From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([208.92.234.80] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1PtKjK-0004XC-9r for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Sat, 26 Feb 2011 14:02:42 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 2BAC51C017 for ; Sat, 26 Feb 2011 14:02:41 +0000 (UTC) Received: from smtp.gentoo.org (smtp.gentoo.org [140.211.166.183]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0F3E51C05C for ; Sat, 26 Feb 2011 13:23:12 +0000 (UTC) Received: from [192.168.0.3] (65.180.219.87.dynamic.jazztel.es [87.219.180.65]) (using TLSv1 with cipher DHE-RSA-CAMELLIA256-SHA (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) (Authenticated sender: armin76) by smtp.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id B9C171B40CC; Sat, 26 Feb 2011 13:23:11 +0000 (UTC) Message-ID: <4D68FEBA.4000902@gentoo.org> Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2011 14:23:06 +0100 From: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Ra=FAl_Porcel?= User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2.13) Gecko/20101207 Thunderbird/3.1.7 Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-alpha@lists.gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-alpha@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 To: gentoo-alpha@lists.gentoo.org CC: Romuald Lobet Subject: Re: [gentoo-alpha] ABOOT problem: Is the LiveCD the right method to install on Alpha References: In-Reply-To: X-Enigmail-Version: 1.1.1 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Archives-Salt: X-Archives-Hash: dd17ce048c55ef04067b40db8759d9bb Hi Romuald, I just replied you on the forums. On 02/26/2011 12:30 PM, Romuald Lobet wrote: > Dear Gentoo/Alpha geeks > > Currently I am willing to bring an API CS20D AlphaServer, fitted with > two EV68AL, back to life. I can access this very compact but very loud > machine through a serial console, and ultimately get a remote display > with VNC on my iMac hopefuly in a very near future. > > One last trick to solve: ABOOT starts the kernel, and the initrd goes up > to the selection of the keymap. Then, it says: > Code: > !! The root block device is unspecified or not detected. > Please specify a device to boot, or "shell" for a shell... > boot() :: > > Why do I get there? > > Because of the simplistic hardware configuration, there is no > possibility to connect a display, and it is hard to plug the box over > the internet. Previously, I did start the installation from the usual > minimal iso image, however the process described in the documents, using > standard emerge commands was too lengthy and leave the machine in an > unknown state because the compilation stopps in the middle of nowhere. > So, I choose to start from the LiveCD available for download on the > official website http://distfiles.gentoo.org/experimental/alpha/livecd/. > > Obviously, the way Gentoo works with packages allows us to do so, after > all the simple "emerge --update --deep world" can do the trick to bring > the live system back to the current stand. Since the current stand is > moving quite fast these days, and because the settings of the compiler > suite and compilable source can be a painful process that can leave this > noisy and power hungry server alive for days. I think this can be a good > method to cope to underlying problems of the very fluidic and fast > changing Gentoo distribution. > > Doing so, I could finaly step over the Chapter One of Gentoo Handbook, > and start with real things which are unfortunately only briefly > discribed in the handbooks available on internet. But obviously, there > is something not clear in the documentation, or at least the information > is not well sorted, how Gentoo is Booting on AlphaServers. > > There is no other example of aboot.conf than the one delivered with the > distribution itself, so I took it and simply copied into etc/aboot.conf > of the target system. This brought the Gentoo box to a semi-finished > product: After a short cp /mnt/livecd sda1 I was pretty much ready with > the basic programs. The following aboot.conf summarize all trials > > 0:/boot/gentoo initrd=/boot/gentoo.igz root=/dev/sda1 init=/linuxrc > dokeymap console=ttyS0 > 1:/boot/gentoo initrd=/boot/gentoo.igz root=/dev/sda2 init=/linuxrc > dokeymap console=ttyS0 > 3:/boot/gentoo initrd=/boot/gentoo.igz root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc > dokeymap looptype=squashfs > loop=/image.squashfs > 4:/boot/gentoo initrd=/boot/gentoo.igz root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc > dokeymap looptype=squashfs > loop=/image.squashfs console=ttyS0 > (*) of course all files mentionned here were copied into their proper > locations > > > I had a look in the MAN Pages of aboot.conf, abootconf and aboot, but > the explanation is rather simplistic. I also read the threads regarding > problem configuring the bootloader and Gentoo aboot issues on alpha > ev56, but I don't think we are in these cases. Thinking I just lack one > parameter in my aboot.conf, it would be very interesting if someone > would extend the explanation in the man pages, to include an explanation > about the last parameter "cdroot" and also the meaning of "looptype" > "zisofs". Perhaps I need to flash the kernel is the first sectors of the > harddrive, like it is done with fd0 boot disks, using the brute-force DD > command! What else will I miss, the configuration of EMERGE perhaps ? > > Gentoo Forums :: View Forum - Gentoo on Alternative Architectures > > Is the LiveCD the right method to installon Alpha: 0: 14: > ali_baba_in_alpha_caves Sun Feb 20, 2011 1:00 pm: > ali_baba_in_alpha_caves Sun Feb 20, 2011 1:00 pm > http://forums.gentoo.org/viewforum-f-32.html > > Kindest regards, > > Romuald