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Original HOWTO
Installing Linux on ZIP disk using ppa ZIP Drive Mini-Howto
John Wiggins, jwiggins@comp.uark.edu
v0.7, 26 January 1998
This document is only useful for those with the printer port version
of a ZIP drive who wish to have either a portable or backup Linux sys
tem on a ZIP disk.
______________________________________________________________________
Table of Contents
1. Disclaimer
2. Introduction
2.1 What's new
2.2 Conventions
2.3 Updates
2.4 References
2.4.1 Acknowledgments/Contributors
3. Setting up the ZIP disk
3.1 Partitioning ZIP disk
3.2 Formatting and mounting the ZIP disk
3.3 Creating the boot disk
3.3.1 Configuring and making the kernel
3.3.2 Getting the kernel to a floppy
3.3.2.1 LILO installation
3.3.2.1.1 Creating the ext2 filesystem
3.3.2.1.2 Copying the essential files
3.3.2.2 Kernel only installation
3.3.2.2.1 Setting the root and swap on the floppy
4. Red Hat 4.2 installation
4.1 Personal setup
4.2 Package installation
4.2.1 What packages to get
4.2.1.1 Updates; errata
4.2.2 How to install packages with rpm; without glint
4.2.3 Which came first, pamconfig or pam?
4.3 Problems after installation of packages
4.3.1 The case of the missing /etc/ld.so.cache and libc.so.5
4.3.1.1 /etc/ld.so.cache
4.3.1.2 libc.so.5
4.3.2 Setting root password
4.3.3 What the install program created
4.3.4 Networking setup
5. Slackware 2.2 installation
5.1 Requirements
5.2 Installation
5.3 What to install
6. Creating /etc/fstab
7. Debian 1.2 Installation
7.1 Requirements
7.2 Overview
7.3 Creating the modified Rescue disk
7.3.1 Use dd (or RAWRITE under DOS) to create a new Rescue disk.
7.3.2 Build a new kernel with ZIP ppa support
7.3.3 Mount the new Rescue disk.
7.3.4 Copy the kernel image
7.3.5 Editing the 'rdev.sh' script
7.3.6 Run this modified 'rdev.sh' script.
7.4 Install the base system on the ZIP drive.
7.5 Creating the boot disk
7.6 Reboot the system.
7.7 Configure the base system and complete the install process.
7.8 Installing the modules you built in step 7.3.2.
8. Afterthoughts
______________________________________________________________________
1. Disclaimer
NOTE: I have no idea if the IDE drive works the same way as the
printer port version does since I don't have one, so please don't ask
me.
The Debian install portion was basically just copied with little or no
editing by this author. As such, there may be some duplication of
instructions.
This document assumes the following:
· You have a printer port ZIP drive (since the ZIP Plus has both, I
assume that it will work as well.)
· You already have Linux installed and running; this document is not
for a first time install of Linux.
· You have ppa support in your current kernel or if module, the ppa
module has been loaded.
· The mount point for the ZIP disk is the /iomega directory.
2. Introduction
This document is divided into four basic sections each describing how
to install a bare-bones Linux system on a 100MB ZIP disk using a
printer port ZIP drive. The first section describes how to set up the
ZIP disk and is common to both Red Hat and Slackware distribution
installations. The second, third, and fourth sections describe how to
install Red Hat 4.2, Slackware 2.2, and Debian 1.2 distributions,
respectively, onto the ZIP disk.
NOTE: I realize that Red Hat 5.0 has been released now, but between
classes and work, well let's just say that it may be late May before I
can get around to work on it. I also, hopefully, will be testing out
the other distributions.
2.1. What's new
I've finally found enough time (although I really should be studying
for a sociology test...) to update this document. Thanks for all who
emailed me with comments.
New to this document:
· The Debian distribution
· LILO on the floppy
· New version of Red Hat (4.2 Biltmore)
· Network configuration (For Red Hat; Untested)
2.2. Conventions
Indicates the following text are commands:
==> Indicates something noteworthy:
______________________________________________________________________
NOTE:
______________________________________________________________________
Indicates a screen shot/capture:
______________________________________________________________________
Text here.
