en/handbook/hb-install-alpha-bootloader.xml

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<sections>

<version>11</version>
<date>2011-05-09</date>

<section>
<title>Making your Choice</title>
<subsection>
<title>Introduction</title>
<body>

<p>
Now that your kernel is configured and compiled and the necessary system
configuration files are filled in correctly, it is time to install a
program that will fire up your kernel when you start the system. Such a
program is called a <e>bootloader</e>. 
</p>

<p>
Several bootloaders exist for Linux/Alpha. You must choose one of the supported
bootloaders, not all. You have the choice between <uri link="#aboot">aBoot</uri>
and <uri link="#milo">MILO</uri>.
</p>

</body>
</subsection>
</section>
<section id="aboot">
<title>Default: Using aboot</title>
<body>

<note>
<c>aboot</c> only supports booting from <b>ext2</b> and <b>ext3</b>
partitions.
</note>

<p>
We first install aboot on our system. Of course we use <c>emerge</c> to
do so:
</p>

<pre caption="Installing aboot">
# <i>emerge aboot</i>
</pre>

<p>
The next step is to make our bootdisk bootable. This will start
<c>aboot</c> when you boot your system. We make our bootdisk bootable by
writing the <c>aboot</c> bootloader to the start of the disk.
</p>

<pre caption="Making your bootdisk bootable">
# <i>swriteboot -f3 /dev/sda /boot/bootlx</i> 
# <i>abootconf /dev/sda 2</i>
</pre>

<note>
If you use a different partitioning scheme than the one we use
throughout this chapter, you have to change the commands accordingly.
Please read the appropriate manual pages (<c>man 8 swriteboot</c> and
<c>man 8 abootconf</c>). Also, if your root filesystem is ran using the JFS
filesystem, make sure it gets mounted read-only at first by adding <c>ro</c> as
a kernel option.
</note>

<p>
Additionally, you can make Gentoo boot automatically by setting up the 
aboot configuration file and some SRM variables.  You can try setting 
these variables from Linux, but it may be easier to do so from the SRM 
console itself.
</p>

<pre caption="Automatically booting Gentoo">
# <i>echo '0:2/boot/vmlinux.gz root=/dev/sda2' &gt; /etc/aboot.conf</i>
# <i>cd /proc/srm_environment/named_variables</i>
# <i>echo -n 0 &gt; boot_osflags</i>
# <i>echo -n '' &gt; boot_file</i>
# <i>echo -n 'BOOT' &gt; auto_action</i>
# <i>echo -n 'dkc100' &gt; bootdef_dev</i>
<comment>(Substitute dkc100 with whatever your boot device is)</comment>
</pre>

<p>
If you need to get into the SRM console again in the future (to recover 
your Gentoo install, play with some variables, or whatever), just hit 
CTRL+C to abort the automatic loading process.
</p>

<p>
If you're installing using a serial console, don't forget to include 
the serial console boot flag in <path>aboot.conf</path>.  See  
<path>/etc/aboot.conf.example</path> for some further information.
</p>

<p>
Aboot is now configured and ready to use. Continue with <uri
link="#reboot">Rebooting the System</uri>.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="milo">
<title>Alternative: Using MILO</title>
<body>

<p>
Before continuing, you should decide on how to use MILO. In this
section, we will assume that you want to make a MILO boot floppy. If you
are going to boot from an MS-DOS partition on your hard disk, you should
amend the commands appropriately.
</p>

<p>
To install MILO, we use <c>emerge</c>.
</p>

<pre caption="Installing MILO">
# <i>emerge milo</i>
</pre>

<p>
After MILO has been installed, the MILO images should be in
<path>/opt/milo</path>. The commands below make a bootfloppy for use
with MILO. Remember to use the correct image for your Alpha-system.
</p>

<pre caption="Installing MILO on a floppy">
<comment>(First insert a blank floppy)</comment>
# <i>fdformat /dev/fd0</i>
# <i>mformat a:</i>
# <i>mcopy /opt/milo/milo-2.4-18-gentoo-ruffian a:\milo</i>
# <i>mcopy /opt/milo/linload.exe a:\linload.exe</i>
<comment>(Only if you have a Ruffian:</comment>     
  # <i>mcopy /opt/milo/ldmilo.exe a:\ldmilo.exe</i>
<comment>)</comment>
# <i>echo -ne '\125\252' | dd of=/dev/fd0 bs=1 seek=510 count=2</i>
</pre>

<p>
Your MILO boot floppy is now ready to boot Gentoo Linux. You may need to
set environment variables in your ARCS Firmware to get MILO to start;
this is all explained in the <uri
link="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/MILO-HOWTO/">MILO-HOWTO</uri> with some examples 
on common systems, and examples of the commands to use in interactive mode.
</p>

