[BL] 2.4 kernel with loop BL3 read-only

baslinux at lists.ibiblio.org baslinux at lists.ibiblio.org
Mon May 5 17:56:05 EDT 2008


On Mon, 5 May 2008, baslinux at lists.ibiblio.org wrote:

> My 2.4 kernels work with loop BL3 as 'read only file system'.

I searched on 'Error 30 :R/O file system' and got only the thread I 
started:

http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/baslinux/2006-December/011643

This lists the error messages obtained when using orinoco modules from the 
BL3 site with 2.2.26 (the card works on the same computer with 2.4.31 in 
ext2), and the fact that 2.4.31 is not useful booted loop because you 
cannot write to a file. (The thread also illustrates how confused I was 
about wireless).

Please confirm my problem (use the bzimagla.431 kernel from my site).

At the BL3 site I don't see the config for the standard BL3 kernel, just 
the 'big' kernel.  My config has:

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP=y
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM=y  (size 4096)
CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD=y

Do I need to change something in initfs.gz?  fs.img?  The kernel itself? 
Permissions?  The documentation for 2.4.31 says it should work with loop 
file the way BL3 uses it, but does not give instructions how to edit 
config other than the first CONFIG line above.

It is not read-only when I boot it to ext2 BL3 (rw) but it is when booting 
(rw) to BL3 loop.  I used the standard boot.bat but changed kernels.

Could I compile 2.4.31 from the 2.2.26 config (if I had it) or have too 
many things changed?  (2.2.26 has STRIPED, 2.4.31 does not.)

Nvidia nforce2 IDE controller also requires kernel 2.4 to run hard disks 
at normal speed, otherwise they run at 2.3 MB/sec (1/3 their speed in DOS) 
instead of ten times that speed.  I don't recall if VIA and SIS 
controllers work with 2.2.  I have run into other unsupported hardware 
too.

Steven, please consider a small 2.4 kernel for BL3 that works with the 
loop and ext2 versions (with related modules, of course).

What is now considered obsolete hardware (7 years old) was new hardware 
when BL started.

One of the more interesting uses for obsolete laptops is for wireless 
access, and I now have four orinoco cards out of six total.  Probably 
anyone setting up wireless would put BL on hard disk where the kernel size 
is less important than on floppy disk.  Not needing an antivirus program 
makes things go a lot faster in itself.

Sindi




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