Baslinux mailing list

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

On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 3aoo-cvfd AT dea.spamcon.org wrote:

> sindi keesan wrote:
> > > BTW, you should consider downloading the Compaq CMOS setup
> > > floppy (F10 Setup).  It has some settings you may wish to
> > > experiment with.
> >
> > Do I need it in order to add an IDE drive to the SCSI computer?
>
> It does have an IDE/SCSI setting.  BTW, if you have a newer
> DeskPro, the CMOS setup is probably built in (press F10 at boot).
> It is the early DeskPros that need the floppy (or a special HD
> partition).
>
> Cheers,
> Steven

Our Deskpro gave a message about a Compaq diagnostic disk when we added 
the IDE drive.  400MHz, circa 1999.  Press F10 at boot also gets you to 
setup.


Lilo goes into the MBR (because the first 1-2GB is DOS, not linux 
partition).  This can mess things up, says the book.  If it goes into MBR 
can't you simply floppy boot and (DOS or linux) fdisk /mbr to remove lilo? 
Or lilo /u to unload it?

Don't install lilo to a logical linux partition.  Is there some other 
reason to avoid logical partitions?  We have an 80GB external USB drive 
now and don't need 20GB partitions.

Don't put LILO in MBR if you have EZ-DRIVE (which we get rid of by a 
low-level format).

> From BL3 floppy disk boot (please correct this!):

1.  Make a lilo.conf in /etc/  .
Neither book tells me which /etc to use if I have several linux 
partitions.  Do I put the same file in BL3 and BL2 /etc ?

2.  Then from linux boot floppy type lilo -v .

lilo.conf:

#LILO global section
boot=/dev/hda                    (LILO is in MBR of /hda)
prompt          (SHIFT for boot: prompt, type DOS, BL3 or BL2)
                (or TAB to see options)
delay=50        (starts DOS after 5 seconds of inactivity)
(timeout=100 if I want an automatic reboot in 10 seconds of inactivity).


Does lilo -v install boot.b and map to the MBR?  The book says you can put 
them in C:\ but then any time you defragment the location changes.

#DOS
other=/dev/hda1  #DOS boot partition
label=DOS        #what I type at the prompt
table=/dev/hda   #location of partition table

#BL3 with my framebuffer 2.4.31 kernel
image=/boot/bzimagsm.431  #in BL3 /boot directory if not in the first 1G?
root=/dev/hda3 
read-write
label=BL3
vga=791         #132 columns text for our 19" monitor

(To change kernels, make more sections with different kernels, or after 
hitting SHIFT type in BL3 type zimage=......, similarly for vga= and also 
append= ... to use non-scsi CD-burner).

#BL2
image=/boot/bzimagsm.431   #BL2 /boot directory. 
root=/dev/hda4 
read-only                        (Is this correct for BL2?)
label=BL2
vga=791

(For the scsi computer  hda > sda, hda1 > sda1, hda3 > sda2 hda4 > sda3)

The kernel image be in a DOS partition
root=/dosc/baslin/bzimagsm.431
but then you can't change its location there by defragmenting etc.

To install:
lilo -C /etc/lilo.conf  (where is lilo.conf if I install from floppy?)

lilo -u to uninstall

The book says I should avoid installing LILO in the boot sector/MBR
but I think this is for systems with Windows or EZ-DRIVE on them.
Do I need to manually back up the MBR before running lilo or does it do 
that for me?

dd if=/dev/hda of=/boot/bootsector.ide bs=512 count=1

(If I did this, I think it would copy the boot sector to the floppy disk 
that I have booted from.  Should I copy it to a linux partition on the 
hd?).

I can install lilo to the boot sector of a floppy disk instead.


Sindi