Text Install b134 Notes

Text Installer b134-based project gate images

The b134 Text Installer images are PRELIMINARY bits that have not completed formal testing. The install is cpio-based and works on both SPARC and x86, though SPARC machines with unsupported graphics drivers are best installed via a tip line/serial port. The contents of the installed image are geared towards a basic headless server environment and do not contain the Gnome Desktop. Gnome packages can be added later using pkg(1), see FAQ below.
Minimum memory requirement is 512 MB. 

Images

CD images are located at:
SPARC:
   http://dlc.sun.com/osol/install/downloads/text_install/134/textinstall-134-sparc.iso   Size: 451 MB
  x86:
   http://dlc.sun.com/osol/install/downloads/text_install/134/textinstall-134-x86.iso      Size: 442 MB
   http://dlc.sun.com/osol/install/downloads/text_install/134/textinstall-134-x86.usb     Size: 530 MB

MD5 sums are located at:
   http://dlc.sun.com/osol/install/downloads/text_install/134/md5sum.txt

Known limitations

1. Installing into an existing Solaris1 partition (as opposed to a Solaris2 partition) is not formally supported. The text installer will force you to change the partition's type to Solaris2 (if you wish to install into that partition) before continuing; however, it's strongly recommended that the user use fdisk(1M) to convert this partition into a Solaris2 partition before starting the installer. See the FAQ entry below for details on how to do this.
2. Runs in English only.
3. Using the Text Installer will destroy existing SVM configurations. The text installer does not warn or prevent this from occurring. See bug 6191
4. If None is selected for networking, the home directory of the user created by the installer will fail to mount. This is caused by bug 6913780 Manually configuring networking or enabling nwam should resolve the problem.
5. OpenSolaris has limited SPARC graphics support - only XVR-50, XVR-100, XVR-300, XVR-2500 and AST are supported. XVR-2500's currently are affected by bug 6716336.

FAQ

1. I'm having display issues. How do I change the terminal type?
   • If at any time while running the text installer, you find that your arrow keys aren't responding, hit "Esc-9, Tab, Enter" to quit, and choose "Terminal type" from the small menu. This will allow you to enter a different setting for TERM.
2. How do I install the Gnome desktop (GDM)?
   • Use the pkg(1) command to add additional packages after installing. The following commands will add all packages that are included by default on the liveCD, including GDM:
     • pfexec beadm create <be-name>
     • pfexec beadm mount <be-name> /mnt
     • pfexec pkg -R /mnt install babel_install
     • pfexec pkg -R /mnt uninstall babel_install slim_install
     • pfexec bootadm update-archive -R /mnt
     • pfexec beadm umount <be-name>
     • pfexec beadm activate <be-name>
   • Reboot the system to enter the new boot environment.
   • Enable the GDM service: pfexec svcadm enable gdm
   •  SPARC users should keep in mind the the very limited graphics support for Xorg on SPARC in OpenSolaris (see above the Known Limitations section for details)
3. How do I install alongside SXCE (zfs root) on x86?
   • Ensure that the Solaris2 partition is large enough to fit the existing SXCE install and has space for the new OpenSolaris install
   • If needed use a partition adjusting tool, such as parted, to increase the size of the partition. You may need to adjust the backup slice (slice 2) using format(1M) as well.
   • Start the OpenSolaris Text Installer.
   • Choose the target disk, opting to use a partition on the disk.
   • Continue past the partition editing screen without changing the size of the Solaris2 partition, then choose to use a slice on the partition.
   • Select a slice with sufficient available space, and change it's type to be the OpenSolaris root pool.
   • Continue through the installer and finish your installation.
   • Boot into OpenSolaris. Import your SXCE pool ("zpool import -f <sxce-pool>"). You now have access to the data on your previous pool
   • If you want to boot into the SXCE environment, you may add the contents of the menu.lst file (<sxce-pool>/boot/grub/menu.lst) to the end of /<osol-pool>/boot/grub/menu.lst.
4. How can I manually convert a Solaris1 partition into a Solaris2 partition (x86 only)?
   • Run: "fdisk <disk>" (e.g. "fdisk /dev/rdsk/c7t0d0p0")
   • Select option 4
   • Enter the number of the current Solaris partition
   • Select 6 to save the changes
5. The screen was distorted by a system message. How can I refresh the display?
   • Enter ctrl-L to refresh the screen.
6. How do I install an x86 machine connected via the serial console?
   • As the image is booting, hit 'Escape' to show the GRUB menu. Then hit 'e' and then 'e' again to edit the kernel line; add a "-B console=ttya" to the end and boot the machine. This will have output to be redirected to 'ttya'
7. How do I restart the install if it failed in the middle or if I selected to quit the installer in the middle of the install?
   • Due to Bug 13180, the installer is not able to clean up a failed install.  The workaround is to reboot the text installer and start the install again.
8. What should I do if an install fails?
   • File a bug! See the next section for details.

Bugs

Note: Users new to bugzilla will need to first create an account before viewing or opening bugs.

Currently Open Text Installer Bugs

New bugs should be filed on Bugzilla
Classification: Development
Product:        installer
Component:      textui

When filing a bug, please include the following files from the failed install (if possible):
/tmp/install_log
/tmp/fdisk*
/tmp/ti_fdisk*

NWAM is enabled while the text installer is running, so you may use the scp(1) command to send these files to a remote system.

If you have time, and can reproduce the issue, execute the text installer with additional debugging information. To generate the additional output to the log, select shell from the menu, and run the following commands:

• export LS_DEST=/tmp/install_lib.log
• export LS_DBG_LVL=4
• /usr/bin/text-install -d -l /tmp/install_ui.log
  Include the contents of install_lib.log and install_ui.log (in addition to the previously mentioned files) in the bug report.

Questions

Please send questions to caiman-discuss@opensolaris.org