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      1 First-time installation on a bare machine is not supported, because most
      2 DECstations do not have any suitable load device.  Some versions of
      3 DECstation PROMs are buggy and will not boot via TFTP/bootp; still
      4 other versions are buggy and do not boot via MOP.
      5 
      6 The only DECstation with a floppy-disk drive is the Personal Decstation,
      7 and that device is not supported as a boot device.
      8 
      9 The recommended installation procedure is to boot a miniroot via TFTP,
     10 or to use a "helper" system to write a miniroot onto a disk, move that
     11 disk to the target installation system, and then boot the miniroot.
     12 
     13 Once the miniroot is booted, a disklabel should be written.
     14 At that point, 
     15 
     16 Installation is supported from several media types, including:
     17 	NFS partitions
     18 	FTP
     19 	Tape
     20 
     21 The steps necessary to prepare the distribution sets
     22 for installation depend on which method of installation
     23 you choose.  The various methods are explained below.
     24 
     25 To prepare for installing via an NFS partition:
     26 
     27 	Place the NetBSD software you wish to install into
     28 	a directory on an NFS server, and make that directory
     29 	mountable by the machine which you will be installing
     30 	NetBSD on.  This will probably require modifying the
     31 	/etc/exports file of the NFS server, and resetting
     32 	mountd. Both these actions  will require superuser
     33 	privileges on the NFS server.  Note the numeric IP address
     34 	of the NFS server.   If the NFS server is not on a network
     35 	which is directly attached to the NetBSD machine, you must
     36 	also note the numeric address of the router closest to the the
     37 	new NetBSD machine.
     38 
     39 
     40 	If you are using a diskless setup to install NetBSD on
     41 	your machine, you can take advantage of the fact that
     42 	the above has already been done on your machine's server.
     43 	So, you can conveniently put the NetBSD filesets in your
     44 	machine's root filesystem on the server where the install
     45 	program can find them.
     46 
     47 	Once you have done this, you can proceed to the next
     48 	step in the installation process, preparing your
     49 	system for NetBSD installation.
     50 
     51 
     52 To prepare for installing via FTP:
     53 
     54 	NOTE: this method of installation is recommended
     55 	      only for those already familiar with using
     56 	      the BSD network-manipulation commands and
     57 	      interfaces.  If you aren't, this documentation
     58 	      should help, but is not intended to be
     59 	      all-encompassing.
     60 
     61 	The preparations for this method of installation
     62 	are easy: all you have to do is make sure that
     63 	there's some FTP site from which you can retrieve
     64 	the NetBSD installation when it's time to do
     65 	the install.  You should know the numeric IP
     66 	address of that site, the numeric IP address of
     67 	your nearest router if one is necessary
     68 
     69 	Once you have done this, you can proceed to the next
     70 	step in the installation process, preparing your
     71 	system for NetBSD installation.
     72 
     73 
     74 To prepare for installing via a tape:
     75 
     76 	To install NetBSD from a tape, you need to somehow
     77 	get the NetBSD filesets you wish to install on
     78 	your system on to the appropriate kind of tape,
     79 	in tar format.
     80 
     81 		NOTE: the tape devices with which NetBSD/pmax is
     82 		beleived to work is the DEC TK-50. This is a very slow
     83 		device.  Installation via disk or network is recommended
     84 		if at all possible.
     85 
     86 	If you're making the tape on a UN*X system, the easiest
     87 	way to do so is:
     88 
     89 		tar cvf <tape_device> <files>
     90 
     91 	where "<tape_device>" is the name of the tape device
     92 	that describes the tape drive you're using (possibly
     93 	something like /dev/nrst0, but we make no guarantees 8-).
     94 	Under SunOS 5.x, this would be something like /dev/rmt/0mbn.
     95 	Again, your mileage may vary.  If you can't figure it out,
     96 	ask your system administrator.  "<files>" are the names
     97 	of the "set_name.nnn" files which you want to be placed
     98 	on the tape.
     99 
    100 	Once you have done this, you can proceed to the next
    101 	step in the installation process, preparing your 
    102 	system for NetBSD installation.
    103 
    104 
    105