[SunRescue] SunPC 4.1 issues

[Matthew Haas]

Good morning!

I'm hoping to pick someone's brain for the possible cause/solution to this
problem I am having. 

What I am dealing with is a completely rescued setup... all saved from
being thrown out or sold as scrap metal:

Sun SPARCstation 2
 - 64MEGS RAM
 - 500MEG IBM SCSI disk, 400MEG Seagate SCSI disk
 - CGThree
 - LPVI/BiPro Card
 - SunPC 486DX-25 card

On the 500MEG is a rather fresh install of Solaris 2.5.1 Desktop (Hardware
11/97), although I have not installed the hardware updates or the full
maintenance updates yet.

I pop the SunPC CD in my trusty SunCD (guessing 1x... model 8012 or
8013)... following the instructions pretty much step by step in the SunPC
4.1 manual... I go and add the package to the system, then run the
./sunpc_install program... I get the following:

memerr_70
memerr_signal
async_recover_70
physmem

All followed with a "not found" I do believe. I went to apply any patches,
and with the three directories that were available, nothing was to be
patched. I made a symlink from /kernel/genunix to /kernel/unix so that the
installer would run without complaining/supplying command-line options.

Then upon rebooting, etc. getting back into OpenWindows and trying to run
SunPC, the kernel panics, flushes its buffers, and reboots. Everytime. I
get no part of the SunPC software... the only thing I see after executing
sunpc is a flash of the screen as it kernel panics and switches back to
the console/prom font.

This has generated a couple of questions:

- Is my 'generic' kernel missing some vital components? If so, how does
  one resolve this problem? (I come from a Linux background, and I have
  been able to make my way around my also fresh SunOS 4.1.3_U1 install a
  lot better than Solaris 2.5.1)

- Does SBUS slot order matter? My cards are installed (from left to right,
  looking at the back of the machine:  CG3, SunPC, LPVI) Or would the
  probeing order in the PROM matter? (I __think__ it is 0321)

- The SunPC card came from a shrink wrapped/unopened box... I've taken
  care with it to make sure it has received no fowl treatment... either
  being in a machine or in a static bag. But if for some reason the card
  did happen to be at fault, wouldn't the SunPC software just run in
  emulated 286 mode? Or would the presence of the card mess things up? 

- On a side note... it says the SunPC 4.1 software WILL NOT work with
  anything older than Solaris 2.3 (I believe)... my question: is there a
  version available for SunOS? I don't care if it's older, etc. I just
  want to be able to fire up an accelerated DOS window to fiddle around
  in.

  - Also, a licensing question: I have a copy of Solaris 1.1.1 version B,
    which I also have installed. This appears to be SunOS 4.1.3_U1. I
    even have a license to use the thing (as with all my Sun stuff-- in
    fact, SunPC and Wabi even gave me licenses to use MSDOS and Windows,
    of which I couldn't 'legally' use before, hehehehe.) How does Sun 
    work its licensing between versions? Like, if I wanted 4.1.4_U3 or 
    whatever the latest and greatest SunOS is, could I legally 'update'
    myself because I have the license, or is another license required for
    the jump from 4.1.3 to 4.1.4? Or is the difference merely a set of
    updates and patches?

Thanks for your time. This list is great, I've learned so much useful
information. Keep up the good work.

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