xref: /src/distrib/notes/amiga/prep

You will need an AmigaDOS hard drive prep tool to prepare you hard
drives for use with NetBSD/amiga.  HDToolBox is provided with the
system software and on floppy installation disks since Release 2.0
of AmigaDOS so we will provide instructions for its use.

Preparing you hard disk with HDToolBox:

	A full explanation of HDToolBox can be found with your
	AmigaDOS manuals and is beyond the scope of this document.

	Note you will be modifying your HD's if you mess something 
	up here you could lose everything on all the drives that 
	you configure.  It is therefore advised that you:

		Write down your current configurations.  Do this
		by examining each partition on the drive and the
		drives parameters (from Change drive type.)

		Back up the partitions you are keeping.

	What you need to do is partition your drives; creating
	at least root, swap and /usr partitions and possibly at least
	one more for /local if you have the space.

	This should be done as the HDToolBox manual describes.  One thing
	to note is that if you are not using a Commodore controller you
	will need to specify the device your SCSI controller uses e.g.
	if you have a Warp Engine you would:

		from cli,
			hdtoolbox warpdrive.device

		from wb set the tooltype,
			SCSI_DEVICE_NAME=warpdrive.device

	The important things you need to do above and beyond normal
	partitioning includes (from Partition Drive section):

		Marking all NetBSD partitions as non-bootable.

		Changing the file system parameters of the partitions
		to NetBSD ones.  This must be done from the
		partitioning section and `Advanced options' must
		be enabled.  To Make the needed changes:

		- Click the `Adv. Options' button
		- Click the `Change filesystem' button

		- Choose `Custom File System'
		- Turn off `Automount' if on.
		- Set the dostype to one of these three choices:

			root partition  : 0x4e425207
			swap partition  : 0x4e425301
			other partitions: 0x4e425507

		Here `other' refers to other partitions you will
		format for reading and writing under NetBSD (e.g.
		/usr)

		Make sure you hit the return key to enter this value
		as some versions of HDToolBox will forget your entry
		if you don't.

		- Turn custom boot code off
		- Set Reserved Blocks start and end to 0.
		- Click Ok.

		Mask and maxtransfer are not used with NetBSD.

		Until you compile your own kernel your swap partition
		must exist on the drive that also holds your root
		partition.

	
	Once this is done NetBSD/amiga will be able to recognize your
	disks and which partitions it should use.

Transferring the miniroot filesystem:

	The NetBSD/amiga installation or upgrade now uses a "miniroot"
	fileystem which is installed on the partition used by NetBSD
	for swapping.  This removes the requirement of using a floppy
	disk for the filesystem used by the installation or upgrade
	process.  It also allows more utilities to be present on the
	filesystem than would be available when using an 880K floppy
	disk.

	Once the hard disk has been prepared for NetBSD, the appropriat
	miniroot filesystem (inst-11.fs for a new install or upgr-11.fs
	for an upgrade) is transferred to the swap partition configured
	during the hard disk prep (or the existing swap parition in
	the case of an upgrade).  The xstreamtodev utility provided in
	the "amiga/utilities" directory can be used on AmigaDOS to
	transfer the filesystem for either a new installation or an
	upgrade.  The filesystem can also be transferred on an existing
	NetBSD system for an update by using dd.
>>> How safe is this? (I.e. copying a file over the swap partition on an
>>> active system)

	On AmigaDOS, the command:
		xstreamtodev -input=inst-11.fs -rdb=<swap partition>
	where <swap partition> is the name you gave to the NetBSD
	partition to be used for swapping.  Use upgr-11.fs if you
	are going to do an upgrade of an existing NetBSD system.

	To transfer the miniroot using NetBSD, you should be booted up
	in single user mode on the current NetBSD system.  Then copy the
	miniroot using dd:
		dd if=upgr-11.fs of=/dev/rsd0b
	where /dev/rsd0b should be the device path of the swap partition
	your system is configured to use.  Once the file is copied,
	reboot back to AmigaDOS to boot the upgrade kernel.
>>> Hmmm - the restriction of the swap partition being on the same disk
>>> as the root partition needs to be mentioned/documented.