[SOLVED] Slax Installation Problem

TheStarLion · 11-26-2009, 10:41 AM

Since Slax doesn't have it's own place...

Thanks to help from here, Ubuntu Forums and the Ubuntu IRC channel, I've now got to a point where I can - in theory - install Slax from a separate partition on my laptop.

the LiveCD has been extracted to this second partition, which used to be the Swap space - thus reducing my laptop's memory to just under half a gigabyte. I suspect this might be useful to know.
Working of Ubuntu's guide for turning their LiveCD into a bootable partition, I tried to replicate this for Slax, and... it failed.

At the moment, what I'm after is what entries do I need to make in grub's menu.lst to make the extracted Slax LiveCD properly bootable, so I can install to the soon to be ex-ubuntu partition?

More problems possibly to follow depending on what happens. Hopefully, it'll go right once this one's been figured out.

Thanks to anyone who can help!

catkin · 11-26-2009, 11:24 AM

Intrigued to know how you got the Slax LiveCD (~700 MB?) into a 512 MB partition and not knowing whether the Slax LiveCD can be used for installing a usable OS (I thought it was just a live demo) ...

Specifics of the menu.lst entries depend on what files are in the ex-swap partition to boot the OS that will be used to do the installation. A file list of the root of that partition would help.

Meanwhile, here is mine for booting Slackware 13.0 installation

Code:

title       Install Slackware
root        (hd0,2)
kernel          /boot/hugesmp.s load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw SLACK_KERNEL=/boot/hugesmp.s vga=791
initrd          /boot/initrd.img

The "title" is arbitrary.

The root (hd0,2) means the first HDD and the 3rd partition (GRUB counts from 0) so you probably want root (hd0,1).

The kernel path and parameters is where it gets tricky because of differences between our systems. You almost certainly don't want /boot, just /<filename of kernel> and the rest of the parameters will be specific to Slax as opposed to Slackware. vga=791 is nice (more text visible on screen) but not necessary and maybe not supported by the Slax kernel so maybe best to leave it off to start with.

Like the kernel line, the initrd line is system-specific. Maybe Slax doesn't even use an initrd. If it does you probably want something like /<filename of initrd>

I hope a Slaxspert passes by this way to advise.

TheStarLion · 11-26-2009, 11:32 AM

I used Build Slax on the Slax website, using only the core modules and some required network modules, which left the LCD size down at approx 240MB.

AS to the rest... the first two lines are the same, except for it being (hd0,1) - sda, partition 2
There is a /boot directory among the LCD's files that I extracted to the other partition. There doesn't seem to be any hugesmp.s file, and there isn't an initrd.img, but there IS an initrd.gz.

As my laptop's remaining Ubuntu is being a pest as usual, I'll have to list what is in /boot here:

Directories:
/boot/dos
/boot/isolinux
/boot/pxelinux.cfg
/boot/syslinux

Files:
/boot/bootinst.bat
/boot/bootinst.sh
/boot/chain.c32
/boot/initrd.gz
/boot/liloinst.sh
/boot/mt86p
/boot/slax.cfg
/boot/slax.png
/boot/vesamenu.c32
vmlinuz

If you need other parts of the LCD, I can get them as needed. I'll try and get Ubuntu to take a screenshot, but Openbox doesn't seem to want to let it.

catkin · 11-26-2009, 12:41 PM

I guess you are "boldly going" (Trek-speak) so the chances of anybody who has already gone this route happening by this thread is slim; you are into the experimental approach to systems administration!

If Slax, being based on Slackware, does work something like Slackware, my "slightly-boldly-going" experience may provide some clues.

Presumably what you list as vmlinux is /vmlinux so that is likely the kernel. Assuming Slax does use an initrd you still need to find it. /boot/initrd.gz looks hopeful. Maybe /vmlinux can decompress it. You could try

Code:

title       Install Slax
root        (hd0,1)
kernel          /vmlinuz
initrd          /boot/initrd.gz

If that doesn't work you could try unpacking (decompressing) initrd.gz and reference whatever you get out of it on the initrd line instead.

