http://svr4.opensxce.org/sparc/RELEASE_NOTES__OpenSXCE2013.05SPARC.txt ############################################################################################ ######## TextCD or LiveDVD??! ###################################################### -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In most cases you should not download the TextCD iso, but the LiveDVD one. The LiveDVD image contains everything that the TextCD does, only A LOT MORE. While the TextCD with its pre-installed "TEXTSERVER" software cluster only delivers the core OS/Net system plus Caiman text-install and a few basic dependencies such as Perl 5.10 or Python 2.6, the LiveDVD iso with its pre- installed "DESKTOPJDS" cluster can either be used as Live media for desaster recovery scenarios, or as virus-free unbreakable 24x7x365 school Web-top, to learn OpenSXCE, to chat with your girl-friend, write your thesis in Apache OpenOffice ... you name it, ..... or: Simply to use either gui-install or text-install, in order to install the OpenSXCE image to your hdd. To make the point: The LiveDVD contains both the curses based "text-install" _and_ the X11 oriented "gui-install"! The user booting the LiveDVD gets the following text-menu (no matter if on SPARC sun4u, sun4v or on x86 IA32 or AMD64) : Welcome to the OpenSXCE OpenSXCE2013.05__Illumos20130516 installation menu 1 GUI-INSTALL (in Live X11 Gnome JDS) 2 GUI-INSTALL (in Live X11 IceWM) 3 TEXT-INSTALL (in console-mode, no X11) 4 SHELL (in X11 mode, xterm failsafe session) 5 SHELL (in console-mode, no X11) 6 Terminal type (currently sun) 7 REBOOT Please enter a number [1]: In full contrast, the following is the text-menu that you get on the TextCD: Welcome to the OpenSXCE OpenSXCE2013.05__Illumos20130516 installation menu 1 TEXT-INSTALL (in console-mode, no X11) 2 SHELL (in console-mode, no X11) 3 Terminal type (currently sun) 4 REBOOT Please enter a number [1]: FAQ: Why is there a TextCD at all, then? A: It is a service to users that ...: * only have a CD-ROM drive, nothing newer * don't have broadband connectivity * want to set up a minimized dedicated Server system (TAKE INTO ACCOUNT: By means of /usr/sbin/opensxce-fetch-everything as well as via /usr/sbin/opensxce-upgrade-everything you can not only upgrade your installation to a newer OpenSXCE release [such as from 2013.01 to 2013.05], but also migrate to another software cluster, more below) ############################################################################################ ######## Installation ############################################################## -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now being aware, that you most probably want the LiveDVD, you know, which iso to choose: wget http://opensxce.org/sparc/5.11/ISO/OpenSXCE_2013.05_Live_SPARC.iso wget http://opensxce.org/sparc/5.11/ISO/OpenSXCE_2013.05_Live_SPARC.iso__MD5SUM.txt (or the equivalent for x86/x64, but the x86 RESPIN is still unpublished) Verify the MD5SUM with either: /usr/bin/md5sum --binary or digest -v -a md5 Avoid the /usr/bin/cdrw utility, to keep things simple: It is crap. Use /usr/bin/cdrecord -scanbus to find your recorder, then something like: # cdrecord -v -eject dev=2,0,0 driveropts=burnfree OpenSXCE_2013.05_Live_SPARC.iso Then, from the IEEE1275 OBP ok prompt, normally "boot cdrom" is enough. If the "cdrom" shortcut does not yet exist, create a volatile devalias or permanent nvalias or skip this step and simply boot the full device path. See below for details. The CD/DVD boots into the mentioned OpenSXCE text-menu, from there make your choice. BTW: Fresh disks need to be label'ed first, before the installer can use them. Take "format -e" and use the "partition" subcommand to adjust your VTOC, then write it to disk by means of "label" and "0" . Well, I certainly don't need to explain the rest. {Disable Power Management} Only so much: Power Management is nice, especially in today's expensive times. However, I never fell in love with it. Spinning up/down your disks 100 times per day is not the ideal recipe to ensure a long lasting life. If the box is uploading or downloading something (such as during a normal pkgutil run) and power management is not smart enough to respect this, you may screw your installation. Plus: Often PM may even freeze the system and forces you, to remove power in order to get in control again. Instead of messing with any of the PM GUI's checkboxes or power.conf, the best thing to do is "rem_drv pm" directly afater installation. I do this myself, highly recommended. {How to create the right "cdrom" nvalias on a SPARC} Did you know? You can also easily connect any off-the-shelf SATA DVD-drive (or hdd of course) to a system such as the T1000. I saw, some users asked this question and did not find the solution. Here it is: Normally HBA's with flashed in Fcodes offer different packages for different connected device types (disk, cdrom, tape). The HBA detects what is connected during POST and creates the corresponding nodes in the device tree in OBP. The tricky thing I found out: With some SAS controllers this does not work as expected, on some