On Monday, May 16, 2011 22:16:21 Chris Knadle wrote:
> On 2011-05-16 17:38, WestHurley ComputerReCycling wrote:
> > Normally use DBAN on a Bootable Floppy and it uses some version of
> > Linux.
> >
> > Any recommendations for software to make a standard 1.44MB Linux
> > Bootable Floppy?
> >
> > Would like to have the smallest size to allow more room for apps and
> > data.
>
> It is possible, but it isn't easy; generally this is done by stripping
> the kernel down and compiling it for the specific hardware in mind,
> otherwise it won't fit on the floppy along with a minimalistic environment.
>
> It's also to put a specialized kernel on one floppy, and prompt the user
> to switch floppies for the root image (e.g. the environment). If I
> remember correctly, compiling via "make floppy" was the method that
> prompted for the separate root disk
...
Okay, just looked into it further. Last time I made a floppy image, the
kernel Makefile was human readable; now there's an entire build system around
it, so it is no longer clear what the make targets are. One way to try to
find out is running 'make help', which lists some make targets. Ultimately
there seem to be several possibilities:
make bzdisk # makes a bz2 compressed floppy image (I think)
make fdimage # makes a 1.44 MB floppy image
make fdimage144 # makes a 1.44 MB floppy image
make fdimage288 # makes a 2.88 MB floppy image
bzdisk is what sounds familiar. The make target still works (as of 2.6.38.6
in Git), but isn't listed when executing 'make help'. There's probably a
better way of finding what all the 'make' targets are.
I happen to have old hardware here that have floppy drives in them. I'm
almost curious enough that I might try building a floppy image for a box, just
to see if I still can; I think it's been over a decade since I last did this.
:-P
-- Chris
--
Chris Knadle
[email protected]
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