Baslinux mailing list

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

On Thu, 3 Nov 2005, James Miller wrote:

> On Thu, 3 Nov 2005, sindi keesan wrote:
>
> > Will 2-FD BL3 access an XP hard drive?
> > If not, is there a small kernel I can use that will fit into the 2-FD
> > system (assuming I can figure out how to change it and there is space)?
> > Or will DamnSmallLinux work?
>
> If the drive is formatted FAT 32, any of the BL's should be able to read
> it. But most "factory" (or OEM) Win XP installs are NTFS. Linux has
> developed ways of reading--and even writing--to NTFS partitions. On older
> versions of the kernel such as will be found in BL, the least you'd need
> to do is probably insert a module for NTFS support. I've never tried it

The problem is to change kernels in the 2-FD linux.  It should be easier 
with BL2 than BL3 (where the first disk is an image, not a set of 
DOS-accessible files).  But I don't think the bare.i kernel will even fit 
on the floppy disk.  We might need to use the parport zip drive (which DOS 
supports)  to hold the bare.i kernel and required module.  This sounds 
like fun.

> myself, but I would think you could get NTFS read ability that way. But
> I'd say the ideal solution to this problem would be to use a newer
> bootable Linux CD: DSL is an option, but Mepis and Knoppix would also be

We have DSL and can find a machine with 128MB RAM.  We also have the 1-CD 
live Debian (Ubuntu) that needs 128MB.  And I am setting up BL on a 10GB 
drive with a 7GB partition that I can copy his files to and thence to his 
replacement hard drive (or put in his drive after installing Windows?). 
He already has backups on CD but would prefer not to have to reinstall 
from CD (don't know why).

We might switch parts around (put his drive in our computer and look at it 
using bare.i kernel and NTFS module).

> good choices if there is sufficient RAM (256MB or >). If you get newer
> versions of any of these, they will have all the latest greatest NTFS
We don't have or want these at the moment.

> capabilities. They will also include CD burning programs to transfer files
> to CD, if the machine has a separate burner. They will also have Parted or
> QTParted, which might help straighten out, or at least identify, boot
> sector problems. If the drive is simply unresponsive, you might try the
> primitive-Pete approach--said to actually work--of sticking the drive in
> the freezer for a few hours, then trying it out again after "thawing."

Thanks, we will try these approaches if applicable once we see what his 
problem is.  It sounds rather nebulous via email. 
> > A friend is hoping to at least get the files off his hard drive in a
> > computer which stopped booting and has Windows on it.  Best Buy repair
> > people gave up on it.   We don't have an XP boot disk - should we try to
> > get one from a friend or don't they use boot disks any more.
>
> You can download XP bootdisk images form the 'net (www.bootdisk.com). Then
> there's BartPE, using which you create a CD that boots you into a Windows
> environment for repair and so forth. It can be rather involved creating
> that CD though, and requires using a newer Windows machine with, of
> course, a CD burner.

Thanks, I did not know this.  dd if=disk.img of=/dev/fd0 ?

We don't have or want a newer Windows machine.  Or even an older one.
And are not ready to learn to make bootable CD-ROMs.  I can't even get our 
two writers to work any more.  One might need cleaning again, the other 
only reads 80% of a disk, no matter how much is on there.  I got it to 
write all it read by going into BIOS and not having HD go off after 10 
minutes of 'no use'.

But our neighbor with XP and linux might end up helping with this.
The guy with the computer is currently unemployed and would really like to 
get his 'new' (6 year old?) computer to work again but we can always give 
him a slightly older replacement.  Maybe with linux on it too.

I am hoping we can just get his files transferred to another hard disk, 
using BL2 on FD or in one of our computers.  Thanks for all the info.

> James
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keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org
SDF Public Access UNIX System - http://sdf.lonestar.org