Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2001 16:38:30 -0700 From: bmah@freebsd.org (Bruce A. Mah) To: freebsd-doc@freebsd.org, freebsd-alpha@freebsd.org Cc: bmah@freebsd.org Subject: Handbook installation chapter for Alpha architecture Message-ID: <200109102338.f8ANcUG66810@nimitz.packetdesign.com>
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Hi folks--
Some time ago, I observed that the Handbook installation chapter was
oriented very strongly towards the i386 architecture. In an effort to
remedy this situation, what I've done is to bring the Alpha-specific
parts of the RELNOTESng install document into a form usable in the
Handbook. By nik's (very reasonable) request, I've held off on
committing this, but instead am posting a diff at the end of this
message.
(nik is concerned about the impending print deadline for the Handbook.
No argument there. Another reason is that I am not a FreeBSD alpha
developer, or even a FreeBSD alpha user. Definitely this needs a cycle
of feedback before it goes in the Handbook "for real".)
In the best of all possible worlds, someone who's both an alpha and a
doc person would just grab this diff and fix it up (committing it at
some suitable time). Lacking this, I'll try (Copious Free Time (TM)
permitting) to incorporate feedback from alpha developers/users.
Cheers,
Bruce.
Index: chapter.sgml
===================================================================
RCS file: /home/ncvs/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/install/chapter.sgml,v
retrieving revision 1.112
diff -u -r1.112 chapter.sgml
--- chapter.sgml 2001/09/10 05:36:21 1.112
+++ chapter.sgml 2001/09/10 20:30:14
@@ -70,6 +70,14 @@
supported.</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
+
+ <note>
+ <para>In general, these installation instructions are written
+ for i386 (<quote>PC compatible</quote>) architecture
+ computers. Where applicable, instructions specific to other
+ platforms (for example, Alpha) will be listed.</para>
+ </note>
+
</sect1>
<sect1 id="install-pre">
@@ -206,6 +214,9 @@
systems then you need to have a rough understanding of how data is
laid out on the disk, and how this affects you.</para>
+ <sect3 id="install-where-i386">
+ <title>Disk Layouts for the i386</title>
+
<para>A PC disk can be divided in to discrete chunks. These chunks are
called <firstterm>partitions</firstterm>. By design, the PC only
supports four partitions per disk. These partitions are called
@@ -305,6 +316,42 @@
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
</example>
+
+ </sect3>
+
+ <sect3>
+ <title>Disk Layouts for the Alpha</title>
+
+ <indexterm><primary>Alpha</primary></indexterm>
+
+ <para>You will need a dedicated disk for FreeBSD on the
+ Alpha. It is not possible to share a disk with another
+ operating system at this time. Depending on the specific
+ Alpha machine you have, this disk can either be a SCSI disk
+ or an IDE disk, as long as your machine is capable of
+ booting from it.</para>
+
+ <para>To find the names and types of disks in your machine, use
+ the <literal>show device</literal> command from the SRM
+ firmware prompt:</para>
+
+ <screen>>>><userinput>show device</userinput>
+dka0.0.0.4.0 DKA0 TOSHIBA CD-ROM XM-57 3476
+dkc0.0.0.1009.0 DKC0 RZ1BB-BS 0658
+dkc100.1.0.1009.0 DKC100 SEAGATE ST34501W 0015
+dva0.0.0.0.1 DVA0
+ewa0.0.0.3.0 EWA0 00-00-F8-75-6D-01
+pkc0.7.0.1009.0 PKC0 SCSI Bus ID 7 5.27
+pqa0.0.0.4.0 PQA0 PCI EIDE
+pqb0.0.1.4.0 PQB0 PCI EIDE</screen>
+
+ <para>This example is from a Digital Personal Workstation
+ 433au and shows three disks attached to the machine. The
+ first is a CDROM called <devicename>dka0</devicename> and
+ the other two are disks and are called
+ <devicename>dkc0</devicename> and
+ <devicename>dkc100</devicename> repectively.</para>
+ </sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2>
@@ -536,6 +583,9 @@
<sect2 id="install-starting">
<title>Booting</title>
+ <sect3 id="install-starting-i386">
+ <title>Booting for the i386</title>
+
<procedure>
<step>
<para>Start with your computer turned off.</para>
@@ -655,6 +705,67 @@
will then launch the kernel configuration menu.</para>
</step>
</procedure>
+
+ </sect3>
+ <sect3>
+ <title>Booting for the Alpha</title>
+
+ <indexterm><primary>Alpha</primary></indexterm>
+
+ <procedure>
+ <step>
+ <para>Start with your computer turned off.</para>
+ </step>
+
+ <step>
+ <para>Turn on the computer and wait for a boot monitor
+ prompt.</para>
+
+ <step>
+ <para>If you needed to prepare boot floppies, as described in
+ <xref linkend="install-floppies"> then one of them will be the
+ first boot disc, probably the one containing
+ <filename>kern.flp</filename>. Put this disc in your floppy
+ drive and type the following command to boot the disk
+ (substituting the name of your floppy drive if
+ necessary):</para>
+
+ <screen>>>><userinput>boot dva0</userinput></screen>
+
+ <para>If you are booting from CDROM, insert the CDROM into
+ the drive and type the following command to start the
+ installation (substituting the name of the appropriate
+ CDROM drive if necessary):</para>
+
+ <screen>>>><userinput>boot dka0</userinput></screen>
+ </step>
+
+ <step>
+ <para>FreeBSD will start to boot. If you are booting from a
+ floppy disc, at some point you will see the message:
+
+ <screen>Please insert MFS root floppy and press enter:</screen>
+
+ <para>Follow these instructions by removing the
+ <filename>kern.flp</filename> disc, insert the
+ <filename>mfsroot.flp</filename> disc, and press
+ <keycap>Enter</keycap>.</para>
+ </step>
+
+ <step>
+ <para>Irrespective of whether you booted from floppy or CDROM, the
+ boot process will then get to this point.</para>
+
+ <screen>Hit [Enter] to boot immediately, or any other key for command prompt.
