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[cobalt-developers] Procedure to install RedHat 8 on a Cobalt (Raq3)

Hi,
Some time ago I promised to write down the procedure to install RH 8 on a Raq3 without removing the hard disk. I wrote it the same day of the initial post, but I wanted to check if there were any mistake on it. Unfortunately I am becoming more and more busy, so I think I will not have time to do this in a near future.
So I have decided to post the NON TESTED procedure I have written down some time ago. Please note that I cannot take any responsibility of any damage caused to your Cobalt if you decide to try it.
All I can say is that I have the RedHat running on my Cobalt for some weeks now and it works fine and that I have tried to write the same steps I followed.
Please note that I have written this procedure more or less by heart. So maybe I have forgotten some steps or maybe some are unnecessary. If you get stuck at any point, please, write to the list. I will try to answer as soon as I can. If anybody is willing to rewrite this procedure in correct English and put it in a web page, he or she will be welcomed.
If after all these warnings you are still willing to try it, please let me know if it worked out for you. 

And finally, here you have the steps:
Please note that this procedure may void your Cobalt guarantee and can even make your Cobalt not to boot again!!!!!! I cannot take any responsibility to damages caused to your Cobalt during any of the exposed steps.
1) Upgrade the rom kernel as explained in http://www.gurulabs.com/rhl-cobalt-howto/redhat.qube3.howto.2.html, but instead of the 2.3.40.rom use the rom in: 

ftp://ftp-eng.cobalt.com/pub/users/thockin/2.4/2.9.34.rom.

Please read all the READMES and warnings.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have not tried the 2.3.40 rom, but I have seen that 2.9.34 rom offers many interesting features.
2) You need another machine running Linux in order to act as a DHCP and NFS server. Configure the DHCP server to offer an IP to the Cobalt when it boots. I have connected the Cobalt and the Linux server to the same LAN segment, and the DHCP has offered an IP of the same IP subnet to the Cobalt.
3) Copy the contents of the RedHat directory and the Release Notes on the three CDs of the RH distribution to a directory in the Linux machine. Repeat these steps for each CD: 
 Insert disc
 mount /mnt/cdrom
 cp -a /mnt/cdrom/RedHat /target/directory
 cp /mnt/cdrom/RELEASE-NOTES* /target/directory
 umount /mnt/cdrom
 eject
4) Copy the file bootnet.img from the ?images? directory on the first CD of the RH distribution to the Linux machine. 

5) Mount the bootnet.img as a loopback device, for example in /mnt

mount -o loop bootnet.img /mnt
6) Copy the file /mnt/initrd.img for example to the /root directory of the Linux machine: 

cp /mnt/initrd.img /root
7) The initrd.img file is gziped, although it does not have the gz suffix. In order to decompress it we need to change its suffix first and then gunzip it: 

cd /root
mv initrd.img initrd.img.gz
gzip -d initrd.img.gz

8) Umount the /mnt directory

umount /mnt

9) Mount the initrd.img as a loopback device, for example again on /mnt.

mount ?o loop initrd.img /mnt
10) Copy everything under /mnt to /nfsroot-x8. You should not change the name of this directory, since this is the place where the Cobalt will look for the nfsroot filesystem (well, in fact you could, but you would have to pass more arguments to the boot-rom): 

mkdir /nfsroot-x86
cd /mnt
cp -a . /nfsroot-x86/
umount /mnt
11) Change permissions to everything under /nfsroot-x86 in order to allow the installation program of RedHat to write onto the tmp directory 

chmod -R 777 /nfsroot-x86
12) Export the /nfsroot-x86 and the directory where you have copied the RedHat CDs in step 3) in NFS. In order to do this edit the /etc/exportfs file in the Linux machine and add the following lines 

/nfsroot-x86   172.16.1.0/24(rw)
/target/directory   172.16.1.0/24(rw)
Substitute 172.16.1.0/24 with the IP subnet to which the Linux machine is attached and /target/directory with the directory where you have copied the RH distribution. 

