[Raion]

So after reading through things here and all of the problems people end up facing with installing IRIX properly on their SGIs, I'm doing it better.


IRIX64/6.5.30 Edition

We'll start at the miniroot prompt. So you're at the inst prompt. A few things to note:

1. If you DIDN'T get asked to format your drive, chances are you are about to install over a current system, which is ill-advised. 
 Hit 13 for admin, then 11 for mkfs. This will prompt you to erase the drive. 
2. Once you've loaded all media, either from CD, tape, network, then you can go ahead and run keep over the following systems:

keep *
install standard
keep java* kerberos openssl openssh OpenOffice outbox sgi_apache ftn* gsview ghostscript sgitcl_eoe

Let me explain these:

kerberos - it's an old version of MIT kerberos. You can install a later version, so this is a waste of space.
Outbox - obsolete email program
sgi_apache - partially used by outbox, and also a huge security risk. 
openssl - obsolete, available elsewhere
openssh - ditto
java* - this should remove all java-related subsystems. Java is not useful on SGI, and only has super old versions
gsview - ghostscript viewer, it's old
ghostscript - a foss implementation of postscript. It's also obsolete. 
ftn* - Unless you find a Fortran program, the fortran runtime and compilers are a waste of space. 
sgitcl_eoe - very old TCL version, you can find later versions by me and other devs.
OpenOffice - Shitty port of OpenOffice from 2004-ish IIRC. It's crap. 

None of the conflicts these generate should cause core systems to break.

Check conflicts:

conflicts

It'll prompt you. You may get stuff like xpdf that can't install. That's fine. Just be careful if it says EOE, viewkit, 4dwm, desktop etc. You can run:

list <name of subsystem>

and It'll tell you what it is.

Then hit go. 

I'll be doing some other tips for this, but this one thing I discovered over the last few days and it helps me keep my install lean and mean.

[Titox]

That's great!!

Usually I follow the Autodesk IRIX install guide with good results. Some years ago Autodesk released several guides depending on IRIX version but I can't find them at the moment.

[cascatino]

Thank you, very helpful!

[Raion]

Yeah I'm researching ways to build a custom IRIX install file so we can do instead:

"install basic" or "install modern" and have it forgo stuff like this already.

[Raion]

Ok, finally compiled a bunch of guides together to get us a decent wiki article on the subject:

https://wiki.irixnet.org/Network-Install-IRIX

Please give me any feedback on the process. Once it's finalized, sources will be cited for posterity.

[lunatic]

That is helpful, but it probably would be nice to include more info, i.e. on using a non-IRIX boot server or on booting machines other than a Fuel.

https://software.majix.org/irix/install-network.shtml

https://www.drak.org/proj/network-irix-install/

[weblacky]

While I don't expect you to do this, when I get more SGIs rebuilt and running, I expect to start using RoboInst so I get more automation and scripting. If you're going to use an Irix server (host) then this topic will eventually get brought up. I really want device install automation, that it detects optional video IO hardware and adapter boards (HBAs, network, etc) and auto-applies driver tardists to the install schedule.

I find the lack of easy optional hardware installation very aggravating on SGIs, if you don't know you end up having great optional hardware that isn't recognized by your OS and just sits there!

I'd rather figure this junk out now and script it during OS install/imaging.

[Raion]

Lunatic:

We have other OS guides I'm working on as well. I plan to bring out articles for those. However, most Linux-based guides often are problematic in my experience and I've had poor experiences getting Linux host installs to work. I will probably focus on FreeBSD, NetBSD and Solaris/illumos guides.

This is for IRIX on IRIX specifically.

[jan-jaap]

While I don't expect you to do this, when I get more SGIs rebuilt and running, I expect to start using RoboInst so I get more automation and scripting.

RoboInst for the initial setup, and ansible for everything else

[weblacky]

According to the Roboinst documentation that isn't accurate, RoboInst can be used Live, HDD MiniRoot, or TFTP MiniRoot FROM BARE PROM: http://sgifiles.irixnet.org/sgi/roboinst....html#prom

RoboInst can form scripts for FX and selection of packages and runs a stub script or two (in Perl) during install. Yes it can be used for Live installs, it can also do bare metal installs if you start the install with TFTP FROM RoboInst.


While the scripts do share common elements for inst selection, RoboInst will keep going afterwards with more scripts. Similar to Windows WDS, you can of course start the first half manually, but why not use RoboInst end to end?