If that doesn't work you could ask what kernel parameters are necessary to boot Slax vmlinuz (maybe experiment with the ones from my earlier post first).

If that doesn't work you could try the kernel and initrd from Slackware 13's USB and PXE installers. Here are my notes in case they're any use.

Downloaded usbboot.img from http://slackware.osuosl.org/slackwar...xe-installers/ to /home/c/d/Repository/Slackware/

Code:

root@CW8:~#  mount -o loop /home/c/d/Repository/Slackware/usbboot.img /media 
root@CW8:~# ll /media 
total 27M 
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  793 2009-08-25 05:09 f2.txt 
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4.6M 2009-08-25 05:09 huge.s 
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4.8M 2009-08-25 05:09 hugesmp.s 
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  14M 2009-08-25 05:09 initrd.img 
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root  11K 2009-08-25 05:09 ldlinux.sys 
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  758 2009-08-25 05:09 message.txt 
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2.8K 2009-08-25 05:09 setpkg 
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 4.6M 2009-08-25 05:09 speakup.s 
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root  436 2009-08-25 05:09 syslinux.cfg 
root@CW8:~# mkdir /mnt/boot 
root@CW8:~# cp -p /media/* /mnt/boot

TheStarLion · 11-26-2009, 12:44 PM

Ah, that's my mistake. That should have read /boot/vmlinuz, and it's definately a vmlinuZ not vmlinuX.
I'll have a try in case, since it's on a separate partition, all it can do is either fail, or work, so it's not likely to permanently kill the laptop or anything.

TheStarLion · 11-26-2009, 01:54 PM

Alright, I gave it a go, and actually got it to boot.
However... It's a good thing I didn't actually install it, because I'm not sure it's the right one for me. But, on the up-side, I now have a partition to load almost any distro's liveCD into to try it out.
Next on the list is Slackware itself.

catkin · 11-26-2009, 03:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheStarLion

Alright, I gave it a go, and actually got it to boot.
However... It's a good thing I didn't actually install it, because I'm not sure it's the right one for me. But, on the up-side, I now have a partition to load almost any distro's liveCD into to try it out.
Next on the list is Slackware itself.

Good news that it worked (and useful you found you didn't want it, I guess).

Problem you will have is that the partition is too small to install Slackware from so you may need to try installing a bootable file system management utility in the partition so you can shrink the Karmic partition ...

TheStarLion · 11-26-2009, 03:23 PM

I realised that when I saw that Slackware has 6 installation CD's and I have no idea which one I want.
At the moment I'm trying Fedora, if that works and I want to use it, then all well and good, if not, then I'll come back and have another look at Slackware to try and understand which images I need, and then work from there.

linus72 · 11-26-2009, 03:42 PM

StarLion; you can either make a specific partition that "emulates" a USB stick (fat32 w/ syslinux installed)

Or just use a ext3 partition: though distros like KNOPPIX-6.2 won't boot for me from a ext2/ext3 partition
in frugal mode

Note that you can boot the syslinux partition with Plop bootmanager
I havent yet found a way to boot from a grub menu and go to a syslinux menu?
So, I use plop

Heres my fat32 syslinux partition, 5GB in size:

Code:

Disk /dev/sdb: 80 GB, 80023749120 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System 
/dev/sdb1               1        9067    72830646   83  Linux
/dev/sdb2            9068        9729     5309482    b  FAT32

its my #2 hdd, sdb1 is storage of isos,etc

I have, right now, these distros booting persistent on that partition
NetbootCD-3.1.2
DSL-4.4.10
Phalanx-9.04
Slax-6.1.2
PartedMagic-4.6
KNOPPIX-6.2
Tinycore-2.5
Puppy-4.31

I have space to add more
and lets say I wanna try out Fedora 12
I can either just extract the iso to my "usb" partition
or to a ext2/ext3 partition and boot in LiveCD mode and see if I like it

Is that what your doing??

