Click to See Complete Forum and Search --> : LTSP config problems with and old 486PC


clane
07-11-2003, 07:20 PM
I am trying to set up an old 486 as a workstation that boots over a LAN using LTSP (www.ltsp.org). I am stuck on what should be a fairly simple configuration issue. The problem is that all of the documentation that I can find was written for a previous version of the software. The current version has obsoleted a command option that I need, but doesn't explain in laymen's terms how to re-write or implement that option to satisfy the new version. that is where I am stuck.

Specifically:
Server: AMD 1ghz running Mandrake 9.0 (the ltsp core, kernel, xcore, xfonts, tftp-server, and dhcp-server are all installed and running.

Workstation: Gateway 486 66Mhz ISA with 16mb RAM. NIC is a 3com Etherlink III 3C509B-TPO. I was able to create a boot floppy rom (www.romomatic.org) that seems to work fine with my setup. I turn the 486 on. It boots from the floppy. The 486 goes out to the server and gets an IP address. A long list of stuff goes flying by the screen, indicating that the 486 is getting everything it needs to become a workstation then I get this message:
Running /linuxrc
Mounting /proc
Open of /proc/bus/pci/devices failed: no such file or directory
ERRor! Could not automatically detect the network card. PCI cards should be detected automatically. ISA cards cannot be detected so they require the nic driver to be specified in a 'NIC=' parameter to be passed on the kernel command line, usually specified in option-129, in the /etc/dhcpd.conf file
Kernel panic: Attempted to kill init!
END OF SCREEN MESSAGES

That part about the "option-129" is where I am stuck. The documentation says that specifying options in option-xxx style is obsolete. When I try to enter anything like the samples that were given:
option option-128 e4:45:74:68:00:00;
option option-129 "NIC=ne IO=0x300";
and then restart DHCPD on the server, DHCPD fails to restart and complains about those 2 lines of text. The workstation complains that I don't have NIC= parameter and tells me to use the option-xxx format (which doesn't work). A catch-22. Can anyone tell me what the new format is instead of option-129 and what exactly do I use for the name of the NIC and what do I use for the IO portion to tell the system where or how to detrect the NIC?

clane
07-11-2003, 11:15 PM
Ok .........made some progress. I was able to get beyond the problems in my original post. I have all of the syntax corrected and the dhcpd.conf file now allows dhcpd to stop/strat/restart. The problem now is that I don't know what the correct module name is for my NIC in the "option option-129 "NIC=????"" line of ;text.

Again my card is a 3COM 3c509b ISA type.

mdwatts
07-12-2003, 04:44 AM
I believe the 3c509b uses the 3c5x9.o module.

jumpedintothefire
07-12-2003, 11:02 AM
/usr/share/doc/kernel-doc-2.4.XX/networking
lists nic modules and there options and problems are in the files...

there is a blurb about turning off pnp on that nic.
3c509.o is the driver, on my system...

hope it helps.....

clane
07-13-2003, 01:04 PM
Thanks for the replies. I am almost there. The option-129 name for my NIC is "3c509". Also found out that my NIC had PNP enabled (thanks jumpedintothefire). I never thought of that bit. I bought the NIC from a used "Bucket-o-NICs" at a computer store, so it had some interesting config options set. Had to go to the 3com site to get config files to make it work in my system.

Now, I am able to boot my worstation right up to the point where the login screen wants to load. I now have a plain GUI screen with an X in the middle of it. That's where I am stuck at the moment. If anyone has suggestions on how to get the login screen to load........................I'll be good to go. Right now I'm going back to the LTSP.ORG site to re-read the install docs for 99th time:)

jumpedintothefire
07-13-2003, 09:58 PM
See:

http://www.ltsp.org/documentation/ltsp-3.0-4-en.html#AEN447
Sections 6.6.1. Grey screen with large X cursor

This has a list of things to go though, but I'd check that the display manager is able to accept remote requests. Got a firewall loaded on the server??

That ltsp is neet, combine that with rdesktop and you have a bunch of win2000 rdp clients that are linux based, that run from a floppy...

clane
07-13-2003, 11:44 PM
Well, I got it to run. It took me 3 days. If anybody wants to know how I got it to run, the short answer is: "determination and persistence". Every step of the way I ran into configuration problems. Configuration problems. More configuration problems. On and on with configuration issues. Absolutely everything has an option that needs tweaked before it will run. I would get one thing to work and it would immediately fail on the next step. I would fix that and then the next step would fail due to a configuration problem. But.........with help from this forum, the LTSP chat forum, and the documentation, I now have a 486-66Mhz pc running Mandrake 9.0 over a 10MB NIC at a speed that is perfectly acceptable and pretty darn amazing. Think about it.....I can't load Mandrake 9.0 on my 486, but I can run it!!:D One of the first things I did was start OpenOffice. It not only runs, but runs just fine. Ok, I can tell that I'm not on a 2GHZ screamer, but it works!!:D

And....one more thing......I can't run Windows 98 natively on the 486 because it is so damn slow, but I can run Win98 through Win4Lin on my 486 faster than I could ever dream of doing it natively.

Good stuff.

clane
07-13-2003, 11:51 PM
re jumpedintothefire and the grey screen/X problem. I think the thing that fixed that for me was changing the entry in my "hosts" file for my workstation. (I say "I think" because I tried a lot of stuff and it started working after I edited the hosts file). I had the entry for my workstation exactly the same as for my server ie:
server: 192.168.168.2 localhost.localdomain localdomain
workstation: 192.168.168.3 localhost.localdomain localdomain

Changed to:
server: 192.168.168.2 localhost.localdomain localdomain
workstation: 192.168.168.3 ws.486 localdomain

Was able to get to a bootsplash screen after making that change.

jumpedintothefire
07-14-2003, 01:23 AM
"determination and persistence".
Yup.... bin there..... add:

frustration, headbanging, one step at a time.... ;)

Re editing the hosts file.....
that is at the bottom of Section 6.6.1, maybe it should be at the top.....
Going though and checking everyting else doesn't hurt either ;)

Glad you got it up and running... :D
Isn't the rush of pulling it off just great....? Have fun.....