ok, here we go..
Nick Rout wrote:
On Thu, October 13, 2005 11:39 pm, Xandros Desktop OS User said:
I'm just trialling Xandros (thx Paul S), but to keep using it easily I
need to overcome an install default.
Lilo wanted my MBR, and stopping it meant creating a boot floppy. I want
to shift these contents to /boot and point Grub from another
partition-distro-install at this /boot. Can it be done? I suspect not,
as the contents are binary with absolute paths built into them.
what contents with hard coded paths are you talking about?
The Xandros boot floppy's - initrd.gz & map - refer the boot process on
to the hdd Xandros install /boot.
On startup i see the floppy's splash.lilo, & vmlinuz - loading.. done.
That's the first kernel loaded (fdd), & then it loads a second one (hdd).
- At least that's what it prints to screen.
When you say "/boot" are you talking about /boot on the Xandros install,
Yes.
or /boot on another distro or what?
That would be /boot/grub/menu.lst on Debian's partition (hda8), from
where this is the entry I have yet to get working properly (it starts
the hdd Xandros kernel, which then halts trying to fathom 'root'):
# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for an existing
# linux installation on /dev/hda9. [tho i have been editing; test
variants commented out]
title Xandros Linux 3.0 (on /dev/hda9)
root (hd0,8)
#root (hd0,8)/dev/hda9
#kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.9-x1 root=(hd0,8) ro
#kernel (hd0,8)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.9-x1 root=(hd0,8)/dev/hda9
systemmap /boot/System.map-2.6.9-x1
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.9-x1 root=/dev/hda9 # rw single
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.9-x1.gz
savedefault
boot
Basically You need to put the kernel and any initrd in the /boot directory
that Xandros made, and write down their name and location.
Though there would be no overwrites, I am yet to do this (fdd ->
hda9/boot/).
Also there will
be a lilo.conf somewhere on the floppy or in Xandros's /etc dir, copy or
print that out.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ cat /etc/lilop.conf
boot=/dev/hda9
install=/boot/cboot.b
message=/boot/splash.lilo
timeout=300
map=/boot/map
prompt
lba32
read-only
compact
fix-table
image=/vmlinuz
label=Xandros_Desktop_3.0_Deluxe
vga=0xf04
root=/dev/hda9
initrd=/boot/initrd-2.6.9-x1.gz
append="quiet rw acpi=on "
image=/vmlinuz
label=Safe_Video_Mode
vga=0xf04
root=/dev/hda9
initrd=/boot/initrd-2.6.9-x1.gz
append="quiet 3 rw acpi=on "
image=/vmlinuz
label=Configure_(Expert)
vga=normal
root=/dev/hda9
initrd=/boot/initrd-2.6.9-x1.gz
append="single quiet rw acpi=on noresume noresume2 "
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ ls /boot/ -l
total 2304
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 512 2005-06-02 10:56 boot.0309
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 50355 2004-11-30 04:33 config-2.6.9-x1
-rw-r--rw- 1 root root 153229 2005-10-14 01:33 initrd-2.6.9-x1.gz
-rw------- 1 root root 45056 2005-10-14 01:33 map
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 16 2005-10-14 01:22 splash.lilo ->
xandros.splash.b
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19 2005-06-02 10:52 System.map ->
System.map-2.6.9-x1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 822283 2004-11-30 04:33 System.map-2.6.9-x1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1236702 2004-11-30 04:33 vmlinuz-2.6.9-x1
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 24434 2005-05-04 08:30 xandros.splash.b
[EMAIL PROTECTED]:~$ ls -l /media/floppy0/
total 1356
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 151532 2005-06-02 10:59 initrd.gz
-rw------- 1 root root 40960 2005-06-02 10:59 map
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 24434 2005-06-02 10:59 splash.lilo
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1163818 2005-06-02 10:59 vmlinuz
Then boot the OS that has grub installed, and edit your grub config to
make a new stanza for Xandros.
I can edit it mounted from Xandros, then reboot..
<>Its difficult to give precise instructions
from your email, but grub is well documented. If you give us details of
the above stuff you wrote down and the exact prtitions everything is on,
someone can probably help with the things you will need to put in the
grub.conf file. It will be something like this:
title Xandros
kernel (hd0,y)/boot/vmlinuz root=/dev/hdaz (any other options passed by
lilo in its append statement go here)
initrd (hd0,y)/boot/initrd.gz
(hd0,y) is the partition where Xandros resides. This assumes that Xandros
didn't give you a separate boot partition.
/dev/hdaz is the partition where Xandros's root filesystem directory
resides. It will probably be the same partition as (hd0,y) - but remember
z and y differ by 1: (hd0,0) = /dev/hda1
You must give the root filesystem partition as a parameter to the kernel.
You really need to look at Xandros' lilo.conf
The present /boot kernel does boot in part, but is usually preceded by
the one on the floppy.
A month back at St Albans, Chris mentioned there were two meanings of
'root partition' to get confused about at boot time. I wanted to ask
then what he meant could be explained about these please.
Don't worry too much about that unless you are setting up grub for the
forst time (which you aren't). If you give the full path to the kernel and
initrd files (as above (hd0,y)/boot/filename) you don't need to use a grub
root command. In this context "full path" means a path including the
partition name (ie the (hd0,y) bit)
Thanks Nick.
