In the Gentoo Handbook for Alpha, section 2.d (Download, Burn and Boot a Gentoo Installation CD), the command to boot the CD from MILO (code listing 4) is the command used with the 2004.3 LiveCD, which doesn't work with the 2005.0 LiveCD because the kernel and initrd filenames have changed. In fact, there are now 2 kernels (a 2.6 and a 2.4). In my case, I can give the full, working command for the 2.4 kernel (which I used a moment ago) : boot sr0:/boot/gentoo_2.4 initrd=/boot/gentoo_2_4.igz root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc looptype=zisofs loop=/zisofs noudev devfs cdroot I haven't been able to boot the 2.6 kernel from the LiveCD from MILO at all. This might be because it wasn't compiled with some options needed for it to be bootable from MILO (LEGACY_START_ADDRESS comes to mind). So if it's a known issue that the 2.6 kernel is not bootable from MILO, a note should be added about that as well. For the next releases of the LiveCD, I would suggest that you do 2 things : 1) When you update the guide to change the filename that the user needs to download, update the command to boot the LiveCD from MILO at the same time. That way this kind of thing won't happen anymore. (I seem to remember I reported the same problem with the 2004.3 LiveCD) 2) Include a plain text file on the LiveCD with the command that MILO needs to boot it, called for example <cdrom>/readme.milo . I know machines that absolutely need MILO are a dying breed, but once the file is created, it won't really be that hard to keep it up to date, at the same time as you keep <cdrom>/etc/aboot.conf up to date... (the changes will often be the same in both files) Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1. Try the command listed in the handbook with the 2005.0 LiveCD. Won't work. 2. Read <cdrom>/etc/aboot.conf for the correct command. 3. Try it (for the 2.4 kernel). It works. Actual Results: You realize that the command in the docs was not kept up to date with the 2005.0 release. Expected Results: The docs should be kept current.
kloeri: please review and i'll update as needed
Is this still valid? Since we are progressing towards 2005.1 I would really like to see this bug be resolved as apparently 2005.0 and 2005.1 won't differ much.
Well, I have no idea why kloeri hasn't commented here yet... But that command works for 2005.0, so unless you change the kernel's filename or something like that, it should remain valid.
Sorry, I keep forgetting this bug :( 2005.0 (and 2005.1 will be the same) has both 2.4 and 2.6 kernels. The 2.4 kernel and initrd is called gentoo-2.4 and gentoo-2.4.igz respectively. And (surprise surprise) 2.6 is called gentoo-2.6 and gentoo-2.6.igz :)
does that mean you can use either the name 'gentoo-2.4' or 'gentoo_2.4' ?
I don't have a MILO system to test on but the kernel is definitely named gentoo-${VER}. I expect gentoo_ to be a typo. Jean-Sebastien, any comments on this?
I have no idea why this is, but here is what happens (I just checked). When I check the CD on my Windows machine, the files in /boot/ are : bootlx gentoo-2.4 gentoo-2.4.igz gentoo-2.6 gentoo-2.6.igz But when I put the CD into my Alpha, go to the MILO prompt and do "ls sr0:/", here is what I get : bootlx. gentoo_2.4 gentoo_2_4.igz gentoo_2.6 gentoo_2_6.igz I suspect MILO does some name mangling... Because the EXACT command above (in my first comment) really works, I just checked, and it's consistent with the "ls" command's output.
Created attachment 64737 [details, diff] Patch fixing the MILO command line.
Thanks, committed.
