Damn Small Linux Install with USB CD-ROM and Compact Flash

housatonic · 06-17-2008, 07:40 PM

Hello,

I'm trying to install DSL onto a Geode MMX with compact flash drive. I boot from the USB-CDROM (a Sony DRX-710UL) with a disk of the deli_4.2.5.iso disk and it boots fine.

When I run deliinstall, as instucted, it sees the compact flash and allows me to partition etc. But then it asks me for the device with the packages. I hunted around the /dev/ directory, but can't seem to find any device that will allow me to mount the sony drive. But this is the drive I booted from???

Anybody have an idea how I can mount this USB-CDROM so that I can finish the install?

thanks in advance!

wernerz · 06-17-2008, 07:48 PM

Try scd0 or cd0. The first is for Sony SCSI cdrom/DVD Drives and the second generic SCSI cdrom.

jschiwal · 06-17-2008, 10:48 PM

My external CD/DVD drive uses /dev/sr0. If you mean a thumb drive that emulates a CD Drive, then I don't know.

wernerz · 06-18-2008, 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jschiwal

My external CD/DVD drive uses /dev/sr0.

Not sure but would you not then just say /dev/sr0? This is where you booted from and contains the packages. It is already mounted...is it not?

housatonic · 06-18-2008, 10:54 AM

Thanks, I appreciate the help.

I don't see either a /dev/cd0 or a /dev/sr0. That is the puzzling thing ... it booted from the USB-CDROM, and now seems unable to find it. When I send a mount command, it only lists

/dev/root, /proc and /dev/hda2 (a compact flash drive)

Also, when I look in /proc/bus, I don't see a usb directory which is normally the case for a usb device???

jschiwal · 06-18-2008, 08:15 PM

Run "dmesg | less" and look for the lines detecting devices during boot up. Some distro's also have a /var/log/boot.log that may contain even earlier messages.

Also post the output of "lsmod". You may be missing some modules such as usb_core or usb_uhci. ( Sorry, I don't remember the difference between uhci, ohci & ehci. I once had the wrong one loaded and it interfered with the other.

I did some searching on Google for "geode mmx linux".

Quote:

Our chosen SBC is based around a 300MHz National Semiconductor Geode processor with the CS5530A companion IC providing interface to CRT SVGA monitors and/or TFT LCD panels. It also features an IrDA port, two OHCI-compliant USB ports, PS/2 keyboard/mouse port, one parallel port, two RS-232 ports (one of which can be configured for RS-485), floppy controller, single IDE bus, CompactFlash slot residing on the second IDE bus, 10/100 Ethernet via a Realtek RTL8139 and analog audio I/O. Some of the other devices listed above differ in peripherals; dual or more LANs, TV-out, etc, but they are all the same core hardware and share a lot of the same quirks.

If inserting a usb device isn't detected while monitoring the kernel messages "sudo tail -f /var/log/messages", you may have the wrong usb modules loaded. The same webpage mentions that you can get into trouble at first if your boot kernel is i686 based. It is recommended to boot with an i586 architecture kernel.
http://www.larwe.com/technical/geode_linux.html