system/OBP version combinations. But instead only "disk" nodes are being created and then shown in "show-disks". Now, to find the right device path that your "cdrom" nvalias needs to point to, you only need some *NIX experience and some basic logic, plus maybe a few tries. To find the proper base path, take "show-disks" as usual. If possible,also try "probe-scsi-all" after a fresh reset-all (may still hang your system). Notice that a device path without TARGET,LUN:SLICE specification defaults to TARGET#0, LUN#0 and SLICE#0. If no string containing "cdrom" is being offered, then this doesn't (yet) mean, you are out of luck. It is also possible, to boot of optical media via "disk" paths, as long as you really talk to the right TARGET,LUN:SLICE. As an extreme example: You can even plug a PCI2.2 33MHZ 32bit to PCIe 16x adapter in a SunBlade100, put in a LSI SAS 2008 based LSI 92xx card, connect 4TB drives plus several DVD writers or BlueRay writers, flash the right Fcodes and then boot of the OpenSXCE LiveDVD. NEVER GIVE UP EARLY. Ask me for details. Or simply wait: I will post a dedicated Blog entry about all this, after the x86 2013.05 FCS RESPIN will finally be in the wild. ############################################################################################ ######## Upgradability ############################################################# -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OpenSXCE is entirely designed on the basis of pkgutil wrapped SVR4 pkgadd. To add or remove software, run /opt/csw/bin/pkgutil (ATTENTION: Never accidently install vanilla CSWpkgutil/CSWpkgutilplus over the OpenSXCE provided versions!). While pkgutil does use own files for catalog, descriptions and pkg caching, it will not break your system, if you interact with pkgadd/pkgrm _directly_ whenever you think you need to. Why would you want to? Well, while pkgutil does do an excellent job in calculating the DiGraphs of all required deps during install time, autoresolves, auto-fetches and auto- installs everything, it is still subobtimal for pkg removals. For this reason I slightly hacked it and put the result to /opt/csw/bin/pkgutil_forced. For example, if you would like to install hundreds of packages non-interactively and want to be sure, really every- thing gets installed, rather than having pkgutil quit at the first minor pkgadd error, then use "yes|pkgutil_forced --install <...>" instead of "yes|pkgutil --install <...>". You may compare this to make's "-k" option. And for removals of packages, maybe you too don't like it, if "pkgutil --remove" similar to IPS "pkg uninstall" simply leaves you alone and says: "Forget it, not possible lol". In these cases simply bypass the perl script that pkgutil is, and being the real Admin "___YOU___" decide what you can, can not, want or don't want to uninstall!!! Call pkgrm twice, in tough cases. Also make sure, no 2nd instance of that pacckages is installed any longer (as indicated by the package name plus suffix ".2". THIS IS THE HUGE BENEFIT OF SVR4 PKGADD AND OpenSXCE OVER IPS. There you are lost. Based on all this, OpenSXCE users can benefit from the new Upgrading/Migration framework, as being implemented starting with 2013.05FCS_RESPIN. As you see, 3 clusters are currently defined. You can also downgrade from a larger cluster to a smaller one. Downgrading in reverse order to a previous OpenSXCE release would also easily be doable, but for now I removed support for it. If you want this for any obscure reason, hack the scripts ;) /usr/share/opensxce-everything /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301 /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/sparc /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/sparc/cluster /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/sparc/cluster/DESKTOPJDS /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/sparc/cluster/TEXTSERVER /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING/00__coresystem__osnet.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING/01__X11C__FOX.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING/08__BONUSPKGS.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING/01C__SPARC_openXsun.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING/03__SFW.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING/05__G11N.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING/02__slim_source.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING/01B__SPARCgfx.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING/04__JDS__martin.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING/06__MISSINGDEPS.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/i386 /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/i386/cluster /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/i386/cluster/TEXTSERVER /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/i386/cluster/DESKTOPJDS /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/i386/cluster/EVERYTHING /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/i386/cluster/EVERYTHING/00__coresystem__osnet.