Re: [Testbed-admins] GENERIC images not working on newer hardware

[Leigh Stoller <stoller@flux.utah.edu>]

> I was going to use FreeBSD 6.3 and Fedora Core ^ since that was what
> emulab uses, but by going through a clean install it would probe and
> install the correct drivers for everything.  I guess I'm trying to
> find the best way to quickly get past the kernel panic we are
> getting with the GENERIC images from you.  I suspect the drivers are
> bad, and since I'm not in front of the machines myself doing things
> remotely it seamed quicker and easier to just build a new
> image. (please correct me if I'm wrong).

Well, lets think about FreeBSD first (since I know more about that).
The quickest thing to do is go ahead with the install, and if you get
a kernel that works, copy the /boot/kernel directory and
/boot/device.hints over to the Emulab image (via the MFS boot). This
is much easier then turning a raw image into an Emulab image.

Then if that boots, then you can apply the kernel patches and rebuild,
plus build the other kernel variants you need on the image. The patch
instructions are in patches/FreeBSD-6.3-src.README. If you get this
far, I will send you a pointer for building the other kernels you
need on the image.

For Fedora, I think our current Fedora 8 image might boot on your
hardware (I think the GENERIC Emulab image is an old Fedora 6).
Grab www.emulab.net/downloads/FEDORA8-STD.ndz ...

Lbs