I'll figure it out... Eventually. Thanks for the help.
On Thu, Oct 31, 2002 at 12:19:43PM -0500, Jameson C. Burt wrote:
> 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)
--
Michelle Alexia "Jade" Storm
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