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/i386/cluster/EVERYTHING/05__G11N.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/i386/cluster/EVERYTHING/02__slim_source.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/i386/cluster/EVERYTHING/08__BONUSPKGS.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/i386/cluster/EVERYTHING/03__SFW.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/i386/cluster/EVERYTHING/01__X11C__FOX.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/i386/cluster/EVERYTHING/04__JDS__martin.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201301/i386/cluster/EVERYTHING/06__MISSINGDEPS.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305 /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386 /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/DESKTOPJDS /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/DESKTOPJDS/04__JDS__martin.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/DESKTOPJDS/03__SFW.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/DESKTOPJDS/05__G11N.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/DESKTOPJDS/06__MISSINGDEPS.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/DESKTOPJDS/00__coresystem__osnet.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/DESKTOPJDS/02__slim_source.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/DESKTOPJDS/01__X11C__FOX.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/DESKTOPJDS/08__BONUSPKGS.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/TEXTSERVER /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/TEXTSERVER/02__slim_source.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/TEXTSERVER/08__BONUSPKGS.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/TEXTSERVER/06__MISSINGDEPS.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/TEXTSERVER/04__JDS__martin.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/TEXTSERVER/00__coresystem__osnet.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/TEXTSERVER/05__G11N.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/TEXTSERVER/03__SFW.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/EVERYTHING /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/EVERYTHING/00__coresystem__osnet.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/EVERYTHING/06__MISSINGDEPS.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/EVERYTHING/08__BONUSPKGS.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/EVERYTHING/01__X11C__FOX.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/EVERYTHING/04__JDS__martin.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/EVERYTHING/05__G11N.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/EVERYTHING/03__SFW.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/i386/cluster/EVERYTHING/02__slim_source.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/DESKTOPJDS /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/DESKTOPJDS/01B__SPARCgfx.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/DESKTOPJDS/03__SFW.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/DESKTOPJDS/05__G11N.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/DESKTOPJDS/02__slim_source.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/DESKTOPJDS/01C__SPARC_openXsun.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/DESKTOPJDS/00__coresystem__osnet.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/DESKTOPJDS/01__X11C__FOX.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/DESKTOPJDS/08__BONUSPKGS.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/DESKTOPJDS/06__MISSINGDEPS.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/DESKTOPJDS/04__JDS__martin.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/TEXTSERVER /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/TEXTSERVER/05__G11N.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/TEXTSERVER/03__SFW.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/TEXTSERVER/02__slim_source.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/TEXTSERVER/08__BONUSPKGS.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/TEXTSERVER/00__coresystem__osnet.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/TEXTSERVER/04__JDS__martin.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/TEXTSERVER/06__MISSINGDEPS.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING/08__BONUSPKGS.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING/01__X11C__FOX.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING/06__MISSINGDEPS.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING/00__coresystem__osnet.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING/04__JDS__martin.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING/01C__SPARC_openXsun.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING/01B__SPARCgfx.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING/02__slim_source.