Re: Step 1 of debian-installer
Thierry Laronde wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> I've just checkout cvs tree and have a look to the doc.
>
> I have been studying some parts of the problems for a project that we
> (cri74.org) are launching. So here are some solutions/ideas for the very
> first step :
>
> - Size of a floppy is the critic point. You can have more space on a HDD,
> by playing with the number of sectors. But you need to have a bootloader
> able to identify the CHS parameter in order to access and load the data
> (kernel and root fs); for x86, Lilo can do that, and there is a patch to
> GRUB to allow this too;
>
Do you mean you can have more space on a floppy ?
e.g. 1743KB, 1840KB, or 1920.
I think that formats that use multiple sector sizes cant be booted.
I havent played with higher densities for a while, what is the highest
density you have managed to boot from ?
I got excited about booting from a 1920KB floppy once, but it only
worked in vmware, if i rember correctly the highest ive booted from is
1843KB or something.
> - Part of the sectors are "lost" for the fs; if one has a bootloader able to
> install itself without a fs, and able to retrieve data (blocklist) without
> the fs, you can "save" these sectors by putting everything on a raw
> floppy; for x86, GRUB can install itself, and boot with blocklist
> notation; it is able to load kernel and initrd this way too;
>
When you dd the kernel to the start of the disk, then dd the root image
directly after it.
When ive done this i didnt use a bootloader, which may have been why i
had more trouble booting higher density floppies
> - The bootloader has a size; if one can use the bootloader installed on the
> floppy as the data to install as the bootloader for the hard disk, the
> same data is used twice, then there is no need to duplicate the bootloader
> in the initrd; for x86, GRUB can be handled this way;
>
Yea grub is nice, i wish it wasnt so big though, i guess thats the price
to pay for lots of features and being generally more usefull
Glenn
Reply to: