Re: lilo installation on IDE disk 500 megabytes
From: Charles Blair [EMAIL PROTECTED] I am trying to install the 7-14-96 debian release on a machine with over 500 megabytes on an IDE hard disk. Well, if LILO will work at all with the default configuration that you get when you install the package, you are probably safe, since only _one_ cylinder extends beyond 1024. Only a fraction of one percent of your disk blocks are in that cylinder, and it is unlikely that the kernel will land on one. If that's the case, it would be best for you stop here rather than trying any of the following. I solved this problem by creating a small partition for my /, separate from the one for /usr. All of that partition was below the 1023rd cylinder, and all of the files that LILO needed fit in it. Then the lilo configuration that the package creates automaticaly will always work. If you want to run LILO on the /dos partition, I think the /etc/lilo.conf file should look like this: boot=/dev/hda1 (block device for /dos) root=/dev/hda2 (block device for linux /) compact install=/dos/boot/boot.b (make sure this file is there) map=/dos/boot/map (this will be created there) vga=normal prompt image=/dos/vmlinuz (make sure this is there too) label=Linux read-only Then, make sure to make the DOS partition as the boot partition using fdisk. This will make it impossible to boot DOS without a floppy. That's one reason it might be better to create a separate small root partition for Linux. Thanks Bruce
Re: lilo installation on IDE disk 500 megabytes
Resent-Date: 22 Aug 1996 14:28:53 - Resent-Cc: recipient.list.not.shown:; Old-Return-Path: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Martin Str|mberg) Subject: Re: lilo installation on IDE disk 500 megabytes To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Charles Blair) Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 16:28:35 +0200 (MET DST) Cc: debian-user@lists.debian.org (Debian user mailing list), [EMAIL PROTECTED] Resent-Message-ID: V8tcM3.0.455.aw67o@vega Resent-From: debian-user@lists.debian.org X-Mailing-List: debian-user@lists.debian.org archive/latest/5366 X-Loop: debian-user@lists.debian.org Resent-Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hello. I am trying to install the 7-14-96 debian release on a machine with over 500 megabytes on an IDE hard disk. I want to have a DOS partition and a linux partition. At present fdisk shows: Device Boot BeginStart End Blocks Id System /dev/hda111 356 179392+ 6 DOS 16-bit =32M /dev/hda2 * 357 357 966 307440 83 Linux native /dev/hda3 967 967 99916632 82 Linux swap fdisk also displays a warning: The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 1025. This is larger than 1024, and may cause problems with: 1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., LILO) The lilo documentation says: Note that large partitions that only partially extend into the forbidden zone are still in jeopardy even if they appear to work at first, because the file system does not know about the restrictions and may allocate disk space from the area beyond the 1024th cylinder when installing new kernels. I think that your hda2 partition is under the 1024 cylinder boundary. Roar those of you debianites that disagree (let us know, i. e.)! Is there someway to check this with a program or can you be sure that when you have a partition taking up 16MB (the swap) at the end of a disk of this size that that last cylinder (1025) is only used by that partition? Lilo suggests either using LOADLIN or booting from the DOS partition: In order to accomplish this, the DOS partition is mounted read-write, a directory (e.g. /dos/linux) is created, all files from /boot are moved to that directory, /boot is replaced by a symbolic link to it, the kernels are also moved to the new directory, their new location is recorded in /etc/lilo.conf, and finally /sbin/lilo is run. I tried creating a subdirectory c:\linux in DOS, then from linux: mkdir ./dos mount /dev/hda1/linux ./dos cp /boot ./dos At this point, I got some warning or error messages. It looks as though file names got truncated, and in some cases discarded completely. From ls /boot: System.map-2.0.6 chain.b any_b.b map any_d.b mbr.b boot.0302 os2_d.b boot.bvmlinuz-2.0.6 From ls ./dos: any_b.bmap any_d.b mbr.b boot.030 os2_d.b boot.b system.map chain.b Yes FAT handles only 8.3 names as I'm sure you know. There is a file system called umsdos that adds this functionality to FAT. But to use this I suppose that you would need it compiled into the kernel as we are talking booting here. Perhaps a little