______________________________________________________________________
2.3. Updates
For any updates, however rare they may be, please check:
http://comp.uark.edu/~jwiggins/linuxZIP/
2.4. References
· Installation-HOWTO
· SCSI-HOWTO
· NET-3-HOWTO (for section 4.3.3)
· ZIP-Drive (mini-HOWTO)
· ParPort kernel patch (gives access to pass-through printer port)
http://www.cyberelk.demon.co.uk/parport/
2.4.1. Acknowledgments/Contributors
Slackware 2.2 section courtesy of Michael Littlejohn
mike@mesa7.mesa.colorado.edu
Debian 1.2 section courtesy of John D. Blair jdblair@uab.edu
LILO information and many other helpful insight courtesy of Darcy
Boese possum@niagara.com and Javier Rodriguez
jrodrigu@nextgeninter.net.mx
3. Setting up the ZIP disk
(Common for both Red Hat and Slackware distributions.) Before
starting, make sure that you have access to the ZIP drive; either by
having ppa in the kernel or by having the ppa module loaded. One easy
way to find this out is by checking dmesg:
==> dmesg
You may have to pipe this to more as dmesg tends to be rather long.
Here's a snip from mine:
______________________________________________________________________
scsi0 : PPA driver version 0.26 using 4-bit mode on port 0x3bc.
scsi : 1 host.
Vendor: IOMEGA Model: ZIP 100 Rev: D.08
Type: Direct-Access ANSI SCSI revision: 02
Detected scsi removable disk sda at scsi0, channel 0, id 6, lun 0
SCSI device sda: hdwr sector= 512 bytes. Sectors= 196608 [96 MB] [0.1 GB]
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: sda1 sda2
______________________________________________________________________
If you only see something like:
______________________________________________________________________
scsi : 0 hosts.
scsi : detected total.
______________________________________________________________________
then you have SCSI support but the ZIP wasn't found.
3.1. Partitioning ZIP disk
To partition the ZIP disk, run fdisk:
==> fdisk /dev/sda/
Here is a snap of the partition table I have setup:
______________________________________________________________________
Disk /dev/sda: 64 heads, 32 sectors, 96 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 bytes
Device Boot Begin Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 1 1 81 82928 83 Linux native
/dev/sda2 82 82 96 15360 82 Linux swap
______________________________________________________________________
I decided to use a swap partition since I wanted to be able to use
this with any machine.
3.2. Formatting and mounting the ZIP disk
After running fdisk, format the new partition:
==> mke2fs -c /dev/sda1
Then, create the swap partition: (15360 blocks as taken from fdisk)
==> mkswap -c /dev/sda2 15360
Last, you'll need to mount the ZIP disk:
==> mount /dev/sda1 /iomega -t ext2
3.3. Creating the boot disk
Since the ppa version of the ZIP drive isn't a true SCSI device, it
isn't a bootable device and, therefore, requires a boot disk which has
ppa included in the kernel and not as a module.
3.3.1. Configuring and making the kernel
First, you'll need to configure and make a kernel that has ppa support
enabled and not as a loadable module. In order to get to the ppa
option, select SCSI support:
SCSI support (CONFIG_SCSI) [Y/m/n/?]
Plus, SCSI disk support:
SCSI disk support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD) [Y/m/n/?]
And finally, under the SCSI low-level drivers, is the ppa support:
IOMEGA Parallel Port ZIP drive SCSI support (CONFIG_SCSI_PPA)
[Y/m/n/?]
Again, be sure not to include ppa as a module, but rather in the
kernel. Thus far, without the use of the parport kernel patch (see
1.4), the ppa driver will not allow the passive port of the ZIP drive
to be used for a printer, so you may want to say no to parallel
printer support:
Parallel printer support (CONFIG_PRINTER) [N/y/m/?]
______________________________________________________________________
NOTE: For more information concerning the ppa driver, please
refer to the ZIP-Drive mini-HOWTO.
______________________________________________________________________
Once the kernel is configured, make the kernel:
==> make dep; make clean; make zImage
The new kernel should be found in arch/i386/boot/zImage.
3.3.2. Getting the kernel to a floppy
After having to have 4 separate floppies due to different kernels and
needing different parameters, (plus the great email I got telling me
how to do this) I have included a section on LILO as one of the means
of creating a bootable floppy.
3.3.2.1. LILO installation
For those who have to, or for that matter just want to, have several
kernels on one floppy (now adays, mine are too large) or just want to
be able to pass arguments (such as single user mode) I received email
on how to install LILO on a floppy.
