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- Putting Linux on ZIP disk using ppa ZIP Drive Mini-Howto
- v0.2, December 5, 1996
- by John Wiggins <jwiggins@comp.uark.edu>
-
- Slackware 2.2 section courtesy of
- Michael Littlejohn <mike@mesa7.mesa.colorado.edu>
-
- [------- Index -------]
-
- 0. Disclaimer
-
- 1. Introduction
- 1.1. Conventions
- 1.2. Updates
- 1.3. Related documents
-
- 2. Setting up the ZIP disk (Common for both distributions.)
- 2.1. Partitioning ZIP disk
- 2.2. Formating and mounting ZIP disk
- 2.3. Creating the boot disk
- 2.3.1. Configuring and making the kernel
- 2.3.2. Getting the kernel to a floppy
- 2.3.3. Setting the root and swap devices on the boot floppy
-
- 3. RedHat 4.0.1 installation
- 3.1. Personal setup
- 3.2. Package installation
- 3.2.1. What packages to get
- 3.2.2. How to install the packages with rpm
- 3.3. Problems after installation of packages
- 3.3.1. /etc/ld.so.cache
- 3.3.2. pamconfig
- 3.3.3. Setting things back
-
- 4. Slackware 2.2 installation
- 4.1. Requirements
- 4.2. Installation
- 4.3. What to install
-
- 5. Modifying /etc/fstab (Common for both distributions.)
-
- -----------------------------------
-
- 0. Disclaimer
-
- This document is only useful for those with the printer port
- version of a ZIP drive who wish to have either a portable or
- backup Linux system on a ZIP disk.
-
- This document assumes the following:
- * You already have Linux installed and running; this document is
- not for a first time install of Linux.
- * You have ppa support in your current kernel or if module, the ppa
- module has been loaded.
- * The mount point for the ZIP disk is the /iomega directory.
-
- 1. Introduction
-
- This document is divided into three sections each describing how to
- install a Linux system on a 100MB ZIP disk using a ppa ZIP drive.
- The first section describes how to set up the ZIP disk and is common
- to both distribution installations. The second and third sections
- describe how to install RedHat 4.0.1 and Slackware 2.2 distributions,
- respectively, onto the ZIP disk.
-
- 1.1. Conventions
-
- ==> Indicates the following text are commands.
-
- 1.2. Updates
-
- For any updates, please check:
- http://comp.uark.edu/~jwiggins/linuxZIP/
-
- 1.3. Related documents
-
- * Installation-HOWTO
- * SCSI-HOWTO
- * ZIP-Drive (mini-HOWTO)
-
- 2. Setting up the ZIP disk (Common for both distributions.)
-
- 2.1. Partitioning ZIP disk
-
- First, I ran fdisk:
- ==> fdisk /dev/sda
- Here is a snap of the partition table I have setup:
-
- Disk /dev/sda: 64 heads, 32 sectors, 96 cylinders
- Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 bytes
-
- Device Boot Begin Start End Blocks Id System
- /dev/sda1 1 1 81 82928 83 Linux native
- /dev/sda2 82 82 96 15360 82 Linux swap
-
- I decided to use a swap partition since I wanted to be able to use
- this with any machine.
-
- 2.2. Formating and mounting the ZIP disk
-
- After running fdisk, format the new partition:
- ==> mke2fs -c /dev/sda1
- Then, create the swap partition:
- ==> mkswap -c 15360 /dev/sda2
- Last, you'll need to mount the ZIP disk:
- ==> mount /dev/sda1 /iomega -t ext2
-
- 2.3. Creating the boot disk
-
- Since the ppa version of the ZIP drive isn't a true SCSI device, it
- isn't a bootable device and, therefore, requires a boot disk.
-
- 2.3.1. Configuring and making the kernel
-
- First, you'll need to configure and make a kernel that has ppa
- support enabled and not as a loadable module. In order to get
- to the ppa option, select SCSI support:
- SCSI support (CONFIG_SCSI) [Y/m/n/?]
- Plus, SCSI disk support:
- SCSI disk support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD) [Y/m/n/?]
- And finally, under the SCSI low-level drivers, is the ppa support:
- IOMEGA Parallel Port ZIP drive SCSI support (CONFIG_SCSI_PPA) [Y/m/n/?]
- Again, be sure not to include ppa as a module, but rather in the kernel.
- Thus far, the ppa driver will not allow the passive port of the ZIP
- drive to be used for a printer, so you may want to say no to
- parallel printer support:
- Parallel printer support (CONFIG_PRINTER) [N/y/m/?]
