Install slackware from USB drive.
 

Is it possible to install slackware from a USB drive? I have a CD with the kernels and such (basically everything except /slackware), and an external USB drive with the packages. The problem is that I can't manage to get any of the slackware installer kernels to recognise my usb drive. I've tried three or four, but no dice. dmesg reports that a new USB device is found everytime I plug the drive in, but /proc/partitions shows only my internal harddrive. I've tried #/etc/rc.d/rc.usb start and #hotplug, neither of which solve the issue. I've confirmed that the external drive is working using knoppix. Google has everything under the sun about installing TO a USB drive (which is my next project), but nothing about install From such a drive. Is there perhaps something I need to pass to lilo?

I'm not sure, but I guess you'll need to make a custom initrd with the required USB modules for this to work.

If you ever try it (or already had), please post, it could be an interesting alternate way of installing.

What version of Slackware are you trying to install? The kernels on the Slackware 11.0 installer CD/DVD all have USB mass storage device support - the 2.4 kernels have the required modules in the initrd.img while huge26 and test26 have the USB support built right into the kernel.

Eric