Install FC2 in external HD + boot via floppy

Tue Oct 16 16:11:36 UTC 2007

On Tue, 2007-10-16 at 17:32 +0200, Antonio wrote:
> 2007/10/16, Afonso Duarte <duartenl at yahoo.com.br>:
> > Dear All,
> >
> > I have been using FC2 for some time and now i am interested in installing it
> > in my Toshiba 1400-103.
> >
> > Because i still need to use XP - :( - i am interested on placing the FC2 on
> > a external HD and keep the XP on the internal disk. The problem on this is
> > that my laptop does not boot from the usb... :( so I was thinking of
> > creating a boot floppy that could contain the main kernel of FC2 and place
> > the file system on the disk.
> >
> > I have been looking around the web for some examples on how to create the
> > floppy but I haven't came across something similar ... did any of you tried
> > this approach? do you have any suggestion on how to do this?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > PS: I found some small linux distributions that do fit in one disk... but i
> > really need a full working distro like FC2 for the software i am going to
> > run on the laptop, so those ones will not do the job.
> >
> > Duarte
> >
> >  Abra sua conta no Yahoo! Mail, o único sem limite de espaço para
> > armazenamento!
> > --
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> >
> I created a boot CD....but maybe that you have to use mkinitrd to
> pre-load USB.In recent days, it was not necessary any longer, but I
> mean at least for FC5...Why don't you jump to a more recent Fedora.
> If you like I can send you the small file and some
> instructions.....(tnx to John Austin, where are you John???)
> 
> -- 
> Antonio Montagnani
> Skype : antoniomontag
> 

I'm still alive Antonio, just, I've been windsurfing today, hot for
England in October!

Duarte, I attach a blog type file of my playing with booting from USB
disks/sticks - it may be of use.
I used a CD for the booting stage.
I also would suggest moving to a later version of Fedora - 8???????

The author for the first part of the file is not me,
but I have lost the reference.

John

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An alternative way of creating a cd that will boot grub is shown below.
This is very different from ~/bin/create_grub_cd.sh !!!!

Making a GRUB bootable CD-ROM

GRUB supports the no emulation mode in the El Torito specification1.
This means that you can use the whole CD-ROM from GRUB and you don't have
to make a floppy or hard disk image file, which can cause compatibility problems.

For booting from a CD-ROM, GRUB uses a special Stage 2 called stage2_eltorito.
The only GRUB files you need to have in your bootable CD-ROM are this stage2_eltorito
and optionally a config file menu.lst. You don't need to use stage1 or stage2,
because El Torito is quite different from the standard boot process.

Here is an example of procedures to make a bootable CD-ROM image.
First, make a top directory for the bootable image, say, iso:

     $ mkdir iso

Make a directory for GRUB:

     $ mkdir -p iso/boot/grub

Copy the file stage2_eltorito:

     $ cp /usr/share/grub/i386-pc/stage2_eltorito iso/boot/grub
#ja_hack For F7
     cp /usr/share/grub/i386-redhat/stage2_eltorito iso/boot/grub

If desired, make the config file menu.lst under iso/boot/grub (see Configuration),
and copy any files and directories for the disc to the directory iso/.

Finally, make a ISO9660 image file like this:

     $ mkisofs -R -b boot/grub/stage2_eltorito -no-emul-boot \
         -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -o grub.iso iso

This produces a file named grub.iso, which then can be burned into a CD (or a DVD).
mkisofs has already set up the disc to boot from the boot/grub/stage2_eltorito file,
so there is no need to setup GRUB on the disc.
(Note that the -boot-load-size 4 bit is required for compatibility with the BIOS on many older machines.)

You can use the device (cd) to access a CD-ROM in your config file.
This is not required; GRUB automatically sets the root device to (cd) when booted from a CD-ROM.
It is only necessary to refer to (cd) if you want to access other drives as well.
#####################################################################################
I think this means you can put vmlinuz and initrd on the cd/dvd and use them to boot
Cannot see a reason to do this at the moment
The kernel would be the one in /boot and initrd would have to match the machine
the CD was booted on.  ie Copied from /boot !!!!
Remember that mkinitrd uses /etc/modprobe.conf to load modules so fill it with required drivers !!!!
#####################################################################################
This has been done and test OK
In fact this permitted the 2GB Kingston USB stick to be used on the laptop
Interactive grub as follows on laptop
kernel (cd)/boot/vm........ ro root=LABEL=/root_kingston
initrd (cd)/boot/initrd...
Only problem is that the USB stick is FC5 and the CDROM is F7 hence
no extra drivers available eg network, ....
It still boots up and will run X, albeit with wrong res for laptop
kcontrol and kinfocenter help (Note spelling of centre)
#####################################################################################
New CD made as above (--with=via-rhine) network included
The network then works but no "hd" devices work. /dev/hda or /dev/scd
Only the kingston stick is seen (as /dev/sda). (There is no kernel/module match)
#######################
Repeated above on the laptop when booted with the same kernel as
that installed on the kingston stick.
/sbin/mkinitrd --preload=ehci-hcd --preload=ohci-hcd  --preload=usb-storage \
--preload=scsi_mod --preload=sd_mod initrd_tom-2.6.15-1.2054_FC5.gz \
2.6.15-1.2054_FC5
mkisofs -R -b boot/grub/stage2_eltorito -no-emul-boot \
-boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table -o grub.iso iso
tom boots correctly from cd (with correct grub.conf).
tom also runs correctly (eth0 & hdx available) from the kingston stick because
the kernel on the CD and the modules on the kingston stick match each other.
#############################################
 ~/hints_info/usb_story_aug_2006
Gives full details
#############################################
Very interestingly tom can boot directly from the memory stick by first
connecting a USB hard disk and booting from cd.
kernel (TAB shows the USB disk.  Unplug the disk and plugin stick and
complete grub commands.  Stick boots without using kernel/initrd on CD.
The same is true if the MBR on the internal disk hda is used (No CD involved)
The BIOS sees the disk and hence so does grub, swapping the stick for the disk works.