Hello all!

Today I installed Slack 10.2 a few times. Two of those I finished the install successfully and rebooted.

Things moved just fine until ...

"kermel panic: no init found"

So, still no working slack install.

Where do errors like this come from? I installed lilo into MBR (does that have anything to do with anything?).

Are you sure your lilo configuration is all right? This kind of error usually mean the system can't find his root / on boot, so can't start init. If you know what your root partition is, you should be able to boot into it giving the following option to your lilo prompt :
(where "linux" is the label of your linux partition in the boot loader screen, and /dev/hdXY your hard drive and partition number, as example, hda5

Well, since I was unable to boot I haven't been able to check the config. Or should that be possible already as lilo comes up?

hda1 = 80M as /boot
hda2 = 1G as /
hdb1 = 2G as /
hdc1 = 420M as Swap
hdd as CDROM

hdb1 is the one I chose as / first during format, does that matter?

Is my problem that the config is on the wrong device?

Did you by any chance selected 2.6 kernel? If you did, and my memory doesn't fail, you'll have to enable rc.udev on the harddisk after installing.

I did a vanilla install. No specific choice to favour 2.6.

I am not close to the computer now, but I will make sure to look tomorrow.

You have 2 root ??? How is this possible? Did you installed settings this? That would actually explain why it fails to boot, if you installed on /dev/hdb2, it probably try to use hda2 as the root (because it come first) and then fails because it doesn't contain your system.

Why do you want 2 root ?

Because I constantly run out of space.

...and guess why it fails to boot?
You _can't_ have 2 /. If you want to add a partition to your system, mount it to a directory not OVER your root directoey. It's like trying to have 2 C: in windoze... it will never work, you have to use a different letter? In Linux, you have to use a different directory.

[edit]
in the mean time, boot back into your system giving your lilo the option "root=/dev/hdb1" (this is the "real" root, right?) and delete (or change) the line about the other root in /etc/fstab. It should do it.

Hence my previous question when I listed my partition table.

Actually, I can have two /, it was easy. The fact that it doesn't work is really rather annoying.

I think I have been adviced expanding diskspace by adding partitions in fstab, for example to /usr or /home. But I won't bet my head on it.

I have pealed off Tcl, Tex, KDE, kernel sources (which I need) and most windowmanagers, and a shedload of other details to get Slack to fit. Guess why I have had to try installing it a plethora of times. I hit the roof every time. A major reason to the thread about "installer suggestions".

Slack needs space if I want X and development. When and how do I add space to my install, I am desperate to know.

Is there no data on hda2 as I am supposed to be able to drop it from fstab? Remeber, I haven't been able to get in to check.

Yes hdb1 is the partition I chose after coming out of addswap as /.

Assuming you installed your system over /dev/hdb1, there is most likely nothing in /dev/hda2. If you want space, well... choose a massive (in the term of space) directory, like /usr and move (litterally MOVE, using the "mv" command, just mount the other partition somewhere and move your dir) it to the other drive/partition. Then tell your fstab to mount this partition as "how the directory was named before the move", as example, "/usr". On one of my system, / is on a drive, /usr on another drive, and /usr/local on the first drive, side by side with /, so there is nothing impossible.

Yes, it'sthe way to do it. You can probably have 2 / (in the sense nothing is impossible in linux world if you are ready to make enought effort on it... wanna code a patch for the kernel, maybe?), but you probably don't want to try it... just use another directory

No you cant have two /'s. You can't mount two partitions on the same mount point.
unionfs provides a work-around, or you could LVM to expand /.

One thing to keep in mind is that most of the installation resides under /usr (and /opt if KDE is installed). If you put /opt and /usr on separate partitions, you only need 100MB for your / partition!
If you are running out of room, give yourself extra space for these mount points.
I have complete, friendly desktop that uses under 256MB!

If my memory serves me right, I tried a slim install with / on the 1G and /usr on the 2G partition. Since I still don't have a good working system, I believe it failed. How I don't know, I must have repressed it.

I will try again later today.


Out of curiosity, when during the install comes the time to configure LVM such that I can use one larger area? It is not something I really want to do, but it could be good to know.

Pay attention this time................YOU CANNOT HAVE 2 "/" PARTITIONS!!!
3 people have told you this...........what part do you NOT understand??

Please do note this!

It is not my intention having two /! It is my intention to have space enough for a working install.

I have not been by the computer since I asked, I have not yet rectified the problem. I will later today.

I DO have two / at the moment, whether or not I can!

I have answered questions with what I have done so far!

How hard is that to understand? Kindly point me to where I have lead aneyone to misunderstand this!


Added: I have read and understood the answers given. I WILL take actions accordingly.