Re: [cobalt-users] RAQ4 ISO on RAQ3?

["cbtrussell" <cbtrussell@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> On Friday 22 November 2002 05:22 pm, david wrote:
> > I put a raq4 iso on a cache raq and it works great
>
> It should - the CacheRaQ _is_ a RaQ 4, just with a different software
> payload... :)

Bruce,

I was about to post this thread from WHT here for verification when I
discovered you had already replied there. I'm taking some liberties in cross
posting your reply:

---
RaQ550 OS on RaQ4 hardware
Be careful when putting RaQ 550 payload on a RaQ 3 or RaQ 4 (or Qube 3 or
RaQ XTR). It _will_ install on any of those (connect a serial cable during
the OSRestore and you'll see the menu appear for which machine you want to
install on in your console), however it first does a ROM upgrade, then
reboots, then does the traditional OS Restore process. On some machines the
ROM upgrade fails, leaving you with a nice blue boat anchor.

The capability to install the 550 OS on other platforms was the first phase
of an upgrade/ migration path that hasn't materialized. Consequently, not
much QA (if any) went into the process. Sometimes it "just works" and other
times it doesn't...

My personal experience involved installation on a RaQ 4i, and it worked
fine. The 550 has some hardware pieces the RaQ 4 doesn't, so Active Monitor
will cry about the fans being stopped, etc.

One caveat: I was unable to reinstall a regular RaQ 4 OS on the RaQ 4 I put
the 550 payload onto. So if you do successfully migrate, you're done. Going
back does not appear to be an option.
---

This is stunning news to me. Obviously Sun did consider unbundling the RaQ
software from the new hardware platform, which is a surprise. But the fact
the ROM upgrade made it through to the OSRCD? Wow. Is this version of the CD
available for download, or is it on the one that ships with the 550 only? I
have a RaQ3 I'm gonna try this on.

But to be honest, I'm not sure with all the issues floating around that
there's any reason to upgrade the OS besides the newer kernel. Most of the
motivation lies in the beefier hardware, which obviously doesn't gonna us
upgraders any good.  :-)

Brandon