Hi all,

I'm trying to install Damn Small Linux on an old Toshiba Portege 3015CT (100Mhz / 32MB) running Windows 98. It has a 16GB HDD currently set up as one big partition, with about 1.5GB in use.

I'm trying to create a new partition to install DSL on. The problem is that DOS's fdisk, as well as Ranish Partition Manager and even DSL running off Loadlin all think the drive is only 16MB (not GB), with 8MB full. I went into the BIOS and switched the HDD from Enhanced to Standard IDE, which caused fdisk and RPM (though not DSL) to recognize the full partition, though now they both indicate that the total drive size is only 8MB, and won't let me create a new partition. (Yes, that means they show a partition 2,000 times bigger than the actual drive).

Note that the machine doesn't have a diskette or CD drive, and can't boot from USB, so everything I do has to be from within the hard drive.

So, any thoughts on what the problem might be, and how I can solve it?
Thanks!

You have a BIOS which has a size limitation on how large a hard drive it can handle. The size limitation is 8G. What you need is a disk partitioner which does not use the BIOS to access the hard drive.

Leave the BIOS set to Standard IDE and boot into the DSL installer. No Linux installer is dependent on the BIOS for hard drive partitioning so you can partition your hard drive using the DSL installer. When you do so create a small /boot partition (512M) at the beginning of the drive so that grub or lilo can boot the hard drive in spite of the BIOS limitation.

You got loadlin and DSL on the hard drive somehow. Use the same method to get the DSL installer if it is not already on the hard drive.

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Steve Stites

Thanks!
As far as I can tell, the DSL installer assumes that there's an unformatted partition waiting for it, but I'll play around with it and see what I can do.
Are there any particularly recommended DOS partition utilities which don't go through the BIOS I could try as well?

"Are there any particularly recommended DOS partition utilities which don't go through the BIOS I could try as well?"

As I remember DOS all hard drive I/O goes through the BIOS. So I doubt that there is a DOS partition utility which does not use the BIOS.

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Steve Stites

512M seems pretty big for a /boot partition on such a small drive. I use 100MB and it's never even come close to filling up.

So I tried creating a new partition using fdisk or cfdisk from within DSL, and they recognize the right hard drive size but inform me that there are no available sectors for creating a new partition. The DSL installer expects an available partition, and doesn't have an option (that I can find, at least) for creating one. Any suggestions? Thanks!