Baslinux mailing list

[sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>]

On Wed, 24 Nov 2004 3aoo-cvfd AT dea.spamcon.org wrote:

> sindi keesan wrote:
> > I can boot BL2 from RAMdisk, or BL3 from loop, or SW40
> > zipslack, but I cannot boot any version from hard drive.
> >
> > Once in RAMdisk bl2 I can mount /dev/hdb2 /hd and then
> > chroot /hd links2, or other programs on hard drive,
> > I can thus run programs from hard drive but chroot is
> > a nuisance
>
> It is much less of a nuisance when you do:
> ------------------
> chroot /hd /bin/sh
> ------------------

What does this do?
I thought chroot /hd command only works once, on each individual command. 
It did not work well with zgv, which wanted some library.

google/linux man chroot got me a man page online that referred me to part 
2 where I found:

chroot /hd   (with no command followin)

This puts /hd (the linux ext2 partition) on / and after this I am
using the hd version of linux instead of the RAMdisk version.
Typing ls at / got me an entirely different set of files, and I could run 
icewm (which I have installed to hd but not the loop BL3).  (I need to get 
the later version with the menu that has links2 in it).

> > and it would be complicated to compile on such a system.
>
> I've compiled from inside a chroot and it works fine.
>
> > I tried to   mount /dev/hdb2 /
>
> That won't work.  You use chroot for that sort of thing.
I got an error message about / being using already for ram0.

> > Is there some way to boot with RAMdisk BL2 and then
> > switch over to the HD by replacing /dev/ram0 with
> > /dev/hdb2?  Same kernel.
>
> Use chroot to run /bin/sh.  You can probably automate
> it by putting it in a startup script (in baslinux.gz).


How would running /bin/sh work?  I don't understand this at all.
Can I then run any command from the ext2 partition without chroot?

> > Can chroot be somehow set up to work with every command
> > instead of specifying it before each command?
>
> That's what /bin/sh does.  It gives you a CLI which you
> can use to run whatever you want.


I will reboot and try this and see what happens, but chroot /hd seems to 
work.  This would also let me, on a more normal computer with RAMdisk or 
loop BL and an ext2 version, boot into the smaller one and switch over if 
needed.

with chroot /hd I can no longer use the RAMdisk or loop version, which in 
my particular case is fine since I was just looking for a way to boot to 
the hd ext2 partition, but your suggestion is probably more useful if I 
want to be able to use both versions.

However, if I want to switch back and forth instead of staying in one 
version and just running an occasional program in the other:

chroot /dev/loop /    or  /dev/ram0 for BL2

ought to get me back to the loop version or ramdisk version.

> > Can this be automated in an rc file?
>
> Probably.  To do this you will need to edit the image
> file for the ramdisk.

I think I will just write a script (named hd?) so that I have the 
choice of staying in the smaller version or switching to the larger one in 
a linux partition.

This has been very educational.


> > Can one reformat a DOS drive from DR-DOS to some other
> > DOS without losing what is on it?
>
> Doesn't the sys command do that?

Don't know.  I think you would also need to change the utilities.
But I won't need to do that since I have chroot working now and this 
computer is even faster than the other one and I got two PCI sound cards 
working and an external modem so don't need 4 ISA slots now.  I really do 
NOT want to be using Win98 DOS to boot linux and a boot floppy to then 
defrag the computer without Windows.

> > I suppose I could copy all the files to the linux partition,
> > reformat, and then copy them back.
>
> That's what I do:  boot Linux and do a tgz of the entire DOS
> partition.

As in copying linux via ethernet (or even plip).


> Cheers,
> Steven
>
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> http://www.basiclinux.com.ru
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keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org