3.3.2.1.1. Creating the ext2 filesystem
To create an ext2 filesystem on a floppy, just do the same command for
the ZIP disk:
==> mke2fs -t /dev/fd0
3.3.2.1.2. Copying the essential files
Next, make sure there's a directory for a mount point, and mount the
floppy (I used /mnt/floppy):
==> mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy -t ext2
is to boot properly, you'll need the same files that LILO uses on your
current Linux installation.
______________________________________________________________________
NOTE: The file locations here are from my machine
and may not be the same for everyone.
______________________________________________________________________
==> cp /boot/boot.b /mnt/floppy
==> cp /boot/map /mnt/floppy
==> cp /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/zImage /mnt/floppy/vmlinuzDESK
Now to create the config file for LILO, now I miss the liloconfig
program... (Thanks to Javier Rodriguez for this info) First, create
the LILO config file, /mnt/floppy/lilo.conf, for the kernel(s) for the
ZIP disk. Here's what I used so that I could have different kernels
to test with:
______________________________________________________________________
boot=/dev/fd0
map=/mnt/floppy/map
install=/mnt/floppy/boot.b
prompt
compact
timeout=50
image=/mnt/floppy/vmlinuzLAP
label=Laptop
root=/dev/sda1
read-only
image=/mnt/floppy/vmlinuzDESK
label=Desktop
root=/dev/sda1
read-only
image=/mnt/floppy/vmlinuzDESK
label=rescue
root=/dev/hdc1
read-only
______________________________________________________________________
I have two kernels, one for my 486 laptop which required the math-co
emulation in the kernel and the other for my desktop. The rescue
allows me to make an emergency boot to the hard drive.
Last but not least, with the floppy still mounted, run LILO to install
it on the floppy with the command:
==> lilo -C /mnt/floppy/lilo.conf
Once LILO has been installed on the floppy, skip the next two steps,
unless you enjoy doing this over again :)
3.3.2.2. Kernel only installation
______________________________________________________________________
NOTE: This does not pertain for the LILO install.
______________________________________________________________________
Copy the newly made kernel to a floppy disk:
==> cp arch/i386/boot/zImage /dev/fd0
or
==> cat arch/i386/boot/zImage > /dev/fd0
Yes, there are many ways to copy the kernel to a floppy, but the last
way, my favorite, is a little more encrypted. Try not to forget the >
unless you like viewing binary files :)
3.3.2.2.1. Setting the root and swap on the floppy
______________________________________________________________________
NOTE: This does not pertain for the LILO install.
______________________________________________________________________
Once the kernel is on the floppy, you need to set the root device to
the ZIP disk:
==> rdev /dev/fd0 /dev/sda1 I'm not sure if the next option is
needed, but I did it none the less. To set the swap:
==> rdev -s /dev/fd0 /dev/sda2
4. Red Hat 4.2 installation
With anything computer related, something 3 months old is considered
obsolete and is in need of upgrading. Since I'm not always going to
have the time to update this document with every update, I'll try my
best to at least update it every other version. As for the other
distributions, unless the authors wish to send updates, they well
remain as they are.
4.1. Personal setup
For my installation, I have and used:
· Kernel 2.0.30
· Iomega ppa disk drive
· Red Hat 4.2
4.2. Package installation
When I first decided to attempt to install Red Hat on a ZIP disk, I
figured it would be much easier to just use a Red Hat boot disk. Then
I woke up. I came very close to actually getting a boot disk created,
even got help from various folks at Red Hat via e-mail but ultimately
I began to give up on the whole project when I discovered the --root
option with rpm.
4.2.1. What packages to get
I found what packages to install by browsing a file I had found on one
of Red Hat's mirrors. This file can be found on any mirror at:
redhat/redhat-4.2/i386/RedHat/base/comps
For this installation, I wanted to include network support but due to
Red Hat's X network configuration, I'm going to have to manually
configure, or rather manually attempt to configure, the network setup
scripts found in /etc/sysconfig/ (see section 4.3.3.)
I decided against installing any development packages as the ZIP
drive, at least an unpatched kernel version, is rather slow to get
anything to compile. I also choose not to install X mainly for disk
space issues. Later on, I may attempt to mount my hard drive and
create a symlink with /usr to see if I can get X to work.