too inconvenient and wasting of space. I would appreciate some hand-holding at this stage. Exactly what commands do I type to carry out the lilo instructions (specifically, the symbolic link and copying the kernel)? Or would I be better off trying loadlin? I saw that there was another reply as well. (S)He (I don't remember the name, sorry) had some good ideas as well, like the name of the kernel doesn't matter. Sorry this has been such a long post. Thanks for your patience! I hope my reach is long enough, MartinS I originally set up Linux on a WD 1.2GIG IDE drive, putting Linux / into /dev/hda1, swap in /dev/hda2, /usr in /dev/hda3, and Windows 95 in /dev/hda4. The entire Linux system was under 500 Megs, so I did not have to do _anything_ tricky to get it to work. (Getting the Linux system to work the way I wanted it to has _not_ been so smooth, but that's another story :-) ) I use Central Point Bootsafe, part of their old Antivirus program, that watches for any program that tries to modify the boot sector. I installed Win95 first, so after I installed Linux and LILO, of course the boot sector was modified, and Bootsafe complained when I subsequently booted Win95. I just let Bootsafe accept the new boot image as the correct one, (choose Update from the promt) and Linux and W95 lived happily ever after. I don't know if this rant will help or not; I hope it will. --- Key fingerprint = D6 A7 D7 8C 92 CB 42 FD 60 D5 62 1C D7 B9 EA 8E Ken Gaugler N6OSK Hybrid Networks, Inc. Cupertino, Calif. URL: www.hybrid.com (home: [EMAIL PROTECTED] URL
Re: lilo installation on IDE disk 500 megabytes
Hi Charles -- I tried creating a subdirectory c:\linux in DOS, then from linux: mkdir ./dos mount /dev/hda1/linux ./dos cp /boot ./dos Your mount command (as given above) is making a DOS file system accessible under a Linux directory. That seems unusual. If you just want to run loadlin, I recommend something simpler: In DOS, execute: mkdir dirname To be specific, I'll use the word lboot for dirname, but feel free to pick another. Then unzip lodlinNN.zip into c:\lboot. Then boot Linux. mount -t /dev/hda1/lboot /dos cp /vmlinuz /dos/lboot Then reboot DOS. cd lboot Make yourself a file called linux.bat, or whatever you like. Include these two lines: smartdrv /C c:\lboot\loadlin c:\lboot\vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro Then execute your batch file by just typing linux. Good luck, Susan Kleinmann
Re: lilo installation on IDE disk 500 megabytes
Hello. I am trying to install the 7-14-96 debian release on a machine with over 500 megabytes on an IDE hard disk. I want to have a DOS partition and a linux partition. At present fdisk shows: Device Boot BeginStart End Blocks Id System /dev/hda111 356 179392+ 6 DOS 16-bit =32M /dev/hda2 * 357 357 966 307440 83 Linux native /dev/hda3 967 967 99916632 82 Linux swap fdisk also displays a warning: The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 1025. This is larger than 1024, and may cause problems with: 1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., LILO) The lilo documentation says: Note that large partitions that only partially extend into the forbidden zone are still in jeopardy even if they appear to work at first, because the file system does not know about the restrictions and may allocate disk space from the area beyond the 1024th cylinder when installing new kernels. I think that your hda2 partition is under the 1024 cylinder boundary. Roar those of you debianites that disagree (let us know, i. e.)! Is there someway to check this with a program or can you be sure that when you have a partition taking up 16MB (the swap) at the end of a disk of this size that that last cylinder (1025) is only used by that partition? Lilo suggests either using LOADLIN or booting from the DOS partition: In order to accomplish this, the DOS partition is mounted read-write, a directory (e.g. /dos/linux) is created, all files from /boot are moved to that directory, /boot is replaced by a symbolic link to it, the kernels are also moved to the new directory, their new location is recorded in /etc/lilo.conf, and finally /sbin/lilo is run. I tried creating a subdirectory c:\linux in DOS, then from linux: mkdir ./dos mount /dev/hda1/linux ./dos cp /boot ./dos At this point, I got some warning or error messages. It looks as though file names got truncated, and in some cases discarded completely. From ls /boot: System.map-2.0.6 chain.b any_b.b map any_d.bmbr.b boot.0302 os2_d.b boot.b vmlinuz-2.0.6 From ls ./dos: any_b.bmap any_d.b mbr.b boot.030 os2_d.b boot.b system.map