dsl extentions and frugal boot


Forum: myDSL Extensions (deprecated)
Topic: dsl extentions and frugal boot
started by: newOldUser

Posted by newOldUser on Jan. 29 2005,15:28
I've just done a frugal install to an old eMachine. I installed it on first hard drive, third partition (hda3). I want some dsl extentions to be loaded at boot up. Like openoffice.uci and XFree86.dsl.  

I thought putting them in the highest level directory (root directory) of hda3 would cause them to be loaded.  That doesn't seem to be the case.

Is there something else I need to do or is there another directory that I should put these in?

Posted by newOldUser on Jan. 30 2005,14:41
Ok.... I was right the first time... if you put a DSL extention in the root it will install at boot.  

I think my problem really stems from a lack of understanding the different installations.

I seem to have gotten the "Poor mans's Install", "Frugal Install" and "Hard Drive (HD) Install" all mixed up.   If someone could point me to the documentation I'd be thankfull.  I've found bits and pieces around the forums and there are times when I think others have confussed the "Poor mans's" vs. "Frugal" install.  

Robert, in his blog file  ( < http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/talk/node/119 > ), did a nice job of talking about the differences but I think we need a little more details on the install, booting and general working conditions.  

It would be nice to see a document that had the pros and cons plus the details of the install and use all in one place.

Right now I think I've done a "Poor Man's install" to hda3. (Windows 98 on hda1 and a linux swap file on hda2) I have to use the CD to boot the machine to DSL (using DSL fromhd=/dev/hda3 at boot time) but I guess I can live with that. It would be nice to have Lilo or Grub for the boot but that's a little beyond me right now. The good news is that doing it this way causes the dsl extention files to load at boot.

I can't write to hda3 while I'm running but I guess that has something to do with the Poor man's install. I'm going to put a "MyDocuments" directory on another linux partition (hda7) and see if I can do a symlink to it from /home/dsl/  to save files as I create them.

When I was doing the "Frugal install" to hda3. It loaded Lilo to boot up but it never gave me any options. It went right into DSL. I tried running mkliloboot but that didn't seem to help.  Also it didn't seem to pick up any of the DSL extention files at boot.  I was able to write to hda3 (after I changed the permissions at /mnt/hda3 to allow everyone to write).

Enough of my rambling....  looking back maybe this message should have been posted in the HDInstall section. Moderator: Please feel free to move it.  

I'd volunteer to create a hard drive install document if one does not exist. My only hesitation is that I'm still very new at all this and I might cause more harm then good. Perhaps I could assist someone with more experience.

Posted by cbagger01 on Jan. 30 2005,18:37
While this is an oversimplification:

frugal = poormans install + lilo bootloader + read/write access to the partition + no "Please eject the CD" message at shutdown.

If you want access to your partition, try booting with this command and your existing set up:

dsl fromhd=/dev/hda3 frugal

Posted by newOldUser on Jan. 30 2005,23:13
cbagger01,

thanks.... using that 'frugal' parm gave me access to the hda3.  So now when I boot from the CD I enter:

DSL fromhd=/dev/hda3 restore=hda7 frugal

Thanks in general for all the help you've given to everyone in the forums.  

Someone reading this post in the future may be interested in the documentation you've written on the the hard drive install at < http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/talk/node/64 >

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