[CLUE-Tech] Alpha/aboot/gentoo question.

[David Anselmi]

Adam Bultman wrote:
> Hello everyone. Question.
> 
> I'm installing gentoo 1.4_rc1 alpha on my alpha.  
> 
> I'm at the point where the system is just about complete, and I have to 
> put on the bootloader.  I've installed aboot, which is what they use to 
> boot (I guess?  Debian used aboot when I had it on there).  I currently am 
> booting from an SRM console.  `boot dka400' boots my CDROM, for example.
> 
> Anyway, I'm having a bit of a problem getting the system to boot. /dev/sda 
> has a BSD disklabel with 3 partitions.   
> 
> a: starts at cyl 3, ends at 10 (~ 50 MB)
> b: starts at cyl 11, ends at 41 (~ 200 MB)
> c: starts at cyl 42, ends at 256 (rest of drive).
> 
> /dev/sda1 = /boot
> /dev/sda2 = swap
> /dev/sda3 /
> (there is /dev/sdb and /dev/sdc, but they aren't important here
> 
> This is about how the instructions on alphalinux.org says. I followed 
> another web page saying that the few 2 cylinders or so to aboot to put 
> information  (i.e. bootloader).
> 
> So, I have the correct setup, as far as I can tell, and I have a built 
> kernel (I think I could also use the CDROM's kernel), but I can't seem to 
> get the system to boot it.  I don't know if I have aboot installed 
> incorrectly, or what, but it complains that vmlinux isn't valid. I can't 
> seem to make a boot floppy, either, following their directions. 

It would seem that you are getting aboot to run since it knows about 
vmlinux.  If you need to install aboot use swriteboot(8).

What does your /etc/aboot.conf say?  It should have something like this:

0:1/vmlinux ro root=/dev/sda3

The vmlinux part needs to be the filename of your kernel and this will 
read it out of /boot.  If you have other kernel options they go here as 
well, e.g. initrd= if you use an initial ramdisk.

To boot this you use:

boot <sda> -fl "0"

at the SRM prompt.  Put in the device name for <sda> (probably dka1).

You might also need to run abootconf to tell aboot that your conf file 
is on partition 3.

HTH,
Dave