Following is a list of what packages I installed, listed in order of
installation. Those marked with a * have updates from Red Hat's
errata. In parentheses is the updated package number;
e.g. NetKit-B-0.09-6 was updated to NetKit-B-0.09-8 so the entry
would be: *91) NetKit-B-0.09-6 (-8)
______________________________________________________________________
(List created by the command rpm --root /iomega -qa)
1) setup-1.7-2 2) pamconfig-0.51-2
3) filesystem-1.3-1 4) MAKEDEV-2.2-9
5) adduser-1.7-1 6) libc-5.3.12-18
7) SysVinit-2.64-8 8) ash-0.2-8
9) at-2.9b-2 10) libtermcap-2.0.8-4
11) bash-1.14.7-1 12) bc-1.03-6
13) bdflush-1.5-5 14) cpio-2.4.2-4
15) cracklib-dicts-2.5-1 16) tmpwatch-1.2-1
17) crontabs-1.5-1 *18) db-1.85-10 (-11)
19) dev-2.5.1-1 20) diffutils-2.7-5
21) etcskel-1.3-1 22) file-3.22-5
23) fileutils-3.16-1 24) findutils-4.1-11
25) grep-2.0-5 26) groff-1.10-8
*27) ld.so-1.7.14-4 (-5) 28) getty_ps-2.0.7h-4
29) gzip-1.2.4-7 30) mingetty-0.9.4-3
*31) initscripts-2.92-1 (93-1) 32) ed-0.2-5
33) info-3.9-1 34) ncurses-1.9.9e-4
35) libg++-2.7.1.4-5 *36) pwdb-0.54-3 (-4)
37) rootfiles-1.5-1 *38) pam-0.57-2 (-4)
39) redhat-release-4.2-1 40) less-321-3
41) mount-2.5l-2 42) zlib-1.0.4-1
43) rpm-2.3.11-1 44) e2fsprogs-1.10-0
45) sysklogd-1.3-15 46) tar-1.11.8-11
47) passwd-0.50-7 48) gawk-3.0.2-1
49) gdbm-1.7.3-8 50) gpm-1.10-8
51) hdparm-3.1-2 52) kbd-0.91-9
53) slang-0.99.37-2 54) newt-0.8-1
55) kbdconfig-1.4-1 56) ncompress-4.2.4-7
*57) sh-utils-1.16-4 (-5) 58) procinfo-0.9-1
*59) logrotate-2.3-3 (4-1) 60) lilo-0.19-1
61) losetup-2.5l-2 62) linuxthreads-0.5-1
*63) mkinitrd-1.6-1 (7-1) 64) mailcap-1.0-3
*65) man-1.4h-5 (j-1) 66) mt-st-0.4-2
67) modules-2.0.0-5 68) mailx-5.5.kw-6
69) net-tools-1.32.alpha-2 70) procmail-3.10-10
71) procps-1.01-11 72) psmisc-11-4
73) quota-1.55-4 74) readline-2.0-10
75) sed-2.05-6 76) setconsole-1.0-1
77) sendmail-8.8.5-4 78) shadow-utils-960530-6
79) stat-1.5-5 80) tcsh-6.06-10
81) termcap-9.12.6-5 82) textutils-1.22-1
83) time-1.7-1 84) timeconfig-1.8-1
85) util-linux-2.5-38 86) vim-4.5-2
87) vixie-cron-3.0.1-14 88) which-1.0-5
89) zoneinfo-96i-4 90) tcp_wrappers-7.5-1
*91) NetKit-B-0.09-6 (-8) *92) lpr-0.18-1 (19-1)
*93) bind-4.9.5p1-2 (9.6-1) *94) bind-utils-4.9.5p1-2 (9.6-1)
*95) wu-ftpd-2.4.2b12-6 (b15-1) 96) anonftp-2.3-3
97) zip-2.1-1 98) unzip-5.12-5
99) statserial-1.1-7 100) minicom-1.75-2
101) lrzsz-0.12.14-1 102) dip-3.3.7o-9
103) ppp-2.2.0f-3 104) portmap-4.0-3
105) perl-5.003-8 *106) traceroute-1.0.4.4bsd-2 (1.4a5-1)
*107) elm-2.4.25-7 (-8) 108) lynx-2.6-2
109) ncftp-2.3.0-5 110) pine-3.95-2
111) rdate-0.960923-1 112) apache-1.1.3-3
*113) nfs-server-2.2beta16-7 *114) nfs-server-clients-2.2beta16-7
(2.2beta16-8) (2.2beta16-8)
______________________________________________________________________
And with all the above installed, I still have 32MB left!
