On Wed, Feb 20, 2002 at 10:06:18AM -0500, David Roundy wrote: > On Wed, Feb 20, 2002 at 01:58:57AM +0000, p wrote: > > debs, > > > > i'm thinking of a new laptop from http://www.qlilinux.com. the new gen2: > > > > p4 > > 2.0 ghz > > usb > > firewire > > combo dvd/cd-rw > > (yada, yada, yada) > > > > my only resevation is that it ships with a usb floppy. > > > > in the event that i need to boot from a rescue floppy, i'd be sol 'cause > > the usb floppy would only be recognized _after_ the box boots. > > > > questions: > > > > 1. what good is a usb floppy in linux? > > My guess is that with a minor kernel patch you can boot from the usb > floppy. I have a usb cdrw drive (as my only removable drive), which has > the same problem when it comes to booting, but a small patch (50 lines) > fixes that, and will probably work for the floppy also. > > The issue (as you point out) is that usb devices are recognized > asynchronously, which makes for a race between them and the mounting of the > root file system. All one need do is add a loop before mounting the root > fs to keep checking whether the root device is available. Let me know if > you're interested in the patch. > > > 2. is it possible to make a boot cd (with the "mkboot" command)? > > Sure. I made one using bootcd, which (surprise!) makes a boot cd. > Requires a tad of work, but definitely worth it. Also, the boot cd is a > full debian, so no matter how how hosed your hard drive gets, you have all > your tools available. > > Of course, you can also specify the root filesystem to be your hard disk, > at boot time, so it can act as a normal boot disk. > -- > David Roundy > http://civet.berkeley.edu/droundy/ > //
...nice. with such encouraging news, i'm probably going to place my order. i'll probably be asking you for the patch info once the box arrives. thx. bentley taylor // >
