[distribution-discuss] MilaX HD install

[Bernd Schemmer]

Hi,

eremin wrote:
 >>
 >> Some notes:
 >>
 >> - milax now finds my SATA disks
 > Great!


I tested Milax 0.3 on some of my other machines; so all tests done until 
now are:


IBM Thinkpad T61p (Intel 64 Bit CPU)
- boot from CDROM works
- boot from harddisk : not tested yet


IBM Thinkpad T30 (Intel 32 Bit CPU)
- boot from CDROM works
- boot from harddisk after zfsinstall works

Acer Ferrari 4000 (AMD 64 Bit CPU)
- boot from CDROM works
- boot from harddisk after zfsinstall works after correcting the entry 
in the grub menu:

The entry

title MilaX 0.3 ZFS
        root (hd0,2,g)
        bootfs milax/rootfs
        kernel$ /platform/i86pc/kernel/$ISADIR/unix -B 
$ZFS-BOOTFS,console=text
        module$ /platform/i86pc/$ISADIR/boot_archive

does not work on machines with 64-Bit CPUs because there is no 64-Bit 
support installed.
Therefor the grub menu entry should be changed to:

title MilaX 0.3 ZFS
        root (hd0,2,g)
        bootfs milax/rootfs
        kernel$ /platform/i86pc/kernel/unix -B $ZFS-BOOTFS,console=text -kd
        module$ /platform/i86pc/boot_archive

This entry works for 32 Bit and 64 Bit CPUs.


VirtualBox on Ubuntu 7.04 (emulating a 32-Bit CPU)
- boot from CDROM ISO image works
- boot from harddisk after zfsinstall works

Qemu 0.9.1
- boot from CDROM ISO image works
- boot from harddisk after zfsinstall works
My first test failed because Qemu emulated a 64-Bit CPU and the grub 
menu entry is not correct for 64-Bit CPUs (see above)


 > grub-installNext work, this time you can change keyboard layout on 
the fly:
 > # setxkbmap de;xkbd
 >

Works, please add this to the docs on the web site

I use the following work around in the .profile for the users alex and 
root now:

if [ "${TERM}"x = "xterm"x -a "${DISPLAY}"x = ":0.0"x ] ; then
  SEMFILE="/tmp/keyboard_layout_changed"
  NEW_KB_LAYOUT="de"
  if [ ! -f "${SEMFILE}" ] ; then
    echo "Changing the keyboard layout to \"${NEW_KB_LAYOUT}\" ..."
    setxkbmap ${NEW_KB_LAYOUT}
    xkbd
    echo  ${NEW_KB_LAYOUT} >"${SEMFILE}"
  fi
fi


Some other wishes:

- The default scrollback buffer for Gtk-Terminal should be increased (on 
my main machine I use  at least 1000 lines)

- The default colors for the Gtk-Terminal are not optimal - it's hard to 
read the text in invers parts of the session

- add additional entries to the grub menu on the harddisk, e.g.

title MilaX 0.3 ZFS (32 Bit, debug)
        root (hd0,2,g)
        bootfs milax/rootfs
        kernel$ /platform/i86pc/kernel/unix -B $ZFS-BOOTFS,console=text 
-kd -v
        module$ /platform/i86pc/boot_archive


title MilaX 0.3 ZFS (32 Bit, verbose)
        root (hd0,2,g)
        bootfs milax/rootfs
        kernel$ /platform/i86pc/kernel/$ISADIR/unix -B 
$ZFS-BOOTFS,console=text -v -m verbose
        module$ /platform/i86pc/$ISADIR/boot_archive


- There should be grub menu entries to start the X server directly (but 
the console without X should still be the default value)

- There should be a hint in the file /boot/grub/menu.lst with the 
location of the real menu.lst file used
(/tank/boot/grub/menu.lst in the default configuration)


- The default keyboard layout for the harddisk installation should be 
the keyboard layout choosen while booting from CDROM
(The value for keyboard-layout in /boot/solaris/bootenv.rc on the 
harddisk  is still "unknown")


- add scite (My prefered editor for source files ... )

- In the current configuration the zfsinstall script just creates a new 
grub menu. This is okay for empty disks but not optimal for
disks with existing partitions.
It would be better if the script either integrates an existing grub menu 
into the new grub menu or simply add the new entry for
Milax to the existing grub menu.

- add support for linux filesystems (from belenix)


Bugs

- eject does not work:

(alex at milax)$ eject cdrom
ld.so.1: rmmount: fatal: libhal.so.1.0.0: open failed: No such file or 
directory
ld.so.1: rmmount: fatal: relocation error: file /usr/bin/rmmount: symbol 
libhal_ctx_new: referenced symbol not found

Woraround is to use "cdrecord dev=x,x,x -eject"


regards

Bernd


eremin wrote:
> On Thu, 2008-04-24 at 15:55 +0200, Bernd Schemmer wrote:
>   
>> Hi Alexander,
>>
>>
>> I just downloaded milax 0.3 and did some quick tests - in general it 
>> works very well. milax get's better with every release .
>>
>>
>> Some notes:
>>
>> - milax now finds my SATA disks
>>     
> Great!
>   
>> - the userid in the prompt does not change after switching to the root 
>> user; I suggest you replase "alex" with "\u" in the PS1 definition
>>
>> - if X is running the DISPLAY variable for root should be set to :0.0 if 
>> it's not already set
>>     
> Recorded ;)
>   
>> - the language for the X server can only be changed to US English or 
>> Russian
>> IMHO the default language for the X server should be the language 
>> choosen after booting milax. All other languages should be available via 
>> the X server language changing tool.
>>     
> Next work, this time you can change keyboard layout on the fly:
> # setxkbmap de;xkbd
>
>   
>> - please add a menu entry for qemu in the grub menu on the harddisk
>>
>> - After using zfsinstall I can not boot from the harddisk:
>>
>> grub always prints
>>
>> Error 15: File not found
>>
>> I only tested this in qemu (and I must admit that I do not really know 
>> how zfs boot works)
>>     
> I did't try ZFSinstall on qemu, but 3 times successfully established on
> a usual disk
>   
>> regards
>>
>> Bernd
>>     
>
> Dear Bernd,
> I should tell that you the main our tester and your remarks are very
> important for us. Now MilaX - the OpenSolaris project.  Please send us
> the remarks and advices, within the limits of the project it is possible
> to realize any interesting ideas. Thank you very much!
>
>
>   


-- 
Bernd Schemmer, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
http://home.arcor.de/bnsmb/index.html

M s temprano que tarde el mundo cambiar .
                        Fidel Castro