RedHat 7.2 on ES40 AlphaServer - Boot Problem - Help Solving

[Dialup Jon Norstog]

Jim,

Thanks for the clarification on all that.  Unless you tell them differently
Fedora and Ubuntu will dump everything into one big / directory.  The Alpha
Core distros based on Fedora will do the same thing, but at least you can do a
custom partition install. On the latest Ubuntu you can not even do a text
install and the graphic install is pretty much useless for a custom partition
scheme.

Anyway, I think the old Unix users' habit of putting the /usr directory onto a
separate partition, or better yet, a separate disk, is the way to go 
Especially if you have valuable programs or data, like the OP.




---------- Original Message -----------
From: "Jim McCarthy" <jkmccarthy at pacbell.net>
To: "Linux on Alpha processors" <axp-list at redhat.com>
Cc: valhalla-list at redhat.com
Sent: Sun, 13 Dec 2009 12:00:59 -0800
Subject: RE: RedHat 7.2 on ES40 AlphaServer - Boot Problem - Help Solving

> Jon --
> 
> On my DEC PWS 600au that still runs RH7.2 for Alpha (dual boots with 
> latest hobbyist version of OpenVMS for AXP :-), like Bill I have a 
> separate /boot partition, and during startup "aboot"  pauses with a prompt:
> 
> aboot>
> 
> Replying with "l" for list, it says:
> 
> NOTICE:  You have a /boot partition.  This means that all kernel 
> paths         are relative to /boot/
> 
> 0:1 vmlinuz-2.4.9-32.5 root=/dev/sda2 initrd=/initrd-2.4.9-32.5.img
> console=tt
> 
> ...and so on.  Entering zero at the aboot> prompt sends it on its merry
> way....
> 
> -----
> 
> So the /etc/aboot.conf that aboot failed to find on Bill's old 
> system disk is (I believe) really located at:
> 
> /boot/etc/aboot.conf
> 
> Meanwhile on my RH7.2 Alpha Linux system, if I do a directory 
> listing of /etc, I do see that there is a symbolic link that points to
> 
> /etc/aboot.conf  -->  /boot/etc/aboot.conf
> 
> ... but I don't know if "aboot" requires this at startup, or if 
> indeed (like the aboot NOTICE above says) that all paths are 
> relative to /boot/ including /etc/aboot.conf ?
> 
>