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING/03__SFW.txt /usr/share/opensxce-everything/201305/sparc/cluster/EVERYTHING/05__G11N.txt These files are plain ascii text containing exactly one SUNWfoo package name per line. In a very specific order. Together with the new /usr/sbin/opensxce-fetch-everything and /usr/sbin/opensxce-upgrade-everything tools, they enable a user to simply fetch and auto-install all the missing pieces from the REPO http://svr4.opensxce.org (1669 packages per release, as of now). This is the responsibility of /usr/sbin/opensxce-fetch-everything, as its mnemonic name suggests. However, with /usr/sbin/opensxce-upgrade-everything you now have an even more powerful tool: It enables you to upgrade your system from an outdated OpenSXCE release, to a more recent one. Namely: To the one that was the most current release, when your installed version of SUNWopensxce-everything was published. This means: As you probably want the most recent OpenSXCE bits, it is mandatory, that you first boot your old OpenSXCE system and upgrade SUNWopensxce-everything to the latest bits, for example: {Boot SPARC 2013.01} $ su - # pkgutil -U # yes|pkgutil --upgrade SUNWopensxce-everything (alternatively this is the same as: # yes|pkgrm SUNWopensxce-everything # pkgutil -U # yes|pkgutil --install SUNWopensxce-everything ) As graphical illustrations say more than 1000 words, here is some output that you will get: (taken from files in /var/sadm/system/logs/opensxce_upgrade_log, where everything gets logged) : # /usr/sbin/opensxce-fetch-everything ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the OpenSXCE fetch-everything script. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- "/.OpenSXCE" indicates, we are on release: OpenSXCE201305 GOOD: Your booted install image and SUNWopensxce both match OpenSXCE201305. "/.OpenSXCE_cluster" does not exist! Falling back to defaults! OLD cluster EVERYTHING ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) DESKTOPJDS, makes only sense if you installed the TextCD _plus_ still dont want EVERYTHING now 2) EVERYTHING, if you installed TextCD or LiveDVD and now want the entire rest from REPO Please select the software target cluster [1 or 2] 2 You selected the EVERYTHING installation cluster. WARNING: OpenSXCE201305 versus OpenSXCE201305 _and_ OLDCLUSTER "EVERYTHING" versus TARGETCLUSTER "EVERYTHING" are identical, are you sure? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- We are on release: OpenSXCE201305. And migrate this system ... : From OLD installation cluster: EVERYTHING to new TARGETCLUSTER: EVERYTHING. You should not interrupt this process unnecessarily. However: If something fails for whatever reason, you can exit with ^C and delete the incomplete BE "opensxce20130710212410". SHOULD THE NEW BE NOT BE BOOTABLE: Just boot into your old BE and destroy the newly created BE "opensxce20130710212410". YOU SHOULD BACK UP ALL YOUR DATA BEFORE PROCEEDING! pkgutil will auto-resolve all dependency DIGRAPHS, this keeps even modern CPU's quite busy ... BTW: You can safely ignore the harmless pkgutil "uninitialized foobar" warnings. PLEASE STAY PATIENT. Are you ready for the Installation [y, n]? Please select [yes, no] Please select [yes, no] yes Ok, let's continue ... You may want to observe the stdout+stderr log file in /var/sadm/system/logs/opensxce_upgrade_log/opensxce_fetch_20130710212410.txt Solving needed dependencies ... Solving dependency order ... 1 CURRENT packages: SUNWopensxce-selfhosting-OpenSXCE2013.05__Illumos20130516,REV=2013.07.02.21.18 Nothing to do. Created successfully Mounted successfully on: '/a' ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Start time: Wed Jul 10 21:25:29 PDT 2013 Installing on: SunOS unknown 5.11 OpenSXCE2013.05__Illumos20130516 sun4u sparc SUNW,A70 Number of currently installed packages: 1131. ... ... ... Or, output from /usr/sbin/opensxce-upgrade-everything: # /usr/sbin/opensxce-upgrade-everything ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to the OpenSXCE upgrade script. On the next screens you can explicitly specify and override the autodetected values for upgrade / downgrade direction and you may define the software cluster you wish to install. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- "/.OpenSXCE" indicates, we come from OLD release: OpenSXCE201305 "/.opensxce_everything" suggests, we migrate to NEW release: OpenSXCE201305 Upgrading from OpenSXCE201305 to OpenSXCE201305 makes little sense. If you are really sure, continue with explicit input. "/.OpenSXCE_cluster" indicates, the currently installed cluster is: DESKTOPJDS ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 0) TEXTSERVER, if you installed the TextCD and now upgrade to a new OpenSXCE release, MINIMIZING from larger cluster IS ALSO POSSIBLE 1) DESKTOPJDS, makes only sense if you installed the TextCD _plus_ still dont want EVERYTHING now 2) EVERYTHING, if you installed TextCD or LiveDVD and now want the entire rest from REPO Please select the software target cluster [0, 1 or 2] 0 You selected the TEXTSERVER installation cluster. Okay, migrating from OpenSXCE201305 to OpenSXCE201305 _and_ OLDCLUSTER "DESKTOPJDS" to TARGETCLUSTER "TEXTSERVER". ------------------------------------------------------------------------- We will migrate this system from OLD release: OpenSXCE201305 to NEW release: OpenSXCE201305. And to be specific: From OLD installation