Introduction:
Because I want a portable linux system on my 40GB USB 2.0 SCSI harddrive, I installed Slackware to a 38GB RFS partition on the USB drive (/dev/sda2/). (I used the remaining space for a 1GB linux swap and a 1GB cross-platform share space.) My BIOS loaded LILO from my harddrive, which then uncompressed the kernel, but because the default kernel was not configured to directly mount SCSI nor mass USB without the use of modules, the kernel panicked. (See thread: "Kernel panic: VFS: Unable to mount root fs" - Kernel fails to boot linux")

The Concern:
After many attempts to install my custom kernel to the Slackware filesytem by using either a Knoppix or MEPIS CD, I resolved to install Slackware 10.2 to my computer's local harddrive (which can boot normally), upgrade the existing kernel to my custom linux kernel 2.6.17 including SCSI and USB support, and then use a raw cloning tool (window's based - but it's flawless, so I won't complain) to copy the Slackware partition from /dev/hda3/ to /dev/sda2/. Because I am changing root directories physically, what modifications will I have to make to the cloned Slackware system to get it to functionally operate? Also, in case I boot my USB slackware on a computer with an internal SCSI drive, would I need to redirect LILO and my kernel to boot from /dev/sdb2/? My sincere thanks to all who will help.

Follow the instructions on the boot screen from Slackware install CD 1 to boot the partition after copying it (using the sata or huge26 kernel). Then you should be able to get away with modifying lilo.conf on the partition and launching lilo to write a boot sector.

Reboot, and it should work if everything went well. If not, you can still boot using the Slackware CD to change whatever messed up.

I can't say for sure sence I've mever used it, but I hear that the Grub boot loader would be better for this. It has an actual boot console so you can enter in boot params on the fly. Lilo is hard coded to the disk so it's not the most flexible.

regards,
...drkstr

Yes, I have been quite interested in downloading and installing Grub for my linux system, but because Slackware is not packaged with Grub, how would I obtain the install files and what would I do to install Grub? I have researched GNU Grub's website, but because there is no documentation for GRUB 2, (I see no reason to install legacy) I am almost clueless. Thanks to all.

You can grap a pack for Slack 10.2 from linuxpackages.net: http://www.linuxpackages.net/pkg_details.php?id=7438

Moving stuff around (a lot) gets to be a pain. You need to make sure *all* the drivers are included in the kernel - particularly relevant if you plan to later copy to some (currently unknown) internal disk later on.
Using external USB can be iffy due to timing issues when mounting the root - even when all the support is compiled in.
fstab will need cleaning up each time the device designation changes.
...

As for grub, I thought there was a package on the extra CD (been a while since I used Slack). I always install onto grub systems, and skip the loader, so it was easy for me. In your case you might be better off staying with a standard install, get all those issues sorted first, then look at grub later.
As for grub 2, I've not seen a distro use it - I'm sure there are examples, but they don't seem to be the well-known ones.
If I was new to grub, I'd take that as a hint.

I don't know, if I understand you in the right way. Your Slackware system is on a USB disk. From this USB disk you want to be able to boot any computer via BIOS-USB-Boot. And in these computers IDE and SCSI harddisks should be usable for your running Slackware system!?

You copy your custom kernel with usb and scsi support with the modules out of /lib/modules/your_custom_modules to your usb harddisk. Then you modify the /etc/lilo.conf of your installed Slackware system (which you installed to create your custom kernel).

First copy your original /etc/lilo.conf to /etc/lilo.conf.bak and edit the /etc/lilo.conf:

Then you run

and LiLO should be installed proberly. I usually copy the /etc/lilo.conf to the usb disk to have one there to modify later out of the running (usb booted) system. Copy the original /etc/lilo.conf.bak back to /etc on your pc.

Another way is to chroot to the mounted usb disk and run "liloconfig" to install LiLO. I do it in this way:

I assume, that you are running Slackware on your pc (installed for creating the custom kernel) and that you have mounted your usb harddisk to /mnt/sdb2.

Then you run

and follow the graphical installer.

This should work also.

Inspite of compiling a new kernel you can take the default Slackware kernel (e.g. out of current) and create a ramdisk with SCSI drivers and USB drivers out of /lib/modules/...

This works fine for me on a notebook with SCSI harddisk - I use

- to have a full featured and bootable Slackware kernel with SCSI support for xfs filesystem and ACPI with all features. And if you edit the linuxrc in the initrd.gz to have 10 seconds for loading the usb modules and checking the usb ports for the usb disc, there are no problems to boot from usb harddisk.

Fluxx.

Could somebody post example code of how I could force the kernel to wait for my USB SCSI drive to mount under /dev/sda2? I've seen both timer and loop functions.
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Does device designation refer to /dev/sda2 or the physical USB port? I plan to always mount the drive as the only SCSI device, but not always with the same port.
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I have resaerched GRUB some, and I remember an option to remap devices or partitions without the kernel knowing. Would this be a good way to gaurantee slackware would always mount as /dev/sda2 even if other SCSI devices are installed in the booted system? Also, I know LILO doesn't function properly if it cannot find each listed mount point in the system. Can GRUB have extra entries that do not always have existing reference points?
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I plan to only mount the partitions on my own drive. The filesystem I will be accessing will be:

1. /dev/sda1 - - Linux Swap - - 790MB - - Page File
2. /dev/sda2 - - ReiserFS - - - 38GB - - - - Root Directory
3. /dev/sda3 - - vFAT - - - - - - - 790MB - - Cross Platform Share

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Could someone provide a general explanation to the initrd file. I assume I couldn't use an initrd for RFS and SCSI support because the kernel must be able to access the drive before it can access the initrd. Also, what does "quiet" do?
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During my installation I enabled the Appletalk Daemon, which slowed the boot process. How do I disable it, and what would I do to temporarily activate it?

Because I plan to boot my USB installation from various machines, I wanted to pick a generic video card for maximum compatibility when I ran xorgconfig. I chose Linux Framebuffer, but when I typed startx I received a message similar to "Error: no screen present". What video card should I select for generic support?

Finally, what file would I edit to shorten the hostname? It takes too much space in my bash prompt.

Guys -- and girls, to be politically correct -- I've exhausted my list of curiosities. I have the Slackware Essentials book in case it has any good references. Thank you so much for your support to change me from a newbie to a power user. I greatly appreciate it.

i) I never use initrd, so I would use "rootdelay=10" on the loader option; clean and simple. Presumably you could do the same with lilo as it's a kernel parm.
ii) I was indeed refering to the "/dev/sd??" nomenclature.
iii) if you are booting off the drive with the root, it should always be /dev/sda? - nothing to worry about.
iv) for the video, just pick "vesa" as a generic.

Here

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...=usb+initrd.gz

you can find a short how-to which explains step by step how I managed it to run Slackware from an external USB disk.

And - it is only my way to do it. There are other ways, may be more "clean" and more "easy", but it is how always in life: many ways to just one aim ...

Fluxx.