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A. Advanced Configuration Installation

This section describes how to specify additional system parameters for your NetMAX.

A. When to Use the NetMAX Advanced Configuration Installation

Use the NetMAX for Linux Advanced Configuration Installation when the machine to be installed on has an ISA ethernet card and that card does not match the settings listed in "ISA Card/Module List" (below).

If you are not sure whether your machine meets the listed requirements, begin a standard installation ("Chapter II Console Install Method" or "Chapter III Remote Install Method"). Either method will automatically detect any ISA cards that match the listed settings, allowing installation to continue. If you are unable to complete a standard installation, switch to the Advanced Configuration Installation procedure (below) and install the NetMAX software onto a PC with a monitor and keyboard directly attached .

B. ISA Card/Module List - Configurable Parameters and Default Values

If your NetMAX has one of the following ISA or HDLC network interfaces and it does not match the settings listed, write your setting next to the default settings. You will need this information for the Advanced Configuration Installation.

Card Type Description Probed Ports

3c501 3Com Etherlink 3c501 0x280, 0x300

3c503 3Com EtherLink II 3c503 0x300, 0x310, 0x330, 0x350, 0x250, 0x280, 0x2A0, 0x2E0

3c509 3Com EtherLinkIII 3c509 Probing works reliably only on EISA.
ISA ID probe is NOT reliable

at1700 Allied Telesis AT1700 0x260, 0x280, 0x2A0, 0x240, 0x340,
0x320, 0x380, 0x300

depca DEC series DEPCA ISA: 0x300, 0x200; EISA: 0x0c00
and EtherWORKS

e2100 Cabletron E21xx 0x300, 0x280, 0x380, 0x220

eepro Intel EtherExpress Pro 0x200, 0x240, 0x280, 0x2C0, 0x300,
0x320, 0x340, 0x360

eexpress Intel EtherExpress 0x300, 0x270, 0x320, 0x340

ewrk3 DEC EtherWorks 3 On EISA-bus does EISA probing.
Static linkage probes ports on ISA bus:
0x100, 0x120, 0x140, 0x160, 0x180,
0x1A0, 0x1C0, 0x200, 0x220, 0x240,
0x260, 0x280, 0x2A0, 0x2C0, 0x2E0,
0x300, 0x340, 0x360, 0x380, 0x3A0,
0x3C0

hp-plus HP PC-LAN+ (27247B 0x200, 0x240, 0x280, 0x2C0, 0x300,
and 27252A) 0x320, 0x340

hp HP PC-LAN (27245 and 0x300, 0x320, 0x340, 0x280, 0x2C0,
other 27xxx series) 0x200, 0x240

hp100 HP 10/100VG PC-LAN On ISA-bus probes all ports from
0x100 through to 0x3E0 in increments
of 0x020

lance AMD LANCE/PCnet Probes ISA ports: 0x300, 0x320, 0x340,
0x360

ne NE2000/NE1000 0x300, 0x280, 0x320, 0x340, 0x360

smc-ultra SMC Ultra 0x200, 0x220, 0x240, 0x280, 0x300,
0x340, 0x380

wd.c Western digital 80x3 0x300, 0x280, 0x380, 0x240

et5025 Emerging Technologies No probes, must use Advanced
WAN interface Configuration Installation

C. Advanced Configuration Installation

Begin the Console Install Method (Chapter II). After you turn on your PC with the NetMAX CD-ROM and floppy disk, you will see the prompt for advanced configuration:

_______________________________________________

Wait 30 seconds for automatic boot. 
boot: 
___________________________________________

The boot: prompt on the NetMAX floppy disk and on an installed NetMAX both allow you to specify additional system parameters.

Read the BootPromt-HOWTO (http://metalab.unc.edu/LDP/HOWTO/BootPrompt-HOWTO.html) for a complete list of parameters that can be entered at boot time.

It is important to note that spaces should not be used within a boot argument, only between separate arguments. Values for a single argument must be separated by commas between the values, without any spaces. See examples below.

Correct: linux ETHER0=3c501,0x240,5 root=/dev/hda1
Incorrect: linux ETHER0 = 3c501, 0x240, 5 root = /dev/hda1

There are three NetMAX-specific parameters that can be set at boot time. The options control the display of system messages, the detection of ethernet interfaces, and the detection of HDLC interfaces.

Disabling the Splash Screen

Dots (...) normally appear during the boot up process. A "no-dots" parameter can be used to disable the dots and display the system messages. This is primarily used for debugging hardware problems. The "no-dots" option will also disable the NetMAX splash screen.

boot: linux no-dots

Specifing a non standard ISA ethernet card

In order to keep the size of the kernel small, NetMAX uses modules for the ethernet devices which affects the parameters that can be passed to the modules. Normally, no parameters are needed. However, if you are using an ISA ethernet card that has a non-standard address or IRQ (see the list above), then you have to specify the address and IRQ in the format:

ETHERn=module,address,IRQ

For example, the boot prompt for an ISA 3ComEtherLink 3c501 at address 0x240 and IRQ 5 would be:

boot: linux ETHER1=3c501,0x240,5

Specifing an Emerging Technologies HDLC card

NetMAX also supports Emerging Technologies HDLC cards. The boot arguments are needed for both the ISA and PCI versions.

HDLCn=module,address,IRQ

For example, the boot prompt for the ISA Emerging Technologies et5025 at address 0x240 and IRQ 5 would be:

boot: linux HDLC0=et5025,0x240,5

For the PCI Emerging Technologies et5025, the boot prompt would be:

boot: linux HDLC0=et5025,0x0,0

Saving the advanced configuration options

Normally, the boot prompt options have to be entered every time the NetMAX is rebooted. After the NetMAX software has been installed and the machine is rebooted, edit the file "/etc/lilo.conf" and add an "append" line as follows to save the advanced configuration options.

boot=/dev/hdc 
map=/boot/map 
install=/boot/boot.b 
prompt 
timeout=300 
message=/etc/boot.msg 
linear 
append="ETHER1=3c501,0x240,5" 
image=/boot/vmlinuz 
label=linux 
alias=netmax 
root=/dev/hdc1 
read-only 

Then you must run the lilo program as the root user by typing 'lilo' on the command line. Now the quoted phrase in the "append" line will be appended to the boot prompt every time your NetMAX is powered up.