Re: as200_v7_0.sys: anyone using it?

["B. James Phillippe" <bryan terran org>]

On Mon, 13 Sep 1999, Michal Jaegermann wrote:

> > I do not know how to make a *bootable* DOS disk from within Linux.
...
> Your garden-variety Red Hat distribution for Intel, for example, comes
> with DOS bootable floppies of that sort.  Well, "add" in this case means

Assuming you have a boxed set handy.

> I strongly suspect that they meant in a firmware update instructions
> actually something else; but who knows, maybe that would be enough.

[regarding bootable diskette]

According to
http://ftp.digital.com/pub/DEC/Alpha/firmware/readmes/alpha200.html
the bootable DOS diskette was only required for upgrading to SRM from ARC;
at the time I did not know that.  However, there are no instructions shown
that appear applicable to a Linux installation booted with SRM (except,
possibly, "mkbootfirm" under Tru64 emulation).

> If you meant a floppy like one created with 'format /S' under DOS
> then you run into problems with an ownership of COMMAND.COM and
> other files needed for that.

Right.  Which is unfortunate if the upgrade of Alpha firmware requires it.
It would place a dependancy on an obsolete, closed,
incompatible-with-the-hardware operating system from an unrelated vendor...
Fortunately, the bootp upgrade worked. :-)

I would still like to know what to do if I were without the option of
network booting, and had only Linux and an Alpha w/SRM, how to fabricate an
SRM-bootable floppy disk for purpose of firmware upgrade.  When I upgraded
the firmware the first time, I did use a Windows machine at work.

-bp
--
# bryan at terran dot org
# http://www.terran.org/~bryan