Here's a road map to help you along the way. It may not detail every little pot-hole, but its better than going it alone. And don't forget, the map can always be updated.
Beware! This is not for the unseasoned traveller. You must have some experience travelling the pathways of the realm of Eunucs. But prior travel to the town of Linus is not required.
CONTRARIWISE, if ye be headed into Linux, via Sparc, I will assume you have also come through either Solaria, or Sunoas.
Once you have your canteen, your have many more tools to aquire.
The first and foremost, is to make a LARGER partition on your disk than
1.44 megs! I recommend at least 100 megs. You need room when you get
to Linus. In fact, you must book ahead.
Once the space has been measured, you must decorate it. use "mke2fs".
This is not "make 2fs". this is "Make E2 Fs". An inconsistency.
The primary linux filesystem is signposted by both "ext2", and "e2", much
to the casual traveller's dismay.
On the brighter side, one may decorate either from linux, OR sunos/solaris.
An archive named "e2fsprogs" may be unwrapped and compiled, to be used from
the comforting haven of Solaria. I have not personally seen if this tool may
be used in Sunoas, but I doubt its capacity not.
Then comes the time of the furnishing. You have laid the carpet, but the room is still bare. This is a troubling time. Due to housing association rules, you cannot actually live in the room, until it is suitably furnished. You must live in an ajoining, "prefab" room, until your new more spacious room is proparly decorated. The "root floppy" decor is often used, although it has potentially quite a few difficulties
I find that "tar" makes an indispensable method of
sticking things in your new room. And its wonder is the universal
availability of it.
You can put tar in a raw partition, and it will stick. You may then
stick your hand in it from Solaria, Sunoas, or Linus, and use it with equal
ease.
What to stick with tar? Ah, therein can be the peril. After many false journeys, tearing my decorations, and yea, even the rooms themselves to shreds, I have determined the following course of action is best:
Find ye the simple executable called "rpm". This is a goodly tool for
packaging further accoutrements for your room. However, it is not enough,
for the best furnishings need a box in a box. You may find rpm at
ftp.redhat.com/pub/redhat/redhat-4.0/sparc/Redhat/instimage. But on
your own boot-disk you may well find it, and it may be safer.
You may have to provide a shelf for this temporary guest, in
/usr/lib/rpmrc. Furthermore, you may have to fill this shelf with what it
expects. If you lack this filling, seek it at its ancestral home, buried
in "[...]/instimage/usr/lib"
This is not enough. Seek ye further, rpm-2.2.5-1.sparc.rpm. This be equivalently silly to the paradox of the zipped zipper, or the re-compiled compiler. But such is this world. The beast may commonly be found in the lair of "RPMS", which is commonly close to "instimage".
SEEK YE NOT SRPMS. Therein lies waste and peril for the untested traveller
Once you have the packaged packer, you may then proceed to aquire further decorations. There is some assembly required. It matters not too much in which order you aquire them, IF you have space in your spare room. However, I would recommend you assemble your goodies in something approximating the recommended order here, so that you do not have to retrace your steps. Sometimes, "You can't get there from here".
In times of unhappiness, remember the following words of wisdom
In the place you find rpm-*rpm, you should find the following styles of knicknacks:
Be aware also, that there are many other things considered chic, trendy, or downright indispensable in the new town of Linus. However, opinions vary on the ratings of each piece.
To install these new trimmings in your awaiting room, you may use the
packager -- be sure to have used the magic phrase, listed above.
[aaak.. I think this magic phrase has magically erased itself! But in
restropect, I believe the following magic will only work from Solaria.
No work can be done in an unfurnished room in Linus]
Then, proceed, with the method of
rpm -i -v --root=/mnt/yourroom packagename.sparc.rpmIf you are squatting illegally in your unfurnished room, you may omit the "--root=" clause. But be sure to have used the primary magic phrase first. Otherwise, union labor rules will stop any packages being brought into your room.
Sometimes, the unwary buyer may buy things not appropriate, and experience remorse. Or find that he is not indeed yet ready for an article he considered indispensible prior to aquiring. In which case,
rpm -v --erase --root=/mnt/yourroom packagename (no .sparc.rpm)is the secret incantation to give them back to whence they came.