Cheatcode suggestions needed.
Forum: User Feedback
Topic: Cheatcode suggestions needed.
started by: Rapidweather
Posted by Rapidweather on June 27 2005,22:09
I downloaded the syslinux version of DSL 1.2 today, and immediately wanted to boot it up and take a look. The computer is a P4 Dell, with 1 GB ram. Runs most all livecd distros, especially Knoppix.
DSL boots to the boot: screen, (very nice), and then when I press ENTER, I get the usual two penguins in the upper left hand corner of the screen, with the little white rectangle beneath that. That's all. It just sits there. The boot does not continue. Have to unplug the machine to get loose.
I hunted around in the forums looking for a thread on this, but did not come across one.
I perhaps need a certain Knoppix Cheatcode, but do not know which one.
I have a cd of DS 1.1, syslinux, and will get back out to try that, and then post in this thread if that boots ok. I think it did when I tested it a while back.
I cannot imagine what is holding DSL 1.2 from booting past the splash screen.
Posted by Rapidweather on June 27 2005,22:23
I'm back, having tried to boot DSL 1.1, syslinux on this Dell P4. This time, the boot process, with 1.1, gets to the "scanning hard disk partitions and creating /etc/fstab", and quits.
Knoppix, on the other hand, passes this point in the blink of an eye.
Not sure what has happened here, but I did not notice until today, when I decided to download DSL 1.2 and give it a spin. Been running my Knoppix remaster, and had no problems with the computer.
Anybody have any ideas? There might be a cheatcode that will help, but I am getting things complicated when 1.1 boots to one point in /etc/init.d/knoppix-autoconfig, and 1.2 does not get to that file at all, and seems to be stuck in miniroot.gz or something. Both of these are the syslinux versions, which in the past I found to need to be able to boot on this Dell at all. The isolinux versions would not.
Posted by friedgold on June 27 2005,23:23
You should be able to skip the /etc/fstab creation using the cheatcode nofstab - might be worth a go. It's strange DSL is failing at that point though.
Posted by mikshaw on June 28 2005,02:25
What I find strange is why a person would try syslinux on a P4. Can't say if it would cause trouble, but you're still probably better off using the isolinux version
Posted by Rapidweather on June 28 2005,21:52
The DSL version 0.6.2 was the last syslinux version before a dry spell where isolinux was used. Now, of course, both syslinux and isolinux versions are offered.I am currently booted up on this Dell P4 HT with DSL 0.6.2, which I remastered to
include Firefox and Opera. (See signature)
I was very vocal at the time when DSL stopped using syslinux, as this machine could not boot the new isolinux versions.
I found that syslinux versions would on almost anything, with enough RAM.
The DSL developers decided to offer all new versions in syslinux and isolinux.
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So, I got in the habit of downloading only the syslinux versions, since they would run on all of my machines. The problem of the newest DSL's (in syslinux form) not
booting on this Dell has me stumped, and concerned, as Dell ships a lot of machines, and DSL would want to be able to run on them.
Dell uses Windows XP, and after a while, most users get that fouled up, and
within a couple of years, XP won't boot.
DSL is perfect as a replacement OS for these boxes, for the owner to use
until Windows XP can be fixed. They can, for instance, check their AOL email,
do online banking, and look around in the Windows hard drive for files that they need. DSL can certainly do that.
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Most modern distros use isolinux for livecd, I see it all the time, and have tested a bunch of them on this box. I'll go download an isolinux version of DSL and get back in here with the results as to whether or not it will boot.
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I would think that since DSL 0.6.2, a syslinux version will boot, then so should the syslinux versions of the latest DSL's. Any other Dell users out there? If we have a new Dell to try this on, let us here from you.
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Be back in a few minutes.
Posted by Rapidweather on June 28 2005,22:25
I'm back.Just downloaded the "current.iso" from Planet Mirror, and it is an isolinux version of DSL.
Same thing, it boots past the splash screen, and gets to the "two penguins" (for a P4 HT), and then just sits there. No further boot. The little white rectangle no longer blinks, and all I have is the two penguins in the upper left hand corner of the screen.
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So, that answers the question of whether of not an isolinux version would boot on this Dell 4600, when a syslinux version would not.
No difference.
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I have no clue as to why DSL 1.2 syslinux, and DSL 1.2.1 isolinux will not boot on this box.
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I did test sucessfully, the DSL 1.2 syslinux on a Dual Pentium Pro 200 MMX box, just yesterday, and had absolutely no problem booting normally.
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The CD's are good, they do boot to the new splash screen (very nice).
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While I am here, and thinking about this problem let me offer this to make this post somewhat productive:
I do a lot of testing on as many livecd's as I can, on as many boxes, and have lots of combinations that work perfectly. I have some DSL installations that boot from a Windows 98 C:\ prompt, using loadlin, and a linux.bat file.
I use F8 to get to the Windows choice screen, and choose "command prompt only".
When DSL is booted that way, the splash screen does not appear, so no cheatcodes can be applied, and restoration must be done after X boots.
I use DSL 0.6.2 to do that, and the computer has no CDROM drive at all.
So many ways to use DSL on older computers, and it is preferred to the
much heavier SLAX linux on boxes with 128 MB of RAM, which will run, but
slower than DSL.
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Gotta go.