Changed normal debian to hard disc version of knoppix

bigjohn · 09-28-2003, 03:23 PM

Ok,
So I have just installed knoppix over the top of the normal "sarge" install.

I have done this for reasons of better hardware detection and aesthetics (the gui stuff is better).

Most of the install has gone quite smoothly, the major thing is how to get it to "fire up" using lilo.

Below is an extract from my lilo.conf that dealt with my previous debian install.

image=/debian/vmlinuz
label="debian"
root=/dev/hda4
initrd=/debian/boot/initrd.img
append="devfs=mount hdc=ide-scsi acpi=off"
vga=normal
read-only

What should I change or modify to get it to boot the debian/knoppix ? Because at the moment, if I just let lilo start and then select "debian" (I'll change the label later) I just get a black screen with

Loading debianEBDA too big

Any idea's please ?

regards

John

quatsch · 09-29-2003, 01:05 AM

It should be
image=/boot/vmlinuz
and get rid of the line
initrd=...
This is assuming that you wiped the old installation. Check if you have vmlinuz in /boot. If it's not there, you'll have to look for it.
After this, run lilo again and it should be fine.

bigjohn · 09-29-2003, 10:12 AM

as far as I can establish, it needs to be like this

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.22-xfs
label="Knoppix"
root=/dev/hda4
initrd=/boot/initrd.gz
append="hdc=ide-scsi acpi=off"
vga=normal
read-write

though it also seems that I may need to copy the vmlinuz and possibly the initrd.gz of knoppix to the mandrake install, as I suspect that could be why the mandrake version of lilo can't see it.

Problem now is that I don't know how to do that.

regards

John

quatsch · 09-29-2003, 10:27 AM

I used to have a dual boot with mdk and knoppix as well. What I did is mount the / partition of Knoppix (or /boot if you have a separate /boot partition for Knoppix) under /Knoppix in mandrake. Then in lilo.conf in mdk I say
image=/Knoppix/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.22-xfs
label="Knoppix"
root=/dev/hda4
initrd=/Knoppix/boot/initrd.gz
append="hdc=ide-scsi acpi=off"
vga=normal
read-write

with the appropriate changes for root= and such of course (note the changes in paths to vmlinuz and initrd from /boot/... to /Knoppix/boot/...). Then run lilo in mandrake. I'm confident that I had to get rid of the initrd-line, but that was already a few versions back.

bigjohn · 10-01-2003, 02:56 AM

Ok, thanks for that.

I'll give it a try later - time for bed as I just finished work!

regards

John

bigjohn · 10-01-2003, 02:02 PM

Ok, so I looked into that.

I must be really thick, because I don't follow what you are telling me.

I copied the vmlinuz and initrd.gz to the mandrake /boot directory (I think?).

The lilo is still looking at the floppy for the vmlinuz though and I can't work out why? I'm not sure whether I'm getting confused as to where I should (if at all), copy the vmlinuz and initrd.gz to?

Any idea's

regards

John

quatsch · 10-01-2003, 09:56 PM

don't copy the stuff. It's not going to help you. What you do is mount the / partition of knoppix under some directory in mandrake, say under /Knoppix. That is, if / of Knoppix is /dev/hda4 you start mandrake and do

mount /dev/hda4 /Knoppix

Then the /boot directory for Knoppix will be /Knoppix/boot in mandrake.
Now you edit lilo.conf in mandrake by adding something like:
label="Knoppix"
image=/Knoppix/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.22-xfs
root=/dev/hda4
initrd=/Knoppix/boot/initrd.gz
append="hdc=ide-scsi acpi=off"
vga=normal
read-write

and run lilo.

LSD · 10-02-2003, 01:23 AM

Why not just ditch LILO and install GRUB? It's a little harder to configure granted, but it let's you easily boot multiple Linux (and non-Linux) distros fairly easily and without copying kernel images and initrds around, mounting filesystems etc. I use GRUB to boot Gentoo, Slackware and Windows XP in addition to my Debian install and they all boot without a hitch.

quatsch · 10-02-2003, 01:28 AM

Quote:

without copying kernel images and initrds around

the same is true for lilo. Lilo needs to find the kernel image and for that the relevant partitions have to be mounted. That's all there is to it.

LSD · 10-02-2003, 01:57 AM

You didn't read the rest of my post - GRUB doesn't need the filesystems to be mounted either as it understands filesystems and, provided you point it to the correct root partition, can find the right kernel image automatically.

quatsch · 10-02-2003, 02:02 AM

I know. But since lilo is already installed, why change to grub? i always found lilo.conf easier to edit than grub.conf.

bigjohn · 10-02-2003, 11:04 AM

I'm pretty sure that I have made all the changes that you suggest but I still get "zip"!

The only thing that I just noticed in one of your previous posts is

Quote:

with the appropriate changes for root= and such of course (note the changes in paths to vmlinuz and initrd from /boot/... to /Knoppix/boot/...).

this I don't understand.

