> I come from a DOS background. Typing format /s creates a basic boot disk
> that provides an a:\ prompt.
This really does 4 things: It does a low level format to 80 tracks and 18
sectors (the equivalent of "superformat" or "fdformat" under Linux), it creates
a filesystem (FAT) with directories, (The equivalent of "mkdosfs" or "mke2fs"
under Linux), it adds the operating system files io.sys and msdos.sys and the
command.com command shell (The equivalent of adding a kernel and bash shell
under Linux) and it creates a boot record at the beginning of the floppy (the
equivalent of installing the LILO or GRUB bootloaders under Linux).
> How would I go about duplicating this process in linux?
Freedom implies choice. There are a thousand bazillion ways.
> Using rawrite, dd, and makebootdisk simply create an installation disk that
> relies on a CDROM. No way to get to a prompt is provided.
Rawrite is some dos utility to copy an image to an already low-level formatted
diskette, that image could have anything in it, any filesystem, any bootloader.
Dd is used like rawrite only it runs under Linux. Makebootdisk is probably
some *distribution's* utility, not a core Gnu/Linux command at all. Which
distribution are you finding it in?
> As an exercise, I simply want to create a boot disk that gives me a linux
> prompt, that doesn't rely on a CD or hard drive. Then run the fdisk utility
> from diskette to partition a drive.
Then get tomsrtbt and install it. Customize it if you need to.
> I'd like to create the disk from a linux installation cd or an existing
> linux installation. Is it possible?
I dunno. There is no "Linux". there is only RedHat, Debian, Mandrake, SuSE,
Slackware, etc.- they are all *DIFFERENT*. They may all have *DIFFERENT*
scripts included to automate the 4 steps of low-level formatting, filesystem
creation, loading the filesystem with a kernel and libraries and shell, and
installing a bootloader on the master boot record. I only do tomsrtbt- I
don't use RedHat or Debian, I do it the hard way from scratch- I don't know
how those products work. Probably some of them can make standalone bootdisks.
> I successfully downloaded and created a boot disk from your site previously.
Good! Then you are done? I don't understand the question. Tomsrtbt is a
stand-alone distribution, you can make tomsrtbt under tomsrtbt by typing:
clone.s
-Tom
