can anyone paste a working lilo.conf for dsl??
Forum: HD Install
Topic: can anyone paste a working lilo.conf for dsl??
started by: esplinter
Posted by esplinter on Mar. 05 2007,12:31
hi allIm trying to install dsl on a old toshiba libretto 100ct without cdrom. I could boot dsl by copying it to a fat32 partition and booting using loadlin (a dos utility). Once booted the hd-install works great until I try to install the boot loader.
when I select "I want to install boot loader" it says "No appropiate miniroot is avaiable". I think this is because the fat32 partition is mounted on /cdrom and I cant umount it or dsl would stop working.
the only thing I think I could do to solve the problem is to chroot to the partition where the dsl files are and then edit manually the file lilo.conf and then try to install lilo.
żżcould anyone paste a working lilo.conf so that I can copy it manually to mi hd?? żor anyone has any clue about any other way to install the boot loader??
If this doesnt work I think I will have to put the hd on other laptop with cdrom in order to install dsl and then take the hd back to libretto.
thanks in advance for any help.
Posted by curaga on Mar. 05 2007,15:43
How did you move dsl to the hd? The KNOPPIX file?In that case, try booting from the release candidate boot floppy instead of loadlin and using boot code "dsl install" so it'll go to a textmode install menu, which uses less ram than X. Your problem could also be caused by low ram, so try this..
And you probably need two partitions, I'm not sure if dsl can install to the same partition it is running from..
Ps. try grub, it's easier than lilo
Posted by Juanito on Mar. 05 2007,16:35
Just in case you need it, here is an example lilo.conf - substitute your boot partition for sdb3:lba32 #enable large disk support
timeout=30 #wait 3 seconds before auto-booting
vga=791
boot=/dev/sdb3 #put Lilo boot loader in partition of target disk
root=/dev/sdb3 #set root to be partition of target disk
image=/boot/linux24
label=DSL
initrd=/boot/minirt24.gz
read-only
APPEND="ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us apm=power-off hda=scsi hdb=scsi hdc=scsi hdd=scsi hde=scsi hdf=scsi hdg=scsi hdh=scsi nomce nodma quiet frugal BOOT_IMAGE=/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX fromhd=/dev/sdb3 restore=sdb4 toram alsa mydsl=sdb4"
Note that after writing the file, you will need to do the following:
# chmod 644 /mnt/sdb3/boot/lilo.conf
# ln -sf /mnt/sdb3/boot /
# lilo -C /mnt/sdb3/boot/lilo.conf
Posted by roberts on Mar. 05 2007,18:26
The easy way is to boot from the DSL standard boot floppy.It will find a poorman's installation, i.e., knoppix/knoppix on your dos (fat) filesystem. Then all the installation methods are available and easy to perform. Boot the floppy with
boot: install
Do not use:
boot: dsl install
Posted by esplinter on Mar. 05 2007,18:56
many many thanks for your help. I think with this hints I will finally be able to install a boot loader.right now I cant try because I left the laptop on my office but tomorrow in the morning I will try.
żhave u tried the last release candidate?? right now Im trying to install dsl 3.2 (the last stable version) ż is RC version stable enought to try it?? żIf I install the RC will I be able to upgrade to the next stable version later using apt?? or I will have to do a fresh install??
Juanito, you said I have to do this in order to install lilo:
# chmod 644 /mnt/sdb3/boot/lilo.conf
# ln -sf /mnt/sdb3/boot /
# lilo -C /mnt/sdb3/boot/lilo.conf
żżis this ok?? Im asking this because on every distro I have tried lilo.conf is on /etc/lilo.conf but u say I have to put it on /boot/lilo.conf żis this a mistake or dsl linux works in a different way than most linux distributions??
thanks again. tomorrow I will post to tell u if I had luck
Posted by Juanito on Mar. 06 2007,03:53
My original installation was made using a floppy which loaded DSL from a USB stick (the BIOS would not boot from USB). I then used the right-click menu to make a frugal hd lilo install - this means that DSL placed lilo.conf in /boot rather than me.I am using DSL 3.3rc1 with the hd install - if you use a frugal install, upgrading/downgrading is as easy as replacing the /KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX file with a different one.
