Baslinux mailing list

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

Using David's second usb 2.4.31 kernel (accidentally named usb2.gz though 
not zipped), I was unable to boot (could not find root) on the Compaq 
Presario (AMD-K6/2 with Super 7 socket).

The Compaq also does not print to inkjet printers and has onboard video 
which causes kernel panics after you switch video (you might need to 
replace the PCI card to cause the problem) until you set the onboard RAM 
to PCI first, 2MB onboard RAM. It has a very abbreviated AMIBIOS.  It has 
a serious hard drive reset problem fixed with hdparm.  It won't mount /hdc 
unless you either have an /hdb or try to mount an imaginary one first. 
Onboard sound.  Not recommended for linux. We would move the 475MHz cpu 
over to an Asus board except Win98 is on there and we need it for modem 
upgrades.

On the Soyo AMD-K6 200MHz (newest P1 board) the kernel and initrd boot 
perfectly.  There is no USB hub but I can add a USB card. This computer 
does not work in X with two Tseng cards.  Tseng crashes even more 
spectacularly from Xvesa (half the screen is horizontal stripes instead of 
just a narrow strip) when started in framebuffer mode.

I don't think this temporary kernel and initrd will fit onto a BL3
2-floppy set to try on some USB computers without linux on them yet. 
initfs.gz is only 43K and initrd.gz is much larger.

> > loadlin usb2.gz root=/dev/hdb2 initrd=initrd.gz rw
>
>
> I tried this with both ext2 BL2 and loop BL3.

BL2:
> loadlin zimage2.usb  root=/dev/hda4 initrd=initusb2.gz ro
>
> I got several lines about usb.c finding USB hub and registering mass
> storage and then:
> VFS:  Cannot open root device "hda4" or 03:44
> Please append a correct "root=" boot option.
> Kernel panic.  VFS:  Unable to mount root fs on 03:44
>
>
> For BL3 loop:
> loadlin zimage2.usb root=/dev/loop0 initrd=initusb2.gz rw
> VFS:  Cannot open root device "loop0" or 07:00
> Please append.....
> Kernel panic .....

> Should I try the new setup on the other USB computer with BL2?  BL3 loop?
> (It won't boot loop linux with 2.2.16 but might with a later kernel).
>
> Sindi