this document details the simplest installation process for IRIX onto an SGI Indy that i have found. unlike some other common methods imply, you are not required to set up a bootp server for this, and therefore can perform installation on a standard home network. you will see references to bootp in this guide, but be assured that bootp is not actually necessary and in most of these cases it is actually tftp being used.
i have only tested this with the Indy, but it should work with slight modifications if applied to other systems. use your own judgement, and know that your mileage may vary.
you will need a NetBSD-capable computer of any architecture and description to act as a host server, which your SGI machine will boot and install files from. this can be an pentium 2 pc, a raspberry pi, a power macintosh, or just about anything else - i have used all of the above with success.
first, install NetBSD onto the host server machine of your choice. this is left as an exercise to the reader. as of this writing, NetBSD 9.1 is the most recent release, and that will be used here on an Nvidia Jetson TK1 in big endian mode. this is incidental, and you do not need to use the same version nor hardware.
record the ip address and hostname of this machine. for the purposes of this document, the following will be used. please replace them with the true ip address and hostname of your machine.
the SGI workstation will need to be configured as well with a static ip and hostname. the following will be used in this document:
you will not need any tools or software outside of the NetBSD base system, so the setup of pkgsrc and pkgin for additional source/binary packages is not necessary.
the following changes must be made to the system:
# mv /bin/sh /bin/psh
# ln -s /bin/ksh /bin/sh
the IRIX installation program requires /bin/sh on your host server to accept ksh syntax. replacing /bin/sh with the system ksh does not cause any notable problems and satisfies IRIX's requirements.
# echo 172.16.0.123 yuuko >> /etc/hosts
# echo 172.16.0.234 mio >> /etc/hosts
the IRIX installation program requires that both the host and target hostnames resolve to their network ip address on the host system.
# mkdir -p /srv/irix/i/22
this creates the directory structure where we will be placing the installation files later on in this document.
# useradd -d /srv/irix/i irix
this adds a new user, 'irix', which the IRIX installer will use to log in and access installation files. this user's home directory is set to the /srv/irix/i folder, under which the installation files will be placed.
before proceeding, please take note: rsh is a very insecure and exploitable service. you should not ever run an rlogin server on any machine that is publicly accessible, that contains sensitive data, or that is on a network that may expose it to attackers. if you do, you risk giving full access to the machine and any data it contains to anyone who asks nicely.
open /etc/inetd.conf in an editor and find the following line:
#tftp dgram udp wait root /usr/libexec/tftpd tftpd -l -s /tftpboot
#shell stream tcp nowait root /usr/libexec/rshd rshd -L
uncomment both of them by removing the # from the beginning of the line. then, change tftp's directory from /tftpboot to /srv/irix, so that it looks like this:
tftp dgram udp wait root /usr/libexec/tftpd tftpd -l -s /srv/irix
then, save the file, and restart inetd:
# service inetd restart
run the following command, replacing 'mio' with your SGI machine's hostname:
# echo "mio +" > /root/.rhosts
this will enable the IRIX installer to log in as root on your server, which is required for the installer to work.
# echo "mio +" > /srv/irix/i/.rhosts
same as above, but allowing for the 'irix' user.
you will need to acquire installation files for IRIX 6.5.22, either as tarballs, or as EFS disk images (sometimes labeled as .iso, but not in iso format). you will need the 6.5 base distributions as follows:
these should be extracted into /srv/irix/i/ resulting in the following directory structure, with each folder containing at minimum a "dist" subdirectory:
yuuko# ls /srv/irix/i
devf devl f1 f2 onc3nfs
yuuko#
the next set of images is
and for IRIX 6.5.30 only:
for IRIX 6.5.22, these should be extracted into /srv/irix/i/22 resulting in the following directory structure:
yuuko# ls /srv/irix/i/22
apps overlay1 overlay2 overlay3
yuuko#
if you are installing 6.5.30, extract into /srv/irix/i/30 instead.
it is also highly recommended to acquire the following distributions, both to ease the installation process and to provide a better base on which to bootstrap more recent software once your system is ready:
if acquired as tarballs, one can extract them normally.
as a hint to those who have efs disk images, both NetBSD and Linux are able to mount and read efs images onto loopback devices.
if you wish to install other software distributions such as the MIPSPro C Compiler and Compiler Execution Environment, Performance Co-Pilot, and so on, you should extract those now into /srv/irix/i/ as well.
power on your SGI workstation, and press escape or click the button to stop the boot process and enter the maintenance menu. press '5' or 'enter command monitor', and do the following:
>> resetenv
>> setenv -p netaddr 172.16.0.234
>> setenv -p srvaddr 172.16.0.123
this will clear your existing nvram variables, set your machine's ip address, and set the ip address that it will use to contact your host server.
now we will format your drive:
>> bootp()i/22/overlay1/stand/fx.ARCS
this will bring you into the partitioner. it will ask if you require extended mode - you may answer no. use the default values for device name, ctlr, and drive, unless you are sure you need different onces. then type the following:
fx> r
fx> ro
<enter>
this will tell it to repartition the drive with a root partitioning layout, and accept the default filesystem choice of XFS.
type 'yes' when it prompts you in order to erase your drive. then type the following to exit:
fx> exi
exit from the command monitor by typing 'exit', and then choose the menu option on screen labeled as "install system software". choose "remote directory" and enter the ip address of your server (in my case, 172.16.0.123) and press accept.
for the remote directory, you should enter 'i/22/overlay1/dist", and press accept, then press install.
this should begin copying installation files to your machine's drive, and then launch into the IRIX installation environment.
on boot, the system will complain about not having a valid filesystem, and ask to create a new one on /dev/dsk/realroot. type 'yes' here. it will ask for a block size. if you are using a real spinning hard drive, then 512 is most likely the best answer. if you are using a device such as a scsi2sd, you might receive better performance with 4096, but your mileage may vary. 512 is always a safe answer.
enter the hostname and address of your new machine (in our case, mio and 172.16.0.234) when prompted. it will also prompt you for a netmask. on most home networks this should be 0xffffff00, but you will want to double check to be sure.
this will bring you to the Inst prompt,
at the inst prompt, enter the following command:
Inst> from yuuko:/srv/irix/i/22/overlay1/dist
this will set up the installation to pull from the foundation 1 distribution. it will ask if you wish to install the maintenance or feature stream. i recommend picking the feature stream.
you will then need to open each distribution set that you intend to install in this manner before proceeding with software selection. in total, you should have at minimum:
as well as (optionally)
it is best not to enter any aqdditional sets such as the freeware distributions until after the main installation.
once all of the distributions have been entered, type "done" to return to the installation prompt. if you exit from this menu prematurely, you may continue adding new distributions by using the 'open' command like so:
Inst> open yuuko:/srv/irix/i/onc3nfs
first, we want to start from a clean slate, so tell the installer to keep all packages:
Inst> keep *
then, we select the standard installation meta-package:
Inst> install standard
once it is done, run the following to disable java packages that will cause installation conflicts:
Inst> keep java_* java2_* java3d*
once this is done, you should see no problems if you ron the conflicts command:
Inst> conflicts
No conflicts
Inst>
at this point, you may start the installation:
Inst> go
that done, grab a cup of your favorite plant infusion beverage and wait a while.
once it is completed, you will be dropped back to the inst prompt. at this point, you can open a new distribution with 'from' to install additional optional software. otherwise, when you are done, type 'quit'. the system will spend some time requickstarting files, and then you may reboot into your new IRIX installation.