because the one of Kumba froze my O2. This is from tuxus:
http://dev.gentoo.org/~tuxus/ip32-2.6.6-fb.kernel

You should add this to /etc/exports
/path_to/initrd_directory <IP addr O2>(rw,insecure,sync,no_root_squash)

Start the daemons from dhcpd and nfs

In command monitor type:

bootp(): root=/dev/nfs ip=dhcp initrd=/dev/nfs

Try it, it works fine

[Kumba]

Okay, revelation has pointed out an interesting thing regarding O2 Netboots. One, if you're using atftpd, it seems to send the wrong response signals to the O2 prom, and the O2 Prom becomes confused and won't boot your kernel. Why atftpd and the O2 prom don't always talk well (this seems to depend on the PROM revision) is anyone's guess.

Here's a really quick thing to get you setup (if you haven't already). Look on the gentoo main page in the userdocs section for the Gentoo/SPARC Netboot HOWTO. There's a section in there on setting up the net-misc/netkit-tftp package w/ xinetd. You'll want to set this up, and try to netboot the O2 using that, you will very likely have much better luck (I know I sure did).

I also have an updated IP32 netboot and initrd that could use some testing. Major changes include RAID support in the kernel and mdadm in the initrd for making raid devices (All found in my dev directory).


--Kumba
_________________
"The past tempts us, the present confuses us, the future frightens us. And our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast, terrible in-between."
--Emperor Turhan, Centauri Republic