Plan 9 Installation Notes for Compaq Aero

No human would stack books that way. --Bob Manchek, refering to plan9
This isn't such a good idea but can be done. Plan 9 wants an FPU and there is no way around it.

The install method for the Plan 9 sample PC distribution is 4 DOS floppys. You boot the first one and are instantly out of luck because the plan9 kernel loads, sees the pcmcia slot and tries to initialize it. Now you are floppyless, the install fails.

  1. On a second PC (not an Aero) perform the install using only disk 1. Do not yet feed it the other 3.
  2. Copy the c:/plan9 directory from the second PC to your Aero. It will fit on one floppy.
  3. The other three floppies contain three files disk[2-4].vd, copy them into plan9/tmp on your Aero.
  4. Follow these instructions from (jmk@plan9.att.com), he was a tremendous help to me: 
    	/bin/disk/prep -a /dev/hd0
	/bin/disk/kfs -rb4096 -f /dev/hd0fs
	/bin/disk/kfscmd allow
	/bin/mount -c /srv/kfs /n/kfs
	/bin/vdexpand < /tmp/disk2.vd | /bin/disk/mkext -uv -d/n/kfs
	/bin/vdexpand < /tmp/disk3.vd | /bin/disk/mkext -uv -d/n/kfs
	/bin/vdexpand < /tmp/disk4.vd | /bin/disk/mkext -uv -d/n/kfs
	/bin/cp /n/kfs/386/9pcdisk /dev/hd0boot
	/bin/cp /n/kfs/386/9pcdisk /n/c:/plan9           <-- see note (*)
	/bin/disk/kfscmd sync
	Ctrl-Alt-DEL
    note(*): this is from memory, copy 9pcdisk into the c:plan9 directory. Cd around and make sure this is it.
  5. Edit plan9.ini, setting bootfile=/plan9/9pcdisk
  6. Boot plan9 by typing plan9/b
  7. When asked about the root filesystem, type local
  8. Good luck
    Reed Wade -- wade@cs.utk.edu