<p>
Not reading the <uri link="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/MILO-HOWTO/">MILO-HOWTO</uri> 
is a <e>bad</e> idea.
</p>

<p>
Now continue with <uri link="#reboot">Rebooting the System</uri>.
</p>

</body>
</section>
<section id="reboot">
<title>Rebooting the System</title>
<subsection>
<body>

<p>
Exit the chrooted environment and unmount all mounted partitions. Then type in 
that one magical command you have been waiting for: <c>reboot</c>.
</p>

<pre caption="Exiting the chroot, unmounting all partitions and rebooting">
# <i>exit</i>
cdimage ~# <i>cd</i>
cdimage ~# <i>umount -l /mnt/gentoo/dev{/shm,/pts,}</i>
cdimage ~# <i>umount -l /mnt/gentoo{/boot,/proc,}</i>
cdimage ~# <i>reboot</i>
</pre>

<p>
Of course, don't forget to remove the bootable CD, otherwise the CD will be
booted again instead of your new Gentoo system.
</p>

<p>
Once rebooted in your Gentoo installation, finish up with <uri
link="?part=1&amp;chap=11">Finalizing your Gentoo Installation</uri>.
</p>

</body>
</subsection>
</section>

</sections>
1	swift	1.1	<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
2			<!DOCTYPE sections SYSTEM "/dtd/book.dtd">
3
4			<!-- The content of this document is licensed under the CC-BY-SA license -->
5	neysx	1.16	<!-- See http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5 -->
6	swift	1.1
7	nightmorph	1.24	<!-- $Header: /var/cvsroot/gentoo/xml/htdocs/doc/en/handbook/hb-install-alpha-bootloader.xml,v 1.23 2010/07/19 01:53:14 nightmorph Exp $ -->
8	swift	1.1
9			<sections>
10	swift	1.9
11	nightmorph	1.24	<version>11</version>
12			<date>2011-05-09</date>
13	swift	1.9
14	swift	1.1	<section>
15			<title>Making your Choice</title>
16			<subsection>
17			<title>Introduction</title>
18			<body>
19
20			<p>
21			Now that your kernel is configured and compiled and the necessary system
22			configuration files are filled in correctly, it is time to install a
23			program that will fire up your kernel when you start the system. Such a
24			program is called a <e>bootloader</e>.
25			</p>
26
27			<p>
28			Several bootloaders exist for Linux/Alpha. You must choose one of the supported
29			bootloaders, not all. You have the choice between <uri link="#aboot">aBoot</uri>
30			and <uri link="#milo">MILO</uri>.
31			</p>
32
33			</body>
34			</subsection>
35			</section>
36			<section id="aboot">
37			<title>Default: Using aboot</title>
38			<body>
39
40	nightmorph	1.18	<note>
41			<c>aboot</c> only supports booting from <b>ext2</b> and <b>ext3</b>
42			partitions.
43			</note>
44
45	swift	1.1	<p>
46			We first install aboot on our system. Of course we use <c>emerge</c> to
47			do so:
48			</p>
49
50	jkt	1.17	<pre caption="Installing aboot">
51	nightmorph	1.19	# <i>emerge aboot</i>
52	swift	1.1	</pre>
53
54			<p>
55			The next step is to make our bootdisk bootable. This will start
56			<c>aboot</c> when you boot your system. We make our bootdisk bootable by
57			writing the <c>aboot</c> bootloader to the start of the disk.
58			</p>
59
60	jkt	1.17	<pre caption="Making your bootdisk bootable">
61	swift	1.1	# <i>swriteboot -f3 /dev/sda /boot/bootlx</i>
62			# <i>abootconf /dev/sda 2</i>
63			</pre>
64
65			<note>
66			If you use a different partitioning scheme than the one we use
67			throughout this chapter, you have to change the commands accordingly.
68			Please read the appropriate manual pages (<c>man 8 swriteboot</c> and
69	swift	1.14	<c>man 8 abootconf</c>). Also, if your root filesystem is ran using the JFS
70			filesystem, make sure it gets mounted read-only at first by adding <c>ro</c> as
71			a kernel option.
72	swift	1.1	</note>
73
74			<p>
75	vapier	1.5	Additionally, you can make Gentoo boot automatically by setting up the
76	vapier	1.7	aboot configuration file and some SRM variables. You can try setting
77			these variables from Linux, but it may be easier to do so from the SRM
78			console itself.
79	swift	1.1	</p>
80
81	jkt	1.17	<pre caption="Automatically booting Gentoo">
82	swift	1.1	# <i>echo '0:2/boot/vmlinux.gz root=/dev/sda2' > /etc/aboot.conf</i>