chain.b Yes FAT handles only 8.3 names as I'm sure you know. There is a file system called umsdos that adds this functionality to FAT. But to use this I suppose that you would need it compiled into the kernel as we are talking booting here. Perhaps a little too inconvenient and wasting of space. I would appreciate some hand-holding at this stage. Exactly what commands do I type to carry out the lilo instructions (specifically, the symbolic link and copying the kernel)? Or would I be better off trying loadlin? I saw that there was another reply as well. (S)He (I don't remember the name, sorry) had some good ideas as well, like the name of the kernel doesn't matter. Sorry this has been such a long post. Thanks for your patience! I hope my reach is long enough, MartinS
Re: lilo installation on IDE disk 500 megabytes
You only need to copy the kernel image to the DOS partition, for example: cp /boot/vmlinuz-2.0.6 ./dos/vmlinuz Then when you've booted DOS type (make a batch :-) loadlin vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro Or have alook at the loadlin documentation. Some tips for advanced use of this boot scheme: - You may prefer to name the kernel copied to the DOS partition with a more descriptive name, like l960714.std (for the standard kernel image of 1996-07-14). This will help when trying different kernels (diff configs or diff just versions or special kernels or...) - You can copy the kernel to a floppy and boot from the floppy with a minimal DOS config.sys (to save memory LOADLIN needs). - You can make a batch file or for DOS 6.0 use menus in config.sys and/or autoexec.bat to load different kernels or systems with root on different partitions (not your case). I find this LOADLIN scheme a very flexible one. I find the related DOS applications rdev, pfdisk and ext2tools good companions to this DOS booting scheme. A DOS readln or readkey utility (or BE ASK in NORTON UTIL) is also handy for creating extremely configurable DOS bat files to manage the most complex scenarios you can imagine. Misc: This is the only method I found to boot linux on Compaq with PCI on board as linux need to relocates the PCI services through a DOS driver provided by COMPAQ. Syslinux or LILO cannot make linux see the PCI chips (Linus Torvald said). Disclaimer: LILO is very good,... this is just an alternative. Lazaro [EMAIL PROTECTED] P.S. I could send you a copy of my setup if you want. __ Reply Separator _ Subject: lilo installation on IDE disk 500 megabytes Author: debian-user@lists.debian.org at cclink Date:22.08.96 07:39 I am trying to install the 7-14-96 debian release on a machine with over 500 megabytes on an IDE hard disk. I want to have a DOS partition and a linux partition. At present fdisk shows: Device Boot BeginStart End Blocks Id System /dev/hda111 356 179392+ 6 DOS 16-bit =32M /dev/hda2 * 357 357 966 307440 83 Linux native /dev/hda3 967 967 99916632 82 Linux swap fdisk also displays a warning: The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 1025. This is larger than 1024, and may cause problems with: 1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., LILO) The lilo documentation says: Note that large partitions that only partially extend into the forbidden zone are still in jeopardy even if they appear to work at first, because the file system does not know about the restrictions and may allocate disk space from the area beyond the 1024th cylinder when installing new kernels. Lilo suggests either using LOADLIN or booting from the DOS partition: In order to accomplish this, the DOS partition is mounted read-write, a directory (e.g. /dos/linux) is created, all files from /boot are moved to that directory, /boot is replaced by a symbolic link to it, the kernels are also moved to the new directory, their new location is recorded in /etc/lilo.conf, and finally /sbin/lilo is run. I tried creating a subdirectory c:\linux in DOS, then from linux: mkdir ./dos mount /dev/hda1/linux ./dos cp /boot ./dos At this point, I got some warning or error messages. It looks as though file names got truncated, and in some cases discarded completely. From ls /boot: System.map-2.0.6 chain.b any_b.b map any_d.b mbr.b boot.0302os2_d.b boot.b vmlinuz-2.0.6 From ls ./dos: any_b.bmap any_d.bmbr.b boot.030 os2_d.b boot.b system.map chain.b I would appreciate some hand-holding at this stage. Exactly what commands do I type to carry out the lilo instructions (specifically, the symbolic link and copying the kernel)? Or would I be better off trying loadlin? Sorry this has been such a long post. Thanks for your patience!
