please can you see that this is the way to make a boot up floppy for FC3...



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Creating a Linux Boot Disk
An Unofficial Updated Guide to Linux BootDisk Creation and Use by Mark Rais

If you have not yet installed Linux, but for some reason prefer to manually create a bootdisk rather than let the installation make it for you then please use the rawrite program included on your Linux CD-ROM under the dosutils subdirectory.

For general RedHat Linux Installation Help please go to our Installation page.


Create Your Emergency Linux Boot Disk
1. Believe it or not you're going to need a floppy disk to do this so please make sure you have one handy!

2. Load up Linux and make sure you are logged in as root or have enough privileges to run system commands.

3. Check which Kernel you are running by typing exactly this at the command prompt: ls /lib/modules
This should give you a directory item with the exact kernel such as: 2.4.2-2

4. Now insert your floppy diskette into the A: or floppy drive. In Linux the a: drive is also known as fd0 (that's with zero not an 'o')

5. At the prompt please type: mkbootdisk --device /dev/fd0 x.x.x-x
(please replace the x.x.x-x with the kernel info you got from the step 3 above)

6. You should have an emergency boot disk within about 1 minute. All previous data on the floppy will obviously be erased.

7. Now you may use this floppy to boot in emergency situations! Enjoy!!!

What if the mkbootdisk utility isnt available?
On some versions of Linux you can instead create a boot disk by typing this command at the Linux prompt:
dd if=/mnt/cdrom/images/cdrom.img of=/dev/fd0

Be sure that you have put your Linux CD into the CD-ROM drive and a floppy diskette into the floppy drive, and that both of these have been properly mounted. Then run the command!


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The fedora kernel is to big to fit on a single floppy disk. However, it is possible to create multiple floppies as described in the link below. I have never tried this to actually see if it works.

http://www.thisiscool.com/fcfloppy.htm

what i meant was something like Win98 startup disk????
for emergency usage????

You can use the 1st install cd. When the install menu is displayed type in linux rescue at the prompt. The menu provides a list of options. It provides a terminal console where you can access the files on the hard drive. The root directory will be mounted at /mnt/sysimage

You can also use a live CD such as knoppix.

Forget about "floppy disks." You simply don't need one. They're not big enough to do anything "useful" anymore, and they're unreliable, as well.

Per contra, a CD-ROM holds about 500 times as much information, which cannot be altered.

If you need to restart your system to fix a problem, Disk #1 of the installation (any distro) will be able to do that. CD-ROM based distros such as Knoppix (free download) are even better because they are complete systems.

It defies me why distros continue to mention an "emergency boot floppy." That guidance should be struck from every document. I don't know of any modern computer that cannot boot from a floppy. And, even for those few that can't, most network-cards support booting from the network.

You do need to have, and to practice from time to time, an emergency-recovery scenario. But floppy disks are a useless, archaic part of that scenario.

Unless you have a really old computer that cannot boot from CD drive. I had that once and I had to use a boot floppy in order to get linux installed...

thanx everyone....