Re: [tomsrtbt] RE: Linux Question

[This list is broken please use rdebath at poboxes.com]

It is possible to boot an initrd off of the libretto's floppy drive; with
the right booter you can even boot off multiple floppies. (LILO can only
do a single initrd floppy tho) I have succesfully booted a slightly
modified version of tomsrtnbt on my libretto by getting rid of the bzip2
stuff and using 2 normal floppies. 

Unfortunatly the floppy drive is still very difficult to use (I've never
actually used it myself from linux) so my panic boot setup is a parallel
port zip drive + kernel floppy from which I can easily use ether cards,
a pcmcia cd-rom or a pcmcia LS-120 drive.

-- 
Rob.                          (Robert de Bath <http://poboxes.com/rdebath>)
                    <rdebath @ poboxes.com> <http://www.cix.co.uk/~mayday>

On Thu, 23 Sep 1999, Tom Oehser wrote:

> 
> PCMCIA A: drive?  That is probably just not going to work.  PCMCIA
> services under linux are user-level processes that are never, ever, as far
> as I know, available at boot up.  Linux does _NOT_ use the BIOS to read
> the floppy drive, therefore the floppy disappears as soon as the kernel
> takes over and tries to load the root filesystem.  The BIOS is making the
> PCMCIA A: drive look like a floppy at boot, but it really isn't a normal
> floppy controller that can run without pcmcia services being started.  I
> doubt there is any way to boot linux successfully from it unless _maybe_
> if you use initrd to load a root filesystem that then enables card
> services.  LILO might use the BIOS to load an initrd, so that might work.
> 
> -Tom
> 
> On Thu, 23 Sep 1999, Joe Wronkowski wrote:
> 
> > Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 14:25:41 -0700
> > From: Joe Wronkowski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > To: Tom Oehser <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Subject: RE: Linux Question
> > 
> > The reason for the lock up is that the libretto looses the touch with the
> > pcmcia A: drive at a certain point hda check and then dosn't have the module
> > built in the kernal to start the service after the check.
> > 
> > --Joe
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Tom Oehser [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> > Sent: Thursday, September 23, 1999 7:45 AM
> > To: Joe Wronkowski
> > Subject: RE: Linux Question
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > > ok the dd technique will produce a copy of my hd on the linux box, I can
> > see
> > > this, but how can I create an IMG file to store for use?  The librettos
> > 
> >     dd if=/dev/hda | gzip -9 > filename.img
> > then
> >     dd if=filename.img | gzip -d | dd of=/dev/hda
> > 
> > actually, even
> >  "gzip </dev/hda >filename.img"
> > and
> >  "gzip <filename.img >/dev/hda"
> > will work.  Of course, combine with nfs or rsh or nc to go to/from
> > different machines.
> > 
> > > working becasue the img dosn't boot linux side. I have tried to boot from
> > > your 1.7.140 disk on a computer that had an img downloaded and the
> > computer
> > > stops after the partition check.
> > 
> > This should not happen.  It stops exactly right after the partition check
> > and locks up?  That implies a bug in the kernel.  You could make the
> > device a module and maybe get around it, but, that is strange.  Anything
> > more you can tell me about that will help.
> > 
> > -Tom
> > 
> > 
> 
>