Baslinux mailing list

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

On Mon, 28 Aug 2006, David Moberg wrote:

> sindi keesan wrote:
> > I wrote your gmail address but got no response.
I accidentally sent this mail to the list, sorry, but at least it reached 
you.

> I don't think I got that message. If you sent it more than a month
> ago, the spam filter probably ate it.
Is freeshell.org being filtered?

> > Do you have a working copy of this image file?
>
> It did work at one time. However, I have not used the USB bootdisk
> recently. I will download it, re-test it, and report back.
Thanks.

> > Did you copy my linux-usb.tar.gz to your site at some point?
>
> I don't think so. But the linux-usb.tar.gz at my site should contain a
> working disk image.

It was identical to the one at my site, it booted over and over but never 
got into linux past reading initrd.gz.  I tried on two computers, and the 
older image file did work.

So one of us must have copied from the other, maybe I did from you.


> > I think you compiled a uclibc 'less' for this, and made space for it by
> > shortening libvga.config down from 17K.
>
> This is correct.

> Or you may have recompiled busybox with 'less' (and without the
> > s*sum program).
>
> No, busybox less kept crashing on me, so I used the BL3 version
> (recompiled for uclibc) instead.

I vaguely recall that too.  My (nonworking) disk had a written description 
on it about chipset VGA and less being added.  You had also put in 
something to set up the mouse, I think.  (We used it to test USB mice with 
zgv -M).

> I think md5sum is still on the disk image, though.
sha1sum is on my working version, is that intentional?

> > All of my working boot disks are the previous version and the one I
> > thought was the new version would not boot.
> >
> > I was going to ask if you still had the RTL8180 module/package you
> > compiled (which I deleted because I could not get the card to work in
> > Win98 and someone said our laptop was too old for it - 200MHz).
>
> Sorry, I deleted it, too. :(

Maybe I have it on one computer, but I could not get ethernet cardbus 
working anyway.

> > Do you want to get BL working with cardbus PCMCIA 32-bit
> > cards?
>
> I don't believe I have any cardbus cards. I don't even know where to
> start. I read your previous posts about cardbus but I still don't know
> how it works or what kernel options you need to enable to use it.

No big deal, we can always use Win98 at the library to download big files.
And maybe run an ethernet cable from the neighbor's house.

DSL identified the cardbus ethernet card.

> > We are leaving for 3 weeks, but if you could post the image file for USB
> > floppy I could download it and use it on the trip.
>
> Go to my main download site (you can follow the links from the BL3
> page) and grab linux-usb.tar.gz. Or I think you could just wget
> us.share.geocities.com/davidjmoberg/linux-usb.tar.gz. Extract
> 1440.img, write it to a good floppy and it should work. If it doesn't
> work, let me know and I will try to email you a good copy.

I got that file from your site already and it is the same as mine.
Maybe it got corrupted during upload?

I wrote it (and mine, of which I had several copies) to floppy disks that 
had booted with the older version and the newer one read initrd.gz and 
then rebooted (via a black screen), over and over and over...  From 
several disks on two computers.  Some other disks that tested good in DOS 
would not boot either version.

The version without less is still quite nice.
Once in a while I forget and try to use 'which' or 'find' to see what is 
on there, until I remember everything is in /bin.

Chipset VESA did not work with our ATI video, remarking it out fixed 
things.

All of our 17" monitors do at least HorizSync 30-70 VertRefresh 50-120 
(some do 30-85 or 50-160).    I could not remember how to mount 'linux' 
(would not mount as loop) to edit libvga.config.

We are leaving tomorrow morning but I will check email once in a while 
along the way.  The existing disk works well.  We rescued a friend's XP 
installation with it, copied all his personal files to a USB external hard 
drive (4GB mostly photos and movies), reinstalled XP (it would not boot, 
and XP insists on deleting the whole partition before it reinstalls), and 
copied them back.  A DOS USB disk shortened his file names.  Luckily he 
has FAT32 not NTFS.

I am taking the laptop computer, which we have working also with serial 
PDA (genuine Palm III), and have BL3 and BL2 both working with the USB 
kernel you helped me to compile (also with yours, but mine is smaller and 
we have 24MB RAM).  And a 16-bit PCMCIA ethernet card in case we run into 
a DSL line.

We are having Oregon-type weather this week and the garden is full of 
slugs, mushrooms, mud, and rotten tomatoes and beans.

Thanks again for all the help.  Linux would be only half as useful to us 
without all your contributions.

Sindi

> David