Re: Getting Debian 2.0 to boot on ThinkPad 600

[Steve Hsieh <steveh@eecs.umich.edu>]

On Tue, 1 Sep 1998, James G. MacKinnon wrote:

> I have been trying to help a colleague install Debian 2.0 on his ThinkPad
> 600. Red Hat 5.0 previously installed fine. However, he has been unable to
> boot from either the standard Debian 2.0 rescue disk or the Tecra rescue
> disk. 


It's probably the common 'bzimage' problem.  You may want to contact
sen_ml@eccosys.com for the steps by which he got things to work.  In a
nutshell, you need to replace the linux file on the rescue disk with a
kernel built with zimage and not bzimage, and then execute the rdev.sh
shell script.


>From sen_ml@eccosys.com Tue Sep  1 10:39:34 1998
Date: Fri, 07 Aug 1998 14:03:58 +0900
From: sen_ml@eccosys.com
To: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Subject: some success on the thinkpad 770 ed front
Resent-Date: 7 Aug 1998 05:16:52 -0000
Resent-From: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Resent-cc: recipient list not shown: ;


i now have a rescue disk that will boot for the thinkpad 770 ed :-)

thanks to: 

  Steve Hsieh
  George Bonser
  Greg Starkes
  Nathan Norman
  Brandon Mitchell

for your help and comments.  if i left anyone out, i apologize -- please
let me know. 

i haven't gone through the whole installation process yet, but to summarize
what was done so far:

  1) make a vanilla hamm rescue disk (i made mine from an image dated 
     1998-07-21)

  2) make a zImage that includes:

     -ramdisk
     -initrd (initial ramdisk -- this option appears once you've selected
      ramdisk -- at least via make menuconfig)
     -loop
     -msdos
     -fat
     -minix
     -elf
     -ext2fs
     -procfs

     (making a zImage involves 'make zImage' in the appropriate kernel
     sources directory -- note: if you stick too much in your kernel, it
     might not fit on your rescue floppy -- zImage ended up in
     /usr/src/linux-2.0.34/arch/i386/boot/ for me, your mileage may vary.)

     note: it might be necessary to make sure you match the kernel version
     of your zImage w/ that of the rescue disk -- i don't know if this really
     matters -- any comments?

  3) copy the zImage to the rescue disk w/ the name 'linux' -- this overwrites
     the existing kernel image on the floppy. 

  4) w/ the rescue disk mounted, cd to the floppy's root (this will likely
     be /mnt or /floppy) and execute the rdev.sh shell script

note: these steps are outlined in the readme.txt file on the rescue disk
(as pointed out by Brandon Mitchell)

thanks again for all your help!

-sen

btw, as Greg Starkes pointed out, floppy=thinkpad does not seem to be
necessary.