I spent a several days trying to do this myself.
This got me looking beyond LILO to trying GRUB,
which didn't do all I wanted either.
I never could boot the $10 (U.S.) LS-120 diskettes,
but I could eventually boot a regular 25 cent 1.44MB diskettes
through my LS-120 drive.
[I understand the LS-240 drive can extend a 1.44MB diskette to 32MB--wow]
Using LS-120 diskettes, I could not get beyond "GRUB Geom Error".
A couple months ago, I read that Linus uses no floppy drive,
so that rather clinched that I should no longer try booting off the
floppy, and I no longer seek any resolution about booting from diskettes.
If I want to boot, I boot off my Debian CD.
If I want to repair my Debian filesystem, after booting off the Debian CD,
I believe I eventually do control-F1, then mount my problematic disk
drives and repair them.
One might consider further investigating booting from LS-120 diskettes
ONLY on otherwise diskless computers that will be thin clients,
or full-defense computers with no other disk drives and LS-120 diskettes
switched to "read-only".
[The wonderful LS-120 is the only hardware besides diskettes
and some tape cassettes that can be truly switched to read-only]
TIME-SAVING-LINUX-RULE:
"If some administrative approach seems odd,
and takes much manipulation, you should try another approach
or abandon that task."
If you must make many file manipulations involving hours of thought,
you can find that your next Debian upgrade requires
repeating your manipulations or manipulating a different way.
I have decided that an administrative task that requires many file changes
is best left with the Debian packagers (if possible), or abandoned.
Over-specializing without benefitting others through mass-production
seems largely futile.
The above time-saving rule has led me to abandon booting off diskettes,
abandon using a mouse in console mode,
and abandon all but trivial manipulations of a window manager.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~Following is somewhat how I booted from a 1.44MB floppy on an LS-120 drive.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
These notes are somewhat chaotic,
probably reflecting the chaotic Linux support of the LS-120.
There is a command "grub-floppy", but I sought finer control
with this different LS-120.
For booting off a regular floppy on an LS-120 drive, here are some
notes I wrote myself over a year ago about using grub.
My LS-120 is on /dev/hdc.
~~~ /boot/grub/device.map ~~~
#I included no actual comments in this file.
#The following seemed necessary and necessary that the file
# device.map be in /boot/grub
#on the full-system;
#no effect when on floppy itself since such a device.map
#on /dev/hdc is not used during boot.
#THIS FIRST LINE WAS RATHER CRUCIAL, as I recall.
(fd0) /dev/hdc
#I have 2 scsi drives:
(hd0) /dev/sda
(hd1) /dev/sdb
I then prepared my 1.44MB floppy, which for my LS-120
is /dev/hdc (CAREFUL).
and copied a kernel to it, using up most of its filespace of course.
mke2fs /dev/hdc #makes block-size 1024 bytes.
mount /dev/hdc /mnt
rmdir /mnt/lost+found #This merely distracts when using grub.
mkdir /mnt/boot
mkdir /mnt/boot/grub
# Kernel images follow:
cp -p /boot/bzImage-2.4.2 /mnt/boot
##### NOTE: THE "GRUB MANUAL: FAQ", APPENDIX A, FOR BOOT-FLOPPY SAYS
##### "YOU MAY NOT COPY stage1.5".
cp -p /boot/grub/{menu.lst,stage1,stage2} /mnt/boot/grub
#device.map probably needn't be copied;
#alter menu.lst to point to (fd0) rather than (hd1,0).
touch /mnt/THIS-IS-THE-FLOPPY-DEVICE #I kept getting lost.
umount /mnt
At one point, I entered the following "grub",
needing a /boot/grub/device.map not on the floppy
to even recognize device (fd0).
grub --device-map=/boot/grub/device.map
grub> find ( <tab>
Possible disks are: fd0 hd1 hd2
#booting would give that choice also, I hope.
grub> find (fd0)/ #booting, I try "find (fd0)/ <tab>"
Possible files are: grub bzImage-2.4.2 floppy-no-partitions boot
grub> root (fd0)
Filesystem type is ext2fs, using whole disk
grub> setup (fd0)
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage1" exists... yes
Checking if "/boot/grub/stage2" exists... yes
Checking if "/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... yes
# Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (fd0)"...
failed (this is not fatal)
#because not enough space in MBR when I made no partitions?
# Running "embed /boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5 (fd0)"...
failed (this is not fatal)
Checking if "/boot/grub/e2fs_stage1_5" exists... no
#response when leave out e2fs_stage1_5 from floppy.
Running "install /boot/grub/stage1 d (fd0) /boot/grub/stage2 p
/boot/grub/menu.lst "... succeeded
Done.
grub> quit
As I recall, I could then boot from this 1.44MB diskette on my LS-120 drive.
On Thu, Oct 31, 2002 at 03:06:20AM -0800, Michelle Storm wrote:
> I have an ls120 drive. I am still pretty new, and have looked all over,
> but can't find a way to make an LS-120 bootable.
>
> I have found a way to reformat it and all the partitions on it work.
>
> It's like having a 120mb hd. (but slower)
>
> What I want to do is get a copy of my current kernel (or a new one after
> I customize it and set it up) and put it on the ls-120 and use the
> ls-120 as a backup system disk (ie: rescue disks).
>
> Any ideas? I've already tried all the things I could find for making
> boot floppies, rescue disks.. etc.. I just don't know where to go from
> here.
>
> --
> Michelle Alexia "Jade" Storm
--
Jameson C. Burt, NJ9L Fairfax, Virginia, USA
jameson@coost.com http://www.coost.com
(202) 690-0380 (work)
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