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Topic: install DSL on small pc, boot image

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Karin81

Group: Members
Posts: 4
Joined: June 2005

Posted: June 05 2005,14:28

Hi
I am a new DSL and i want to install it on my P90 32Mb pc.
Due to the small amount of memory I can NOT use the live CD.
So now I want to start from dos (I have a small bootable DOS partition)
and a large D: partition (not formatted yet).

I found the link:
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/install_from_floppy.html = how to install form floppy

but ...

1. I have the DSL cd with everything
2. booting from CD fails (no error but I think not enough memory)
3. placing the CD in a friends pc -> DSL runs from memory (RAM), so the CD is OK

I want to install DSL on my harddisk. The doc's say:
- get WINRAR and UnRAR for DOS files
why ??

- format C: /u or D: /u
OK

- using 2 "good" floppies copy over the individual rar files to the D: drive on
the computer [/CODE]a:\copy *.* d:[/CODE], once you have all the files copied
over we need to:
extract the files back to their original state ?????

HOW ?????

- create a DSL boot floppy by using RAWWRITEWIN and boot.img from the KNOPPIX dir
I know RAWWRITEWIN
but where do I get the boot.img ????
There is only a KNOPPIX dir about 50Mb

- next step : Boot from DSL boot floppy and it will auto detect the
c drive (/dev/hda1) and start running DSL.

The problem is:
- where do I find an image
- and WHEN it is on the CD, how do i extract it from CD

Please help,
Regards Karin

cbagger01

Group: Members
Posts: 4264
Joined: Oct. 2003

Posted: June 05 2005,17:41

The boot image was removed from DSL after version 0.5.3.1

You can download it here. It is good for DSL version 0.8 or newer including the latest version.

http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub....ppy.img

Karin81

Group: Members
Posts: 4
Joined: June 2005

Posted: June 05 2005,20:17

Hi cbagger, or anyone

Thanks for the link. Now I have my image on floppy. It boots
and then ....

When I get the question:
'Press <enter> to begin, F2 and F3 for boot options."

I tried:
- enter => faild
- press F2
and entered after the prompt
boot: dsl mydsl=hda1

and
boot: dsl mydsl=hda2

and
boot: dsl mydsl=hdb

and
boot: dsl tohd=/dev/hda2

but in all circumstances I get the same (error) message:
Loading linux24
Loading minirt24.gz
Boot failed: please change disks and ....

So I try to follow still the description on

Can I install DSL via floppy drive ?

Step 9, part C kills me.

My goal is to install DSL on my 'D-drive'.
It is allowed to format D-drive with ext2 or ...

Maybe DSL cannot be installed on D-drive but only on C:

?

Can someone explain what steps to follow.
Regards Karin

ps. Pentium 90MHz, 32 Mb RAM
boot from CD fails due to the 32Mb RAM

cbagger01

Group: Members
Posts: 4264
Joined: Oct. 2003

Posted: June 06 2005,02:59

If you immediatly get a boot failed message before DSL even attempts to look for the \knoppix\knoppix file then you have a problem.

It is possible that Syslinux 2.04 (linux boot floppy loader) does not work with your computer.

If booting with typing:

failsafe

on the boot line does not work, then my advice is to try the loadlin method of booting. You can boot from Win95/98 true MSDOS mode (Press F8 key and choose safe mode command prompt) or from a true MSDOS or FREEDOS prompt.

If this doesn't work, then I am out of ideas on how to load the kernel and initial root filesystem.

However, if the problem is can't find knoppix ... dropping to a limited shell, then you can solve this by copying the \knoppix\knoppix file over to C:\knoppix\knoppix and try the boot floppy again.

Good Luck.

Karin81

Group: Members
Posts: 4
Joined: June 2005

Posted: June 09 2005,20:55

Hi everyone, the last try before I give up.

steps I followed for my Pentium 100 MHz 32 Mb ram machine.

setup DOS environment (no windows no .... just clean start)

fdisk
- create 1 boot partition 100Mb
- create extended partition 400Mb
create logical drive (D:)

reboot and format the drives and install MS-DOS 6.2.
Than I have:
- drive C: with DOS size 100 Mb
- drive D: formatted size 400 Mb
- CDROM I:

1. boot from the boot floppy (with Syslinux 2.04 from the boot floppy loader)
as you suggested. Boot is OK, got DSL logo and boot prompt, than I
2. press F2 for boot options
3. tried boot: dsl tohd=/dev/hda1
boot: dsl failsafe
boot: dsl fromhd=/dev/hda1
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
that what I typed

received the following on my screen

loading linux24.................
loading minirt24.gz....
Boot failed: please change disks and press any key to continue

Also tried step: '2.i - LOADLIN install' from DSL.
Start installing something but after entering DISPLAY properties
of 640x480 4 colors (minimal) the screen became black after a while.

Any suggestions?

I think the 32Mb mem is to small to install or setup something.
Questions:
- how do you install DSL on harddisk WITHOUT booting from CD ?
- what commands do you have to type after the boot prompt ?
boot options F2 followed by ......
- do I have to make any preparations ?
eg: format, partitioning, setup things
where and when in the installation do you get the options of
cfdisk and do you create the partitions ?
- where do I specify where I want DSL ? (C or D drive, eg /dev/hda1 or /dev/hda#)

regards
Karin

10 replies since June 05 2005,14:28

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