Baslinux mailing list

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

On Wed, 27 Dec 2006, Christof Lange wrote:

> Hi list,
>
> though a bit late (or too soon), receive my best wishes for the
> Christmas holidays.
>
> Yesterday, I started to clean up hard disk partitions using one CD
> burner and a couple of flash memory sticks. I wondered whether this
> would be an opportunity to make use of the Sindi's USB kernel that I

You probably downloaded David Moberg's specialized 1-floppy linux and 
maybe his userspec.tgz which contains the related modules.  The 1-floppy 
BL was designed to view and download images from USB camera (USB-storage 
device)  type and other USB storage devices such as memory sticks.

> downloaded a couple of months ago. I would highly appreciate if I
> could use memory sticks with Linux exactly the way I used floppies
> in the past. So I was happy to realize that the USB kernel allows to
> plug and unplug memory sticks without needing to reboot the system.
>
> At this stage, however, I have some questions:
>
> 1. Is it possible to pipe all that screen output to some file? I
> would prefer to read only the basics on the screen, eg. whether
> a new device appears and whether a mount was successful or not.

I don't follow this.  When I insmod usb-storage it tells me there is a 
/dev/sda1.  I can mount this manually.  (I don't have David's latest 
version working, the boot part is hardware specific and does not like my 
current computers).

> 2. I understand the files I downloaded (INITRD.GZ and ZIMAGE) to be
> rather a demo and that it is up to me to add the functionality I
> need. When I attempted to run programs (mc) from any BL
> installations (bl2, bl3, slack7.1) I got error messages 'file not
> found'. As there is plenty of space on the ram disk, I would like ta
> ask: Is there a way to add some basic utilities to this RAM version?
> I basically mean mc, but cdrtools would be nice, too.  Can I get
> them from newer sections of the Slackware site? Or do they require
> only library upgrades?


Boot ext2 BL3 or BL2 with David's kernel (add his modules in 
/lib/modules/2.4.31 by unpackaging userspec.tgz there).
Then you can use all your programs.  To use USB you need to insmod some 
scsi and usb modules.  Search the archives for details (I think it is 
usb_core, uhci or ohci, scsi_mod, sd_mod, usb-storage).

The 2.2.26 kernel is broken for usb-storage.
The 2.4.31 kernels don't seem to work correctly in loop BL3 (you cannot 
write to the loop file system).

I also compiled several 2.4.31 kernels (using a different glibc so you 
cannot mix my modules with David's kernel and vice versa). 
http://keesan.freeshell.org/bl/2.4.31 - should have David's and my 
kernels.

> 3. Is there a way to run an existing BL installation (BL3 or
> Slackware 7.1) with the experimental kernel? (Yes, I tested the
> modules for 2.2.x kernels - without success).

The USB storage support in 2.2.26 was backported from 2.4 but not fixed.

Just boot (loadlin or lilo) with a 2.4.31 kernel and copy over the 
modules to /lib/modules/2.4.31 (and DO NOT mix my kernel and modules with
David's or you will crash spectacularly and need to run e2fsck).

> 4. I did not really follow the discussion on BL list. But I think,
> meanwhile, several USB capable kernels have been uploaded. Have
> there been any improvements that could meet the problems specified?

Any of them should work, I think.  David's kernel supports USB mouse and 
keyboard and other devices that my kernels do not.  It is larger. My 
latest kernels (smf and ly for low-ram laptop) support using ipchains for 
firewall.

I hope I did not misunderstand your problem.

> Regards,
> Christof Lange

Sindi

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