The lilo.conf looks like this

boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
vga=normal
default="XP"
keytable=/boot/uk.klt
prompt
nowarn
timeout=100
message=/boot/message
menu-scheme=wb:bw:wb:bw
image=/boot/vmlinuz
label="Mandrake"
root=/dev/hda3
initrd=/boot/initrd.img
append="quiet noapic devfs=mount hdc=ide-scsi acpi=off"
vga=788
read-only
image=/Knoppix/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.22-xfs
label="Knoppix"
root=/dev/hda4
initrd=/Knoppix/boot/initrd.gz
append="hdc=ide-scsi acpi=off"
vga=normal
read-write
image=/boot/vmlinuz
label="linux-nonfb"
root=/dev/hda3
initrd=/boot/initrd.img
append="noapic devfs=mount hdc=ide-scsi acpi=off"
read-only
image=/boot/vmlinuz
label="failsafe"
root=/dev/hda3
initrd=/boot/initrd.img
append="failsafe noapic devfs=nomount hdc=ide-scsi acpi=off"
read-only
other=/dev/hda1
label="XP"
table=/dev/hda
other=/dev/fd0
label="floppy"
unsafe

and when I try and run "lilo -v" the output looks like this

[root@localhost john]# lilo -v
LILO version 22.4.1, Copyright (C) 1992-1998 Werner Almesberger
Development beyond version 21 Copyright (C) 1999-2002 John Coffman
Released 27-Jan-2003 and compiled at 11:11:26 on Feb 5 2003.

Reading boot sector from /dev/hda
Using GRAPHIC secondary loader
Calling map_insert_data
Mapping message file /boot/message -> message-graphic
Calling map_insert_file

Boot image: /boot/vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-2.4.21-0.13mdk
Mapping RAM disk /boot/initrd.img -> initrd-2.4.21-0.13mdk.img
Added Mandrake

Boot image: /Knoppix/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.22-xfs
Mapping RAM disk /Knoppix/boot/initrd.gz
Added Knoppix

Boot image: /boot/vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-2.4.21-0.13mdk
Mapping RAM disk /boot/initrd.img -> initrd-2.4.21-0.13mdk.img
Added linux-nonfb

Boot image: /boot/vmlinuz -> vmlinuz-2.4.21-0.13mdk
Mapping RAM disk /boot/initrd.img -> initrd-2.4.21-0.13mdk.img
Added failsafe

Boot other: /dev/hda1, on /dev/hda, loader CHAIN
Added XP *

Boot other: /dev/fd0, loader CHAIN
Pseudo partition start: 0
Added floppy

/boot/boot.0300 exists - no backup copy made.
Writing boot sector.
[root@localhost john]#

From that, can you see if I am doing/have done, something wrong ?

Sorry to keep asking for the extended help - I'm sure you must be thinking "read the f*****g howto" - I have, but I don't have the "prior knowledge" that even the documentation project seem to expect, and I just don't understand it (though on the other hand, I might just be really thick

!).

Many thanks so far

regards

John

quatsch · 10-02-2003, 11:50 AM

hm. since lilo is not giving any errors, most of it is all right. It might be the append line for knoppix (it now says append="hdc=ide-scsi acpi=off") Change it to
append="noapic devfs=mount hdc=ide-scsi acpi=off"

and run lilo again, of course - you have to mount /dev/hda4 again before you do it.

also, if that doesn't work, see if it helps to get rid of the initrd line. When I installed Knoppix I had to get rid of it even though it was there in /Knoppix/boot.

bigjohn · 10-04-2003, 02:39 PM

Yip Yip Yipppeeeeeeeee!

Well, I have managed to sort it.

Yesterday, I did a couple of modifications and all of a sudden I could boot into the debian/knoppix, but It didn't matter what I did, i just got a load of "unintelligible garbage" followed by a kernel panic during the mandrake boot sequence.

The first words to go through my brain were "Oh F**k, what have I gone and done now!"

Anyway, in as much panic as the kernel, I did the "windows drone, knee jerk reaction" and did a complete re-install of mandrake 9.1

Which as much as anything else, meant I was back to square one (well at least in a position to start afresh), so, after re-reading all the stuff that I have looked though,

I changed this

image=/boot/vmlinuz
label="knoppix"
root=/dev/hda4
initrd=/boot/initrd.gz
append="devfs=mount apm=power-off hdc=scsi initrd=initrd.gz"
vga=791
read-only

to this

image=/Knoppix/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.22-xfs
label="knoppix"
root=/dev/hda4
#initrd=/Knoppix/boot/initrd.gz
append="devfs=mount apm=power-off hdc=scsi "
vga=791
read-only

then I did this

mount -rw /dev/hda4 /Knoppix (in order to mount the knoppix partition)

I then checked this

/Knoppix/boot (to confirm that vmlinuz-2.4.22-xfs is there) - in fact, the /Knoppix/boot actually has a link, but that seems to be adequate

I then ran lilo -v and this seems to have worked.

I'm still not entirely sure how I have managed to work this out, I think the problems have been to do with although having the correct info in the /etc/lilo.conf I didn't have the various stuff in the knoppix/boot file - it seems that although you would need the initrd.gz on a floppy, you don't actually need it in your lilo.conf, but that, in turn must point to either an image of the alternate version (vmlinuz-2.4.22-xfs, as opposed to the one that my mandrake install uses - vmlinux-2.4.21-0.13mdk), or at least the correct link.

Anyhow, it works, so many thanks for the extended assistance in getting this working.

regards

John