Posted by esplinter on Mar. 07 2007,08:04
no luck 
I couldnt do a right install using the rescue floppy. I could do a frugal install tricking a little bit. normal hd-install didn´t work just has before and had to copy linux24 and minirt24.gz manually in order grub to works.
right now it works but I´d like to do a native hd-install because me laptop has just 32mb ram and I dont like frugal install with so low ram.
Im gonna try to do a hd-install on a vmware machine and then copy all filesystem to my laptop and install boot loader on it.
I will tell u if I had luck.
Posted by curaga on Mar. 10 2007,13:08
Hmm.. Did you say hd-install works, but bootloader part doesn't?Try: Do a hd-install to different partition than your frugal, and install boot loader stuff from frugal manually.. For grub you need to copy only linux24 and make a menu.lst entry..
Actually you could boot using the same kernel as in frugal, just put it like this: (frugal is hda1 in this and hd-install hda2)
Title DSL hdinstall
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/linux24 root=/dev/hda2
Posted by esplinter on Mar. 12 2007,10:47
many thanks curagafinally I could boot from hd adding this line to menu.lst
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/linux24 root=/dev/hda2
but now X doesn´t works
on /var/log/messages it says can´t find fb0 module so I thinks this is the problem. let´s investigate to try solve it......
Posted by curaga on Mar. 12 2007,16:35
That's an easy one. For your laptops' fullscreen, 800x480 with 24bit colors use this line:root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/linux24 root=/dev/hda2 vga=808 nofirewire xsetup
Xsetup is just for the first time, after that remove it.
If you want another resolution, check < here >
Non-related tip: add any no-switches to the line for hardware you don't have. It will speed up booting
Like noscsi if you don't have scsi, or nofirewire if you got no firewire...
Posted by esplinter on Mar. 20 2007,11:53
yeeeeeeeeeeah finally I have my lovely libretto with dsl booting from hdĦĦĦ many thanks curaga. that was just what I needed I have just booted it for first time and the only strange thing is that now I have no icons on desktop. In order to have the icons I have to go to the menu Desktop >> full enhaced Desktop żis there any way so that it boots by default with full enhanced desktop??
I have put on menu.lst the options nofirewire and noscsi żżdo you think there is any other option I should use with a toshiba libretto??
many many thx curaga. Im really happy
Posted by curaga on Mar. 20 2007,14:16
About the icons: someone else has also had that problem, there a png file was corrupt. Fire up Aterm and type xtdesk
If there are errors about some icons, delete them. There is also some hidden config file in /home/dsl with a line ICONS=1.... if it's ICONS=0 then there are no icons
Boot codes: Try add these
dma nousb nomce
dma speeds up the hard drive, your lappy doesn't have USB, and MCE is disabled automatically on P1's, but if you disable it here too, boot will speed up a half second ;)
BTW, you giving me thanx feels just awesome.. Usually people just hate me
Posted by curaga on Mar. 20 2007,14:27
Also edit /home/dsl/.xinitrcby adding a # in front of these lines:
wmswallow docked.lua ....something...... so this becomes
#wmswallow docked.lua ....something
And the torsmo line too. This stops the mount app (which BTW doesn't work for cd's and floppies in 3.2) and the system monitor (torsmo) in the right side of the screen from starting, speeding boot even more..
Posted by esplinter on Mar. 20 2007,15:54
thanks again man finally I have this line on /boot/grub/menu.lst
title DSL (hd)
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/linux24 root=/dev/hda2 dma vga=807 nofirewire noscsi nousb nomce
and it boots quite fast.
I used vga=807 (807 is 16bits and 808 is 24bits) because I think it works a little bit faster using 16bits, but really I´m not totally sure if 807 is better.
I havent edited the file .xinitrc because I like tormsmo and I use the docker to access dmix. When dsl boots it just takes 12mb of ram so I think I wont save too much ram if I deactivate them.
I had to download and compile tormsmo 0.18 so that the battery meter works. I just installed gcc and libraries and compiled it. then I just had to edit this line in /home/dsl/.tormsmorc (hope it be usefull for anyone)
Battery: $color ${battery MBAT}
about the desktop icons....I get no error when running xtdesk so I dont know wich one I should delete but really I dont care too much about this. go to desktop >> full enhaced desktop after the X system boots is just one second.
I finally have my dsl working great. now I have a long aftenoon to test it
