OK, not sure about this. I decided to go back to NeXTSTEP 3.3 from OPENSTEP 4.2 as it seemed real slow. So, on my Cube and with boot floppy and CD Rom in hand, am now installing NeXTSTEP 3.3
Problem is, I have a 4.3GB Hard Drive and want to have 2 partitions so I can later make the 2nd partition usable. I see now option to partition the hard drive during install of NeXTSTEP.
So, how can I do this? I would figure I can't partition on the fly later after installing NeXTSTEP 3.3. I would think I need to do this before NeXTSTEP installs.
Thanks
tj
Good question and one I've wondered about, same problem really as trying to install on a disk that needs a disktab writing. I got around it by booting my cube of an external hard drive. I would like to know if it is possible to do this just using a floppy and CD ROM though.
The easiest way to do this is to use a modified rc.cdrom and have it format the disk to a particular size. Since you want to use NEXTSTEP 3.3, you're limited to partitions less than 2.0 gig. So basically copy /etc/rc.cdrom from the NEXTSTEP 3.3 User cdrom, then edit the file.
- edit the rc.cdrom script such that the line
${DISK} -i ...... (or similar; it's out of my head, as I said)
becomes
${DISK} -i -p 2000000 ......
Once you've done this, installation is almost as easy as it was before:
1. Insert Install floppy and NEXTSTEP CD-ROM and start the computer; at the NeXT monitor type bfd -s
2. instead of automatic installation, you will get a single user prompt; there,
with the driver floppy still inside, enter
mount -n /dev/fd0a /install
to mount the floppy; then start your modified install script with
sh /install/rc.cdrom
This will kick off the installation as normal. What happens here is the modification to the rc.cdrom, will format the disk in 2 gig partitions that you can mount individually. /dev/sd0a, /dev/sd0b, /dev/sd0c, etc.
You can do the same thing w/ x86 as well. But to do this, I'd recommend using a custom driver floppy using the latest drivers & make sure you include the FLOPPY driver on the floppy as well. If you use OPENSTEP 4.2, don't use the newer 4.2x floppy driver off the Apple site, use the one on the User CD. It's works better, just FYI. I've used this on x86, sparc, & m68k to slice up my boot disk. Hope that explains it well enough. Take care.
Oh TJ, I haven't forgot about your email, I've just been extremely busy this week. I'll drop you an email over the weekend about your email problem.
Steve :lol:
OK, not 100% sure here what you explain below. Am I making some new boot floppy that I am now booting from that has the special /etc/rc.cdrom? So, make a clone of this stock floppy I have now and then remove the /etc/rc.cdrom and replace with the new one?
And in your example, am I just adding the "-p 2000000" to the text but leaving the other stuff in that same line such as the "$livedisk >> /dev/null"
Sorry for my confusion on this.
Thanks
tj
Quote from: "kb7sqi"The easiest way to do this is to use a modified rc.cdrom and have it format the disk to a particular size. Since you want to use NEXTSTEP 3.3, you're limited to partitions less than 2.0 gig. So basically copy /etc/rc.cdrom from the NEXTSTEP 3.3 User cdrom, then edit the file.
- edit the rc.cdrom script such that the line
${DISK} -i ...... (or similar; it's out of my head, as I said)
becomes
${DISK} -i -p 2000000 ......
Once you've done this, installation is almost as easy as it was before:
1. Insert Install floppy and NEXTSTEP CD-ROM and start the computer; at the NeXT monitor type bfd -s
2. instead of automatic installation, you will get a single user prompt; there,
with the driver floppy still inside, enter
mount -n /dev/fd0a /install
to mount the floppy; then start your modified install script with
sh /install/rc.cdrom
This will kick off the installation as normal. What happens here is the modification to the rc.cdrom, will format the disk in 2 gig partitions that you can mount individually. /dev/sd0a, /dev/sd0b, /dev/sd0c, etc.
You can do the same thing w/ x86 as well. But to do this, I'd recommend using a custom driver floppy using the latest drivers & make sure you include the FLOPPY driver on the floppy as well. If you use OPENSTEP 4.2, don't use the newer 4.2x floppy driver off the Apple site, use the one on the User CD. It's works better, just FYI. I've used this on x86, sparc, & m68k to slice up my boot disk. Hope that explains it well enough. Take care.
Oh TJ, I haven't forgot about your email, I've just been extremely busy this week. I'll drop you an email over the weekend about your email problem.
Steve :lol:
Although I no longer need to do this, would still be good to know for the next time. I found elsewhere on this site a step-by-step on how to access the added space of my drive that already had a 2GB with NS3.3 installed. After doing the step by step, my setup now has a extra drive called disk2 that gave me another 1.7GB of space. 8-)
tj
http://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1295&highlight=slab+hdd
Quote from: "NeXTsociety"OK, not 100% sure here what you explain below. Am I making some new boot floppy that I am now booting from that has the special /etc/rc.cdrom? So, make a clone of this stock floppy I have now and then remove the /etc/rc.cdrom and replace with the new one?
And in your example, am I just adding the "-p 2000000" to the text but leaving the other stuff in that same line such as the "$livedisk >> /dev/null"
Sorry for my confusion on this.
Thanks
tj
Hi TJ,
You copy the file /etc/rc.cdrom to your "NeXT" boot floppy, then you edit the file on the floppy & add the "-p 2000000" to the line right after the -i & before the "$livedisk >> /dev/null". Save the file, the you boot into single user mode w/ the w/ bfd -s which really boots up the cdrom into single user mode. (Note: That should answer your question for your other post.) Once you're at the # prompt in single user mode, then you proceed to do the mount -n /dev/fd0a /mnt.
It mount's the floppy to /mnt, but won't try to update your mtab. Once you've mounted the floppy you simply run the /bin/sh /mnt/rc.cdrom. From there, it'll act almost like a normal install, but your disk will be partition in 2 gig slices which can be mount individually like /usr/local or /LocalApps, /Users, etc. :wink: Hope that explains it better. Take care.
Steve