Some of the other suggestions you've received were, I think, from people who
didn't recognize your installation from your description. I believe you're
describing Zipslack, which comes as a single .zip file to be installed in a
DOS partition, unzipped with a DOS/Win unzipper, then started from the DOS
command line using loadlin. This package does not use the standard
bootdisk/rootdisk Slackware system, and while I don't use it, my son uses it
on his (otherwise Win98) laptop satisfactorily.
As to your problems ...
I surmise that you have a single IDE or EIDE hard disk. This makes your
first try wrong because sda is the designator for the first SCSI hard disk
on the ststem -- it doesn't work because you have no SCSI hard disk to
mount. (In a way, it's unfortunate that Patrick used this as his example in
REDME.1st-- I bet few uses of Zipslack are on scsi systems.)
Your second problem is a bit more subtle. I infer that you have the right
hard disk this time (hda is the first IDE master), but possibly the wrong
partition. You say you installed the system into a "new clean partition". If
you really mean partition (i.e., a drive letter like D: under DOS/Win), not
directory, it is unlikely to be the first partition on the drive (that is,
hda1). It may be hda2 or hda3.
If, on the other hand, you created a directory, that is your problem. The
Zipslack docs specify that Zipslack has to be upzipped at the top of a
partition (i.e., at \). To quote, "Be sure to unzip zipslack.zip at the top
of whatever partition you choose (the \ directory in DOS/Windows). It will
create a \LINUX directory there. If you try to unzip it in a subdirectory or
folder, it will not boot correctly."
Until you get the right root drive, you won't be able to open the initial
console, because the kernel (or init; I forget which) won't be able to find
the /dev directory, hence won't be able to find the console device /dev/tty0 .
If this isn't enough to help, post a followup with more details about your
system and ALL the messages you get, not just the failure, on the hda1 try.
At 11:51 PM 2/15/99 -0800, gene hitz wrote:
>I wrote to the list a few weeks ago. I'm the newbie who wanted to know
>how to get started with Linux. I received many helpful responses from
>the group and finally decided to try the Slackware version. I
>downloaded the 35,663 Kb zipfile and unzipped it into a new clean
>partition and wound up with 15 directories containing 10,989 files. I
>tried following the readme.1st file unsuccessfully. In DOS, I tried
>"loadlin vmlinuz root=/dev/sda4 rw" and after several pages of
>installation I got the message, "vfs: cannot open root device 0804"
>and "kernel panic: vfs: unable to mount root fs on 0804", and the
>machine locked-up. When I next tried "loadlin vmlinuz root=/dev/hda1
>rw" it answered "unable to open initial console" What am I doing wrong
>and how do I proceed?
>Gene Hitz -- [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>_________________________________________________________
>DO YOU YAHOO!?
>Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
>
>
>
------------------------------------"Never tell me the odds!"---
Ray Olszewski -- Han Solo
762 Garland Drive
Palo Alto, CA 94303-3603
650.321.3561 voice 650.322.1209 fax [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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