Hello, thanks for response :)
* [EMAIL PROTECTED] ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) [070630 17:17]: > This means that in this case, launching Plan 9 is done passing by an > intermediate step: GRUB, that complicates the matter if additional disks > (removable like USB) are present since this modifies the naming scheme > in GRUB. I see. > So first, what is your disk layout (partition table)? # fdisk /dev/hda The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 2432. There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024, and could in certain setups cause problems with: 1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO) 2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK) Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/hda: 20.0 GB, 20003880960 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 2432 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/hda1 1 122 979933+ 82 Linux swap / Solaris /dev/hda2 * 123 244 979965 39 Plan 9 /dev/hda3 245 256 96390 83 Linux /dev/hda4 257 2432 17478720 83 Linux Command (m for help): The idea is to have 1GB swap at the very beginning due to speed. Next I put a plan9 partition, since according to rumours in 9fans [1] it is better to have it before 1024 cylinder (and it does not hurt anyway). After that I keep small linux partition (intedned as /boot, since otherwise I experience problems with loading linux kernel too - grub complains about kernel beeing byond cylinder 1024). And finaly, one big last partition for linux sytem. [1] e.g. http://marc.info/?l=9fans&m=115505125527189&w=2 in the grub command line I have: grub> geometry (hd0) drive 0x80: C/H/S = 1022/240/63, The number of sectors = 32059073, LBA Partition num: 0, Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x82 Partition num: 1, Filesystem type unknown, partition type 0x39 Partition num: 2, Filesystem type ext2fs, partition type 0x83 Partition num: 3, Filesystem type ext2fs, partition type 0x83 I do not know why it says ext2fs even I am sure the partition contains ext3 filesystem. > 2) what option did you enter when installing (the installation script > handles this); To be honest, this is a bit experimental from my side, since I could not find any howto or instruction how to do that using only usb-cd/usb-fdd. So here is what I did (at least as I remember it): 1. make /dev/dha2 a DOS partition (type 6 in linux fdisk) and format it using mkdosfs. 2. copy files from plan9.flp.gz to /dev/hda2 3. boot from usb-cd using bootable CD created from plan9.iso.bz2 - here the installer asks about some file, so I satisfy this demand by giving !sdC0!dos!9pcflop.gz - installation process continues smoothly up to the point of disk partitioning. Here the partitioning software says that there is no room left. Thus I try do delete /dev/hda2 and create plan9 partition instead of it. Now I do not understand well, but the partitioning software complains, but if I quit it the installation proceeds with the very same step (i.e. partitioning) and this time I can see plan9 partition table created. Well once again I try to quit the partitioning software and it again complains (unfortunately I do not remember the error exactly, but it is something about not beiing able to write the partition table). But than I am able to quit partitioning software and the installation continues. No complains. - installation process continues with fossil and makes various operations on plan9 partition - it asks about plan9.iso.bz2. I instruct it to use network with DHCP. I can see the response from our dhcp server. That is, I receive correct IP. The installation sw than says it will download the image. After a moment, it asks me again, where it should find the image and suggests basicaly /dev/hda2 as 9dos, /dev/hda3 and /dev/hda4 as linux. Also it gives me the possibility to browse and find the file manualy. Unfortunately, I am not able to locate the file. Not only that, I am quite sure it is not there. Since I went all over the directories. And also I did not notice any increased network activity. - So I hit ctrl-alt-del nad reboot to linux. Here I mount /dev/hda2 as plan9 partition and copy plan9.iso.bz2 to it. Reboot again and start plan9 installatio. Reboot once again and boot using usb-cdrom and start plan9 installation. - I think now I went through all the process of installation once more basicaly same way, except now I see plan9 partition ready and also after trying to download the image once again (again not successfully) I am able to locate the beforehand prepared plan9.iso.bz2. The installation sw is now satisfyed and I can proceed. - I guess the image gets unpacked and sw copied to right locations. - than I receive question regarding booting. Here there is no linux option. Only plan9 and two brands of widnows (a bit of surprise to me). No matter wheather I choose to install plan9 to MBR or use another bootloader (that is grub). I cannot boot into the system. Actually I have tryied both ways (= going through the process from scratch after failure). With plan9 in MBR I get a message that disk is not bootable. If I do not use plan9 and use grub with "rootnoverify" and "chainloader" options, I get: "This is not bootable disk. Please insert a bootable floppy and press any key to try again...." - I reboot and use usb-cd this time. Now I get the question wheather I want plan9 release 4 or 3. And also I am informed that !sdC0!9dos!plan9.ini was used. After I choose release 4, I can boot into plan9 sytem. Well, first I got question about using DMA (Y) and VGA and yet one another question which I do not remember right now but is about my hw anyway. Than I am left with user [none] question. So I put "glenda" and after that I am in window environment and the system seems to work well - at least to my newbie experience. - Now I try that disk/format -b /386/pbslba /dev/sdC0/9fat command. Reboot and try to boot using grub. - now I get : PBS2...Bad format or I/O error press a key to reboot And that is it. Now I can get to plan9 with usb-cdrom, but the drive is heavy itself and I do not want to carry it with me just for the solely purpose of being able to boot plan9. I would like to boot plan9 from my hdd and not use any usb-cd drives. > 3) before installing, write down the partition table (starting sector, > chs values, and so on) since plan9 disk/fdisk may recompute some values > leading to problems well, I have the above stated output of fdisk in a file. Than I issued this command under linux: dd if=/dev/hda of=/root/mbr.bin bs=512 count=1 But I do not really care about wiping all my hdd since I have backup of the whole linux partition. The only point is that I do not want to wipe my harddisk four times everyday :) .... Well, I do not insist on using this way of installation. I simply want to get plan9 installed on my notebook without the necessity to buy a docking station. I am completely happy with installing from usb-key or usb-cdrom or network. Unfortunately I was not successfull with these methods so far, thus I thought for the time-being the easiest way would be to correct the existing installation to be able to boot form hdd. Best regards Michal
