[rescue] Any reasonable source for IRIX?

[Sheldon T. Hall]

Jochen Kunz writes ...
> On Fri, 30 Sep 2005 07:46:07 -0700
> "Sheldon T. Hall" <shel at tandem.artell.net> wrote:
>
> > I just spent a couple of days getting IRIX on a recalcitrant Indy,
> > and familiarity with `inst` definitely breeds contempt.
> http://www.futuretech.blinkenlights.nl/6.5inst.html
> http://www.futuretech.blinkenlights.nl/netboot.html
> A very good help to get IRIX instaled.

Well, yes.  I read all those before my first IRIX installation, some years
ago.  I've installed IRIX on, ummm, 5 or 6 machine since then.  Of course,
I've blotted all those experiences from my mind, as I have many others, in
order to protect my remaining sanity.

In the most recent farrago, the aforementioned recalcitrant Indy, I noticed,
among other things, that ...

1. installing 6.5 from scratch, adding the "Overlay" patch, and then
updating to 6.5.20 results in a non-booting machine.

2. installing 6.5.11 from scratch, and then updating to 6.5.20 results in a
non-booting machine.

3. installing 6.5.11 from scratch, and then updating to 6.5.22 results in a
PANIC on re-start, more PANICs on start-up, and a non-booting machine
because the damned thing defaults to "savecore on" and fills the filesystem
with dump files.

4.  Even just installing 6.5.11 results in at least one conflict.  There's
also an error in the exit script for the Appletalk subsystem.

So, I've had plenty of practice, lately, running `inst` and installing IRIX.
I can honestly say that, while IRIX is a grand OS, and my personal favorite
UNIX variant, that `inst` is a FPOS.

`inst` isn't the only problem ... evidently there are some problems with the
disks SGI builds and distributes.  However, `inst` is so bad that you can
never be sure what the problem is.

Upgrades are _much_ easier, usually.  I'm just finishing up the 6.5.20 ->
6.5.22 upgrades on my Indigo2 and Challenge L.  Those are relatively
straightforward, since you can use `swmgr` and do the installation over the
network from a drive containing the files, rather than having to juggle CDs.

-Shel