[Infiltratr]

Ok, I messed up

I knew that I would want to reinstall IRIX on my Octanes because I was going to swap in some bigger hard drives and I really wanted to start with a clean system.

So I purchased myself an External SCSI drive so that I could install Irix.  What I actually purchased, however, was an IBM 7210-025 External SCSI DVD-Ram drive by mistake.

Through IRIX, I can see it fine, it ejects and runs like a CDRom drive but I have had no luck in reading anything from it due to a difference between the hardwares sector size and the Octanes assumed sector sizes (I think?)  From the prom command prompt I can see it, even LS it to see the files on the drive but it fails when I try to read.

So anyway I think I have 2 options left if I don't want to find another external SCSI drive.
1)  find some setenv variable to inform the Octane of what the drive needs to function ok
or
2) install it across the network from one Octane to another.

So right now I am downloading
ftp.irix.cc/pub/irix-os/irix-6.5/disc-images/
and
ftp.irix.cc/pub/irix-os/irix-6.5/network-installs/irix-6.5.22/

My question is, should I try to burn the disc images to the DVD-Ram drive (on a cd recordable, not a dvd recordable) from the octane and see if that gives me a better result or should I go down the network install route.

If I do decide to do a network install from one Octane to another, is there a set of instructions somewhere that I can use with the files I am downloading from Irix.cc???

[TruHobbyist]

Hi!!!!


This is a known problem on SGIs and btw other unixes too. The problem is SGI firmware expects a drive configurable to 512 byte blocks (logical block length in SCSI parlance), but not all SCSI drives allow this configuration (MODE SELECT scsi command).

Your best bet is to buy an external drive that's known to work. For example, I use:

1. Plextor PX-W4012TSe
2. Plextor PX-40TSE

My experience is that these drives would survive a nuclear holocaust. They are solid, durable, reliable and well worth investing in them. In the last ~15 years I had more IDE drives than I can remember (they just stop working, CDs get broken inside while reading, other pieces break inside) and my three Plextor drives (bought new 12 years ago), with much more use, are still working like a charm.

Cheers,
Tru

[mchartmann]

Ok, I messed up

I knew that I would want to reinstall IRIX on my Octanes because I was going to swap in some bigger hard drives and I really wanted to start with a clean system.

So I purchased myself an External SCSI drive so that I could install Irix.  What I actually purchased, however, was an IBM 7210-025 External SCSI DVD-Ram drive by mistake.

Through IRIX, I can see it fine, it ejects and runs like a CDRom drive but I have had no luck in reading anything from it due to a difference between the hardwares sector size and the Octanes assumed sector sizes (I think?)  From the prom command prompt I can see it, even LS it to see the files on the drive but it fails when I try to read.

So anyway I think I have 2 options left if I don't want to find another external SCSI drive.
1)  find some setenv variable to inform the Octane of what the drive needs to function ok
or
2) install it across the network from one Octane to another.

So right now I am downloading
ftp.irix.cc/pub/irix-os/irix-6.5/disc-images/
and
ftp.irix.cc/pub/irix-os/irix-6.5/network-installs/irix-6.5.22/

My question is, should I try to burn the disc images to the DVD-Ram drive (on a cd recordable, not a dvd recordable) from the octane and see if that gives me a better result or should I go down the network install route.

If I do decide to do a network install from one Octane to another, is there a set of instructions somewhere that I can use with the files I am downloading from Irix.cc???

I use a couple Toshiba scsi cdroms, xm3501b, and xm5301b common for SGI systems. Works great in my Indigo 2s

[gijoe77]

I would say do a network install. I've never done one but next time around that's what I will do. There are two options that I've seen, dexter1 wrote up a docker you can find here https://hub.docker.com/r/dexter1/irix-install/

another older way was DINA, more info here http://forums.irix.cc/thread-316-post-2806.html#pid2806

[dexter1]

HalfManHalfTaco has a VirtualBox/Vagrant irixboot image at https://github.com/halfmanhalftaco/irixboot

[bjames]

If you don’t mind spending about $80, you can buy a new 73gig scsi hard drive for the octane with Irix 6.5.28 full installation. All you have to do when purchasing is to tell the seller what gfx system your octane has. This way the hard drive is fully setup for your system. I have purchased several drives from this seller (octane, Indy) and these are 100% plug and play. Insert the drive and turn on the system.

[Irinikus]

Have a look at this thread: (Where it's discussed as to how to achieve a conflict free IRIX 6.5.30 install)

https://forums.irix.cc/thread-92.html

[Infiltratr]

Hi!!!!


This is a known problem on SGIs and btw other unixes too. The problem is SGI firmware expects a drive configurable to 512 byte blocks (logical block length in SCSI parlance), but not all SCSI drives allow this configuration (MODE SELECT scsi command).

Your best bet is to buy an external drive that's known to work. For example, I use:

1. Plextor PX-W4012TSe
2. Plextor PX-40TSE

My experience is that these drives would survive a nuclear holocaust. They are solid, durable, reliable and well worth investing in them. In the last ~15 years I had more IDE drives than I can remember (they just stop working, CDs get broken inside while reading, other pieces break inside) and my three Plextor drives (bought new 12 years ago), with much more use, are still working like a charm.

Cheers,
Tru

I thought I was going to be aok because the drive inside the IBM unit is a Panasonic lfd291 (a drive that was supposed to be compatible lols...) 
http://forums.irix.cc/thread-152.html

But either its broken or I'm just using it wrong :(

[TruHobbyist]

Hi!!!!


This is a known problem on SGIs and btw other unixes too. The problem is SGI firmware expects a drive configurable to 512 byte blocks (logical block length in SCSI parlance), but not all SCSI drives allow this configuration (MODE SELECT scsi command).

Your best bet is to buy an external drive that's known to work. For example, I use:

1. Plextor PX-W4012TSe
2. Plextor PX-40TSE

My experience is that these drives would survive a nuclear holocaust. They are solid, durable, reliable and well worth investing in them. In the last ~15 years I had more IDE drives than I can remember (they just stop working, CDs get broken inside while reading, other pieces break inside) and my three Plextor drives (bought new 12 years ago), with much more use, are still working like a charm.

Cheers,
Tru

I thought I was going to be aok because the drive inside the IBM unit is a Panasonic lfd291 (a drive that was supposed to be compatible lols...) 
http://forums.irix.cc/thread-152.html

But either its broken or I'm just using it wrong :(

Just in case, check the jumper/switch settings on the back of the drive. It should be something like:

SCSI ID: unique ID on that SCSI bus.
Parity: ON or OFF
Block: ON (ON: 512 byte sectors. OFF: 2048 byte sectors)
Terminate: If your device is the last/only one on that SCSI bus, ON. Otherwise, OFF and check for proper termination on the last device.


Good luck!!!

[mapesdhs]

My site has an install guide, also a guide for doing a net install:

http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/6.5inst.html
http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/netboot.html

My Gifts CD has product selections files to allow for zero-conflict installation of 6.5, 6.5.22, 6.5.26 and 6.5.30.

Ian.