Installing 2.9/net on a PRO380

(Assumes RD52 or better.)
(Cards must be in "standard" order, e.g., DECNA in 4'th slot.)

1.  Create a boot floppy.  The file proboot.img contains an image
of the boot floppy in "logical" block order.  It can be used with
a compatible system that writes real RX50s.  The file proboot.pc
contains a raw image that can be used to create a boot disk on
a PC/AT.  Use the mkdisk.bat file which in turn invokes wdisk.exe.
Wdisk defaults to drive A:.  Add the "-u 1" switch to instead specify
B: (i.e., unit 1).

2.  Connect console serial maintenance cable to PRO and terminal
at 9600 baud.  Boot floppy.  At the boot prompt, enter r5(0,0)rdfmt
and specify disk type when asked.  This will format the hard disk
(takes a long time).

3.  Disconnect console cable and boot floppy.  Be sure the
rd driver correctly identifies your hard disk.  Additionally,
a flag value equal to your hard disk's RD type will display
if you did not lie to rdfmt.  You should get a shell on the PRO's
screen.  Ignore the error about no children.  Create root & usr
file systems:

mkfs /dev/rd0a 4480
[This would be 2240 for 4-head disks RD50, RD51.  But they are probably
not big enough for rest of the procedure.]
mkfs /dev/rd0c 26240
[This would be 59008 for an RD53, 6528 for an RD51 and 1632 for an RD50.
The real partitions are c,d,e,f for RD53,52,51,50.  But c works for all.]
sync

4.  Configure network:

ifconfig dc0 <your IP address> up
[Might want to add -trailers]

5.  Mount /usr file system:

mount /dev/rd0c /mnt

6.  Connect to your ftp server and transfer root dump:

ftp <server's ip address>
[Don't worry about unknown service error.  This ftp can run without the
usual database files.]
[give user and password]
bin
[VERY important to put in binary mode!]
get root.dump /mnt/root.dump
quit
sync

7.  Restore the root dump:

restor rf /mnt/root.dump /dev/rd0a
[Tell restor yes.]
sync

8.  Unmount /usr and mount root:

umount /dev/rd0c
mount /dev/rd0a /mnt
sync

9.  Install boot block:

dd if=/mnt/mdec/rdboot of=/dev/rd0h
[This would be rdboot4 for 4-head disks RD50, RD51.]
sync
sync
sync

10.  Power off, remove floppy, power on.  System should boot from hard disk...
unless... /boot or /unix include any remapped blocks (the boot block and stand
alone drivers don't support them) or you used a 4-head disk (the boot string in
that case is rd(2,64)unix while the default is rd(0,128)unix for 8-head disks)
In the former case you can experiment with moving the files around after loading
from the boot floppy.  In the latter case you can use the maintenance cable to
enter the boot string manually.

questions/comments to Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.com