Openbsd Install And Fdisk

[Merardon]

Hello! I've been trying to install OpenBSD current on my C3100, and I've been running into some confusion. I've installed OpenBSD a number of times on my laptop, and it's by far the operating system I'm most comfortable with and prefer - so I thought it would be rather simple to install it on the Zaurus.

The problem is, the installation instructions aren't incredibly clear, and I'm having difficulty following them. Perhaps I'm being stupid, but I can't seem to figure this out. I know I have to shrink the third partition, (perhaps to around 30 or 50 MB?), and then run newfs -t msdos /dev/rwd0k, but the instructions aren't incredibly clear. I try to e [edit] it, and type in a new size, then edit the last one to be of type OpenBSD, but it won't let me enter a large size, and then if I continue, more confusion erupts on the next screen.

Help would be greatly appreciated.

[mathemajikian]

I can't afford to just experiment until I get it

OpenBSD on the Zaurus is just an "experiment until you get it" type of experience. If you can't afford the time to enjoy this experience, then installing OpenBSD on your Zaurus is probably not a good idea.

[Merardon]

I apologise for being unclear before. It's not that I don't have the time to install or enjoy it, it's just that I'm having difficulty following the instructions, which for OpenBSD are generally of higher caliber and are simpler to follow.

One of the three partitions on the Zaurus C3x00 hard drive is
   a 3GB or 5GB MS-DOS filesystem.  This partition has application
   and user data on it and can be a lot smaller.  It is therefore
   recommended that you cut most of the space off this large MS-DOS
   partition, and create a new A6 partition afterwards, like this:

  0: 83    0   3 13 - 1511   7 17 [          63:      205569 ] Linux files*
  1: 83 1512   0  1 - 7559   7 17 [      205632:      822528 ] Linux files*
  2: 0C 7560   0  1 - 9065   7  1 [     1028160:      204800 ] Win95 FAT32L
  3: A6 9065   7  2 - 67885   5  3 [     1232960:     7999488 ] OpenBSD     

   After shrinking the MS-DOS partition, please be sure to newfs
   it using: newfs -t msdos /dev/rwd0k

That's the part I'm having trouble with. I'll [E]dit partition 2 and enter a new, smaller size, but the changes aren't reflected and I can't subsequently create an OpenBSD partiton of any size. It's unclear as to how I should continue. Edit 2, type a smaller size, Write the changes and enter the newfs -t msdos /dev/rwd0k command, then re-enter the OpenBSD install and create the fourth partition? But I doubt that would work, as fdisk in the i386 OpenBSD has never lead me wrong, and it's reporting that no space is left for OpenBSD, even after I try to shrink it.

[mathemajikian]

That's the part I'm having trouble with. I'll [E]dit partition 2 and enter a new, smaller size, but the changes aren't reflected and I can't subsequently create an OpenBSD partiton of any size. It's unclear as to how I should continue. Edit 2, type a smaller size, Write the changes and enter the newfs -t msdos /dev/rwd0k command, then re-enter the OpenBSD install and create the fourth partition? But I doubt that would work, as fdisk in the i386 OpenBSD has never lead me wrong, and it's reporting that no space is left for OpenBSD, even after I try to shrink it.

It may be easier to do this from within the Linux, hence load your Linux installation and perform the following steps:

# umount /dev/hda3
# /usr/sbin/fdisk /dev/hda

and from within fdisk:

1. Press 'p'. You should see something like this:

/dev/hda1 1   20  10048+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 21 40  10080 83 Linux
/dev/hda3 41 7936 3979584 c Win95 FAT32

2. Press 'd' to delete a partition then press '3' to delete partition #3

3. Press 'p' again to verify that the 3rd partition has been deleted. You should see this:

/dev/hda1 1 20 10048+ 83 Linux
/dev/hda2 21 40 10080 83 Linux

4. Press 'n' then press 'p' for primary since you dont want extended. For the partition number press '3'

5. Select the default start cylinder but for the last cylinder type '+XXXM' where XXX is some numeric value. This will be the WIN95 FAT32 partition.

6. Press 'n' then press 'p' for primary. For the partition number press '4'

7. Select the default start and last cylinders. This will be the OpenBSD partition.

8. Press 't' to modify the partition filesystem type then press '3' for partition #3 and finally press 'c' for the hex code option. This will change partition #3 back to a WIN95 FAT32 filesystem.

9. Once again press 't' to modify the partition filesystem type then press '4' for partition #4 and finally type 'a6' for the hex code option. This will change partition #4 to a OpenBSD filesystem.

10. Press 'p' again and you should see something like this:

 /dev/hda1 1 20 10048+ 83 Linux
 /dev/hda2 21 40 10080 83 Linux
 /dev/hda3 41 XXX YYYY c Win95 FAT32 (LBA)
 /dev/hda4 XXX ZZZZ  a6 OpenBSD

11. Press 'w' to write the changes.

12. Reboot your system

# /sbin/shutdown - r now

13. Once Linux has rebooted:

# /sbin/mkfs.vfat /dev/hda3
# mount - t vfat - o noatime /dev/hda3 /hdd3

14. Continue on with OpenBSD installation. The OpenBSD fdisk may still pop up but if you type 'print' you will see that the partitions are already created, hence you can just type 'exit'.

15. Disklabel will open:

I'll let you take it from here. Good luck!

[Merardon]

Thanks for your help, that did it! If I was better at coding, I'd quite gladly help out..but as it is, perhaps I'll work on becoming more familiar with the Zaurus installation and see how I can help with the instructions.  

[mathemajikian]

Thanks for your help, that did it!

Great!