LS-120
A while ago I tried to boot slackware a compaq deskpro here at work and
found that it would not boot using the standard boot disk. The problem, of
course, is that the machine does NOT have a floppy drive, it uses an LS-120
drive. Now I know that this drive is supported under linux as a removable
IDE disk, usually as /dev/hdX where X is b,c or d (the ls-120 CAN't be set
as the first disk unless the primary hd is scsi.) Under dos and windows
the ls-120 is always a floppy disk, ie: drive A:, no matter what kind of
diskette is in the drive. The bios or the OS knows to use the ide
controler, even though the disk is used as a floppy. The bios knows how to
boot this beast. If you try to boot an LS-120 under Linux lilo will fail
on the second stage boot because it thinks that it was booted from a
floppy.
My question is this. If I were to replace the floppy disk on my computer
with an LS-120 (this will free up an interrupt by moving the 'floppy' to
the IDE interface), can I configure linux to completely support the drive?
This means being able to read, write, and format both LS-120 and 1.44m
floppies. It also means being able to boot a kernel from the ls-120 drive
(assuming my bios can boot a dos floppy from the ls-120). I know that the
stock slackware boot disk was NOT configured for ls-120 support, but even
if that kernel DID support ls-120 IDE disks, the configuration for LILO
would not have been correct to boot a kernel from the drive?
Has anyone been able to boot Linux from an LS-120, and if so what
configuration of the kernel and lilo was required?
Thank you.
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