LinuxQuestions.org
Help answer threads with 0 replies.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Distributions > Slackware
User Name
Password
Slackware This Forum is for the discussion of Slackware Linux.

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 01-30-2006, 08:47 PM   #1
frankie_DJ
Member
 
Registered: Sep 2004
Location: NorCal
Distribution: slackware 10.1 comfy, Solaris10 learning
Posts: 232

Rep: Reputation: 32
Unable to see current FreeBSD partitions from Slack install disc1


Hi everyone, I will post my question here, since I am trying to install Slackware, although the question might be more general. I am trying to install Slack10.2 on my office machine that had FreeBSD 6.0 installed on it for couple of days.

[Long story short, I wanted to try it out, but I had trouble installing Linux versions of Matlab and Mathematica on it, and I don't have time to play with it, so I wanna switch back to familiar Slack.]

ANyways... I put in the install disc 1 and I can't seem to be able to see the current partition table with fdisk. I mean
Code:
fdisk /dev/sda
gets me into fdisk, but when I type p, it's like there is nothing on the HD. Similarly, when I try to wipe the HD with
Code:
dd /dev/zero /dev/sda
, it says No more space on the disk. I also tried mounting the HD with
Code:
mount -t ufs /dev/sda /mnt
, but it says kernel doesn't support ufs filesystem. I tried several kernels bare.i, bareacpi.i, sata.i. Can someone tell me why is the current Freebsd partition table invisible to the install disc? I wanna be able to see the current partitions on the HD before I get rid of them, and I wanna be able to use dd utility to wipe off the HD. Thanks. My HD is Seagate ST3120026AS 3.18.

Last edited by frankie_DJ; 01-31-2006 at 01:46 PM.
 
Old 01-31-2006, 01:47 PM   #2
frankie_DJ
Member
 
Registered: Sep 2004
Location: NorCal
Distribution: slackware 10.1 comfy, Solaris10 learning
Posts: 232

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 32
Will someone take a shot at this?
 
Old 01-31-2006, 02:44 PM   #3
uselpa
Senior Member
 
Registered: Oct 2004
Location: Luxemburg
Distribution: Slackware, OS X
Posts: 1,507

Rep: Reputation: 47
When you install FBSD, you can dedicate the whole disk to it. In that case, you don't have a DOS-style partition table. I suppose that is what you did.
To install Slackware, try to create at least 2 partitions using fdisk or cfdisk (one for swap and one for the root file system). After that you should be able to run setup.
Of course you'll lose all that was on the disk before, I assume that that's OK.
 
Old 01-31-2006, 09:00 PM   #4
j79zlr
Member
 
Registered: Dec 2005
Location: Chicago
Distribution: Gentoo, Slackware, and FreeBSD
Posts: 38

Rep: Reputation: 15
To mount FreeBSD slices in linux you need to pass the ufstype=ufs2 option to mount.

http://www.j79zlr.com/howto.php?id=22
 
Old 01-31-2006, 10:41 PM   #5
lestoil
Member
 
Registered: Apr 2004
Location: new york
Distribution: win2k,ubuntu,sw13,arch,centos5.3
Posts: 815

Rep: Reputation: 31
can cfdisk delete bsd partitions? Above post says kernel needs ufs support. Compile a kernel to install SW? Is there a readily available program to erase the bsd partions or will bsd install disk delete them? Maybe RIP floppy can work.

Last edited by lestoil; 01-31-2006 at 10:49 PM.
 
Old 01-31-2006, 10:50 PM   #6
j79zlr
Member
 
Registered: Dec 2005
Location: Chicago
Distribution: Gentoo, Slackware, and FreeBSD
Posts: 38

Rep: Reputation: 15
I skimmed the first post, I thought the guy was trying to mount freebsd partitions in linux. You don't need support in the kernel to erase them. What exactly does p show you? Here is an example from one of my PC's with Linux and FBSD:

Code:
joe@gentoo ~ $ su -
Password:
root@gentoo ~ # fdisk /dev/hda

The number of cylinders for this disk is set to 9729.
There is nothing wrong with that, but this is larger than 1024,
and could in certain setups cause problems with:
1) software that runs at boot time (e.g., old versions of LILO)
2) booting and partitioning software from other OSs
   (e.g., DOS FDISK, OS/2 FDISK)

Command (m for help): p

Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/hda1   *           1        2611    20972826    7  HPFS/NTFS
/dev/hda2            2612        5222    20972857+  83  Linux
/dev/hda3            5223        7833    20972857+  a5  FreeBSD
/dev/hda4            7834        9729    15229620    c  W95 FAT32 (LBA)

Command (m for help):
 
Old 01-31-2006, 11:02 PM   #7
frankie_DJ
Member
 
Registered: Sep 2004
Location: NorCal
Distribution: slackware 10.1 comfy, Solaris10 learning
Posts: 232

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 32
It shows everything the same as yours, including
Device/Boot/Start/End/Blocks/Id/System line, but that's the last line of the output. Why are the partition tables made by FreeBSD invisible to fdisk? That's what's bugging me.
 
Old 02-01-2006, 07:48 AM   #8
uselpa
Senior Member
 
Registered: Oct 2004
Location: Luxemburg
Distribution: Slackware, OS X
Posts: 1,507

Rep: Reputation: 47
In FBSD terminology, what we call a partition is called a "slice", and a partition is a part of a slice. So FBSD partitions are different from our (DOS) partitions. Same word, different sense.

As I said before, you probably dedicated the whole disk to FBSD during installation. In that case it will not use the partition scheme you are used to, i.e. not create any "slices", but consider the disk as one slice of FBSD. In that case you do not have a traditional partition table and fdisk will not show anything.

Google for "freebsd slice partition" for more information.
 
Old 02-01-2006, 09:05 AM   #9
lestoil
Member
 
Registered: Apr 2004
Location: new york
Distribution: win2k,ubuntu,sw13,arch,centos5.3
Posts: 815

Rep: Reputation: 31
FBSD forum says that gparted, fdisk, cfdisk, can delete the usf2 partitions. The FBSD install fdisk/cfdisk should do same-change a5 id to 83? Confirm at their forum.
 
Old 02-01-2006, 10:18 PM   #10
rkrishna
Member
 
Registered: Mar 2005
Location: chennai(madras), India
Distribution: slackware ofcourse
Posts: 654

Rep: Reputation: 32
just some coments only.
?>. try test2.6.s kernel
?>
Quote:
fdisk /dev/sda
are u sure that it is "/dev/sda "
first try #fdisk -l then get the name of ur disk
?>
Quote:
Disk /dev/hda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
is it showing some 700 mb instead of gbs.

Last edited by rkrishna; 02-01-2006 at 10:20 PM.
 
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Slack Install - Does not show partitions mickx27 Slackware - Installation 6 01-16-2006 01:20 PM
Unable to install packages from fat32 for -current build MWilson Slackware 10 09-04-2005 11:05 PM
freeBSD install - fdisk not showing partitions? a2ps *BSD 2 06-26-2005 11:02 AM
using slack 9 CD to install slack current mr_mandrill Slackware - Installation 1 06-20-2004 01:23 AM
Slack current NFS install lancest Slackware 2 11-26-2002 05:47 AM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Distributions > Slackware

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 02:56 AM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration