266 lines
8.3 KiB
Text
266 lines
8.3 KiB
Text
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN" [
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<!ENTITY base CDATA "../..">
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<!ENTITY date "$Date: 1996-10-06 20:17:12 $">
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<!ENTITY title "Diskless X Server: a how to guide">
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<!ENTITY copyright " ">
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<!ENTITY % includes SYSTEM "../../includes.sgml"> %includes;
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]>
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<!-- $Id: disklessx.sgml,v 1.2 1996-10-06 20:17:12 jfieber Exp $ -->
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<html>
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&header;
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<H3>By Jerry Kendall</H3>
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<H3>(<a href="mailto:jerry@kcis.com">jerry@kcis.com</a>)</H3>
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<p>With the help of some 'friends' on the FreeBSD-hackers list, I have
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been able to create a diskless X terminal... The creation of the X terminal
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required first creating a diskless system with minimal utilities mounted
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via NFS. These same steps were used to create 2 separate diskless systems.
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The first is 'altair.kcis.com'. A diskless X terminal that I run on my
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old 386DX-40. It has a 340Meg hard disk but, I did not want to change it.
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So, it boots from 'antares.kcis.com' across a ethernet. The second system
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is a 486DX2-66. I setup a diskless FreeBSD (complete) that uses no local
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disk. The server in that case is a Sun 670MP running
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SunOS 4.1.3. The same setup configuration was needed for both.</p>
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<hr>
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NOTE: I am sure that there is stuff that needs to be added to this. Please send me any comments....
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<hr>
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<h2>Creating the boot floppy (On the diskless system)</h2>
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<p>Since the network boot loaders will not work with some of
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the TSR's and such that MS-DOS uses, it is best to create
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a dedicated boot floppy OR, if you can, create an MS-DOS menu
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that will (via the config.sys/autoexec.bat files) ask what
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configuration to load when the system starts. The later is the
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method that I use and it works great. My MS-DOS (6.x) menu is below.</p>
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<pre>
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---- config.sys ----
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[menu]
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menuitem=normal, normal
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menuitem=unix, unix
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[normal]
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....
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normal config.sys stuff
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...
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[unix]
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----
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---- autoexec.bat ----
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@ECHO OFF
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goto %config%
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:normal
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...
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normal autoexec.bat stuff
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...
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goto end
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:unix
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cd \netboot
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nb8390.com
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:end
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----</pre>
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<h2>Getting the network boot programs (On the server)</h2>
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<p>Compile the 'net-boot' programs that are located in
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/usr/src/sys/i386/boot/netboot. You should read the comments
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at the top of the makefile. Adjust as required. !!!! make a
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backup of the original in case it gets fobar'd !!! When the build
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is done, there should be 2 MS-DOS executables, 'nb8390.com' and
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'nb3c509.com'. One of these two programs will be what you need
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to run on the diskless server. It will load the kernel from the
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boot server. At this point, put both programs on the MS-DOS
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boot floppy created earlier.
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<h2>Determine which program to run (On the diskless system)</h2>
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<p>If you know the chipset that your ethernet adapter uses, this is
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easy. If you have the NS8390 chipset, or a NS8390 based chipset,
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use NB8390.COM. If you have a 3Com 509 based chipset, use the
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NB3C509.COM boot program. If you are not sure which you have,
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try using one, if it says 'No adapter found', try the other.
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Beyond that, you are pretty much on your own.
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<h2>Booting across the network</h2>
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<p>Boot the diskless system with out any config.sys/autoexec.bat
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files. try running the boot program for your ethernet adapter.</p>
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<pre>
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My ethernet adapter is running in WD8013 16bit mode so
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I run NB8390.COM
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C:> cd \netboot
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C:> nb8390
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Boot from Network (Y/N) ? Y
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BOOTP/TFTP/NFS bootstrap loader ESC for menu
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Searching for adapter..
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WD8013EBT base 0x0300, memory 0x000D8000, addr 00:40:01:43:26:66
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Searching for server..</pre>
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<p>At this point, my diskless system is trying to find a machine to act
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as a boot server. Make note of the addr line above, you will need this
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number later. Reset the diskless system and modify your config.sys and
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autoexec.bat files to do these steps automatically for you. Perhaps in
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a menu. If you had to run 'nb3c509.com' instead of 'nb8390.com' the
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output is the same as above. If you got 'No adapter found' at the
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'Searching for adapter..' message, verify that you did indeed set the
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compile time defines in the makefile correctly.</p>
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<h2>Allowing systems to boot across the network (On the
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server)</h2>
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<p>Make sure the /etc/inetd.conf file has entries for tftp and bootps.
