topic Re: Xenix and linux in Operating System - Linux

Xenix and linux

Neme — Fri, 10 Jun 2005 12:34:17 GMT

I need to restore some data in a xenix machine in my linux server. But when I try to mount the partition always fails. I have xenix as a module in my kernel. I load the module and I can't mount the xenix partition.

I only need to copy the data that is in the xenix machine. I tryed to mount a dos 3.3 hd but I don't know how to do this in xenix.

I try to mount using the sysv filesystem type but the error persists (mount -t sysv /dev/hdc1 /mnt/xxxx).

Thank you very much for any help!!!

Re: Xenix and linux

xyko_1 — Fri, 10 Jun 2005 13:49:33 GMT

Hi Neme,

I know nothing about Xenix but googling a litle bit I found something that may help you.

http://www.linux.org/apps/AppId_2181.html

Hope it helps,
xyko

Re: Xenix and linux

xyko_1 — Fri, 10 Jun 2005 13:55:53 GMT

Hi Neme,

The link I told you is broken. Try this one

http://www.aljex.com/bkw/linux/index.html#scotar

regards,
xyko

Re: Xenix and linux

Steven E. Protter — Fri, 10 Jun 2005 14:47:07 GMT

Try openssh on both machines.

Exchange Public Keys.

You will be able to exchange any files needed with a simple scp command.

SEP

Re: Xenix and linux

Neme — Fri, 10 Jun 2005 15:23:21 GMT

I dont have a network card on this system. I put one but I dont know how to put it working. I don't have ssh server either. The amount of data is about 2GB so it's harder to backup on floppy.
The OS is xenix release 2.3.4.

Thank for any help!!!!

Re: Xenix and linux

Stuart Browne — Fri, 10 Jun 2005 17:43:24 GMT

Wow.. An Old xenix machine..

Ok, going by the documentation (/usr/share/doc/kernel-doc-*/filesystems/sysv.txt), try mounting the filesystem with a forced type:

mount -t xenix /dev/hdc1 /mnt/xxx

If that fails, then just see if it can recognize the partitions.

sfdisk -l /dev/hdc

If you see a list of partitions, then see if Linux can recognize the magic:

file -s /dev/hdc1
...

Having a look through the magic info, i'm not actually sure what it should report, and I don't have one here to check, sorry, but it should say something reasoanble (or just 'data').

some things to try..

Re: Xenix and linux

David Claypool — Sat, 11 Jun 2005 14:49:37 GMT

When all else fails, it will take a little time, but a null-modem serial cable should be a winner between the current system and the old system. Look up the docs on uucp...

Re: Xenix and linux

Neme — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 09:59:54 GMT

I put the xenix hd in another machine, boot linux and after the sdisk -s, it gives /dev/hda: 264600 /dev/hdb:4210920 (I'm bootink with a rescue disk now, trying to do something...). With file -s it gives "Dyalog APL version 5.
If I try to mount the partition, the error persists. I try to mount with -t sysv, after loading the module, and nothing. I don't know what to do!!!!

Thank for any help!!!

Re: Xenix and linux

Mike Jagdis — Wed, 15 Jun 2005 17:38:02 GMT

Xenix filesystems _should_ have the superblock in the second 1024 block of the partition - but the fs might be offset one track into the partition, where "one track" is a size that depends what geometry the old Xenix system was using for the hard disk.

Don't panic!

Hex dump the partition or write a little prog that looks at chunks of 1024 bytes at a time. Look for a 1024 byte block that has 0x2b5544 as the second to last 32 bit int (i.e. offset 1016 bytes in) and 1, 2 or 3 as the last 32 bit int (1020 bytes in). If the last byte is 3 the fs has 2048 byte blocks and I think your SOL (Linux doesn't handle it).

That block is the superblock. Make a note of the offset into the partition it starts at. Subtract 1024 to get the offset the partition needs to start at for Linux to see the fs.

DO NOT ATTEMPT TO HACK THE PARTITION TABLE!

Mount using a loop device to adjust the start of the block device by bytes:

mount -t xenix -o loop,offset= /dev/hdXX /mnt

If you still can't get it to work there are two options:

1. Copy /dev/hdXX to one or more files, edit out the chunks you need and paste them together (with luck they're not massively fragmented)

2. Find a data recovery specialist :-)

Mike