[indiana-discuss] Installation options for an Ultra-60

[Andrew Gaylard]

On Wed, Apr 8, 2009 at 3:14 AM, Fajar A. Nugraha <fajar at fajar.net> wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 7, 2009 at 5:37 PM, Andrew Gaylard <ag at computer.org> wrote:
>> I have an Ultra-60 (2x400MHz CPUs, 2 GiB RAM, elite-3D graphics)
>> and I'm keen to install OpenSolaris.  There are three wrinkles:
>>
>> - the box only has a CDROM, not a DVDROM
>> - my OBP is 3.31.  That means that AI images won't work, right?
>> - I don't have any other Solaris boxen, so jumpstarting is tricky (impossible?)
>
> Just one question: have you tried to use solaris 10 with zfs root on
> this system?
> If no, I suggest you do. That would at least give some idea as to how
> 400-MHz CPUs perform with zfs root. I've been using a T2000 (16 core
> @1GHz, I believe) and even that seems sluggish when compared to x86
> servers.
>
> If you goal is to learn about Opensolaris, x86 servers (or laptop)
> would probably be a better place. If your goal is to resurrect this
> box you might have better performance with Solaris 10 or SXCE using
> ufs root, or even Linux.

Thanks for this advice.

I'm now busy installing SXCE build 98, since it's the last one with
CD images.  However, I noticed that the installer can install via NFS,
which it's now busy doing (much faster than the CD drive too).  This
was easy to get going -- just mount the CDs with the Linux's loop
device, and then NFS-export them.  The only wrinkle was to follow
the tip here:
http://projects.nikenglund.com/installing_solaris_10_from_linux_nfs_server

That raises a question: could I download the DVD of the latest SXCE,
export it via NFS, and use the installer from the SXCE-98 series to
install it?

Another question: it appears that SXCE-98 doesn't offer ZFS-root.
Certainly the installer just went with UFS without asking.  If I want
to give this a spin, which build has it?

Thanks
Andrew

PS: if this is the wrong place to ask SXCE questions, please let me
know, and point me to the right place if you can.