Some belated install doc cleanup...

1 files changed, 178 insertions, 65 deletions

diff --git a/distrib/notes/sparc/xfer b/distrib/notes/sparc/xfer
index d60062428df..a07529a7799 100644
--- a/distrib/notes/sparc/xfer
+++ b/distrib/notes/sparc/xfer
@@ -12,69 +12,181 @@ work only with the new single-floppy installation or the miniroot
 installation, not with the older multi-floppy installation.
 
 
-If you have the OpenBSD CD-ROM distribution (and a CD-ROM drive)
-you can boot from it.  Otherwise, you will need to create a bootable
-disk.  This may be a floppy or a hard disk (floppy is simplest).
-
-To boot from CD-ROM:
-
-	At the PROM monitor type type the appropriate command to boot
-	from a CR-ROM.  This will be something like "boot cdrom bsd"
-	or "boot sd(0,6,0)bsd", consult your Sun PROM manual for the
-	correct version.  If the boot is successul, you will get a
-	loader version message, executable sizes and then the Kernel
-	copyright and device probe messages.  Boot failure modes are
-	typically a lot of CD-ROM drive action, but no messages or
-	complaints about magic numbers, checksums or formats.
-
-	Not all sparc systems support bootable CDROMS and the current
-	boot image is only known to work on sun4c architctures.  If it
-	does not work, you'll have to create a boot floppy or bootable
-	hard disk; follow the directions below.  (A boot floppy image
-	is included on the CD-ROM as 2.1/sparc/floppy.fs.)
-
-If you have a floppy drive on your sparc:
-
-	If you are using a UN*X-like system to write the floppy image to
-	disk, you should use the "dd" command to copy the file system image
-	(floppy.fs) directly to the raw floppy disk.  It is suggested
-	that you read the dd(1) manual page or ask your system administrator
-	to determine the correct set of arguments to use; it will be slightly
-	different from system to system, and a comprehensive list of the
-	possibilities is beyond the scope of this document.
-
-	If you are using a DOS PC to write the floppy image to disk, you
-	should use the "rawrite" utility, provided in the "i386/inst"
-	directory of the OpenBSD distribution.  It will write the file
-	system image (floppy.fs) to a disk.
-
-	Note that, when installing, the floppy can be write-protected (i.e.
-	read-only).
-
-If you don't have a floppy drive on your sparc:
-
-	If you don't have a floppy drive you can copy the floppy image
-	onto the hard disk you intend to install OpenBSD on.  Doing so
-	will overwrite the disk's old contents, however.
-
-	You must use a UN*X-like system to write the floppy image to the
-	hard disk you will be using for OpenBSD/sparc.  You should use the
-	"dd" command to copy the file system image (floppy.fs) directly
-	to the raw 'c' device (whole disk) of the target hard disk.  It
-	is suggested that you read the dd(1) manual page or ask your system
-	administrator to determine the correct set of arguments to use;
-	it will be slightly different from system to system, and a
-	comprehensive list of the possibilities is beyond the scope of
-	this document.
-
-	Please note that this will put a floppy disklabel on your
-	disk which will confuse the install script.  To fix this
-	you need to answer "n" to the first question when booting
-	your disk and do "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/rsd0c count=20"
-	assuming your booted from sd0.  After doing this you
-	will not be able to boot that disk again unless you
-	complete the install.  You can now enter "install" and
-	start the actual install process.
+If you have the OpenBSD CD-ROM distribution (and a CD-ROM drive), you
+may be able boot from it.  Not all sparc systems support booting from
+CD-ROM and the current boot images is only known to work on Sun4c
+architecture workstations such as the IPC, SS1 or SS2.  If you can boot
+from the CD-ROM, you are home free and can proceed to the installation
+steps.  If not, you will need to do some setup work to prepare a bootable
+image, either floppies, a hard drive, or a compatible net boot server.
+
+In addition to the bootable image, you also need to consider how to
+access the binary distribution sets to actually install the system.  If
