O2 setup and IRIX install

[Jan]

Hi,

I got my O2 with IRIX 6.5.30 installed but obviously not completely because the sbin/desktop app is missing. That’s why I can’t see the desktop and the login screen is only text without any icons on the users. Other apps however can be started on X.
Is it possible to install it over?
And what sources - especially what disk images oder tarballs - do you suggest for it?
I have a Synology DS, running DSM7 and activated TFTP - so theoretically it should be possible to install directly from it without doing the disc jockey here!?

I managed to activate DHCP but I got only an IP without a DNS from my router

BTW: my O2 has an R5k, running at 180 MHz with 192 MB RAM and a 73 GB HDD.

Thanks in advance, guys!

 

[Irinikus]

If I were you I'd carry out a fresh install.

A machine such as an O2 doesn't benefit from having 6.5.30 installed.

All you need is 6.5.22!

In this video I show how to get yourself a complete set of IRIX disc images, allowing you to burn a set of disks to install 6.5.22, which is what is necessary for your machine to run all of the available applications:

If you want to know how to install IRIX, here's another video: (You follow the same procedure to install 6.5.22)

 

[jenna64bit]

Hi Jan, yeah it should be able to install over tftp I would not call it the simplest to set up on a Synology box. EG, https://www.drak.org/proj/network-irix-install/ . I know Booterizer and I think Reanimator now can handle a lot of the complicated bits there. I never have good luck with DHCP either, I think it's just too old of a client.

 

[Linux-RISC]

kikems has installed several O2 using Reanimator, it's totally compatible, I recommend a fresh installation on this system.

 

[Jan]

So, now some time has passed and I tried some things…
First of all many thanks to Irinikus for his great install video for IRIX 6.5.30. That was not really easy or comfortable but it worked!
I had several SCSI bus reset marathons which took some time - maybe because of errors on the CDRWs, which I burnt again then with verification - and read errors too. Thankfully, the installer gave me the option to try again .
In the end, I finally got my full installation working! Because of the lack of spare time, I didn’t do anything with it till now.

In parallel to this install, it tried to set up some of the network install tools.
At first my own Synology DiskStation has an issue with its TFTP service, so that didn’t went well.
Then I tried DINA and I found it too old and not really usable.
The next thing was Booterizer, which I tried on a RASPI3 because of the non-availability of a RASPI4 in my home.
That went well until the ansible-playbook section, that always broke up early.
Then, I tried another way with a plain Raspbian and installed everything manually. That was a bit better but then again the ansible-playbook script had issues. Some of them were because of missing installation packages and in the end, I got stuck in the ???-DHCP section, where again something seems to be missing. I have to continue there, because I installed further packages now.
So Booterizer is not really well described or prepared by its author and I’m no Linux or Unix pro. But I had some basic knowledge and since I’m working on the O2, a lot came back to me.
Today, I will continue to try to setup Booterizer but then I didn’t test Reanimator yet.

So what is your opinion on the available network install sources? What the easiest way for me?
And I don’t have all of the install files for the discs for 6.5.30 in Tarballs.

Today, I was lucky to buy another machine. This time, it’s an O2+ with maximum hardware setup and I don’t want do do the disc jockey again on it.

Jan

 

[Linux-RISC]

Today, I will continue to try to setup Booterizer but then I didn’t test Reanimator yet.

So what is your opinion on the available network install sources? What the easiest way for me?
And I don’t have all of the install files for the discs for 6.5.30 in Tarballs.

Today, I was lucky to buy another machine. This time, it’s an O2+ with maximum hardware setup and I don’t want do do the disc jockey again on it.

Jan

I'm not neutral because I made Reanimator, and of course I have my opinion. My advice is to try both tools and make your own opinion.

Both tools have an image with IRIX 6.5.22/6.5.30 included.

 

[Jan]

Thanks, that’s wonderful to have the possibility to write to the maker !

Jan