4.2.1.1. Updates; errata
As many, I hope, Red Hat users know, some packages may be found to
have some security flaws or anything else which may cause issues to
arise. For this reason, Red Hat releases updates for such packages.
I have updated what packages I had which had updates and are marked in
the above list. Please refer to Red Hat's web page concerning the
updated packages at:
http://www.redhat.com/support/docs/rhl/rh42-errata-general.html
______________________________________________________________________
NOTE: Before you can update the packages, you'll have to
run the ldconfig as described in section 3.3.1.1.
______________________________________________________________________
4.2.2. How to install packages with rpm; without glint
With rpm, use the --root option to specify the mounted directory as
the root for installation. I had discovered that many packages were
failing to install becuase of preinstall or postinstall scripts that
weren't executing correctly due to the different root directory, thus,
use the --noscripts option:
==> rpm --root /iomega -i --noscripts PACKAGE.i386.rpm
As I'm sure many will notice, you should get an error message like:
______________________________________________________________________
failed to open /iomega/var/lib/rpm/packages.rpm
error: cannot open /iomega/var/lib/rpm/packages.rpm
______________________________________________________________________
So, just create the var/lib/rpm directory :)
==> mkdir /iomega/var; mkdir /iomega/var/lib; mkdir
/iomega/var/lib/rpm
4.2.3. Which came first, pamconfig or pam?
If anyone's tried to install pamconfig, it'll complain about a failed
dependency of pam; and when you go try to install pam, pam complains
about a failed dependency of pamconfig! This, being the chicken or
the egg issue, puzzled me for a while, but thanks to the --nodeps
flag, we can force pamconfig to install; besides pam has more failed
dependencies than just pamconfig.
==> rpm --root /iomega -i --nodeps --noscripts pamconfig-0.51-2
4.3. Problems after installation of packages
Once everything is all nicely installed, unfortunately, the disk is
not fully functionable, if that's a word. What I mean to say is, if
you try to boot now with the floppy, you won't get very far. As soon
as init tries to start up, you'll get two lovely errors; both of which
complain about some files not being found that would have been made
had the scripts been run.
4.3.1. The case of the missing /etc/ld.so.cache and libc.so.5
If you tried booting, you'd get two error messages, the first will be
the abscence of /etc/ld.so.cache file. The second complains about a
missing libc.so.5.
4.3.1.1. /etc/ld.so.cache
As mentioned by many readers, my previous instructions didn't quite
work as stated. In order to get this file created, you'll have to run
ldconfig while the ZIP disk is still mounted:
==> chroot /iomega /sbin/ldconfig
Thanks to Javier Rodriguez for this solution.
4.3.1.2. libc.so.5
To solve the missing lib case, you'll have to create a symlink which
would have been created by the installation scripts.
==> cd /iomega/lib; ln -s libc.so.5.3.12 libc.so.5
Thanks to Darcy Boese for this solution.
4.3.2. Setting root password
Just as ldconfig was ran in 4.3.1.1, you might as well change/create a
root password for this new system:
==> chroot /iomega passwd root
4.3.3. What the install program created
______________________________________________________________________
NOTE: This is just a very brief setup, one which I haven't
been able to test to see if it works. In theory it
should, but please do not send me complaints saying
that this didn't work.
______________________________________________________________________
While exploring my Red Had 4.2 CD-ROM, I came across something rather
interesting; the source code for the install program. I found it
under /misc/src/install and one thing which I found of some use was
the net.c file. In this, I found what other files that would be
created had the install program been run. Most of these just give
network support (hince the name net.c) but even if you don't have a
network card, you can still use localhost for networking (plus apache
will complain about not being able to determine a hostname.) These
files include:
/etc/hosts
/etc/HOSTNAME
/etc/resolv.conf
/etc/sysconfig/network
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
(or any other network device you may have.)
4.3.4. Networking setup
For this document, I wanted network support for my 3Com 3c595 fast-
ethernet card (which for the last several months has been used in
another machine.)