+you have the OpenBSD CD-ROM distribution you can either access the
+CD-ROM directly from the bootable image or remotely mounted on another
+system via NFS.
+
+Although you can access the distribution sets directly from the CD-ROM or
+from one of the FTP mirrors over the internet, you may wish to transfer
+the sets to a local FTP or NFS server, or copy them to a partition on
+the target system's disk or onto a SCSI tape.
+
+The variety of options listed may seem confusing, but situations vary
+widely in terms of what peripherals and what sort of network arragements
+a user has, the intent is to provide some way that will be practical.
+
+
+Creating a bootable floppy disk using DOS/Windows:
+
+	First you need to get access to the OpenBSD Bootable floppy
+	images.  If you can access the CD-ROM distribution under DOS
+	the bootable disks are in the 2.1/sparc directory, otherwise
+	you you will have to download them from one of the OpenBSD
+	ftp or http mirror sites, using ftp or a web-viewer.  In either
+	case, take care to do "binary" transfers, since these are
+	images files and any DOS cr/lf translations or control/z EOF
+	interpretations will result in corrupted transfers.
+	
+	You will also need to go to the "tools" directory and grab a
+	copy of the rawrite.exe utility and it's documentation.  This
+	program is needed to correctly copy the bootable filesystem
+	image to the floppy, since it's an image of a unix partition
+	containing a ffs filesystem, not a MSDOS format diskette.
+
+	Once you have installed rawrite.exe, just run it and specify the
+	name of the bootable image, such as "floppy.fs" and the name of
+	the floppy drive, such as "a:".  Be sure to use good quality HD
+	(1.44MB) floppies, formatted on the system you're using.  The
+	image copy and boot process is not especially tolerant of read
+	errors. 
+
+	Note that, when installing, the boot floppy can be write-protected
+	(i.e.  read-only).
+
+
+Creating a bootable floppy disk using SunOS or other Un*x-like system:
+
+	First, you will need obtain a local copy of the bootable filesystem
+	image as described above.  If possible use cksum or md5 to verify
+	the checksums of the images vs. the values in the CKSUM or MD5
+	files on the mirror site.
+
+	Next, use the dd(1) utility to copy the file to the floppy drive.
+	Under SunOS, the comand would be:
+
+		dd if=floppy21.fs of=/dev/rfdc0 bs=36b
+
+	If you are using someting other than SunOS, you may have to adapt
+	this to conform to local naming conventions for the floppy and
+	options suitable for copying to a "raw" floppy image.  The key
+	issue is that the device name used for the floppy *must* be one
+	that refers to the whole 2880 block image, not a partition or
+	compatibility mode, and the copy command needs to be compatible
+	with the requirement that writes to a raw device must be in
+	multiples of 512-byte blocks.  The variations are endless and
+	beyond the scope of this document.
+
+	If you're doing this on the system you intend to be the floppy on,
+	copying the floppy back to a file and doing a compare or checksum
+	is a good way to verify that the floppy is readable and free of
+	read/write errors.
+
+
+
+Creating a bootable hard disk using SunOS or other Un*x-like system:
+
+	If you don't have a floppy drive you can copy the single floppy
+	installation image "floppy.fs" or the mini-root "miniroot.fs"
+	onto the hard disk you intend to boot on.  Traditionally, the
+	way to do this is to use dd(1) to place the bootable filesystem
+	image in the "swap" partition of the disk (while running in
+	single user mode), and then booting from that partition.
+
+	Using the "b" partition allows you to boot without overwriting
+	any useful parts of the disk, you can also use another partition,
+	but don't used the "a" or "c" partition without understanding
+	the disklabel issues described below under "uncompatible systems".
+
+	This requires that you be running SunOS, Solaris, OpenBSD or NetBSD
+	which have a compatible view of SunOS disk labels and paritions.
+
+	Use the dd(1) utility to copy the file to the floppy drive.
+	Under SunOS, the comand would be:
+