83	vapier	1.6	# <i>cd /proc/srm_environment/named_variables</i>
84			# <i>echo -n 0 > boot_osflags</i>
85			# <i>echo -n '' > boot_file</i>
86	vapier	1.7	# <i>echo -n 'BOOT' > auto_action</i>
87	vapier	1.6	# <i>echo -n 'dkc100' > bootdef_dev</i>
88			<comment>(Substitute dkc100 with whatever your boot device is)</comment>
89	swift	1.1	</pre>
90
91			<p>
92	vapier	1.5	If you need to get into the SRM console again in the future (to recover
93			your Gentoo install, play with some variables, or whatever), just hit
94			CTRL+C to abort the automatic loading process.
95			</p>
96
97			<p>
98			If you're installing using a serial console, don't forget to include
99			the serial console boot flag in <path>aboot.conf</path>. See
100			<path>/etc/aboot.conf.example</path> for some further information.
101	swift	1.1	</p>
102
103			<p>
104			Aboot is now configured and ready to use. Continue with <uri
105	swift	1.3	link="#reboot">Rebooting the System</uri>.
106	swift	1.1	</p>
107
108			</body>
109			</section>
110			<section id="milo">
111			<title>Alternative: Using MILO</title>
112			<body>
113
114			<p>
115			Before continuing, you should decide on how to use MILO. In this
116			section, we will assume that you want to make a MILO boot floppy. If you
117			are going to boot from an MS-DOS partition on your hard disk, you should
118			amend the commands appropriately.
119			</p>
120
121			<p>
122			To install MILO, we use <c>emerge</c>.
123			</p>
124
125	jkt	1.17	<pre caption="Installing MILO">
126	nightmorph	1.20	# <i>emerge milo</i>
127	swift	1.1	</pre>
128
129			<p>
130			After MILO has been installed, the MILO images should be in
131			<path>/opt/milo</path>. The commands below make a bootfloppy for use
132			with MILO. Remember to use the correct image for your Alpha-system.
133			</p>
134
135	jkt	1.17	<pre caption="Installing MILO on a floppy">
136	swift	1.1	<comment>(First insert a blank floppy)</comment>
137			# <i>fdformat /dev/fd0</i>
138			# <i>mformat a:</i>
139	nightmorph	1.23	# <i>mcopy /opt/milo/milo-2.4-18-gentoo-ruffian a:\milo</i>
140	nightmorph	1.22	# <i>mcopy /opt/milo/linload.exe a:\linload.exe</i>
141	swift	1.1	<comment>(Only if you have a Ruffian:</comment>
142			# <i>mcopy /opt/milo/ldmilo.exe a:\ldmilo.exe</i>
143			<comment>)</comment>
144			# <i>echo -ne '\125\252' \| dd of=/dev/fd0 bs=1 seek=510 count=2</i>
145			</pre>
146
147			<p>
148			Your MILO boot floppy is now ready to boot Gentoo Linux. You may need to
149			set environment variables in your ARCS Firmware to get MILO to start;
150			this is all explained in the <uri
151			link="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/MILO-HOWTO/">MILO-HOWTO</uri> with some examples
152			on common systems, and examples of the commands to use in interactive mode.
153			</p>
154
155			<p>
156			Not reading the <uri link="http://tldp.org/HOWTO/MILO-HOWTO/">MILO-HOWTO</uri>
157			is a <e>bad</e> idea.
158			</p>
159
160			<p>
161	swift	1.3	Now continue with <uri link="#reboot">Rebooting the System</uri>.
162	swift	1.1	</p>
163
164			</body>
165			</section>
166	cam	1.4	<section id="reboot">
167	swift	1.3	<title>Rebooting the System</title>
168			<subsection>
169			<body>
170
171			<p>
172			Exit the chrooted environment and unmount all mounted partitions. Then type in
173			that one magical command you have been waiting for: <c>reboot</c>.
174			</p>
175
176			<pre caption="Exiting the chroot, unmounting all partitions and rebooting">
177			# <i>exit</i>
178	swift	1.8	cdimage ~# <i>cd</i>
179	nightmorph	1.24	cdimage ~# <i>umount -l /mnt/gentoo/dev{/shm,/pts,}</i>
180			cdimage ~# <i>umount -l /mnt/gentoo{/boot,/proc,}</i>
181	swift	1.3	cdimage ~# <i>reboot</i>
182			</pre>
183
184			<p>
185			Of course, don't forget to remove the bootable CD, otherwise the CD will be
186			booted again instead of your new Gentoo system.
187			</p>
188
189			<p>
190			Once rebooted in your Gentoo installation, finish up with <uri
191			link="?part=1&chap=11">Finalizing your Gentoo Installation</uri>.
192			</p>
193
194			</body>
195			</subsection>
196			</section>
197
198	swift	1.1	</sections>