First I needed a name, and since I'm running my own name server (which
is another long story) I gave myself the name: dash-dot.wig.org (I
just liked the sound of it.) Having a name without an IP is kind of
pointless, so I used a reserved non-internet usable network of
192.168.10.0 which my name server also uses. Even though the hostname
is typically stored in /etc/HOSTNAME, Red Hat checks for
/etc/sysconfig/network for this name; so let's start there. Sample of
my /etc/sysconfig/network:
______________________________________________________________________
NETWORKING=yes
HOSTNAME=dash-dot
DOMAINNAME=wig.org
GATEWAY=
GATEWAYDEV=eth0
NS1=192.168.10.7
______________________________________________________________________
Next, bascially duplicate the same info here for /etc/HOSTNAME,
/etc/resolv.conf, and /etc/hosts:
/etc/HOSTNAME:
______________________________________________________________________
dash-dot.wig.org
______________________________________________________________________
/etc/resolv.conf:
______________________________________________________________________
search wig.org
nameserver ns.wig.org
______________________________________________________________________
/etc/hosts:
______________________________________________________________________
127.0.0.1 localhost
192.168.10.99 dash-dot.wig.org dash-dot
192.168.10.7 ns.wig.org ns
______________________________________________________________________
Red Hat configures all network devices from scripts found in
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts. The configuration of any network
device is usually first created via the install program so I had to
create these config files manually. They all begin with ifcfg-XXX
where XXX is the network interface which ifconfig brings up; e.g.
ppp0, eth0, etc. For this example, I had to create a file called
ifcfg-eth0 which contains the following:
______________________________________________________________________
DEVICE=eth0
ONBOOT=yes
BOOTPROTO=none
BROADCAST=192.168.10.255
NETWORK=192.168.10.0
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
IPADDR=192.168.10.99
______________________________________________________________________
And last but not least, in order to get this going right now, while in
the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts directory, just run:
==> ./ifup ifcfg-eth0 boot
This will start the script which configures the network interface if
that interface was set to start at 'boot' time.
For further information, please refer to the NET-3-HOWTO document.
5. Slackware 2.2 installation
______________________________________________________________________
NOTE: This portion has not been updated.
______________________________________________________________________
5.1. Requirements
· ZIP Disk and Drive (obviously)
· Kernel with ZIP support
· ZIP Howto (recommended)
· 1.44" HD formated floppy
· 1 to 2 hours of time
5.2. Installation
Okay, now comes the fun part: Figuring out what files need to be on
the system disk, and what packages that you want (and can fit) on your
ZIP drive.
I decided that the easiest way to get started was install Slackware
directly to the ZIP drive. I decided on this approach mostly because
Slackware is a smaller distribution then Red Hat, and it would be
easier to trim out what I didn't want. That and the fact that I am
using the Slackware distribution anyway made it an obvious choice.
Installing Slackware onto the ZIP disk is easy, as root run the setup
program, and choose /iomega as the install to partition, set the
install from partition to where the Slackware sources are (cdrom,
hardrive, etc), select install and follow the prompts.
5.3. What to install
The hardest part is deciding what to add, and what not to add.
Obviously, you'll need the 'A' series (Which is about 8 megs), the
rest is up to you.
I managed to trim down the Slackware release to a respectable
installation of 70 megs, which included gcc/g++, perl, X11R6 (NOT ALL
OF IT!), sendmail, online docs (Minus all the development man pages,
but including all the howto's), and an assortment of other goodies,
while leaving about 10 megs free for user files. YMMV
6. Creating /etc/fstab
(Common to both Red Hat and Slackware distributions)
The last thing that needs to be done before rebooting is to create the
fstab file on the soon to be root partion. The following is what you
should have as a minimum for /iomega/etc/fstab:
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/dev/sda1 / ext2 defaults 1 1
/dev/sda2 none swap sw
none /proc proc defaults 1 1
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Save the file, and reboot with the freshly made boot floppy and enjoy!
(Special thanks to Mike for reminding me about this very important and
crucial step. - John)
7. Debian 1.2 Installation
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NOTE: The author of this section sent this to me June, 11th 1997.
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7.1. Requirements
· Ppa ZIP drive and disk.
· 2 blank 1.44 floppy disks
· A complete set of Debian install disks (review the Debian install
docs if you don't remember how to make these)
· A couple hours of time
7.2. Overview
After spending a few hours wrestling with dpkg I decided it would be
simpler to modify the Debian "Rescue" disk so that it would recognize
the ppa ZIP drive. This proved to be very easy. You can then use
this modified disk to procede through the normal Debian base system
install. Once you've completed installing the base system you can use
a boot disk to start the new base system and complete the installation
using dselect. To use this technique you need to build two kernels -
one with ppa and initial RAM disk support, and another without the RAM
disk support.
