MCA Red Hat 6.0

Content by Christian Hansen (original archived HERE). Edited by Major Tom.
Last content update: 03 Jan 2001

Note: Most files linked from these pages are missing unfortunately.
Disclaimer: The information presented here is decades old and relevant only for legacy linux distros.


Get the DOS utility needed for transferring image files to floppy:

rawrite.exe (14 KB)

(Normally found on the RedHat CD-ROM). You can run rawrite.exe from plain DOS, or from a DOS prompt under windows.

Get one of the following image files. You will only need one of them.

Warning! File extensions are *.exe, to force your browser to treat the file as a binary, and not a text file that could be corrupted during download. Use right-click and save-as. When download is completed, rename the file to BOOT.IMG, before rawriting to floppy.

rh60-scsiboot-mca.exe (1440 KB)

The above is used, when your source is a CD-ROM, or a copy of the same, on a harddrive on the local machine. Only SCSI drives will work.

Known bugs: mca scsi hangs on Lacunas.

rh60-fd700.exe (1440 KB)

The above is used, when your source is a CD-ROM, or a copy of the same, on a harddrive on the local machine. Customized for 9576 Lacunas with IDE and FD-700 or IBM SCSI-2 Adapter /A (71G3576).

rh60-netboot-mca.exe (1440 KB)

The above is used, when your source is on another machine, and you know what ftp, http or other parameters are needed in order to get access. Only Ethernet TCP/IP works, and only with 3Com529 network device. Destination: only SCSI.

Prepare a 1.44 floppy, by DOS formatting it. (Yes - DOS format).
Put the floppy in your drive, and run rawrite.exe It will take the name of your image file as input, and the floppy drive (normally A:\) as output. Don't worry, the program will guide you through.
Congratulations, you have now created a RedHat 6.0 installation diskette.

Test your install diskette by booting from it. The first picture on your tube should contain a blue/red line saying:

Welcome to Red Hat Linux 6.0 MCA!

In the bottom left you should see the prompt:

boot:

Just hit the *return* key, and off you go. Watch what whizz by. It might take a minute or two, before the kernel has straightened out your SCSI stuff. Give it at least a couple of minutes.
If you succeeded this far, the menu-driven installation program begins. There is colors, but it is plain VGA, so don't worry about what hardware you got.

At first you will be asked what language you would prefer to see on your tube. Secondly what kind of keyboard you have. Thirdly you will have to choose install from CD-ROM or harddrive. (If you use the netversion, you will instead be prompted for various parameters).

If the installation program proceeds, and says something like: 'in second stage install', you are in business. If your machine halts before you get to 'in second stage install', mainly one of two things could be broken: a lousy source, or my kernel simply don't support your hardware setup.
During the end of the installation, the program will ask you, if you want a rescue diskette, and where to boot from. Skip those steps. In both instances you will be stuck with kernels that don't support MCA.

You have now managed to install Linux Red Hat 6.0, but are unable to boot from the harddrive, because it is bloated with a non MCA kernel. Go to number four and see how to fix that.

Content created and/or collected by:
Louis F. Ohland, Peter H. Wendt, David L. Beem, William R. Walsh, Tatsuo Sunagawa, Tomáš Slavotínek, Jim Shorney, Tim N. Clarke, Kevin Bowling, and many others.

Ardent Tool of Capitalism is maintained by Tomáš Slavotínek.
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