cluster: DESKTOPJDS to new TARGETCLUSTER: TEXTSERVER. You should not interrupt this process unnecessarily. However: If something fails for whatever reason, you can exit with ^C and delete the incomplete BE "opensxce20130710212857". SHOULD THE NEW BE NOT BE BOOTABLE: Just boot into your old BE and destroy the newly created BE "opensxce20130710212857". YOU SHOULD BACK UP ALL YOUR DATA BEFORE PROCEEDING! pkgutil will auto-resolve all dependency DIGRAPHS, this keeps even modern CPU's quite busy ... BTW: You can safely ignore the harmless pkgutil "uninitialized foobar" warnings. PLEASE STAY PATIENT. Are you ready for the Upgrade [y, n]? Please select [yes, no] Please select [yes, no] yes Ok, let's continue ... You may want to observe the stdout+stderr log file in /var/sadm/system/logs/opensxce_upgrade_log/opensxce_upgrade_20130710212857.txt Solving needed dependencies ... Solving dependency order ... 1 CURRENT packages: SUNWopensxce-selfhosting-OpenSXCE2013.05__Illumos20130516,REV=2013.07.02.21.18 Nothing to do. Created successfully Mounted successfully on: '/a' ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Start time: Wed Jul 10 21:30:20 PDT 2013 Installing on: SunOS unknown 5.11 OpenSXCE2013.05__Illumos20130516 sun4u sparc SUNW,A70 Number of currently installed packages: 1131. ... ... ... Output from stdout and stderr is shown on the screen plus simultanously logged. After completion you get a review/summary. If something goes wrong, simply boot into your original BE and all is fine :) It shall be trivial to enhance this framework to support upgrades from older Solaris releases to OpenSXCE. The problem then is rather, to move the old files from UFS disks to newly created ZFS zpools. As long as the user connects new disks (or frees old), this shall be no big deal to further enhance the scripts into that direction. Jim Klimov reminded /corrected me, that Solaris 10 does already support ZFS! So this is an extra case. If you read this far, maybe you would be interested in some of my blog entries, such as: http://opensxce.blogspot.de/2013/06/now-that-pkgdefs-ok-today-making-real.html http://opensxce.blogspot.de/2013/06/a-view-from-mars-why-creating-opensxces.html ############################################################################################ ######## SPARC-USB-Boot ############################################################ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For getting started, have a look at: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/server-storage/solaris/overview/usb-faq-140616.html It is important to point out, that the console output as provided in the official FAQ is complete nonsense: """""2) Find the USB disk and copy its device path ok show-disks a) /pci@1e,600000/pci@0/pci@a/pci@0/pci@8/scsi@1/disk b) /pci@1e,600000/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0/ide@1f/cdrom c) /pci@1e,600000/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0/ide@1f/disk q) NO SELECTION Enter Selection, q to quit: q 3) Create a USB alias using the device path ok nvalias usb /pci@1e,600000/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0/ide@1f/disk 4) Boot the USB disk """"" Before I could finally test this myself, for 3 years I had to believe that FAQ and consequently had to assume, USB devices get recognized in whatever kind of "IDE-emulation" mode or whatever. THIS IS NOT THE CASE. Whoever has written that FAQ entry got cheated by the Ultra45's internal IDE-controller (that sits on-board and exclusively serves the Ultra45's slow SlimLine-SlotIn DVD drive). Although nothing else is normally connected, the "show-disks" output also lists "/pci@1e,600000/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0/ide@1f/disk". But if you think, this is any USB mass storage device: WRONG. Has nothing to do with it. Instead you really get something like: /pci@1e,600000/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0/usb@1c,3/device@1/storage@0/disk This is a path as reported by "show-disks". As always, such paths do not contain any TARGET,LUN:SLICE specification, and do not list them explicitly, and therefore default to 0,0:a (a stands for slice 0). I ported Caiman's "usbcopy" utility to also support SPARC, and adjusted it in a way, so that even a default unmodified device path as reported by "show-disks" will be capable of booting your USB mass storage device on SPARC. This entire USB creation method with plain dd and a header file is complete crap. Have ported Caiman's usbcopy (vanilla usbgen worked fine and only usbcopy needed some minor enhancements) to support both SPARC && x86. You find "usbcopy" in OpenSXCE's REPO in the package "SUNWdistro-const" plus, for convenience, also in the USB download folder. Here the output of the SPARC USB image-to-device copy: (Big credits to Dave Miner's Caiman! for all the grand sources they have released back in the good old OpenSolaris times!!!) root@unknown:/usb# ./usbcopy OpenSXCE_2013.05_Live_SPARC.usb Found the following USB devices: 0: /dev/rdsk/c23t0d0s2 15.3 GB USB DISK 2.0 PMAP 1: /dev/rdsk/c24t0d0s2 15.3 GB Generic- SD/MMC 1.00 2: /dev/rdsk/c24t0d1s2 Generic- Compact Flash 1.01 3: /dev/rdsk/c24t0d2s2 Generic- SM/xD-Picture 1.02 4: /dev/rdsk/c24t0d3s2 Generic- MS/MS-Pro 1.03 Enter the number of your choice: 1 WARNING: All data on your USB storage will be lost. Are you sure you want to install to Generic- SD/MMC 1.00, 15300 MB at /dev/rdsk/c24t0d0s2 ? (y/n) y Copying and verifying image to USB device Finished 2409 MB in 1178 seconds (2.0MB/s) 0 block(s) re-written due to verification failure Installing /usr/platform/sun4u/lib/fs/ufs/bootblk to USB device /dev/rdsk/c24t0d0s2 Also installing /usr/platform/sun4u/lib/fs/ufs/bootblk to true USB s0 slice /dev/rdsk/ c24t0d0s0 for redundance, In this specific case s0 equals s2 (identical cylinder boundaries) On this specific machine to boot this USB device from OBP ok prompt you would issue "boot /pci@1e,600000/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0/usb@1c,3/device@1/storage@0/disk@0,0:c" To create a convenient shortcut: "nvalias MyUSBdev /pci@1e,600000/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0/usb@1c,3/ device@1/storage@0/disk@0,0:c" (or :a for s0) Alternatively just enter "reboot -- /pci@1e,600000/pci@0/pci@1/pci@0/usb@1c,3/device@1/ storage@0/disk@0,0:c" Completed copy to USB root@unknown:/usb# uname -a SunOS unknown 5.11 OpenSXCE2013.05__Illumos20130516 sun4u sparc SUNW,A70 root@unknown:/usb# isainfo -v 64-bit sparcv9 applications vis2 vis 32-bit sparc applications vis2 vis v8plus div32 mul32 root@unknown:/usb# FAQ: Can you boot your SB1500 or SB2500 or V480/490? Well while OBP 4.30 is indeed available for them, currently the answer is, sadly, NO. These systems, like all earlier and some later (including the T2000 [only 1.1] while the T1000 does not even have any USB at all) DO NOT HAVE NATIVE USB2.0. The SB1500/2500 Red/Silver only used a pci card for 2.0 (and has onboard 1.1). Technically there is no difference between onboard or PCI card, in both cases you deal with PCI. The problem here: The (this!) pci card as used in the SB1500/SB2500 {you can put it into other boxes} lacks the fcodes :( So while OBP sees parts of it, OBP does not properly initialize the device tree. Forget the nvaliases, here there simply is no device node created. Therefore we cannot create an alias (which is only a shortcut exactly like a symlink). I have a book about fcodes driver programming, and it should be possible to test a few tricks. I'm not without experience in that field. For now, however, only the newer boxes are supported by OpenSXCE's new SPARC USB images (Text and Live). MAYBE IT IS WORTH MENTIONING, THAT OpenSXCE IS THE FIRST DISTRO OF ANY OS RUNNING ON SPARC, THAT HAS EVER OFFERED SPARC USB-BOOT IMAGES IN ALL TIMES!!! ############################################################################################ ######## LiveVHDD Images ########################################################### -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- While the http://svr4.opensxce.org/sparc/5.11/ISO subdir contains the TextCD and LiveDVD iso files, the USB subdir contains the usb images and the REPO subdir will in the near future deliver redistributable tar plus iso files of the entire REPO, the VHDD subdir already contains a Vbox/Qemu compatible virtual harddisk image for x86/x64. For SPARC I plan to offer a LDOM's VHDD image, starting tomorrow or so. ############################################################################################ ######## Selfhosting ############################################################### -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Starting with 2013.05 FCS RESPIN, SUNWopensxce-selfhosting is no longer an empty stub, but filled with content. After: # pkgutil -U # pkgutil -u SUNWopensxce-selfhosting you should now be abale to build Illumos, SFW/userland and X11. As the x86/x64 FCS RESPIN is not yet out, this currently limits it to SPARC. After the migration to DilOS-Illumos, this will be a challenge for SUNWopensxce-selfhosting and it will need to contain much more, as the vanilla Illumos is simply too outdated in many places, compared to Igor improved DilOS-Illumos. Thanks to Gary Mills for his help with SUNWopensxce-selfhosting. ############################################################################################ ######## PASSWORDS ################################################################# -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Much in the tradition of "OpenSolaris the distro", "Oracle Solaris 11.x" and OI, the passwords for the LiveMedia are: root:opensxce jack:jack Post-Install passwords: If you used the text-install, you have defined both the "root"and default user's passwords during installation. In case of gui-install, you only defined the default user and its pass- word. In that case the "root" role has the same password at first, after installation. But it is set to be "expired", and you define it at first login. Special notice to migrants from other *NIX'es that are not yet familiar with RBAC: Except in SingleUserMode, you can not login as "root" directly, but only su to it. OpenSXCE uses advanced RBAC "roles", rather than