Installation problems with NetBSD 3.1 on an NEC MobilePro 880

I sent a message to the port-hpcmips mailing list at netbsd.org on this, but haven't seen the message show up yet, let alone a response. OTOH, I figure someone here has probably got the answer, so here goes:

I'm running into a snag installing NetBSD 3.1 on my MobilePro 880. I mean, everything runs fine until you get to the part where it wants to install the sets from /hpcmips/binaries/sets/, at which point I'm stuck.

I can't download the files from FTP, NFS on another machine, or HTTP, because I don't have a wired ethernet card for this machine, just an 802.11b card, and I can find nowhere in the NetBSD installer where I can configure an SSID, let alone a WEP key, which is really a shame, since it's recognizing the WiFi card as wi0. Hell, at this point, I'll take dialing #777 through my IR port to my cell phone's IR port to download the files if need be. I have no idea if that's possible, though.

Copying the files to the FFS partition on the CF card isn't really working, either, since the FFS solutions for Windows are currently read-only (when they work at all), and I don't have a functioning Linux box that I can try it with (my Thinkpad running Xandros crashed and burned, and the install I'm trying on an older PIII Compaq notebook is...acting troublesome). Even then, I'm not sure how to get Linux to mount an FFS partition (is that native in most distros, specifically my Debian-based Xandros 4.0?)

Lastly, I tried getting the installer to copy the files from the FAT16 partition. I know the CF card is device wd0, and that the FFS partition is wd0a. I know that the format I'm supposed to enter is msdos. So, for device I've tried everything: wd0b, wd0c, wd0d, wd0e, wd0, wd0j....you get the picture. It's not mounting the damn card.

I can get into shell. I can't do much once I'm there: I've tried recommendations on the 'net to mount the FAT partition, without luck, and my own experience with UNIX shells was: a) 13 years ago, and; b) at a user level in college only. I can vaguely remember how to compile things, but, like I said, I haven't had to do so for a long time.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to proceed?

The simplest solution i can think of in your situation is turn off WEP on your network long enough for netbsd to install, then reenable it after the installation is finished. It will have no problems accessing an open network. After the install is complete, you can run iwconfig from command line to enter your essid and wep key.

Cheers.

Awesome! I had no idea it could connect to any open network without specifying the SSID.



I'll give it a try, and post my results. Thanks!