Rapidweather
Group: Members
Posts: 375
Joined: Jan. 2004 |
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Posted: Oct. 03 2004,03:06 |
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Looking at the problem of replacing the miniroot.gz and vmlinuz as found in DSL 0.6.2 (for instance), with the linux24 and minirt24.gz as found in DSL 0.8.2:
I note that the boot.img in 0.6.2 is 1.41 MB, which is floppy sized. So,
making a boot.img with the linux24 (971.49 KB) and the minirt24.gz (771.84 KB) would push the boot.img over a "floppy size".
Now all that would fit on a CD, but would that be valid under the
syslinux setup? There is that limit on it, and that is why, as pointed out, DSL had to go to the isolinux boot setup.
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I did try to boot DSL 0.8.2 with a 0.6.2 boot floppy, and got module
errors, etc. with no boot. Then I looked at the sizes of the files, and decided that the 0.8.2 linux24 and minirt24.gz wouldn't fit in a custom
boot.img, unless it was on a CD, then it wouldn't work under syslinux.
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Now, about my booting problems using 0.8.2 on my Dell Demension 4600: This is a fairly modern machine, very expen$ive ($2400.00) and
typical of what Dell has to offer. If DSL won't run on those, then I am of the opinion that something has to be done. Dell is mail order. No testing of the machine with a "live cd" beforehand, as recommended a while back on Slashdot. Those folks that have XP on Dells will soon want
something like DSL, for the security and upgrade hassles and expenses for XP will tire them out, for sure.
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The good part is that DSL has a bunch of mirrors with older versions
available, that will run on (practically) anything that has a decent amount of memory.
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I heard that the hardware requirements of the next big Windows distro, (longhorn) will perhaps require up to 3 GB of RAM. To this end, Dell is shipping machines now that can be upgraded to that level. Even though those boxes are going out with Windows XP, they know that soon, (2006) upgrades to the next version of Windows will be tried by the owners of those machines. So, they are ready. The question is: " can DSL run on current Dell offerings?"
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Now, I have to get working on putting 0.8.2 on that USB stick... I'll have to boot it with the usb boot floppy, but that's because I have a "non-usb-bootable" motherboard on my Dual Pentium Pro box. On the Dell, I looked in Setup, and not sure if it can boot directly off a usb stick either, so I'll use the floppy there also.
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Rapidweather Remaster of DSL:
http://www.angelfire.com/ms/telegram/getting_started.html
Rapidweather Remaster of Knoppix Linux:
http://www.geocities.com/rapidweather/getting_started.html
Screenshots:
http://www.rapidweather.com/linuxcdsales.html
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