plain "users". It is highly recommended that you first enjoy some reading about RBAC in general, and pfexec in specific. ############################################################################################ ######## ZONES ##################################################################### -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Still not there, but after 2013.05 OpenSXCE moves to DilOS-Illumos. Then we also have Zones support :) ############################################################################################ ######## ILLUMOS/DilOS ############################################################# -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OpenSXCE is and will continue to be Illumos-derived. The difference is only: In the future not vanilla Illumos upstream will be used, but Igor-improved DilOS-Ilumos :) See http://opensxce.blogspot.de/2013/06/oh-dilos-brings-in-waffle-cones-ken.html ############################################################################################ ######## MODERNIZATION ############################################################# -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As explained time and again, for example here: http://opensxce.blogspot.de/2013/06/a-view-from-mars-why-creating-opensxces.html ... it was necessary to go back to a 2010 level for getting started with SVR4. Obviously this doesn't mean we stay there. Much in contrast: While IPS is extremely hostile to users and maintainers, SVR4 is dead simple. This means, expect an updated userland and updated x86/x64 Xorg, MESA-OpenGL and NVIDIA drivers rather sooner, than later. Update: Yesterday Ken Mays sent me the newest MESA OpenGL and DRM/DRI for x86! ############################################################################################ ######## CHANGELOG ################################################################# -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Primarily: The new update framework, plus now no longer missing locales for USA, Germany. Generally :Too many improvements, maybe later ... Start by reading all other points. ############################################################################################ ######## BUGS ###################################################################### -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On x86 many, fixing them finally over next days. ############################################################################################ ######## ROADMAP ################################################################### -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @SEE DilOS, ZONES, BUGS, MODERNIZATION ############################################################################################ ######## SPONSORS ################################################################## -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, let's keep it short, simple and tough. And let's not lose too many tears: The biggest OpenSXCE sponsor of all times, that's ME, Martin Bochnig. Not many can understand, why I screw up my entire "life" and (lack of) career for it. Often I don't understand it myself, but the good news: I rarely have time to think about it. For example, I never found the time to continue my Maths degree at Technical University Berlin. Or only a month ago one of the largest TOP500 Internet companies in the world had politely contacted me and asked, if I would like to join their In-house LinUX development team. But I saw little sense in joining them to work on a LinUX version, after I now spent half a decade trying to rescue the last remains of (Open)Solaris. Working for them would bring me 50K$$$ per annum, but I would have little time to continue my OpenSXCE efforts. As sad as it is, for this simple reason I could not accept their offer. If I really want a job, then as Solaris engineer. Nothing else. Paid or unpaid! Let's first name the premium sponsors, then chronologically: ************************ *My Mother and Grand-Ma* ************************ When? --->> ALWAYS How much? --->> 6$$$$$$digit sum ************************ Brian Gupta CEO of http://www.brandorr.com/brian ************************ When? --->> 2008 How much? --->> 3000$ ************************ Al Hopper CEO of Logical Approach Inc,Plano,TX ************************ When? --->> Since April 2006 How much? --->> HUNDREDS AND ALL HOSTING FEES AND WORK))) ************************ Christopher Bergstroem CTO of http://www.pathscale.com/ ************************ When? --->> 2013 July 5th How much? --->> 500 EUR ************************ ADMIN Roelof (of "The Outside") from the Netherlands ourdistro.org ************************ When? --->> 2013 July 11th How much? --->> Bunch of bunch of skilled work: Roelof set up this very cool community site for us: http://opensxce.ourdistro.org/ ************************ Christian Meier ************************ When? --->> 2013 July and earlier How much? --->> 100 EUR plus 45 EUR plus help ************************ Manfred Meissner ************************ When? --->> 20130526 How much? --->> 700 EUR (He bought