Re: LILO -- how to get it to boot another distro on another disk?
On Tuesday 13 April 2004 06:51, Tom wrote:
> Hey all,
>
> I've been whining about this on #debian, and my initial problem got
> solved thanks to the help I got there.
>
> So, what I have is:
>
> * Debian, as my main system, on /dev/hda
> * Fedora, which I installed yesterday as a test system, on /dev/hdb,
> with its /boot-partition as /dev/hdb1 and its root partition
> as /dev/hdb3
>
> lilo.conf contains this:
>
> image=/mnt/fedora/boot/vmlinux-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl
> initrd=/mnt/fedora/boot/initrd-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl.img
> label=Fedora
> append="root=/dev/hdb3"
>
> Basically, all should be well, and it is, accept, after
> running /sbin/lilo, this:
>
> "Fatal: Kernel /mnt/fedora/boot/vmlinux-2.4.22-1.2115.nptl is too big"
>
> I can imagine that the stock Fedora kernel contains lots of drivers I
> don't need, but how, then, do I go about booting it? The LILO manual
> tells me te recompile and get rid of unneeded drivers, but if I can't
> boot into Fedora, how can I recompile a kernel for it to use?
>
> Something else that came to mind, was to just boot the kernel I use with
> Debian, but then I'd have to use the modules of that, too -- which
> seems strange, since I would have to provide the root partition of
> Fedora to get Fedora running.
>
> Could anyone please give me a clue? I know most of my problem is caused
> by a lack of understanding, but still, I was hoping someone could help
> me out here, since reading the manual doesn't enlighten this tiny brain
> of mine.
>
> To make things clear: I don't really care what boot loader I'm using; if
> GRUB would be a solution, that's OK. I'd just like to be able to run
> both systems when starting my computer...
>
> Greets,
> Tom
Hi Tom,
I think this might help. From the lilo.conf man page:
ramdisk=<size>
This specifies the size (e.g., "4096k") of the optional RAM disk. A value of
zero indicates that no RAM disk should be created. If this variable is
omitted, the RAM disk size configured into the boot image is used.
I think this means you can load larger images (untested) if you pass this
option. Since your problem is with the kernel image and not the initial
ram disk, it might not work. But it is worth a shot, because it's easy.
Justin Guerin
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