Re: unique install question? (Squeeze audio install using the Wheezy-di from a USB drive)
On Thu, 14 Jun 2012 18:32:56 +1000, Scott wrote in message
<[🔎] 4FD9A1B8.9050103@gmail.com>:
> On 14/06/12 04:04, Arnt Karlsen wrote:
> > On Wed, 13 Jun 2012 10:27:22 +1000, Scott wrote in message
> > <[🔎] 4FD7DE6A.6020104@gmail.com>:
> >
> >> On 13/06/12 04:45, Brian wrote:
> >>> On Tue 12 Jun 2012 at 16:52:43 +0200, Arnt Karlsen wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> On Tue, 12 Jun 2012 11:01:22 +0100, Brian wrote in message
> >>>> <[🔎] 20120612100122.GJ30016@desktop>:
> >>>>
> >>>>> The DVD is a USB device. She cannot boot from USB on the machine
> >>>>> she wishes to install Debian to.
> >>
>
> <snipped>
>
> >>
> >> I've tried that a number of times with old machines whose BIOS
> >> didn't support USB booting, only on a couple of occasions did GRUB
> >> manage to use the root=/dev/sdb line.
> >> :-(
> >
> > ..the key is use the cdrom grub boot as a stepping stone to
> > find the usb dvd's boot record, and boot that. E.g. Knoppix
> > have a few 16?MB "boot only" isos to boot their 4GB dvd isos.
>
> Yes - I think (guess) it's the same as the one from DamnSmallLinux,
> (and uses the same mechanism as SBM), - a floppy chainloader for CD
> boot. It gets around the BIOS not being able to see the device
> attached to the USB. AFAIK GRUB can't get around that limitation
> (boot a device unseen by the BIOS) - though I don't doubt GRUB has
> the capacity to do so if SmartBootManager type hooks were written
> into a GRUB module (the spaceinvaders module for GRUB is a good
> example of how simple that might be).
..easiest way is chainload SBM, I suspect that may be what SBM does,
I was able to hop back and forth between harddisk and cd or floppy
by simply picking that item in SBM's menu. Got that idea idea
trying to set up lilo boot on a box with a raid1 disk setup. ;o)
> > ..in my (grub legacy) experience, I did this 3 ways, chainload
> > the next boot loader, or, use memdisk as kernel and the iso
> > image as initrd,
>
> Which should (I suspect) allow you to boot from devices not 'seen' by
> the BIOS (e.g. attached to cards, removable)
..correct.
> > and finally "the grub way", "root ([tab][tab]".
> > I borrowed memdisk from syslinux. ;o)
> >
> > ..but yes, grub and the kernel will often disagree on "what's
> > where."
>
> Your third way (I suspect) allows you to boot a device that is seen by
> the BIOS, but is seen by the BIOS as unbootable. Eg. BIOS sees USB,
> but doesn't allow for booting from a USB device (possibly the
> scenario in question).
..probably, I was trying to make money getting it out my door. ;o)
> <snipped>
>
> >
> > ..the first time I pulled such a stunt, (5 1996 vintage IBM 760ED
> > thinkpads that came with 3 cdrom and 2 bootable floppy drives to
> > fit the auxillary disk|battery compartment,) I put Smart Boot
> > Manager (http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/about.html) on the harddisk
> > mbrs, then removed the floppy drives and put in the cd drives and
> > booted the distro installer cds from the harddisks.
>
> I suspect SBM uses the same mechanism as the Knoppix/DSL boot CD from
> floppy method.
>
> > First X boot was an early knoppix clone that took 2.5 hours
> > off that poor 4x cd drive. ;o)
> >
>
> ...but almost certainly it got you some sort of graphical display - a
> major Linux achievement at the time (kudos to kudzu and Klaus's config
> scripting).
..probably, I don't recall any details other than that black screen
suddenly lighting up into X half way thru my tax return, most
installers back then (2000-2002?) used ncurses style "graphics."
> Not much earlier than that it was just floppy installs as CDs wouldn't
> boot off card controllers - so DOS and laplink was considered corner
> cutting (I'd forgotten how unreliable floppy disks were).
..aye, I came aboard with a SuSE-5.2 cd trying to save data
from ~25 Wintendo-95 crashes in a coupla weeks. ;o)
--
..med vennlig hilsen = with Kind Regards from Arnt Karlsen
...with a number of polar bear hunters in his ancestry...
Scenarios always come in sets of three:
best case, worst case, and just in case.
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