> > How do I install LILO on a different disk? How do I make sure it
> > doesn't trash the Ontrack program?
>
> Well, the "boot=..." line tells LILO where to put itself- in the MBR of
> the specified drive, or in the boot sector of the specified partition. As
> for trashing the Ontrack program, there's one idea I have to get around
> it. I'll explain in detail at the end.
The Ontrack program--DDO--is there to make sure that the whole drive can
be accessed without cylinder wrap. The proprietary format is there to
make sure that the drive cannot be read without DDO. Guess what. Linux
read it with no trouble (and with no DDO loaded). DOS, on the other
hand... I'll have to load DDO for Mr. Bill's sake. I don't want to
lose my data if the system is booted into DOS with a floppy that doesn't
load the DDO, so I guess I'm best off leaving the proprietary format on
there. In that case, I could use the floppy but not the big hard disk
(only the smaller one). I can boot from floppy *and* use the DDO if it
let it boot from disk, press space at the right time, and insert a
floppy (thanks to a feature of the DDO).
> > LBA?
>
> Has to do with the low-level format of the drive. I believe LBA is the
> (de facto) standard way to get around the 1024 cylinder limit. Then
> again, I often don't know as much as I think I do, so somebody help me if
> I'm wrong. At any rate, I'm sure that this wouldn't be a problem with
> only 3GB. I think you can address either 8 or 8.4GB with 1024 cylinders.
I use DDO.
> > I am dealing with a 1993 computer.
>
> Honestly, I'd recommend you upgrade it. Go out, look for a "bare bones
> system" with CPU, M/B, RAM. I found really good prices (and systems) at
> http://www.shoppingplanet.com (where I got my computer). Then put your
> old cards in the new computer, and you can upgrade the rest of the
> hardware at your leisure.
I'll have to talk to Dad. That's a little hard to do since he usually
wants to be alone when he is using the Internet, but maybe I can trick
him or something.
> > What's the difference between an extended partition and the other kind?
> > The kind that would be called hdb2?
>
> An extended partition can contain multiple partitions (logical drives)
> inside it. For a more detailed explanation see
> http://www.harris-lp.k12.ia.us/hlp/~jws/~jws/comp/PCInfo/Boot/DEFAULT.HTM
> (click on the "Partitions and Volumes" link first). I was looking for a
> better page, but couldn't find one. Still, this one's not bad.
I'll read it.
> > The disk is formatted with the Ontrack Proprietary Format...
>
> Which means that if you ever want to access it without their special
> driver, you'll have to reformat it- WITHOUT USING THEIR FORMAT.
I have the option of doing a BIOS format. The DDO will still work, but
then I can access the drive without it and risk cylinder wrap. I read
that 1024 cylinders is around 528MB or so. Hmm. That's pretty
limiting.
> As long as you don't have any data you want to keep, you shoul dbe able to
> do this.
I'll have to get ahold of the Windows 95 CD (don't have one) and a
Microsoft Office CD (my dad uses it), but that's about it. Most of the
stuff worth keeping is on a laptop that is in... uh oh... extreme
peril. Pray that the guys working on it decide that maybe it would just
be better to fix the power input than return a new computer (which they
will do if given the chance).
> > A problem presented by the DDO is "the operating system must not require
> > special code in the MBR." LILO?
>
> Yup. Of course, it [LILO] doesn't _have_ to go in the MBR.
Good.
> > Perhaps I can put LILO into the primary partition, put DOS and Windows
> > into that partition, and put Linux on another partition.
>
> Not a bad idea- in fact, this is what I was thinking you might try (if
> you still want to use this OnTrack thing). In lilo.conf, set the boot= to
> a primary partiton. It doesn't particularly matter which one (if you
> have multiple primary partitions, which I don't think DOS likes too much).
> Run cfdisk and make sure that partition, and NO OTHER ONE, is "Bootable"
> (meaning active in DOS terms). Run /sbin/lilo and reboot. LILO should
> come up, prompting for the image to boot. As long as boot= is set to a
> partition, not a drive (/dev/hda1, not /dev/hda) LILO will stay off the
> MBR.
I get it, except for cfdisk. I only heard of fdisk. Is that a typo? I
know the C key is really close to the F key...
> > table=/dev/hda #Pass this partition table table to the other OS
> >
> > What does that last line mean?
>
> I'm not entirely sure myself. I think that by passing the partition table
> on to the other OS, it lets that OS know which drive it's being booted
> from (I guess some operatig systems aren't smart enough to figure this out
> on their own- *snicker*).
<chuckle>
