02feb05 after 2 weeks of work.
DISCLAIMER
This worked for me (after many tries and much frustration) but
I don't know what it will do for you. Moreoever, I'll try to
give exact commands and then hopefully you'll be able to
replace my specific parameters (e.g. hda2) with whatever yours
might be (hdb3, hdb4, fd0, etc.)
Options for commands can often be learned by just typing in the
command with no paramaters:
fdisk
mke2fs
mkswap
e2fsck
Or, if someone is really on the ball, you might have luck with
man fdisk
or man e2fsck
where you'd get to read a "manual" of sorts.
Try to get the basic vi text editor commands written down because
it's not very intuitive and is necessary to edit configuration
files.
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EXCERPT FROM LEVI WALDRON
http://www.superant.com/cgi-bin/smalllinux.pl?Small_Linux_Notes_By_Levi_Waldron
"8)Edit lilo.conf. NOTE!!! If you type vi lilo.conf, SL actually runs
a tiny editor called e3. It doesn't actually identify itself as such,
so I could not figure out why standard vi commands like :wq would not
exit me, and I couldn't figure out how to get help. I ended up
shutting off the computer to get out which was a pain because SL
doesn't have fsck to fix up the hard drive after doing this. Upon
rebooting, I check the symbolic links and found that vi actually
started e3, then found an instruction manual for e3. e3 is easy to use,
if you just type e3 without a filename the first time and write down a few of
its key commands, for example ctrl-k-x to save and exit or ctrl-k-q
to abort and exit."
Download "Small Linux"
Install rawwrite (for windows to write onto floppies as linux)
Write the two images: boot.img and root.img
At first when prompted what to type in with special boot options
and stuff, just ignore it and hit enter (or hit F1, I dare you).
The Boot disk will load a kernel and prepare the RAM disk virtual
space where you can store files and such. Then you'll be prompted
to put in...
The Root disk actually contains the settings files (lilo.conf etc.)
and the binaries (/bin) and special devices (/dev) that you will
need to have a "normal" linux installation.
Once you are at the login prompt just type "root" and press enter.
Now, if you have a hard drive (with at least 40 megabytes) or a
partition that you want to migrate to (install linux on) then
you've got to prepare it with the following steps.
Use fdisk to create a linux partition(s).
fdisk /dev/hda (or wherever your HD space is)
in fdisk you'll want to press 'm' at least once to get help and
read the command list.
'm' = help / print command list
'p' = print current partition table information
'd' = prompts you to delete a partition - use very carefully
'n' = allows you to create a new partition - you will be prompted
for exactly how much space to use - if you just hit enter
it will use the defaults (as much as possible).
't' = alters a partition once it's been created - you'll be given
an option to 'L'ist all the possible types (yes, there are
quite a few ways to format empty space) - you'll probably
be creating a Linux Native Partition (#83 I think) and a
Linux Swap Partition (#82).
'w' = write and save the changes (when you're sure)
'q' = quit without saving the changes (better safe than sorry)
NOTE: Swap is basically a garuanteed free space where the computer
can store things while it's working (when registers are full
stuff is put in cache, when cache is full stuff is put in
RAM, when RAM is full 'virtual ram' or swapfiles or swap
partitions are used.
Linux generally uses a swap partition, or a specifically
created area with it's own uncrossable borders, because
it's safer than having a swapfile in the same partition
with your data (where the cpu could have them accidentally
collide aka crash) and of course you have less to clean up
or keep track of it on boot up or shutdown.
Windows uses a swapfile (virtual memory).
The recommended size is about twice your RAM (or ~128 MB)
but you can make it any size you want or even do without.
After you're done you'll probably want to restart (and yes
boot up from the two floppies) so that the Master Boot
Record and whatever other Hard Drive gods there are make
good on all your fdisk-ing.
Now, you will have to run mkfs.ext2 or mke2fs or something
like that to format your new Linux Partition into a usable
Linux Partition. (Similar to formatting it as a FAT, FAT16,
FAT32 or any other Dos or Windows partition before use.)
mke2fs /dev/hda2
Then you'll use mkswap on the swap partition to format it.
mkswap /dev/hda3
Now's a good time to run your filesystem checking program:
e2fsck /dev/hda2
And hopefully everybody's happy. (You may have to try
e2fsck -f /dev/hda2 to force the program to check it.)
Now, for moving in. You'll start with:
mount /dev/hda2 /mnt
or mount /dev/hda2 /hd
or mount /dev/hda2 /fl
(Basically saying get ready to use the device harddrive
partition 2 and when I want to access it I'll use the
special folder /mnt or /hd or /fl.) Yes, /fl looks like
it should be used for floppies but whatever.
You could also try
swapon /dev/hda3
If it works you'll have working swap (necesssary?).
(for moving around you can use cd directoryname and
cd .. to back up the file tree).
Go to the root (the starting point of all directories):
cd /
Now try copying all the goodies to your hd:
cp -a /* /mnt
(Which says copy, all options included, from the root
which was created on our Ramdisk by these wonderful
floppies, all the files into our newly mounted/formatted
linux partition.)
You'll probably not get through everything because
some file/folder will be unhappy (hopefully your floppy
disk or hard disk don't have bad sectors). You can
then proceed to finish up manually.
mkdir /mnt/var
cp -a /var/* /mnt/var
(Makes the var directory on the mounted hd and copies,
again with recursion and other good options, everything
from /var onto your hard drive folder.)
Things that ought to be on the hard drive:
/bin /etc /dev /sbin /lib /boot?
/usr /tmp /proc
Once you are done copying and you've hopped back and
forth and made sure lots of files (all?) were copied
we test it by typing in
reboot
(which reboots the machine, with the boot disk still in!)
When you're at the
boot:
prompt you should type in: linux root=/dev/hda2
(the additional load_ramdisk = 0 is only if you have
less than 4MB RAM)
Hopefully you will not be prompted for anymore floppies,
your HD will buzz and you'll be using your HD for the root.
(1/2 way there!)
If not, well maybe try checking that enough files were
copied over from the "root" floppy (which may mean booting
like we did at the very beginning).
Now,
mount /dev/fd0 /fl
gets us access to our boot floppy.
cp /fl/* /boot
Should copy everything from the boot floppy into the /boot
directory on your hard drive.
cd /etc
vi lilo.conf
These commands take you to your linuxloader configuration
file so that you can edit it. Vi is a text editor that can
be tricky at first - you'll hopefully have read some about it.
My extra simple lilo.conf looked like this:
boot = /dev/hda
map = /boot/system.map
install = boot/boot.b
timeout = 1
vga = normal
image = /boot/linux
root = /dev/hda2
label = linux
read-write
NOTE: I've probably lost access to my Windows partition
(/dev/hda1) until I figure out the tortuous dual booting
dilemma BUT I can now boot linux completely from my HD.
2/2/05 NEXT: ADDING MORE FILES TO THE SYSTEM VIA THE FLOPPY DRIVE
SO THAT I CAN ACCESS THE NET (AND SKIP THE RAWWRITE STEPS).