Running Linux/390 on the P/390

This is actually easier than it looks.

Here are the things you need to know to install SuSE GA 7 from the ISO images:

• Copy initrd, awsoma.tdf, parmfile, and tapeipl.ikr to some directory you define as an OMA 3420 tape in the P/390 Configurator (AWSOMA is manager K on my setup--your mileage may vary). I made my tape device address 581.
• Add a 3215 console to the P/390; I put mine at address 0009.
• If you've got an Ethernet or Token-ring interface on your P/390, add it; I called mine a 3172 (manager A for me) and put it at 0400-0401. Linux uses this with its lcs driver.
• Edit the awsoma.tdf file to point to the correct paths where you put the three files that belong on the boot tape.
• Edit your parmfile to include mem=124M condev=0009. For whatever reason, the P/390 doesn't want to let you use that last 4M of memory. If you're installing on a 32M system, I can't help you--SuSE requires a 32M ramdisk to work. You might be able to make Marist work in 32M, but I've never tried.
• Create a couple of disk images; I used an 800-cylinder 3390 at 0120 and a 20-cylinder 3390 for swap at 0121. You probably want more space or more disks.
• IPL 581. This should bring up SuSE on the 3215 console; answer the networking prompts, then telnet in and run YaST as usual. You can either mount the CD-images on an NFS-accessible drive, or just mount them as FBA images (3370 works well, and mount them as /dev/dasdX, not /dev/dasdX1) that the L/390 box can use.
• That's it; you're done!