[SPARCbook] Resurrecting sparcbook 2 ... how?

[BSD Bob]

> > I was given a second SparcBook 2, that does not have a battery, but it does
> > have two internal hard disks.  IT SEEMS to be stuck on booting, in that
>
> Lucky you.  ;)  I wish someone would give me another SPARCbook 2.  :P

Well, mebbie, if things go well.

> > it is calling from some maintenance password or response code.  Anyone have
> > any idea what that is, and if it will require a new nvram chip (I hope not)?
>
> No, it won't need a new nvram chip (well, it's probably got a flat
> battery.. but, whooptydoo)
> 
> You will, however, need to contact Tadpole UK, and be very nice about it
> too, cos SB2's aren't supported anymore, and they'd be allowed to tell
> you to nick off.  :P

That would be bad business practice.  I would hope they are better than
that.  Stiff upper lip, the customer is always right, and all that.

> You'll need to supply the serial number (appears on the boot monitor
> screen) and the maintenance code in order for them to generate a key.

Ol' chicken vs egg syndrome..... how do I supply the maintenance code
when it expects me to INPUT the maintenance code, and some long gone
fellow left any info in the dustbin, years ago?  I just luv such silly
shennanigans.

> > It seems like it senses the second drive was added (friend who gave it to
> > me said he put the second drive in but could not get it to work).  Possibly
> > all it needs is setting the nvram correctly?
> There's the reason you're getting locked out and asked for a maintenance
> code.  ;)
> Rip the second hard disk out and the machine should start correctly.

I  will try that for starters.  What is the best way to lay it out for
operation, disassembled?  When I had it apart, it looked like it was
going to be a 3 handed, 12 fingered operation.

> It's a security feature - if you want to use a hard disk in the machine
> that didn't come with it, you'll need a working NVRAM and you'll need to
> apply for a maintenance code.

I am not believing that..... how can they be so cruel to service techs,
down the road.  Bad, bad, karma....

> > I did load up an IPX so I could netboot it, if necessary.  What needs to
> > be loaded off the cdrom onto the IPX to set it up?  I loaded up the
> > SPARCbook2.OS tree, but I think it also needs the bundled tree, but am
> > not sure.
> 
> You need to do a 'standalone restore' wich will rebuild the minifs... 
> Once you reboot into the minifs, using kernel munix, it'll start an
> install program and copy the stuff from the CD it'self.
> 
> The minifs image is in /SPARCbook2.OS/stand/minifs

OK, I copied that off the cd into tftpboot, so will try that next.
As a test I netbooted the factory kernel, and that got as far as
booting and then died when calling nonexistent machine files in root.
I sense the previous root was really, really nuked clean by someone.
The drives partition to a huge root and a tiny swap on HD3 and a full
disk file system on HD 2.   I did not see anything else in particular.
Does it know how to obtain the files from a remote machine or remotely
mounted cd?  I did put the live SPARCbook2.OS onto the remote machine,
and might be able to nfsmount it perhaps?  I thought I remembered
reading something to that effect on one of the readmes in the CD.

> Find me a keyboard ;)

I have one in the box of junk that came with it, from a third machine that
was in total pieces.  Alas, it seems to be missing keypads.  I will trade
you the hulk of the third machine for a 36 pin scsi cable!  (really!)

> Cheers,
> Stuart Duncan

Cheers, or whatever.  They seem like nice little machines.  For the fun of
it, assuming I can get the beastie up and running, I would like to make it
a portable webserver, to show some things to the local suits.  I think it
would do nicely in that mode, with a minimal system, gcc, and Apache aboard,
kindof like a wallet-sized version of my venerable 4/260 crate......(:+}}...

Thanks

Bob