SGI Indy

2008-07-15

Required software for net installation:

• Installation overlay (no install tools CD neccessary)
• dhcpd configured for bootp
• tftpd for supplying sash and miniroot
• rshd for supplying the packages, because the miniroot lacks NFS support
• NFS server for supplying the rest of the packages

2008-07-22

Finally got hold of a few old SCSI disks to try out. rsh is a no-go because of the idiotic login from the IRIX installer. root-something. Where's a documentation of the protocol?

Target SCSI disk jumper settings

2008-07-23

Installation Tools CDR -> 1GB HDD Played a lot with SCSI IDs: Install tools disk -> ID 2, target disk -> ID 1, ID 0 is the controller Booting from there works, but loading unix.IP22 doesn't because disk isn't formatted. Start fx first:

boot -f dksc(0,2,8)sashARCS dksc(0,2,7)stand/fx.ARCS --x

Boot command from ARCS boot menu:

boot -f dksc(0,2,8)sashARCS dksc(0,2,7)dist/miniroot/unix.IP22

Formatted disk via netboot, then loaded unix.IP22 from 1GB HDD -> works! Lots of missing base packages, could only install a few. System not bootable. Tried mounting NFS via installer shell. Problem: no portmapper. Mounting Install tools HDD from installer shell:

mkdir /cdrom
mount /dev/dsk/dks0d2r7 /cdrom

Then use /cdrom/dist as package source.

2008-08-19

After installing from the two Foundation CDs (had to boot installer via network), there was no sash in the root drive volume header. There is a tool called dvhtool to edit it.

How to copy sash from one volume header to another and the whole documentation @ Silicon Graphics.

Documentation about the nvram settings can be found here.

2008-08-26

Finally found a SCSI CD-ROM drive that works!

Booted installer, wiped first 10MB of disk, booted fx (as above), then installed IRIX according to these instructions.

Here's information on what to do in fx, section XFS (IRIX 6.5). They suggested to use EFS, so I did. No option partition/drive with XFS.

Summary:

/r/ro
efs
/r/re
/l/sy
/exit

This setup won't work on an Indy if the disk label is created using IRIX 6.5 (even from the installation CD). The label first has to be created using a 5.3 fx, then updated to XFS using the fx from IRIX 6.5.

2008-09-09

Big problem: Almost everything on the overlay CDs won't install because of missing prerequisites. Guess I still need all the other IRIX 6.5 installation discs. Installer CD, Foundation 1 and 2 are enough for a basic system with X11. But they don't even contain a desktop environment. All you get is a terminal window.

Found a Wiki with lots of info on configuration.