Re: Boot Disks

[vanco@sonic.net]

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On Mon, 27 Apr 1998, David Welton wrote:

> Ok, I have had enough.. I would like to do something!
> 
> After hearing for the nth time that someone's computer wont work with
> debian but will with redhat and slackware, I would like to try my hand
> at making some boot disks.  I read the BootDisk HOWTO in the past, and
> I think I get the basic idea, but what I'd really like to know is
> exactly how people have been doing this for the Debian boot disks -
> ie, what sort of device, size, etc..  Basically whatever specs are
> available about our disks.

	In my experience, debian's bootdisk problems are inherent to the
entire "disk" method of installation. The way it is constructed (in hamm),
it needs 9 brand-new disks, with no blemish. If even one disk has a few
bad blocks on it (which rawrite doesn't tell you, and the inexperienced
user won't notice until too late) it's too late to do anything.
	Additionally, the boot+root (single-disk) causes some problems. If
one kernel refuses to boot on your computer, you are *required* to
construct your own disks from a kernel and debian's rootdisk. This takes
someone quite far along the larning curve, and should be avoided at a
distribution's install level.
	I propose this: one disk with two or three kernels on it (one
kernel completely bare, the other with support for some strange hardware
such as proprietary mice, cdrom's, etc) and a modified ldlinux.sys that
tells what to do for different kinds of machines...
	One rootdisk. This will increase the amount of room available for
the base rootdisk, making the rescue floppy much more user-friendly
(perhaps bash and joe could fit on it -- two VERY important tools for a
rescue floppy).

Anyway, just a few ideas....

- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aaron Van Couwenberghe -- vanco@sonic.net, aaronvanc@hotmail.com
|---> Debian GNU/Linux: http://www.debian.org  ftp://ftp.debian.org <-----\
|-> Proud competitor in the race for World Domination <-------------------|

Illusion web designs - http://www.sonic.net/~vanco - To be launched by June

PGP KeyID: 41119089	UserID: Aaron Van Couwenberghe <vanco@sonic.net>

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