Ok, I'm accepting the 1023 cylinder limitation for booting as a given (I've read the how-to's on getting around it, but for the time being I'm trying to work within its limitations). Here's the question.

You have to place the entire boot partition (i.e. /, /boot, whatever) under the 1023 cylinder. Now, if the / or /boot is in a logical partition within the extended partition, does just the logical partition have to be under the 1023 cylinder, or does the entire extended partition need to be below the 1023 cylinder?

Also, if I use a logical /boot partition with Red Hat 7.2, any suggestions on how big it should be? Thanks!

With RH 7.2 there is no such a problem. It only occurs with older versions of LILO.

Well to try and answer your question.. the way I understand it in order for LILO to read a partition the entire partition information must reside within the first 1023 cylinders. That being said, I don't think it matters if it is primary or extended, or where the other extended partitions are.

However, as the previous poster has mentioned, that issue with LILO was solved a while back, and shouldn't be an issue with any of the newer distributions.

I did an install with RH7.1 without the bootpartition in the 1024 cyl limit - the installer was bitching at me but it worked. So it shouldn't be an issue with 7.2 - if your BIOS supports it.

Ah yes, I'm using a new Linux version, but the computer is a P2-400 (IBM 300GL, Model 6275-60U to be exact), so I'm not sure if its bios are new enough (I remember reading somewhere about it needing to be newer than 1998).

If it doesn't matter even on this system (considering its age), that'll make life a lot easier since I'm setting up a triple boot system using only one hard drive with the instructions from Sys Admin magazine (I believe it was December's issue), and I'd love to put the entirety of the extended partition over 1023 if Lilo doesn't care and my hardware will support it.

Anyway I can check if my hardware will support it besides just doing it?

I haven't had a problem with BIOS yet due to a machine's age. I have a machine running a base install of Slack 7.1 on a quattro-boot with FreeBSD, LFS and (only because its the coffeetable box and I don't hate my friends... gurghhhh ), Win98. The 4 are spread over 2 drives, and I had the 1024 problem until I upgraded the Lilo that was booting everything (Slackware 7.1 is 2+1/2 years old now I think). The limitation by the way, went away with LILO 21.4 and above. The machine is a P1 200, so if mine can hack it, I'm sure yours can.

Luck,

Finegan

BIOS doesn't make a bit of difference for the most part, unless it is really old. Linux and LILO know they are smarter then the BIOS and they can both ignore it in some instances