Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 12:00:43 +0200 From: Philip Nienhuis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [LIB] Installing SuSE 9.1 On Libretto L100 - MORE INFO
barnacle wrote: > > Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2004 08:54:52 +0100 > From: barnacle <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: [LIB] Installing SuSE 9.1 On Libretto L100 - MORE INFO > > On Tuesday 15 June 2004 05:57, you wrote: > > Date: Sun, 13 Jun 2004 11:41:09 -0700 > > From: John Liu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > Subject: Installing SuSE 9.1 On Libretto L100 - MORE INFO > > > > Here is some more information on where in the boot process it all goes > > wrong. I've typed in below the last 20 or so lines displayed before > > the kernel panic. > > > > RAMDISK: compressed image found at block 0 > > VFS: mounted root (ext2 filesystem). > > [1] illegal instruction mount -n -tproc... : <snip> : > > kernel panic: VFS: unable to mount root fs on hda2 > > > > Again, the desktop PC that I used to install SuSE on this Libretto's > > HDD obviously has very different CPU, hardware, RAM, etc than the > > Libretto. I had hoped SuSE would still boot, so I could go in and > > change some of those specs. > > It looks as if you've installed a version which needs a 686-class (as opposed > to the Pentium/586) processor to run. I'm not familiar with Suse, but most of > the others seem to offer a choice as to which processor to optimise to (e.g. > Redhat will work on 386, Mandrake on 586). This may be an automatic choice by > Suse; have you checked their system requirements? It could be that 9.1 is a > 686-only distribution. <SPECULATION> It may also be that SuSe 9.1 is optimized for PCI IDE (while the Lib has an ISA IDE interface). From what I read above the kernel is loaded by lilo/grub but subsequently cannot find the HD. I encountered similar problems with Mandrake 10. </SPECULATION> I do not know SuSe, so the next may be crap, but perhaps this can be solved by installing another kernel + modules while the HD is still in the desktop machine. Read the kernel-HOWTO and the lilo/grub stuff on how to install the kernel. If it is really bad you may have to recompile your kernel -- don't get shocked! it is relatively easy, be sure to properly specify the CPU class (= Pentium MMX) and do not compile the IDE + ext2/3 stuff as modules in make xconfig. > The other problem you're likely to have when you get it installed is that the > video drivers won't be what the libretto expects; if you have an option, make > sure that you load the drivers (Neomagic, I think, but not familiar with the > 100) and set it to start in text mode so you can do a video installation > after it's working. Indeed it is a good idea to let the system boot in text mode first (see /etc/inittab). But AFAICS that doesn't preclude installation of XFree86. This way, XFree86 only has to be configured after booting in the Lib, and that's not too hard anymore then. BTW 1: If XFree86 can't recognize the hardware, chances are good that it simply won't start up. If it still tries, just hit Ctrl-Alt-Bksp to return to a text terminal. BTW 2: You'll hit the XF86Config problem for the 800x480 resolution. > Mandrake may be a good choice for you - it offers an 'install from HD' option > which only uses the floppy to boot from, as does Redhat, I believe. Well I do know Mandrake, and I have bad news: MD Linux simply won't boot properly from floppy, not even from single floppy. But it can be installed using the loadlin trick. For Mandrake up to 9.2 you can have a look at my Linux page http://home.hccnet.nl/pr.nienhuis/MDLinux.html (and update the loadlin command there according to the isolinux.cfg file in your distro. If you can't figure it out, ask again and I'll tell the command line(s) I used) Be warned that although MD9.0 was quite easy (PCMCIA-CD-ROM/HD/FTP/HTTP/NFS possible), MD9.2 is difficult to install (only option=PCMCIA CD-ROM), and MD10.0 doesn't install at all in a Libretto, it won't recognize the HD. Unless you build a custom install kernel.... You can also try Free/Net/OpenBSD. FreeBSD does boot properly from the two install floppies, because it initializes PCMCIA only after the install kernel has booted completely (= way after having read floppy #2). And then again, IMO Mandrake 9.2 (with kernel 2.4.22) is a bit heavy for the poor Libby. Booting into KDE takes > 5 minutes. Chances are that SuSe 9.1 is similarly demanding. I intend to try VectorLinux 4, seems much more lightweighted & snappier. Philip ************************************************************** http://libretto.basiclink.com - Libretto mailing list http://www.silverace.com/libretto/ - Archives -------TO UNSUBSCRIBE------- Reply to any of the list messages. The reply mail should be addressed to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - Then replace any text on the message's subject line: cmd:unsubscribe --------TO UNSUBSCRIBE DIGEST------ Do above but with this on subject line: cmd:unsubscribe digest **************************************************************
