How i can boot from the DSL cd??????????
Forum: Other Help Topics
Topic: How i can boot from the DSL cd??????????
started by: CIE
Posted by CIE on Aug. 06 2005,12:54
Hi. First of all, sorry any possible wrongwritted word, cause im portuguese, and my english isnt perfect. Im a big newbie about linux, so please be patient 
My question is: in home page of DSL, says
"Run light enough to power a 486DX with 16MB of Ram "
but, how i can boot from the cd, if the PC Bios doesnt support booting from cd (just Hdd and Floppy)?
I have one bootable disk, that when loads, also loads cdrom drivers, and after boot it creates a Virtual disk in Ram, and then i can have acess to the cd-rom.
So, like when we want to install windows we do
"d:/setup"
Its possible to do that with DSL
(like D:/dslconfig)?
?and then the dsl start booting?
If is not possible , please help me with how i can boot from a bios that doesnt support booting from cdrom?
Best regards for all.
Carlos Saraiva
Lisbon - Portugal
Posted by mikshaw on Aug. 06 2005,13:36
You are better off not using a DOS-based floppy to boot a linux system (although it's possible with some additional software).There is a bootfloppy.img file on the DSL mirrors, same place as the ISOs. Use something like rawrite or winimage to create a boot floppy from it.
Posted by SaidinUnleashed on Aug. 06 2005,14:42
If you are lucky enough to have a 486 with a real ide cdrom, and not one of those stupid ones that run off of a card, you can use a Smart Boot Manager floppy.SBM is a lot faster than the DSL bootdisk, smaller, and works with every bootable CD.
< http://linux.simple.be/tools/sbm >
-J.P.
Posted by cbagger01 on Aug. 06 2005,15:56
If you own a 486, I would be shocked if your CDROM was a normal IDE/ATAPI type.So I would do this:
Boot up your old OS.
Insert the DSL livecd.
Copy \KNOPPIX\KNOPPIX\ over to C:\KNOPPIX\KNOPPIX
using all capital letters.
Download the DSL boot floppy image from the website.
Search google and download the rawrite2 or rawrite32 floppy image transfer program.
Use rawrite and the boot floppy image to create a DSL boot floppy disk.
Reboot PC with the floppy disk already inserted.
Posted by CIE on Aug. 06 2005,16:59
HiTkx foi the help, i didnt knew about linux bootable diks.
However, as said "SaidinUnleashed" & "cbagger01", the Cd-rom cable is conected to a Interface ISA Card, and HDD is also conected to it.
There's any kind of problem in that situation?
Tkx every1
Carlos Saraiva
Posted by cbagger01 on Aug. 06 2005,18:20
Is this a SCSI card?If so, you may need to load your SCSI controller card driver at boot time.
What is the name or model number of your ISA controller card?
Posted by CIE on Aug. 07 2005,23:23
| Quote (cbagger01 @ Aug. 06 2005,14:20) |
| Is this a SCSI card? If so, you may need to load your SCSI controller card driver at boot time. What is the name or model number of your ISA controller card? |
Its a Vitex with a Winbond chip.
However i have used the bootable disk that "mikshaw" said, and i have a question.
After the boot it give tree options:
"Enter" to load,
F2 & F3 for options
1-At this moment the cdrom is already detected, for i can boot from dsl cd?
2- With command shoul i write if i want to boot directly from cd?
3- With command shoul i write if i want to put the dsl system in hdd, and then boot from hdd?
4- Wich option shoud l use for a pc with 16 mb of ram?
5- dsl works with 8mb of ram? if ye,with method boot from cd or hdd?
thx for the help
Carlos Saraiva
Posted by cbagger01 on Aug. 08 2005,03:45
1. If you are booting from the DSL boot flopy disk, then your CDROM has NOT been detected yet. This is a false assumption.2. Use the command listed here:
< http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin....and+low >
3. After getting to the command prompt, use cfdisk to make a swap partition on your hard drive and use mkswap and swapon to format and activate the partition. Then make a linux partition and use mkfs -t ext2 <devicename> to format it. Then use dsl-hdinstall to install to hard drive.
4. See number 2. Except remove the "1" from the boot command line.
5. I think DSL will not work with only 8mb of ram. It is possible to get it to boot into text mode with no swap and only 12MB but I don't think that 8MB is possible. Try something like "Basic Linux" or "Deli Linux" as alternatives.
Posted by CIE on Aug. 08 2005,18:02
HiI Could not understand your awnser nš1. Could you remake the awser?
So your command,
"dsl 1 vga=normal atapicd noideraid nosound noapic noacpi acpi=off noscsi noapm nousb nopcmcia nofirewire noagp nomce" is for pc with low ram.
and if i want to boot from a bootdisk (cause bios doesnt support form cdrom), and i want with all options? Its like "dsl1" and then it boots from cd?
Tanks
Carlos Saraiva
Posted by cbagger01 on Aug. 08 2005,22:08
For answer #1, if you are using a floppy boot disk, the "ENTER F2 F3 Options" menu is loaded from the floppy disk. Because it is loaded from the floppy disk, nothing has been loaded from the CDROM yet. So this is not proof that your CDROM is working properly.Yes, this command is for booting into TEXT mode when using a PC with low RAM.
So you would type:
| Code Sample |
| dsl 1 vga=normal atapicd noideraid nosound noapic noacpi acpi=off noscsi noapm nousb nopcmcia nofirewire noagp nomce |
at the boot F2 F3 prompt.