IRIX diskless workstation: an alternative way. - Printable Version
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IRIX diskless workstation: an alternative way. - Linux-RISC - 07-17-2022
A few months ago I released version 1.0 of Reanimator with diskless workstation support. The documentation followed the official guide https://irix7.com/techpubs/007-0855-080.pdf, and the result doesn't work well as well as being complicated, cumbersome and prone to error.
As the result was not satisfactory, I decided to investigate if the process could be done in another way and finally I have achieved it, using a totally different procedure.
I have uploaded one image of an IRIX 6.5.30 running on an Octane2, I hope it can be useful for testing on other machines.
New diskless workstation documentation: https://github.com/Linux-RISC/IRIX-diskless-workstation
IRIX Diskless workstation videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7fOFTpu7rt2beS_RgPIGp53fYubGyLYC
RE: IRIX diskless workstation: an alternative way. - Raion - 07-17-2022
Very nice. This is something that I can get behind.
How reliable is it in terms of network performance?
Do you mind if I copy the article to our wiki? I won't be doing that without your permission explicitly; lmk any terms and conditions.
RE: IRIX diskless workstation: an alternative way. - Linux-RISC - 07-17-2022
Quote:How reliable is it in terms of network performance?My Octane2 uses a 100 Mbps NIC and works Ok, I haven't been able to test Irix Diskless Workstation on Indy but I suspect it will be extremely slow with its 10Mbps NIC.
My NAS is a thin client HP t610, it should work better using a powerful NAS.
Quote:Do you mind if I copy the article to our wiki? I won't be doing that without your permission explicitly; lmk any terms and conditions.No problem, thank you very much.
RE: IRIX diskless workstation: an alternative way. - Raion - 07-17-2022
Right I'll make sure to post a link at the bottom crediting you and linking back to the original wiki article.
Are you the admin of that wiki? If so I will add it to our affiliated sites page.
RE: IRIX diskless workstation: an alternative way. - Linux-RISC - 07-17-2022
Quote:Are you the admin of that wiki? If so I will add it to our affiliated sites page.Yes, I am. It's a github where I upload personal projects.
RE: IRIX diskless workstation: an alternative way. - Raion - 07-17-2022
Cool I will add you to the page. Thank you
RE: IRIX diskless workstation: an alternative way. - Linux-RISC - 07-17-2022
I have uploaded an IRIX 6.5.0 version to Mega, without testing it because it is incompatible with Octane2 and on Indy it takes too long to start up and ends up showing timeouts.
RE: IRIX diskless workstation: an alternative way. - johnnym - 07-25-2022
Very interesting stuff, Linux-RISC! I once tried network booting IRIX between an Octane and an Octane2 (years ago), as a start to later move server-side things (incl. filesystems) over to my - since a few years - regular netboot infrastructure (Raspberry Pi for DNS, DHCP/BOOTP, RARP, Bootparam, Odroid HC1 with SSD for TFTP and NFSv2 and v3). Though the move never happened.
It's cool that you took care of that and even improved on the official documentation. I first have to read through it a little and might come up with some questions later.
For the Indy with its 10BaseT Ethernet port, have you tried (1) to limit the corresponding switch port to 10 Mbps half-duplex and enabling flow control or (2) to attach it via an old Ethernet hub? I have seen similar hiccups with a HP 9000 712/80 when booting Debian GNU/Linux diskless and things got better when making the above mentioned changes (10 Mbps half duplex and flow control).
RE: IRIX diskless workstation: an alternative way. - Linux-RISC - 07-25-2022
Questions are welcome
I use a non-configurable small switch, but I have an older one and I will try with Indy.
I haven't been able to boot Indy diskless, it always gets stuck, more tests needed.
RE: IRIX diskless workstation: an alternative way. - johnnym - 07-25-2022
Quote:I haven't been able to boot Indy diskless, it always get stuck, more tests needed.
It's indeed possible. I had my Indys booting OpenBSD diskless in the past, though it worked only after this change here.
I am using an "in-house" ;-) tool called nfsrb2 (i.e. NFS Root file system Builder 2) to ceate the required file systems and download the extras needed. Maybe this is of use for your adventures, too? I have no current version online, but this older one should hopefully still work:
https://github.com/the-machine-hall/nfsrb2/
I really need to update this repo, because my local version can also create root file systems for NetBSD since a while.