+Booting [kernel] in 9 seconds... _</screen>
+
+ <para>Either wait ten seconds, or press <keycap>Enter</keycap>. This
+ will then launch the kernel configuration menu.</para>
+ </step>
+ </procedure>
+
+ </sect3>
+
</sect2>
<sect2 id="start-userconfig">
@@ -3928,6 +4039,9 @@
<sect2 id="freebsdboot">
<title>FreeBSD Bootup</title>
+ <sect3 id="freebsdboot-i386">
+ <title>FreeBSD Bootup on the i386</title>
+
<para>If everything went well, you will see messages scroll
off the screen and you will arrive at a login prompt. You can view
the content of the messages by pressing <keycap>Scroll-Lock</keycap>
@@ -4072,6 +4186,31 @@
<para>If the X server has been configured and a Default Desktop
chosen, it can be started by typing <command>startx</command> at
the command line.</para>
+
+ </sect3>
+
+ <sect3>
+ <title>Bootup of FreeBSD on the Alpha</title>
+
+ <indexterm><primary>Alpha</primary></indexterm>
+
+ <para>Once the install procedure has finished, you will be
+ able to start FreeBSD by typing something like this to the
+ SRM prompt:</para>
+
+ <screen>>>><userinput>boot dkc0</userinput></screen>
+
+ <para>This instructs the firmware to boot the specified
+ disk. To make FreeBSD boot automatically in the future, use
+ these commands:</para>
+
+ <screen><prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>set boot_osflags a</userinput>
+<prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>set bootdef_dev dkc0</userinput>
+<prompt>>>></prompt> <userinput>set auto_action BOOT</userinput></screen>
+
+ <para>The boot messages will be similar (but not identical) to
+ those produced by FreeBSD booting on the i386.</para>
+ </sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="shutdown">
@@ -4296,6 +4435,53 @@
DOS drive, for example:</para>
<screen>&prompt.root; <userinput>mount -t msdos /dev/ad0s5 /dos_d</userinput></screen>
+ </answer>
+ </qandaentry>
+ </qandaset>
+ </sect2>
+
+ <sect2>
+ <title>Alpha User's Questions and Answers</title>
+
+ <indexterm><primary>Alpha</primary></indexterm>
+
+ <para>This section answers some commonly asked questions about
+ installing FreeBSD on Alpha systems.</para>
+
+ <qandaset>
+ <qandaentry>
+ <question>
+ <para>Can I boot from the ARC or Alpha BIOS Console?</para>
+ </question>
+
+ <indexterm><primary>ARC</primary></indexterm>
+ <indexterm><primary>Alpha BIOS</primary></indexterm>
+ <indexterm><primary>SRM</primary></indexterm>
+
+ <answer>
+ <para>No. &os;, like Compaq Tru64 and VMS, will only boot
+ from the SRM console.</para>
+ </answer>
+ </qandaentry>
+
+ <qandaentry>
+ <question>
+ <para>Help, I have no space! Do I need to delete
+ everything first?</para>
+ </question>
+
+ <answer>
+ <para>Unfortunately, yes.</para>
+ </answer>
+ </qandaentry>
+
+ <qandaentry>
+ <question>
+ <para>Can I mount my Compaq Tru64 or VMS extended partitions?</para>
+ </question>
+
+ <answer>
+ <para>No, not at this time.</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>
</qandaset>
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