> I 've installed a debian potato on sparc 1 without problem (exept mysql ;) > but now o a sparc station LX (sun4m) slilo don't run , in fact the install > is ok but when slilo run, after reboot, the system tell me : wrong label
(You mean SILO?) Earlier I suggested that something like the following be added to the installation manual. I think something similar but more concise was in fact added. Note that fdisk has a hidden command "s" meaning "create a new empty Sun disklabel". (How hard would it be to make the installation program check the type of partition table and warn the user?) Partitioning a disc The installation system gives you the option of partitioning a disc. If you select this option, it runs the command fdisk for you. The fdisk program can understand several different kinds of partition table. (The kernel can understand even more kinds; see linux/drivers/block/genhd.c.) The Sun's PROM, however, only understands Sun partition tables, so, if you want to be able to boot off your disc, make sure that fdisk mentions "Sun disk label" when you print the partition table using the command "p". If you start with a blank disc, fdisk will create a Sun partition table by default. However, if your disc was previously partitioned by a different system you will have to be careful at this point, or you will end up with an unbootable disc. In addition to having a Sun partition table, to be able to boot from the disc, the first partition, /dev/sdX1, must start at cylinder 0. This means that /dev/sdX1 contains the partition table and the boot block, as these are the first two sectors of the disc. Therefore you must be careful what you use /dev/sdX1 for. In particular, you must not use a partition starting at cylinder 0 for Linux swap, as that would overwrite the partition table and the boot block. You may, however, use such a partition for a UFS or EXT2 file system, as these file systems leave the first 1024 bytes undisturbed. It is also advised that the third partition, /dev/sdX3, should be of type "Whole disk" (5), though this may not be an absolute requirement for booting.
