Hi, On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 1:45 PM, Ralf A. Quint <free...@gmx.net> wrote: > At 11:41 AM 5/2/2012, kurt godel wrote: > >>Now that you mention it, I have been toying with the idea of a >>"linux startup disk" that would be comparable in size to a '98 >>startup disk'; problem is, I am too dumb to figure out how to take a >>vmlinuz and boot it up. I assume the vmlinuz has a minimal number of >>built in functions like the proverbial dos kernel. I am not >>fanatical about having it fit on a floppy, though a 2.88 image >>would allow emulation mode iso, etc.
Almost definitely doesn't fit on floppy anymore, not since 2.2.0 or such. Even 2.4.x branch is basically (officially?) dead now. Unfortunately, I don't know how much software supports (directly or accidentally) such older kernels, so you're pretty much on your own there unless your expectations are VERY low. (Though, honestly, if you're enjoying FreeDOS, heh, you don't need a lot of fancy stuff to be happy.) >> So, nuts and bolts: if I download the latest vmlinuz, how do I >> boot it? I mean that in a comparable sense to booting a dos >> kernel.Richard<<mailto:wb2...@gmail.com>wb2...@gmail.com>. > > Even assuming that you actually mean "vmlinux", I am not sure that > this is the right path to go. "vmlinuz" [sic] is the filename of the Linux kernel, typically (though not always). You also need initrd.gz or similar. Then you use some kind of boot loader (GRUB, LILO, GRUB4DOS, Gujin). N.B. UPX supports compression (one way only!) of the Linux kernel. > On the other side, there are numerous single (or double) floppy Linux > distributions already available, so why not use one of those... > > http://www.linuxlinks.com/Distributions/Floppy/ All of those are extremely old, barely work (buggy), and abandoned. I don't even need to look anymore, I just know that nobody cares. It's sad, but what can you do? So floppies really are dead, and kernels are just too big these days. So nobody is updating anything for floppies. USB is still hard to support, but it is (mostly) better, though I wouldn't say it's 100% reliable either. But whatever, use what you like, etc. etc. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Live Security Virtual Conference Exclusive live event will cover all the ways today's security and threat landscape has changed and how IT managers can respond. Discussions will include endpoint security, mobile security and the latest in malware threats. http://www.accelacomm.com/jaw/sfrnl04242012/114/50122263/ _______________________________________________ Freedos-devel mailing list Freedos-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