+		dd if=floppy21.fs of=/dev/rsd0b bs=36b
+				- or -
+		dd if=miniroot21.fs of=/dev/rsd0b bs=36b
+
+	The blocksize is arbitrary as long as it's a multiple of 512-bytes
+	and within the maximum supported by the driver, i.e. bs=126b may
+	not work for all cases.  Again, device/parition names may vary,
+	depending on the OS involved.
+
+	If you are preparing the hard drive on an incompatible system or
+	don't care about the hard disk contents, you can also install the
+	bootable image starting at the beginning of the disk. This lets
+	you prepare a bootable hard-drive even if don't have a working
+	operating system on your Sparc, but it important to understand
+	that the bootable image installed this way includes a "disk label"
+	which can wipe out any pre-existing disklabels or paritioning for
+	the drive.
+
+	The floppy image is used only for booting, and can be placed in
+	a partition that will be overwritten during the install process,
+	since it actaully runs of of a ram-disk image in the kernel.  In
+	contrast the miniroot is a normal unix root filesystem and you
+	must place in a parition that will not be overwritten until you've
+	completed the installation process.
+
+	To copy the floppy image to the whole disk, overwriting labels:
+
+		dd if=floppy21.fs of=/dev/rsdXc bs=36b
+
+	Two notes - X should be replaced by the unit number of the target
+	disk, which is most likely *not* the disk/paritition that's your
+	current root partition.  Again names may vary depending on the
+	OS involved.  Second, after doing this, the disklable will be one
+	that would be appropiate for a floppy, i.e. one parition of 2880
+	block, and you'll probably want to change that later on.
+
+	If you're starting with a virgin disk and trying to do this under
+	SunOS, use format(8) and newfs(8) to set up the paritions and
+	mark the intended parition as an normal partiton type.  If you're
+	using OpenBSD, perhaps on another architecture, OpenBSD will
+	create a "fictitious label" that will let you access the whole
+	disk.
+
+	To copy the flopy image to the hard disk, preserving SunOS,
+	Solaris NetBSD or OpenBSD labels:
+
+		dd if=floppy21.fs of=/dev/rsdXc bs=1b skip=1 seek=1
+
+	You need to be sure that your version of dd(1) supports the
+	skip and seek operands, otherwise you can try a technique like:
+
+		dd if=/dev/rsdXc of=/tmp/label bs=1b count=1
+		dd if=floppy21.fs of=/dev/rsdXc bs=36b
+		dd if=/tmp/label of=/dev/rsdXc bs=1b count=1
+
+	In either case, you've created a situation where the disklabel
+	and the filesystem information don't agree about the paritition
+	size and geometry, however the results will be usable.
+
+
+Creating a network bootable setup using SunOS or other Un*x-like system:
+
+	The details of setting up a network bootable environment vary
+	considerably, depending on the networks host.  Extract the
+	OpenBSD diskless(8) man page from the share.tar.gz distibution
+	set or see the copy on the OpenBSD web page.  You will also
+	need to reference the relevant man pages or adminstrators guide
+	for the host system.
+	
+	Basically, you will need to set up reverse-arp (rarpd) and boot
+	parameter (bootpd) information and make the OpenBSD bootblock,
+	kernel/miniroot partition, and a swap file available as required
+	by the netboot setup.
+
 
 The steps necessary to prepare the distribution sets for installation
 depend on which method of installation you choose.  Some methods
@@ -87,8 +199,8 @@ may save much time and frustration to use ftp get/reget to transfer the
 distribution sets to a local server or disk and perform the installation
 from there, rather than directly on the internet.
 
-To install or upgrade OpenBSD using a tape, you need to do the
-following:
+
+To install or upgrade OpenBSD using a tape, you need to do the following:
 
 	To install OpenBSD from a tape, you need to make a tape that
 	contains the distribution set files, in "tar" format.  If
@@ -121,6 +233,7 @@ following:
 	your hard disk, below.  If you're upgrading an existing
 	installation, go directly to the section on upgrading.
 
+
 To install OpenBSD using a remote partition, mounted via
 NFS, you must do the following: