cannot install from msdos files and other errata

["William Allen Simpson" <wsimpson_(_at_)_greendragon_(_dot_)_com>]

I got home after UseNix, and reserved this Saturday evening for
installing my new OpenBSD 2.3 CD.  Six (6) hours later, still no joy.

This is a Gateway P5-60 (intel board) with PCI, 16MB RAM, Mitsumi CDROM,
and Western Digital 1.2GB and a 2.4GB EIDE drives, running M$DOS6.2
with Windows3.11, and RedHat Linux 4.0 (Colgate).  I want to boot
multiple OS's, but am trying to replace Linux with OpenBSD.

I also own a OpenBSD 2.1 CD, which never successfully installed, despite
telephone and email assistance.  I went back to RedHat, which installs
easily off the Mitsumi CD.

I managed to install 2.2 from FTP'd M$DOS files, but that would not use
about 40% of the 1.2GB drive due to a calculation error in the disklabel
program.  Unacceptable.  I went back to RedHat again.

Here are some of the problems I found with the 2.3 installation.

Errata #1:
----------
Getting the OpenBSD System onto Useful Media:
---------------------------------------------
...
use the "rawrite" utility, provided in the "i386/inst" directory of
....

    The install.i38 file says the rawrite.exe program is in various
    places.  It is _not_ in "i386/inst", which does not exist.  It is in
    /2.3/tools.


Errata #2:
----------
Possible values are:
"IDE", "SMD", ... "SCSI", "ESDI", "ST506", ....
Disk type: [SCSI]

    When I entered IDE (capitalized as shown in the CD jacket example),
    the Disk type in the print of the disklabel showed "ESDI".

    On a subsequent attempt, <return> left the type as "SCSI" in the
    disklabel, but had no negative effects that I could discern.


Errata #3:
----------
    The install fdisk program correctly shows a geometry of 524/64/63,
    which matches the M$DOS fdisk.  The install disklabel program shows
    2100 cylinders, 16 tracks, 63 sectors, which matches the physical
    drive.  But while the total sectors is correctly calculated, my last
    partition prompt gives "[417312]" (and is correct), yet hitting
    return yields the error message "only 413280 left".  This wastes the
    last 5 cylinders.

    I have no idea why this problem occurs, but it appears as if the
    remaining calculation is still not correct.  This is better than the
    previous program that wasted 40% of the disk, but still needs work!


Errata #4:
----------
    Unable to assign more than 1 mount point to a partition, such as
    /usr and /tmp to the same place.  The addition replaces any previous
    assignments in the query loop.

    Compare with RedHat, which does a simple layout, and asks for
    additions and changes.  Much better!  RedHat also let you add mount
    points for all the existing M$DOS disks.

    It would be better to toss the fdisk and disklabel, and simply ask
    whether the install should use all the remaining disk for OpenBSD,
    automatically setup the partitions, assign default mount points
    (including /dos/c, /dos/d, etc, in the known standard ordering),
    show it, and then allow user changes.

    It would also be better to use quotas on /var, /tmp, etc, rather
    than using separate partitions to enforce limits.  Less headaches
    for the simple installation.

    The current installation does not pass the "1000 machines on the
    loading dock" configuration test.


Errata #5:
----------
    The directory mount point has a leading "/" in the CD jacket example
    "/mnt2//2.3/i386", but the install.i38 says:

		You will also have to provide the relative path to the
		directory on the file system where the distribution sets
		are located.  Note that this path should not be prefixed
		with a '/'.

    It apparently works either way, but this is inconsistent.


Errata #6:
----------
    This is a serious new bug.  Remember, I got this to work for 2.2!

    I cannot install from M$DOS disks.  The extraction program cannot
    find the file sets.  It shows only:

      [X] bsd

    The "list" command correctly shows all the files (base23_t.gz et
    alia), but are not added to the given list.  Putting them in G: (to
    avoid the "g://obsd23" leading "/" issue) does not help.  Typing the
    full name does not help.  Typing wildcards does not help.  Unzipping
    them to expose the tar does not help.  I have every file from the
    CD, even the ones I don't want to install, but that doesn't help.

     Directory of  g:\obsd23\*.*

    .            <DIR>      6-27-98  22:59
    ..           <DIR>      6-27-98  22:59
    base23_t     39188480   4-22-98   8:18
    boot.cat         2048   4-24-98  17:48
    bsd           1944040   4-20-98   7:18
    cksum             681   4-27-98  11:10
    comp23_t     28436480   4-20-98   6:18
    etc23_ta       614400   4-20-98   6:18
    game23_t.gz   2710946   4-20-98   7:18
    man23_ta     11827200   4-20-98   6:19
    md5              1185   4-27-98  11:09
    misc23_t      6072320   4-20-98   7:19
    text23_t.gz   1275935   4-20-98   7:19
    trans.tbl        1132   4-27-98  11:55
    xbase23_.gz   6831391   4-18-98   1:40
    xfont23_.gz   6220320   4-18-98   1:40
    xlink23_.gz   3951281   4-18-98   1:40
    xserv23_.gz  14349616   4-18-98   1:41
       123,427,455 bytes in 16 files and 2 dirs
       123,494,400 bytes allocated
       231,317,504 bytes free

WSimpson_(_at_)_UMich_(_dot_)_edu
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