> How do I install LILO on a different disk? How do I make sure it
> doesn't trash the Ontrack program?
Well, the "boot=..." line tells LILO where to put itself- in the MBR of
the specified drive, or in the boot sector of the specified partition. As
for trashing the Ontrack program, there's one idea I have to get around
it. I'll explain in detail at the end.
> LBA?
Has to do with the low-level format of the drive. I believe LBA is the
(de facto) standard way to get around the 1024 cylinder limit. Then
again, I often don't know as much as I think I do, so somebody help me if
I'm wrong. At any rate, I'm sure that this wouldn't be a problem with
only 3GB. I think you can address either 8 or 8.4GB with 1024 cylinders.
> I am dealing with a 1993 computer.
Honestly, I'd recommend you upgrade it. Go out, look for a "bare bones
system" with CPU, M/B, RAM. I found really good prices (and systems) at
http://www.shoppingplanet.com (where I got my computer). Then put your
old cards in the new computer, and you can upgrade the rest of the
hardware at your leisure.
> What's the difference between an extended partition and the other kind?
> The kind that would be called hdb2?
An extended partition can contain multiple partitions (logical drives)
inside it. For a more detailed explanation see
http://www.harris-lp.k12.ia.us/hlp/~jws/~jws/comp/PCInfo/Boot/DEFAULT.HTM
(click on the "Partitions and Volumes" link first). I was looking for a
better page, but couldn't find one. Still, this one's not bad.
> The disk is formatted with the Ontrack Proprietary Format...
Which means that if you ever want to access it without their special
driver, you'll have to reformat it- WITHOUT USING THEIR FORMAT.
As long as you don't have any data you want to keep, you shoul dbe able to
do this.
> A problem presented by the DDO is "the operating system must not require
> special code in the MBR." LILO?
Yup. Of course, it [LILO] doesn't _have_ to go in the MBR.
> Perhaps I can put LILO into the primary partition, put DOS and Windows
> into that partition, and put Linux on another partition.
Not a bad idea- in fact, this is what I was thinking you might try (if
you still want to use this OnTrack thing). In lilo.conf, set the boot= to
a primary partiton. It doesn't particularly matter which one (if you
have multiple primary partitions, which I don't think DOS likes too much).
Run cfdisk and make sure that partition, and NO OTHER ONE, is "Bootable"
(meaning active in DOS terms). Run /sbin/lilo and reboot. LILO should
come up, prompting for the image to boot. As long as boot= is set to a
partition, not a drive (/dev/hda1, not /dev/hda) LILO will stay off the
MBR.
> table=/dev/hda #Pass this partition table table to the other OS
>
> What does that last line mean?
I'm not entirely sure myself. I think that by passing the partition table
on to the other OS, it lets that OS know which drive it's being booted
from (I guess some operatig systems aren't smart enough to figure this out
on their own- *snicker*).
-Matt