my 2nd Ultra45 and by doing so helped OpenSXCE to survive 1 month!) ************************ Volker Brandt Brandt && Brandt Computer GmbH WWW: http://www.bb-c.de/ ************************ When? --->> Since 2010 How much? --->> 200 EUR in November 2012 Additionally he bough my T2000 in 2010 for a very fair price :) 20130622 Gary Mills 50 EUR 20130619 Roger Bisson 80 GBP 20130604 Mario Sesto 20 EUR 20130602 Torbjorn Fallsen 30 EUR 20130508 Dale Stylinski 65 USD 20130508 Lincoln Bryant 50 USD 20130507 H A J van Niekerk 5 EUR 20130207 Andrej Javorsek 30 EUR 20130129 Jasse Jansson 50 USD 20130129 Emanuele Pucciarelli 50 EUR 20130129 Carsten John 10 USD 20130129 James Relph 150 GBP 20130129 Ralph Boehme 79 USD (p.s. 2 or 3 names must still be missing from above list, only now I realized, that the Paypal history only goes back 3 months. Also, some of the donations were received not via Paypal, but wire transfer. I added everything as much as browsing old emails and my twitter account permitted. But I think 2 or 3 are still missing. If that's you, please contact me ASAP and I add you to the list.) Let me also thank Ken Mays, who supported the project not financially, but with his good testing reports and reviews. Status-Update, 20130711: I just saw, Ken has sent me modern DRI/DRM and Mesa for x86/x64. He saved me a ton of a bunch of work :) Because on x86 my knowledge is really out of date (Mesa/Xorg/NVidia/userland). ******************************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************************* Regards and thanks from my heart to those few good souls, real friends, who HELPed :):):) ******************************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************************* Not only financially: Also to those good fellows who fought for me and OpenSXCE and OpenSolaris by means of smart words! Thanks to all Bloggers! THANK YOU ALL!!! ******************************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************************* If you like to help me to help you and be added to SPONSORS, please use this link, TNX: Please enter your donation amount. Purpose: OpenSXCE https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=4HP83V5M8QDWQ ############################################################################################ ######## PRICING ################################################################### -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It is hopefully CLEAR (if you see my CV), that I do exactly _not_ do it for a profit. However, unfortunately all other institutions around me do charge 100's and 1000's of $$$ all the time. All the OpenSXCE work I ever did was and is completely UNSUSTAINABLE. Only GOD-like good souls such as my mother, grand-ma and Olga with her humbleness and patience plus the few though very very good-hearted souls who ever did donate $$$ made it possible in this literal sense!!!!! But if you would like to see OpenSXCE thrive and get really good, that that's no longer sustainable enough, to pay even the monthly rent for the single small room I'm living in, let alone electricity bills or food. Price: OpenSXCE is free for private users. Can freely be redistributed, changed and so on, as the affected open-src licenses define. Corporations, however, do need to pay. Price: For small businesses from 2 to 50 employees: 18% of what Oracle would take. From 51 t0 500 employees: 30% From 501 to 2000 employees: 40% of Oracle's price. With 2001 or more employees: 50% of Oracle's price. Take into account, that the last Oracle Solaris officially supporting sun4u is Solaris 10. While being available with latest hardware support, its userland is still at 2004! If somebody pays anything, expect the entire OpenSXCE project to grow and mature. If not: Well, *HOW* shall I do it any longer??? "Martin, go, work at McDonalds" is not the right answer. Not even a well paid job as respected software-developer. OpenSXCE is a fulltime-job (for ten instances of myself)! NO TIME FOR ANY(any!)THING ELSE. ############################################################################################ ######## REDISTRIBUTION ############################################################ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- YES! SHARE!!! I put biggest care into not violating any license. It is legally absolutely perfect, to freely re-dist OpenSXCE, the REPO or any parts of them. ############################################################################################ ######## LICENSES ################################################################## -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LICENSE: The sources get published as soon as time allows. All src stays under its current licenses (GPL, MIT, BSD, CDDL). My own code is by default under CDDL1.0 (and for openXsun's patches MIT). ############################################################################################ ######## OPEN-SRC ################################################################## -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- YES!!!!! @SEE LICENSES, REDISTRIBUTION