Baslinux mailing list

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

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005, David Moberg wrote:

> On 12/14/05, sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org> wrote:
> > On Tue, 13 Dec 2005, David Moberg wrote:
> > > Why don't you take an existing kernel and make an initrd to boot from
> > > SCSI with? Just take the blppaz initrd, resize it (if necessary), replace
> > > the zip disk modules with a scsi controller module and change /linuxrc
> > > to a script that just insmods everything.
> >
> > This sounds very educational.  It might wait until January when we put
> > together a scsi-only computer.  We have one nice board with scsi boot and
> > usb, but bad IDE controller.  Did you say your 2.4.31 kernel has scsi
> > support (will boot from scsi drive) but it was broken?

> I don't remember what I said. In any case, it has SCSI support, but no
> built-in support for a particular SCSI card (you need a module).

You actually said framebuffer was broken, not scsi.

I think I would need to put the module into initrd.gz (assuming there is 
space for it - I could leave out printer.o from the version I made).

> > I know it should go online,
>
> Once I include slhc. But you also need a new pppd than
> what BL provides.
Why?

> > For usb support I would need SW91 kernel source code.  Will this compile
> > with SW71 compiler and SW81 glibc?
>
> I think it needs gcc-2.95.3. I don't have SW91 source, but the 2.4.19
> documentation says gcc-2.95.3 is the minimum.

That may be in SW71 contrib CD.  I know I found some gcc version there.

> > I might try scsi.s as a starter on the scsi computer and then either make
> > an initrd.gz with scsi or compile a kernel if your 2.4.31 is not suitable.
> > Your 2.2.16 USB won't work with my USB devices (camera and card reader).
>
> True, but printers and mice ought to work.

I don't have any usb printers and don't need a usb mouse (we have PS/2 
adaptors for them).  The camera/card reader are our only usb.

> > > > Can you make a memory stick bootable?
> > >
> > > Yes.
> >
> > Have you tried booting BL3 (the 20MB file system) from a memory stick
> > using 2.4.31 kernel and an initrd.gz?
>
> No. I don't know how to make a bootable memory stick (yet).
>
> > Would it run faster than from hard drive?
>
> Depends on the hard drive. USB1.1 is ~10mbps which is faster
> than parallel port but slower than my slowest hard drive.

Faster than booting from floppy or zip disk and easier to carry around 
than a zip drive.

> > Would you use syslinux on the memory stick?
>
> Probably. Or grub if it would work on a memory stick.
>
> > If it worked, could someone copy over the disk image?
>
> Yes, but the image might be large without compression.
> Not sure if it would need to be resized for a different sized
> memory stick. I have 128MB.

Do you have to copy the entire 128MB to an image file?

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