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Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd Path: sserve!newshost.anu.edu.au!munnari.oz.au!news.Hawaii.Edu!ames!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!cs.utexas.edu!utnut!torn!nott!hobbit.gandalf.ca!dejones From: dejones@gandalf.ca (David E. Jones) Subject: Problems installing NetBSD Message-ID: <1993Jul22.173809.14484@gandalf.ca> Organization: Gandalf Data Ltd. Date: Thu, 22 Jul 1993 17:38:09 GMT Lines: 55 Has anybody else had major problems installing NetBSD on a PC? I have successfully installed NetBSD on a 386-20 with a SCSI disk. All other installation attempts did funny things such as: - Some machines refuse to boot from the installation floppies. I have already upgraded to the latest bootblock. In these cases, after I insert the file system disk and press Return, you hear stepping noises for a few seconds, then silence. If I remove the hard disk from the machine and install it in a different machine, I can then load the floppies. The resulting system works fine when the hard disk is taken back to its owner. - I get a bunch of "isa strayintr" messages on many machines. A number follows this message; it always ends on ff. So, ff, 1ff, 4001ff, etc. This does not happen on all machines. - I have had one machine lock up while loading the base08 package over NFS. This is particularly troublesome since the "set_tmp_dir", "extract" and "configure" commands do not seem to be available once you have started the NFS install. You must install and configure the system without rebooting in between. I have managed to manually extract the files (using cat, gzip and tar) but would now like to do the "configure" which manipulates some number of files unknown to me. In addition, the floppy driver seems flaky, even on the machine that took the install without problems. I cannot disklabel a floppy; the error message I get refers to head 16 on the floppy. I have gotten kernel panics trying to mount a DOS disk. The one time I did manage to mount the DOS disk and copy a file, the file so copied was corrupted. Questions: - Are there undocumented hardware dependencies, esp. with the floppy? Most of the machines I am trying to install on are "clones" - they are not made by a brand-name manufacturer, but rather are put together by local dealers using generic parts. (Is this practice common in the US, or do Americans prefer Dell, Gateway, etc.) It should be noted that Linux installs on all of these computers without problems. - What's the easiest way for me to finish configuring my machine? I think I have to edit "hostname.we0", "myname" and what else? - Has anybody gotten NetBSD to receive reliably at 115200 bps? I've added that speed to the baud rate table and have confirmed that BSD transmits at that speed, but it gets a silo overflow on receive, even on a 486DX/2-50. Linux on the same machine can take it. If you're wondering why I'm not going with Linux, it's because Linux has networking bugs of its own. In particular, I need to get two Ethernet interfaces up to two different subnets. Unreliable with Linux, but easy on NetBSD (once installed). Please reply by email as I don't regularly read this group.