TheStarLion · 11-26-2009, 03:44 PM

Essentially, yes. I've got the LiveCD for Fedora on download, not long left on it. What I'd like to be able to do, by my own description of it, is to use the spare partition in place of the LiveCD, that is, the contents of it are on the partition instead of the CD.
Fedora appears to have a guide for this, which I'm following (Chapter 9 of their Installation Guide is what I'm using)
I think it's the one I want. I'm not sure.

linus72 · 11-26-2009, 04:11 PM

Yes, you can boot Fedora 12 extracted livecd off a partition, even one with another distro already installed

So, it seems your Using Ubuntu, so grab isomaster app from synaptic pkg manager
this will easily extract iso's for you without being root.

Now, using isomaster; or by mounting/copying iso contents to partition
this partition must have Grub installed!

Here's fedora 12's isolinux.cfg entry; which you gotta convert to a Grub menu.lst

Code:

label linux0
  menu label Boot
  kernel vmlinuz0
  append initrd=initrd0.img root=live:CDLABEL=Fedora-12-i686-Live rootfstype=auto ro liveimg quiet  rhgb rd_NO_LUKS rd_NO_MD noiswmd 
menu default

So, we gotta change some things such as

Code:

root=live:CDLABEL=Fedora-12-i686-Live rootfstype=auto

Booting off a ext3 partition; you must change this, using the UUID #
of the said partition:

Code:

root=UUID=? rootfstype=ext3

to find the UUID of partition, mount it and as root enter the blkid command

Code:

blkid

it'll output a series of numbers
copy/paste that into the menu.lst after "root=UUID="
lets say mine says 0123456

Code:

root=UUID=0123456 rootfstype=ext3

Then, we gotta make the kernel/initrd so's grub can recognize
everything; thusly,

Code:

title Fedora 12 Off-HDD
root (hdx,x)
kernel /isolinux/vmlinuz0 initrd=/isolinux/initrd0.img root=UUID=01123456 rootfstype=ext3 ro liveimg quiet  rhgb rd_NO_LUKS rd_NO_MD noiswmd 
initrd /isolinux/initrd0.img

so, you must move the append line to the kernel line too see?

Add the above to your Menu.lst, with appropriate numbering (hdx,x)
and UUID #
and Fed 12 will boot

TheStarLion · 11-26-2009, 04:16 PM

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind if what I think I've done fails

What I think I've done though, and feel free to correct me if I've got it wrong, is following the Fedora Documentation, as mentioned in my previous post, I took vmlinuz and initrd.img from a mirror site, placed them in /dev/sda2/boot (actually, /dev/sda2 mounted as /tmp/alt) and renamed them to vmlinuz-install and initrd.img-install
Then added the Grub lines in Chapter 9.2, booted from that, and gave it the install.img from a server, which it's currently retrieving - and if I understand it correctly, when it's finished retrieving install.img, I'll be able to install Fedora 12 as if I'd logged into a LiveCD session, and told it to install, or something along those lines.

I hope that makes some sense. I wasn't expecting it to get as far as downloading install.img

linus72 · 11-26-2009, 04:21 PM

Yes, your will work as an INSTALL boot
you wont have a Desktop or LiveCD mode either
you will be able to install Fedora 12 both ways

TheStarLion · 11-26-2009, 04:23 PM

That's alright, so long as it means I can install Fedora, then that's what I'm after.
Now the long wait for it to finish retrieving install.img happens...

While I wait - this isn't exactly a necessary thing or anything, but I'm curious, what sort of questions is the installer likely to ask when it's finished? Maybe there's someplace that shows it in screenshots? I'd just like to get an idea of what to expect, so I'm not jumping entirely into the unknown - at least to me, anyway.

linus72 · 11-26-2009, 04:27 PM

Install Qemu Launcher, make a virtual hard disk, install Fed 12 to the vhd and thats the safest route
I can tell you how to do all that
get qemu launcher from synaptic