Re: Headless install on LX164
Greg Johnson wrote:
> On Tue, Nov 23, 1999 at 11:50:38PM +0000, Adam C Powell IV wrote:
> > Hello again,
> >
> > Okay, so I tried taking the linux kernel off the rescue floppy and
> > replacing it with the Northern Linux one which came with the machine, so
> > it definitely has the serial console compiled in. Rebooted, and it
> > gives me:
> >
> > VFS: Insert root floppy disk to be loaded into RAM Disk and press ENTER
> > <did that>
> > RAMDISK: Compressed image found at block 0
> > VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly.
> > Freeing unused kernel memory: 120k freed
> > Warning: unable to open an initial console.
> > EXT2-fs warning: checktime reached, running e2fsck is recommended
> >
> > Why can't it open an initial console? It has no problem doing so when
> > booting from the same kernel on the hard drive. Any ideas? Has anyone
> > installed Debian on headless LX164?
>
> I have. A while ago.
Great!
> Unfortunately my memory is a bit foggy. I think you have to change the
> console device on the root floppy so it looks like:
>
> $ ls -l /dev/console
> crw--w--w- 1 root tty 5, 1 Nov 6 05:41 /dev/console
Cool! How can I do that? I tried mounting the ramdisk image floppy, but that
was obviously wrong... Do I have to somehow MAKEDEV in the root floppy /dev?
> I believe that the one on the floppy is a symlink to /dev/tty.
Really? Any idea on why this is? Seems like a proper /dev/console shouldn't
take up that much space, and would make life easier for folks like me. :-)
(Then again, it sounds like the new boot floppies are quite starved for space,
counting every byte...)
Goswin Brederlow wrote:
> Adam C Powell IV <hazelsct@mit.edu> writes:
>
> > Any hope? With the slink boot floppies, I load the ramdisk from
> > root.bin floppy and then get confirmation that it mounted root, and
> > recommendation that e2fsck be run, then nothing. I don't suppose
> > there's a way to get dbootstrap to use a serial console...
>
> Hmm, you should be able to set the initial console at the boot prompt
> via "tty=XXX". Serial console should be fine there.
tty=what? I tried tty=/dev/ttyS0 which is the serial line where the console is,
but got the same message as above- can't open initial console.
> > By the way, what's up with the installation docs? Chapter 6 seems to
> > know nothing about AlphaBIOS! No MILO boot parameters, just "put in the
> > (floppy/cd) and it will work," which is bogus. I had to check my
> > vendor's floppy install option for RedHat rescue in order to boot the
> > Debian rescue disk.
> >
> > There really should be something in there explaining how to configure
> > the AlphaBIOS or pass the options via MILO. And the options should
> > really be in there too! I used:
> >
> > boot fd0:linux root=/dev/fd0 load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=1
>
> Add your tty there as well and it should work.
Cool. How does one go about suggesting including these in the install
instructions?
> May the Source be with you.
And also with you. :-)
Thanks much,
Adam Powell http://lyre.mit.edu/~powell/
Thomas B. King Assistant Professor of Materials Engineering
77 Massachusetts Ave. Rm. 4-117 Phone (617) 452-2086
Cambridge, MA 02139 USA Fax (617) 253-5418
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