If you want, you can skip all the steps in section 2 and let the
Debian install procedure handle formatting the ZIP disk for you.
7.3. Creating the modified Rescue disk
The Debian rescue disk is a SYSLINUX style boot disk, which uses a DOS
formatted floppy disk and a special boot loader to avoid loading MS-
DOS. These disks are very easy to modify to start your own custom
boot configuration. The Debian 'boot-floppies' package contains a set
of scripts to automate the process of building boot disks. However,
its so simple I found it easier to do the process by hand. This
deviates a bit from the Debian philosophy, but I'm over it :). There
are brief instructions in the 'readme.txt' file of the Rescue floppy.
7.3.1. Use dd (or RAWRITE under DOS) to create a new Rescue disk.
Review the Debian install docs if you don't remember how to do this.
7.3.2. Build a new kernel with ZIP ppa support
Build a new kernel with ZIP ppa support (as in step 3.3.1), but also
configure RAM disk and initial RAM disk support. You also need to
configure the msdos, fat, minix, ext2fs, and procfs filesystems.
Also configure any modules that you would like in your final
installation on the ZIP disk.
Once the kernel is configured, build with:
==> make dep; make clean
==> make bzImage
Build the modules with:
==> make modules
You will install these later.
______________________________________________________________________
NOTE: Make sure that you are using 'make bzImage', and
not 'make zImage'.
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7.3.3. Mount the new Rescue disk.
==> fdmount fd0
or
==> mount /dev/fd0 /mnt
or
==> whatever :)
7.3.4. Copy the kernel image
Copy the kernel image (on the i386 platform it will be located at
arch/i386/boot/bzImage) to 'linux' on the floppy disk.
7.3.5. Editing the 'rdev.sh' script
Open the 'rdev.sh' script located on the Rescue floppy with your
favorite editor. Change the last line: from--:
'rdev /mnt/linux /dev/ram0'
to--:
'rdev /mnt/linux /dev/sda1'
You will also have to change all occurences of /mnt/linux to the
appropriate path. Since I mount my floppies under /fd0, I had to
change /mnt/linux to /fd0/linux.
7.3.6. Run this modified 'rdev.sh' script.
==> ./rdev.sh
7.4. Install the base system on the ZIP drive.
Boot your modified Rescue disk. If all goes correctly you will be
presented with the familiar Debian menu based install process, except
that now it is aware of your ppa ZIP drive. Procede through this
process as if you were installing the system on a normal hard drive,
but mount /dev/sda1 as root and initialize /dev/sda2 as swap.
There is one deviation from the standard install process-- don't
install and/or configure any loadable modules. You will install the
modules you built in step 7.3.2 later.
7.5. Creating the boot disk
You can create the boot disk just as described in steps 3.3.1 to
3.3.2, or, if you want, just use the "Create Boot Disk" option during
the Debian install. I like this second option because I get another
SYSLINUX boot disk, allowing me to edit the greeting message to
describe the nature of my custom boot floppy and allow me to enter
additional kernel arguments. You can even include help files,
accessible via the functions keys. You may still wish to rebuild the
kernel and modify this boot disk by hand later to remove the RAM disk
support. Your call.
7.6. Reboot the system.
Insert your boot disk and choose the 'Reboot' option from the install
menu.
7.7. Configure the base system and complete the install process.
When the system reboots you will have a slow but completely workable
Debian base installation running off of your ppa ZIP drive. Proceed
normally with the installation at this point. I installed all the
normal UNIX utilities, along with documentation sets, make, gcc,
libraries, and various useful file manipulation utilities. The result
is a very powerful emergency boot system that I can use to rescue any
of the systems in our department in an emergency.
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NOTE: You'll at least need to install 'make' to
complete the next step.
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7.8. Installing the modules you built in step 7.3.2.
If you installed make in the last step, you should be able to mount
the hard drive partition containing your kernel build, cd to the
proper directory and run 'make modules_install'. Here's how I did it:
==> mount /dev/hda2 /mnt
==> cd /mnt/usr/src/linux
==> make modules_install
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NOTE: You won't need to modify the /etc/fstab file, as explained
in step 5. The Debian installation process has already
taken care of that.
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8. Afterthoughts
Whew, and sigh. After amassing 31 ZIP disks and a ZIP unleashed
battery pack, my next experiment is to try to get pcmcia working for
my laptop.
