On Sat, 19 Feb 2011 11:49:41 -0500 (EST), Hal Vaughan wrote: > > I have everything else worked out so it can be done in a batch mode > or in a program, but I'm having trouble with partitioning. > > I've been working with cfdisk, fdisk, and parted: > > parted: Always leaves only 512 bytes at the start and grub-install > doesn't seem to like that. But it can be used in a batch mode. > > fdisk: Doesn't seem to have a batch/script mode and I'd have to > calculate sizes in megabytes from cylinder info > > cfdisk: Lets me work in whatever units I like (bytes, kbytes, mbytes, > and so on) but is curses based and doesn't have batch/script mode. > > What I would like to do is to be able to use a partitioning program > from a batch or script mode. Parted would be good for that, but I > can't seem to get it to leave more than 512 bytes at the start > (cfdisk left 32k -- why? I don't know). > > Also, it seems when I get CF disks they have an MS-DOS partition > table (grub kept noting that and one part of the whole process > didn't seem to like that). How can I either wipe the disk without > a mess (tried zeroing it, parted wouldn't recognize it or write to > it, but fdisk had no issue with that) or write a new partition table? > What type of partition table should I use? (I'm guessing bsd, which > was one of the options, but there wasn't a Linux option for types of > partition tables.)
Well, if I were in your situation I think I know what I would do. I would use another boot loader besides grub2, such as lilo or extlinux, that doesn't need to allocate sectors at the beginning of the disk which are supposed to be unallocated (or in the case of parted, are part of a partition). Both lilo and extlinux can be installed in either the master boot record or a partition boot sector and are perfectly happy with the MS-DOS partitioning scheme. With extlinux you are limited to either the ext2 or ext3 filesystem for the /boot partition. With lilo you can use just about anything for a file system. The down side of lilo is that the boot loader installer has to be run any time the physical location of any sector in the kernel image file or the initial RAM disk image file changes. I have a web page that you may find useful. It is http://users.wowway.com/~zlinuxman/Kernel.htm You may find it useful for several reasons. First of all, it is very common when working with embedded systems to create a custom Linux kernel. A "lean and mean" kernel is often created which contains only the drivers which are actually needed for that particular embedded system. This saves hard disk space and memory space on the embedded device (but not on the system on which one actually compiles the kernel!) Second, step 10, "Customize the Kernel Installation Environment", contains stuff which is useful even to people who use stock kernels. For example, there is a section on how to switch to lilo from another boot loader (in this case, grub 1 from Lenny) and covers some little known stuff about lilo, such as how to make use of UUIDs in lilo, how to determine the capabilities of the BIOS, etc. Third, if you are using a custom kernel built in the manner recommended in the write-up, and you are using lilo, you will probably need some extra "hook scripts" which don't currently ship with lilo. This write-up provides some sample hook scripts which you may find useful. Good luck with your project. -- .''`. Stephen Powell : :' : `. `'` `- -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-user-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/1193057518.926874.1298138552084.javamail.r...@md01.wow.synacor.com