[rescue] solaris installation media?

[rescue at sunhelp.org]

> I have posted here earlier about installation problems with 
> Solaris on a Sparcstation 5. I've used the Solaris 8 free
> binaries which I downloaded a few weeks ago from Sun. Problem
> was the installation paniced [...]  I've found some references
> to different Solaris 8 media kits (versions?) so I'm a bit
> curious if installing a different version would work... is
> there anywhere I could get the older versions (Solaris 8 or maybe
> 2.7/2.6)?

Someone on this list was putting together ISO images of older
versions, but I don't know what versions are available and
whether that person wants to speak up--if he does it will likely
be in private e-mail.

>From a *lot* of testing here with SunOS/Solaris on both original
Sun CD-ROMs and locally-burned copies, on everything from SS2
through E3000 and U60, here's the summary:
1.  It's probably just a badly burned CD.  Even though I'm assuming
    you used that same Yamaha CD-R to burn the CD that you're
    now trying to boot from, it might not be able to read it
    well enough to boot from it.  This makes *no* sense to me
    but I had it happen.  Try making another coaster...um, copy.
2.  I don't have a regular SPARC 5 here to play with, but yours
    should have the cabling inside to support internal mounting
    of a 50-pin SCSI device.  Try taking the external CD-ROM
    out of its case and jury-rigging it to use the internal
    connector--I just had to do this last week with an Axil
    SPARC 5 clone.  (No, I don't know why this worked--the
    CD-ROM and external cabling worked fine before and after
    to boot several other SPARCs, and it's a Pioneer 32x
    slot-load that's been highly reliable.)
3.  The differences between media kits shouldn't be affecting
    things, as any Solaris through 9EA should boot just fine
    on a SPARC5...but "official" Sun CDs (since they're professionally
    produced rather than CD-Rs) are a little easier to get
    working sometimes.  You might try verifying the
    checksums on the downloaded images you have to ensure that
    you've got valid images.  Contact me off-list if you
    need help with this.
4.  The best answer for the *second* system is to set up a
    Jumpstart server and do a network install--but that doesn't
    help you on the first one.  If anyone figures out the
    magic to use a BSD/Linux box as the Solaris bootstrap server
    for a SPARC, please let me know.

Related question of my own:  Is it just me, or do the IDE CD-ROMs
that came stock in the U5s just *suck*?  We've got four of these
U5s, and three of them (plus one ODS "blade" that must be an
AXpci MB) suddenly can't boot *any* media.  One of them occasionally
loses the CD-ROM entirely, even though the cabling and CD have been
swapped and work fine in other systems.

  --Rip