[parisc-linux] Tape boot errors and NFS-Root-Howto?

[Tom]

So I'm trying to update the firmware on my C180. Have no way to dump the
patch file to CD, but I've got a Debian box with a DAT on it, plus a spare
DAT drive. Install spare in C180, dd the .frm file onto the tape
(remembering to use 'bs=2k' like the doc says), it sees the tape and
refuses to boot, saying 'bad ipl checksum'. Clean tape drives, try a
different tape, try writing it with a different drive, all of which fail.

Decide to pull up the NFS-Root-Howto at Grant's suggestion, just boot the
patch file off the network. Unfortunately, p.e.h.c appears to be down :-(

Questions: Does anyone know if I'm doing the tape creation right? I did
'unshar PF_CC2X0061' (to get the .frm and .text files), then 'dd
if=CC2X0061.frm of=/dev/st1 bs=2k' (which writes 790 records without
error). The unshar says the .frm is compressed data - is this something
that needs further unpacking before writing, perhaps? Also, does anyone
have a local copy of the NFS-Root-Howto that they can point me to? The
only ones I can find are ~1999 and quite out of date...

Thanks!