RS/6000 -- why can't I move /usr somewhere else?

[J. Eric Townsend]

[Repost, it failed last nite.]

(Although the following might sound hostile, it's only because
it's *late* at night and I've been screwing with this bozo problem
that should *not* be this difficult for about the last 6 hours and
*I'M OUT OF COFFEE*!)

I've a RS/6000 w/ 120Mb internal and a Wren V.  When I do the
"software installation" it puts everything on the internal 120
(which I do not want, I need to use 100Mb or so for paging).
So I created a single partition on the Wren (what I want anyway),
fsck/mounted/played with it to make sure it was solid, and copied
all of the stuff from /usr to the Wren.  I then went into /etc/filesystems
and changed the device for /usr (and turned off /local by making
it nonautomount).

I testmounted /usr on the Wren, and things worked just fine.

Then I rebooted.

Among the various messages I get on the LEDs are
558 -- Not enough memory to continue the IPL. (IPL?!?! Yeah, right. :-)
c31 -- Select console display for diagnostics.
and, finally, it comes to rest at:
c99 -- Diagnostics have been completed.  This code is only used when
there is no console.

No console?  Then what was I using all this time?  What's that 65# hunk
of glass on top of the box?

Grrr.  smit might be great for ties who don't want to hire a systems
admin, but it would be nice if there were menu options like "switch
two filesytems".

It would be even better if at *install* time, I could could:
-- format and partition hard drives.
-- assign where I wanted mount points.
-- decide what software to load or not.

IBM, you listening?  How 'bout a version of AIX for those of us who
just want to use the machine and don't need our hands held?  Maybe
AOS or Mach/AOS?  I would guess that most universities wouldn't mind
digging out their source licensing stuff just to have a basic,
clean, unencumbered OS for their students who know their way
around UNIX already...  I know I would in a heartbeat.

(I wish I had AOS. I wish I had AOS. I wish I had AOS.  Damn.  Didn't work
this time, either. :-)
--
J. Eric Townsend     Internet: jet at uh.edu    Bitnet: jet at UHOU
Systems Mangler - UH Dept. of Mathematics - (713) 749-2120
"If you are the system administrator and this is the first time you are
logging into your system, use the login name root." -- IBM RS/6000 docs