CD Installation of IRIX

IRIX can be installed via CD starting with IRIX 4.x. However, this guide specifically covers IRIX 6.5. The reason for this is that pre IRIX 6.5 installation media is often system specific, and no better way of doing it has been found other than referring to official SGI documentation and contacting people who have done it.

Required CDs

IRIX Foundation 1
IRIX Foundation 2
IRIX Development Libraries
IRIX Development Foundation 1.3
IRIX Overlays (6.5.22 and up have 3 discs)
IRIX Applications
IRIX Mipspro Compiler Execution Environment
IRIX Mipspro C Compiler
IRIX MIPSPro C++ Compiler
IRIX ONC3/NFS

This is a bare minimum for a functional install.

Setting up a disklabel

Insert the Overlay 1 CD after turning on the SGI and stopping at the Stop for Maintenance screen. Enter the Command Monitor.

Type hinv to get a list of SCSI devices. Look for the section labeled SCSI CDROM. The first number is the controller ID, the second the device ID. If it doesn't show up, or multiple show up, then the system has a SCSI misconfiguration. Best course of action is to receive help from the community in that situation.

Make sure Overlay 1 is inserted. Boot sash (standalone shell):

32-bit SGI

boot -f dksc(0,4,8)sashARCS

boot -f dksc(0,4,7)fx.ARCS --x

64-bit SGI

boot -f dksc(0,4,8)sash64

boot -f dksc(0,4,7)fx.64 --x

Using fx

If done correctly, the output should look like:

fx version 6.5, Oct  1, 1999
fx: "device-name" = (dksc)
fx: ctlr# = (0)
fx: drive# = (1)
fx: lun# = (0)
...opening dksc(0,1,0)

fx: partitions in use detected on device
fx: devname             seq owner   state
fx: /dev/rdsk/dks0d1s0    1 xfs     already in use

...drive selftest...OK
Scsi drive type == SGI     IBM DDRS-34560W S96A

----- please choose one (? for help, .. to quit this menu)-----
[exi]t             [d]ebug/           [l]abel/           [a]uto
[b]adblock/        [exe]rcise/        [r]epartition/

Or otherwise at a prompt. It may require hitting enter a few times or if the system has multiple discs, selecting the proper IDs.

Type:

repartition

ro

../label

sync

/exit

and it should reboot or drop back into PROM.

Install via CD

Select Install System Software from the ARCS screen and select CD, follow the instructions.

After getting in, it should drop into an inst> prompt. Select admin, then mkfs. For a 4G or smaller drive, select 512-byte. For larger, do 4096-byte.

Next, open each CD in inst. Hit open, then /CDROM/dist. Do this for each CD, swapping them through.

To setup the install:

keep *

install standard

keep appletalk kerberos openssl openssh OpenOffice outbox sgi_apache ftn* gsview ghostscript sgitcl_eoe

These components are often replaced by FOSS versions under IRIX.

Then, get ready to swap CDs. Really nothing else to say here. Get ready to stick around for 1-2 hours going CD to CD.

Reasons to NOT install via CD

IRIX CDs are expensive collectors items. IRIX CDs are EFS images and difficult to burn on IRIX. The CD swapping aspect is bad. Anyone with basic UNIX knowledge and networking (and a BSD, Solaris, IRIX or even GNU/Linux box) can do this install faster and easier using any other method.