Then issue the `exportfs` command in order to export the directories.

exportfs
13) On the Linux machine you have to compile a kernel. This kernel will be used to boot the Cobalt from network. I have followed the following steps:
a) Go to the /usr/src/linux-2.4. If you do not have this directory on your Linux machine you have to install the necessary packages to compile new kernels (I do not know exactly which packages are these, but this is widely explained in the WWW) 
cd /usr/src/linux-2.4
b) Copy a config file to this directory. I have used the config file in /usr/src/linux-2.4/configs/kernel-2.4.18-i386.config: 
cp /usr/src/linux-2.4/configs/kernel-2.4.18-i386.config ./.config
c) Edit this file and add LVM and Ethernet support to the kernel, changing the lines: 

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LVM=m
CONFIG_EEPRO100=m

with

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LVM=y
CONFIG_EEPRO100=y


d) Prepare the system to compile the kernel with this new config file

make oldconfig
make dep

e) Compile the new kernel

make vmlinux
f) When finished, you will have a vmlinux file on /usr/src/linux-2.4. Compress this file with either gzip or bzip2. I have used gzip, but this really does not matter: 

gzip vmlinux
g) Move the compressed file to the /nfsroot-x86 directory in order to make it accessible via NFS 

mv vmlinux.gz /nfsroot-x86
14) Now you have all you need to begin the installation of RedHat 8.0. Attach a console to the serial port of the Cobalt and reboot it. When it starts booting, press the space bar when told to do so in order to access the ROM menu. 

15) When you are in the boot menu type:

boot

to access the boot menu.

16) Then force a network boot typing:

bfn
17) The Cobalt will boot, taking the newly compiled kernel from the Linux machine via NFS. This kernel will also mount the nfsroot-x86 filesystem from the Linux machine and will start installation. During installation, you will be asked to select an installation method (NFS), the distribution files location (/target/directory written in step 3), the IP address of the NFS server (this is the IP of the Linux machine), and some other obvious things (netmask, DNS server, gateway, etc.). The rest of the installation is a normal text-based RedHat installation, including disk format (You will loose all your information on the Cobalt!!!!!!!!)
18) After installation is complete, there is still one problem to solve. RedHat installation puts a complete bootsector on the /boot directory, which can be used by lilo or grub to boot the machine. Nevertheless the Cobalt can only boot a compressed kernel image, but not a bootsector. To solve this issue, we need to put a compressed kernel image to the /boot directory of the Cobalt. To do so, when the installation finishes, reboot the Cobalt. One of the problems I have found is that with the general RedHat kernel, the ?reboot? command on the Cobalt does not work properly, so probably you will have to switch it off and on again. Press the space bar during reboot in order to enter the rom menu. 

19) In the rom menu type

bfx n d
This will boot the Cobalt using the kernel in the Linux box, but mounting the recently created filesystem in the Cobalt.
20) When the Cobalt reboots, compile the kernel in the Cobalt, following the same steps described in step 12) but this time in the Cobalt, instead of the Linux box. Copy the vmlinx.gz to the /boot directory and reboot the Cobalt. Again, you will have to switch it off and on after issuing the reboot command (wait to switch the Cobalt off untill the message ?Restarting System? appears).
And that?s it. Now your Cobalt has a brand new RedHat 8.0 installed. The other problem I have found is that I cannot use the LCD display. I have a /dev/lcd device, but if I try to use the lcd-write utility (you can install the lcd packages from the Cobalt Restoration Disk) I get the message ?LCD is not present?.
21) Lately I have received the following message from Duncan Laurie. Now I am running his kernel and it is working fine (including the reboot and the lcd features), so you can use it as an alternative to the kernel compiled in step 20. Thanks, Duncan: 

----BEGIN OF QUOTE----
You will need a patched kernel to get a few things working right, one of them is reboot because the RaQs do not have a standard PC BIOS. If you are interested I have some RH8 kernel RPMS that have been modified to add cobalt support. The binarys are here: 

http://cobalt.iceblink.org/redhat/binary/

kernel-cobalt-III-2.4.18-24.8.0.i386.rpm # for RaQ 3, RaQ 4, Qube 3
kernel-cobalt-V-2.4.18-24.8.0.i386.rpm # for RaQ XTR, RaQ 550
This kernel includes the LCD driver necessary for the panel-utils package to work, but you will need to install the lcd device first: 

mknod /dev/lcd c 10 156
There is more information on how these kernels were built as well as the required kernel patches available here: 

http://cobalt.iceblink.org/redhat/build/readme.build

----END OF QUOTE----



_____________________________________________
Francisco Jorge
email: franjorge@xxxxxxxxxxx

_________________________________________________________________
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