Hi

I have a dual boot XP and Red Hat 9 box. I boot Linux from a floppy as I did not want to use GRUB/LILO.

I'm trying to make a boot cd for Linux using -

mkbootdisk --iso --device boot_CD <kernel-version>

this makes the file boot_CD, the problem is burning this iso onto CD.

I tried to use cdrecord, but cdrecord cannot read ide drives only scsi.
The work around for this is to make an ide drive look like a scsi drive by putting -

hdc=ide-scsi
into /etc/lilo.conf on the append= "....." line, or as appropriate for GRUB


However, since I don't use GRUB/LILO, where would I have to make such changes?

Or do I have other options?

Can anyone please help.

Thanks

Az

What's wrong with using lilo? :)

[edit]
Btw, the boot-floppy should have some
sort of boot-prompt, too ...

All you need to do is
linux hdX=ide-scsi
[/edit]


Cheers,
Tink

Nothing wrong with lilo.

Its just that I may need to install windows 2000 as well, which will mean I wont be able to boot into linux as this will write over MBR etc

Tink

I'm an 'absolute' newbie, still learning

where do I make the changes you have suggested?

Thanks

Depends on what/how your bootfloppy is (is made
with) ... chances are it uses lilo as well ... if this is
the case you can make it permanent by editing the
/etc/lilo.conf while in linux ... then run lilo. If it isn't
you'll have to type that each time you boot.

As for win2k ... after the install (and manually having
booted into Linux using your old floppy) you just need
to re-run lilo, and have your boot-chooser back :)
Probably (again) edit /etc/lilo.conf to have an entry
for w2k, too.


Cheers,
Tink

There are some kernel config options that you will need to make sure you have.

First of all, you will need the following modules loaded:

ide-scsi
sr_mod

it is possible that these are just compiled into the kernel.

You can check to see if they are loaded as modules by typing 'lsmod' when logged in as root.
You should see something like this:


Module Size Used by
nvidia 1703980 10
e1000 78980 0
ide_scsi 13316 0
sr_mod 14372 0
8139too 20992 0

If the modules do not exist, and are not compiled into the kernel (if they were then when you typed: "cdrecord -scanbus" it should show something like this:
----
Cdrecord-Clone 2.01a25 (i686-pc-linux-gnu) Copyright (C) 1995-2004 J�rg Schilling
Linux sg driver version: 3.5.30
Using libscg version 'schily-0.8'.
scsibus2:
2,0,0 200) 'PIONEER ' 'DVD-RW DVR-105 ' '1.33' Removable CD-ROM
2,1,0 201) *
2,2,0 202) *
2,3,0 203) *
2,4,0 204) *
2,5,0 205) *
2,6,0 206) *
2,7,0 207) *
----
and if not, it should show this:
----
Cdrecord-Clone 2.01a25 (i686-pc-linux-gnu) Copyright (C) 1995-2004 J�rg Schilling
cdrecord: No such file or directory. Cannot open '/dev/pg*'. Cannot open SCSI driver.
cdrecord: For possible targets try 'cdrecord -scanbus'. Make sure you are root.
cdrecord: For possible transport specifiers try 'cdrecord dev=help'.
-----

So basically if those modules have not been compiled, you will need to recompile your kernel, and switch them on. There are also one or perhaps two other things you need to enable - under SCSI drivers you need to turn on "scsi emulation support" (or something).

To recompile the kernel you will need to install the mandrake kernel source package (for the exact kernel you are running - to find out type "uname -r")...

then go into /usr/src/linux and type 'make menuconfig' - then find the options, turn them all on (a * next to something = it will go into the kernel itself, a M means it will be compiled as a loadable module).

Then do a make dep && make bzImage && make modules && make modules_install

if you compile them as modules you can skip the make bzImage and should not even have to reboot. once the modules are compiled you can load them with
'modprobe ide-scsi && modprobe sr_mod'
note that the ide-scsi modules *IS* called 'ide-scsi' even though lsmod lists it as 'ide_scsi' (underscore).

So... yeah... I hope this helps. if you have done this stuff before you should be cool. if not - you should still be cool but may need to ask for more specific info.
do pretty much everything I said whilst logged in as root.

and then it should all work nicely.

once the drive is a pretend scsi device, it will no longer be at /dev/hdc (or wherever).

it will be at /dev/scsi/host2/bus0/target0/lun0/cd
so you will need to create a /dev/scd0 symlink for convenience. You can then refer to it (mount it etc) as /dev/scd0. to create te link:

ln -s /dev/scsi/host2/bus0/target0/lun0/cd /dev/scd0

if that doesn't work - look in /dev/scsi... etc until you find the device. it should be easy to find.

And that should be it.
weird because I thought mandrake automatically set up burners as scsi emulated devices.


I am using kernel 2.6.2 and apparently you don't need scsi emulation to burn in that. if someone could explain that to me I'd be greatful because I still had to do this to make cdrecord work.

cheers.

ooops sorry...

s/mandrake/redhat/


if you aren't using lilo or grub what are you using?
I thought redhat defaulted to GRUB.

anyway - lilo rocks.

OH! and whilst you are busily configuring your kernel... go into FILESYSTEMS, and turn on NTFS support because I don't think it's compiled by default in the redhat9 kernel.

You will be very happy later... because then you will be able to mount your win2k filesystems (and XP filesystems).

mount -t ntfs /dev/hdxx /mnt/win_c

for example...

if you compile it as a module you might need to load it before you can do that though.

but otherwise if you try to mount your windows drives then it will just say that ntfs is not supported by the kernel.

it is read only access, but ifyou have mp3s, divXs etc that you want to listen to/watch then you will be happy to be able to do this.

of course redhat9 doesn't support mp3s either hehe but that's another story.

<subliminal message>GENTOO!</subliminal message>

I want to thank you good folks for helping me with your help and advice