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Mine are listed below:</p>
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<pre>
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---- /etc/inetd.conf ----
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tftp dgram udp wait nobody /usr/libexec/tftpd tftpd
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#
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# Additions by who ever you are
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bootps dgram udp wait root /usr/libexec/bootpd bootpd /etc/bootptab
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----
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</pre>
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<p>If you have to change the /etc/inetd.conf file, send a HUP signal to
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inetd. To do this, get the process ID of inetd with 'ps -ax | grep
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inetd | grep -v grep'. Once you have it, send it a HUP signal. Do this
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by 'kill -HUP <pid>'. This will force inetd to re-read its config file.</p>
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<p>Did you remember to note the 'addr' line from the output of the boot
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loader on the diskless system???? Guess what, here is where you need it.</p>
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<p>Add an entry to /etc/bootptab (maybe creating the file). It should be
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laid out identical to this:</p>
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<pre>
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altair:\
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:ht=ether:\
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:ha=004001432666:\
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:sm=255.255.255.0:\
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:hn:\
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:ds=199.246.76.1:\
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:ip=199.246.76.2:\
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:gw=199.246.76.1:\
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:vm=rfc1048:
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The lines are as follows:
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'altair' the diskless systems name without the domain name.
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'ht=ether' the hardware type of 'ethernet'.
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'ha=004001432666' the hardware address (the number noted above).
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'sm=255.255.255.0' the subnet mask.
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'hn' tells server to send client's hostname to the client.
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'ds=199.246.76.1' tells the client who the domain server is.
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'ip=199.246.76.2' tells the client what it's IP address is.
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'gw=199.246.76.1' tells the client what the default gateway is.
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'vm=...' just leave it there...
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</pre>
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<p>NOTE:
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****** Be sure to setup the IP addresses correctly, the addresses
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above are my own......</p>
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<p>Create the directory '/tftpboot' on the server it will contain the
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configuration files for the diskless systems that the server will
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serve. These files will be named 'cfg.<ip>' where <ip> is the IP
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address of the diskless system. The config file for 'altair' is
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/tftpboot/cfg.199.246.76.2. The contents is:</p>
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<pre>
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---- /tftpboot/cfg.199.246.76.2 ----
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rootfs 199.246.76.1:/DiskLess/rootfs/altair
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hostname altair.kcis.com
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----
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</pre>
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<p>The line 'hostname altair.kcis.com' simply tells the diskless
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system what its fully qualified domain name is.</p>
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<p>The line 'rootfs 199.246.76.1:/DiskLess/rootfs/altair' tells the
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diskless system where its NFS mountable root filesystem is located.</p>
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<p>NOTE:!!!!! The NFS mounted root filesystem will be mounted READ ONLY.</p>
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<p>The hierarchy for the diskless system can be re-mounted allowing
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read-write operations if required.</p>
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<p>I use my spare 386DX-40 as a dedicated X terminal...</p>
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<p>The hierarchy for 'altair' is:</p>
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<pre>
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/
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/bin
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/etc
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/tmp
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/sbin
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/dev
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/dev/fd
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/usr
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/var
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/var/run
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</pre>
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<p>The actual list of files is:</p>
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<pre>
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-r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 779984 Dec 11 23:44 ./kernel
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-r-xr-xr-x 1 root bin 299008 Dec 12 00:22 ./bin/sh
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-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 499 Dec 15 15:54 ./etc/rc
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-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 1411 Dec 11 23:19 ./etc/ttys
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-rw-r--r-- 1 root wheel 157 Dec 15 15:42 ./etc/hosts
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-rw-r--r-- 1 root bin 1569 Dec 15 15:26 ./etc/XF86Config.altair
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-r-x------ 1 bin bin 151552 Jun 10 1995 ./sbin/init
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-r-xr-xr-x 1 bin bin 176128 Jun 10 1995 ./sbin/ifconfig
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-r-xr-xr-x 1 bin bin 110592 Jun 10 1995 ./sbin/mount_nfs
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-r-xr-xr-x 1 bin bin 135168 Jun 10 1995 ./sbin/reboot
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-r-xr-xr-x 1 root bin 73728 Dec 13 22:38 ./sbin/mount
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-r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 1992 Jun 10 1995 ./dev/MAKEDEV.local
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-r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 24419 Jun 10 1995 ./dev/MAKEDEV
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</pre>
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<p>Don't forget to 'MAKEDEV all' in the 'dev' directory.</p>
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<p>My /etc/rc for 'altair' is:</p>
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<pre>
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#!/bin/sh
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#
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PATH=/bin:/sbin
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export PATH
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#
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# configure the localhost
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/sbin/ifconfig lo0 127.0.0.1
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#
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# configure the ethernet card
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/sbin/ifconfig ed0 199.246.76.2 netmask 0xffffff00
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#
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# mount the root filesystem via NFS
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/sbin/mount antares:/DiskLess/rootfs/altair /
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#
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# mount the /usr filesystem via NFS
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/sbin/mount antares:/DiskLess/usr /usr
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#
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/usr/X11R6/bin/XF86_SVGA -query antares -xf86config /etc/XF86Config.altair > /dev/null 2>&1
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#
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# Reboot after X exits
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/sbin/reboot
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#
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# We blew up....
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exit 1
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</pre>
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<hr>
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<p>Any comments and ALL questions welcome....</p>
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<address>
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Jerry Kendall<br>
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<a href="mailto:jerry@kcis.com">jerry@kcis.com</a>
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</address>
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&footer;
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</body>
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</html>
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