* bblochl ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) wrote:
> Martin, thank you very much for your helpful answer! Indeed it might be
> somewhat strange to install plan 9 as a standalone system and I am sure
> that this is seldom done. At least I have plan 9 on the laptop happily
> now. Let me describe the problem solution for other users eventually
> fighting with a similar problem.
I started out with a small installation on a spare partition of a laptop to
get the hang of the system. Later I set up a standalone file server I can
boot a terminal from (usually said laptop.) This can be regarded as the
normal mode of operation. The installation never gave me trouble in either
case.
> As you pointed out in your mail, the data must be somewhere in the
> installation process. That clearly is the CD that one has to mount as
> /dev/sdD0/data at the installation step "mountdist". But the
> Installation Manual is wrong as it is saying:
> "When prompted for "distribution disk" the usual value is /dev/sdD0/data
> - it is not, that never does work. The usual value must be simply "/"
> for that case of installation from this mounted CD, say sdD0!
Using /dev/sdD0/data worked for me. Did you actually try it?
> There are some more obscurities I would like to add here:
>
> 1. With all that trouble in mind I ask myself if it is not very logic to
> assume that the source of the actual installation will be the source of
> the distribution? One of the first messages tells me that plan9 is
> booting from sdD0, so it is clear that this is known to the system.
All that is known to the system at that point is that there is a drive sdD0
with a boot image you are using to start the system.
> So I
> ask myself if such a step of mounting an already for the installation
> necessarily mounted media is not bare of elementary logic?
The distribution media isn't already mounted.
> I would
> expect that that that installation step mostly might be automated. I
> think only to question the user for an eventually other source of
> distribution would make sense, as one may install a new source via
> internet.
You could also start the installer from a boot floppy. In that case you have
to provide some access to the distribution. (And to the system booting from
cd looks essentially the same as booting from floppy.) You also might want
to reuse a cd for booting and get the current distribution by other means.
(Blank cd-r's are damn cheap nowadays, though.)
> 2. Why does the install process offer an XGA monitor as default? VESA is
> save with nearly all hardware nowadays. VESA as adefault would move away
> another banana skin of the installation process for non-professionals,
> especially as VESA is not offered to the user so one must know that
> possibility. (And it is not described in the "Installation Manual".) So
> I think VESA should be default with an offer of XGA as an option.
That's partially a historic development as I think the vesa driver is a
fairly late addition. Also if I recall correctly, it will turn off all
hardware acceleration for the graphics. (I'm not sure about the details as I
didn't use it.)
> 3. The task "formatventi" and the task "copydist" will not be prompted
> as described in the "Installation Manual" but run automatically and that
> is a good idea. But the point is that the description is wrong and
> confusing. (In the case of "formatventi" certainly that will only happen
> if you chose fossli+venti at the prompt "configfs" and copydist will
> certainly only run if the process described above was successful.)
That's somewhat strange. The last time I installed a system the prompt was
there in both cases. (As they should. The opportunity to revisit previous
steps at any stage is a big win.) Are you sure the distribution is actually
copied?
Martin
