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Topic: Is Frugal install to sdc possible?, Floppy fromusb boot

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Juanito

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Posts: 1601
Joined: Sep. 2005

Posted: Jan. 26 2007,08:16

I just tried your suggestion and modified the frugal_lilo.sh script as described above - unfortunately it still didn't work...

The symptoms are the same - when I answer "yes" to "are you sure?", sdc3 is formatted, the script starts to copy files from the iso and then the window disappears. Slightly afterwards, the "File systems:" stat changes from 2.3M/3.0M free to 0M/3.0M free. (RAM usage is 50.8M/503M used and /home 336M/390M free).

This time, the only thing copied to sdc3 was the /lost+found/ directory.

If it helps, I pasted the output from df below (note sdc3 was mounted after the script was run):

# df
Filesystem 1k-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root.old 3067 3067 0 100% /
/dev/pts 402524 57164 345360 14% /dev/pts
/dev/shm 53524 48712 4812 91% /cdrom
/dev/cloop 121088 121088 0 100% /KNOPPIX
/ramdisk 399460 54100 345360 14% /ramdisk
unionfs 520548 175188 345360 34% /KNOPPIX/bin
unionfs 402524 57164 345360 14% /dev
unionfs 416068 70708 345360 17% /etc
unionfs 534092 188732 345360 35% /KNOPPIX/lib
unionfs 520548 175188 345360 34% /KNOPPIX/sbin
unionfs 534092 188732 345360 35% /KNOPPIX/usr
unionfs 413004 67644 345360 16% /ramdisk/var
/dev/sda1 63718 55030 8688 86% /mnt/sda1
/dev/cloop1 13544 13544 0 100% /ramdisk/opt/samba
//MSS-FFB1EF/Public 292528128 197992448 94535680 68% /ramdisk/home/dsl/mnt/Public
/dev/loop0 50864 50864 0 100% /mnt/staging
/dev/sdc3 1929100 20 1831084 0% /mnt/sdc3

Juanito

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Posts: 1601
Joined: Sep. 2005

Posted: Jan. 26 2007,11:16

I decided to cut & paste commands from the frugal_lilo script to try and make things work and took a guess at what to put in lilo.conf:

lba32 #enable large disk support
timeout=30 #wait 3 seconds before auto-booting
vga=791
boot=/dev/sdc3 #put Lilo boot loader in partition of target disk
root=/dev/sdc3 #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=/dev/sdc3/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX fromhd=/dev/sdc3 restore=sdc4 toram mydsl=sdc4"

This appeared to partially work:

lilo loaded DSL
The BIOS check passed
Probing aic7xxx.o
...found scsi device(s) handled by aic7xxx.o
Scanning for usb devices
...done
Cannot find knoppix filesystem, etc etc

I've tried boot_image=/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX with the same results. Did I make a mistake in lilo.conf? A couple of other questions:

1. I presume you have to repeat the command "lilo -C /mnt/sdc3/boot/lilo.conf" each time lilo.conf is edited but I get ro error messages if I try this?
2. Is there a way to load /KNOPPIX from the (very limited) shell?
3. How can you mount a drive from the (very limited) shell if there is a mount command but no mkdir command?

^thehatsrule^ Offline

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Posts: 3275
Joined: July 2006

Posted: Jan. 26 2007,14:11

Quote

stat changes from 2.3M/3.0M free to 0M/3.0M free.

My guess is that this happens when lilo is installed ( / is relinked for it)

Quote

the only thing copied to sdc3 was the /lost+found/ directory.

I think that's created during formatting...

Some notes:
a. did you reboot the system after partitioning (if you did)
b. try mounting the partition before install (make sure it is formatted already) - this sometimes was needed for me
c. Open a terminal, then run frugal_{lilo|grub}.sh - you should be able to see any errors (please paste the error output here)
N.B : it seems your latter post indicates that the install script is working ... so you can ignore a. to c. if this is the case

---

1. Yes you need to re-run it every time. Relinking the / is required (like what i posted first in this message) - open up frugal_lilo.sh and scroll down ... you should see a 'ln' then the "lilo -C"
2. Haven't tried this before... I'm guessing you could (re-running boot scripts or something?) but you may as well try to get it running 'normally' from boot as you will want to use it this way.
3. There has to be an existing empty directory. If the directories in /mnt aren't created yet, maybe you can use cp (copy) ? Alternatively, you can add some statically-built mkdir to the initrd.

When you're booted, can you find /KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX ?
Afaik BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix (from knoppix wiki)
If the directory name is different, you can change knoppix_dir=
If the image name is different, you can change knoppix_name=
Did you try without the fromhd code (autodetect)? maybe there's a fromscsi (or maybe fromusb searches these too?)

One more thing, are you booting off the floppy or directly off your scsi hdd?

Juanito

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Posts: 1601
Joined: Sep. 2005

Posted: Jan. 26 2007,15:20

Thanks for the suggestion of running /usr/sbin/rugal_lilo.sh from a terminal window.

After making Robert's BOOT="/mnt/staging/boot/isolinux" modification to the script, I ran it from a terminal window and the script worked - odd that it does not work when run from the right-click menu...

I still have the problem that lilo partially boots from sdc3 but cannot find the /KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX file

To answer some of the questions:

are you booting off the floppy or directly off your scsi hdd? - from floppy "fromusb" when I run the script and then I attempt a lilo boot directly from the scsi hd

When you're booted, can you find /KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX ? - the boot from scsi hd drops me to the (very limited) shell when it cannot find /KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX. The file is there however and verified to be exactly the same size as that on the floppy boot "fromusb" stick.

This time when I attempted the boot, I noticed that something flashed by quickly after "...found scsi device(s) handled by aic7xxx.o" and before "Scanning for usb devices". I also noticed that after rebooting from floppy, the mount tool does not see the scsi hd. If I plug in another USB stick, the mount tool then sees the scsi hd - maybe this is not relevant however...

I feel my problem is with the description of where to find the image in lilo.conf. i.e.

...BOOT_IMAGE=/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX fromhd=/dev/sdc3...

but I have no idea what this could be changed to

-------------
Edit - got it!

When I tried to reboot from the lilo hd install, I was removing the floppy and "fromusb" stick which was sda1 - this meant that after reboot, sdc3 became sdb3 and thus lilo could not find the knoppix image.

The lilo -C command would not work if I changed sdc3 to sdb3 in lilo.conf because sdc3 had not yet become sdb3 - bizarrely leaving "boot=/dev/sdc3" and "root=/dev/sdc3" but using "fromhd=/dev/sdb3" did the trick.

Thanks for the help Roberts/^thehatsrule^

^thehatsrule^ Offline

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Posts: 3275
Joined: July 2006

Posted: Jan. 26 2007,21:17

Good job on figuring that out!

Does this means you always have to use fromhd and can't use a more general autodetect way ? (like fromusb - because it may be a hassle if you leave some other usb stick in during boot sometimes...)

10 replies since Jan. 21 2007,06:26

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