Re: boot-floppies package

[Haines Brown <brownh@hartford-hwp.com>]

> On Sun, Jun 01, 2003 at 06:06:08AM -0400, Haines Brown wrote:
> ...
> > If you do have a running system, then simply have root visit grub's
> > working directory and copy the two stage files over to an unmounted
> > floppy:
> > 
> >      # dd if=stage1 of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 count=1
> >      # dd if=stage2 of=/dev/fd0 bs=512 seek=1
> > 
> > Then mount the floppy and copy splash.xpm.gz to it, create a file
> > named grub.conf and a symlink to it from menu.lst. And then set up the
> > grub.conf file as per the manual.
> 
> I seriously doubt this is sane:)
> According to the grub.info (node: Images):
> 
>      While Stage 2 cannot generally be embedded in a fixed area as the
>      size is so large, Stage 1.5 can be installed into the area right
>      after a MBR, or the boot loader area of a ReiserFS or a FFS.
> 
> In other words, putting stage2 directly after the bootrecord destroys
> any filesytem on the disk, better use stage1.5 or do a true install on
> the floppy as I posted recently or as described in the FAQ (node FAQ).

Ouch! I hope I didn't give bum advice :-(. I understand your point
about the MBR, but if the grub files (besides the two files above, I
also copied over the 1_5 fs drivers for about 200 Kb altogether) are
on diskette, and I don't see how the warning would apply. I've been
merrily using the floppy to boot both RedHat (ext3) and Debian (ext3
and reiserfs).

Haines