- NOTE: For more information concerning the ppa driver, please refer
- to the ZIP-Drive mini-HOWTO.
- Once the kernel is configured, make the kernel:
- ==> make dep;make clean;make zImage
- The new kernel should be found in arch/i386/boot/zImage.
-
- 2.3.2. Getting the kernel to a floppy
-
- Copy the newly made kernel to a floppy disk:
- ==> cp arch/i386/boot/zImage /dev/fd0
- or
- ==> cat arch/i386/boot/zImage > /dev/fd0
- Yes, there are many ways to copy the kernel to a floppy, but the
- last way, my favorite, is a little more encryptic. Try not to
- forget the > unless you like viewing binary files :)
-
- 2.3.3. Setting the root and swap devices on the boot floppy
-
- Once the kernel is on the floppy, you need to set the root device to
- the ZIP disk:
- ==> rdev /dev/fd0 /dev/sda1
- I'm not sure if the next option is needed, but I did it none the less.
- To set the swap:
- ==> rdev -s /dev/fd0 /dev/sda2
-
- 3. RedHat 4.0.1 installation
-
- 3.1. Personal setup
-
- For my installation, I have and used:
- * kernel 2.0.25
- * Iomega ppa disk drive
- * RedHat 4.0.1
-
- 3.2. Package installation
-
- 3.2.1. What packages to get
-
- I found what packages to install by browsing a file I had found on
- one of RedHat's mirrors. This file can be found on any mirror at
- redhat/redhat-4.0/i386/RedHat/base/comps
-
- Here's a listing of what packages I installed:
- pamconfig-0.50-5 setup-1.5-1
- MAKEDEV-2.2-5 filesystem-1.2-1
- etcskel-1.1-1 adduser-1.2-1
- cpio-2.4.2-3 dev-2.3-1
- rootfiles-1.3-1 redhat-release-4.0-1
- libc-5.3.12-8 ld.so-1.7.14-4
- zlib-1.0.4-1 gdbm-1.7.3-8
- ncurses-1.9.9e-2 modules-2.0.0-4
- kbd-0.91-8 db-1.85-10
- termcap-9.12.6-5 slang-0.99.33-1
- statserial-1.1-7 mailcap-1.0-3
- libtermcap-2.0.8-2 readline-2.0-10
- libgr-2.0.9-4 libg++-2.7.1.4-4
- libelf-0.5.2-4 tmpwatch-1.1-1
- newt-0.6-1 cracklib-dicts-2.5-1
- pam-0.50-17 crontabs-1.3-1
- less-321-3 zip-2.1-1
- tar-1.11.8-8 unzip-5.12-5
- ed-0.2-5 gzip-1.2.4-5
- grep-2.0-4 bash-1.14.7-1
- mingetty-0.9.4-1 initscripts-2.73-1
- rpm-2.2.5-1 zoneinfo-96i-3
- util-linux-2.5-26 losetup-2.5l-1
- info-3.7-5 e2fsprogs-1.04-8
- diffutils-2.7-5 hdparm-3.1-1
- sed-2.05-6 SysVinit-2.64-2
- quota-1.51-3 which-1.0-5
- vixie-cron-3.0.1-9 mount-2.5l-1
- textutils-1.19-2 passwd-0.50-2
- gawk-3.0.0-5 sysklogd-1.3-9
- file-3.20-3 groff-1.10-6
- vim-4.2-5 fileutils-3.13-2
- bdflush-1.5-5 ncompress-4.2.4-6
- at-2.9b-2 ash-0.2-5
- fwhois-1.00-5 procps-1.01-7
- psmisc-11-4 sh-utils-1.12-9
- procinfo-0.9-1 stat-1.5-5
- time-1.7-1 gdb-4.16-5
- kbdconfig-1.3-1 findutils-4.1-9
- timeconfig-1.4-1 shadow-utils-960530-6
- perl-5.003-4
-
- 3.2.2. How to install the packages with rpm
-
- With rpm, use the --root option to specify the mounted directory as
- the root for installation. I had discovered that many packages
- were failing to install because of preinstall or postinstall scripts
- that weren't executing correctly due to the different root directory,
- thus, use the --noscripts option:
- ==> rpm --root /iomega -i --noscripts PACKAGE.i386.rpm
-
- 3.3. Finished with package installation
-
- Once the last package has been installed, there are two slight
- problems that the pre/post installation scripts were to fix but
- couldn't. Without LILO (never could get it to work on the floppy)
- getting into single user mode is done via editing the
- /iomega/etc/inittab. Change the following lines:
- From--> id:3:initdefault:
- To----> id:1:initdefault:
- and then, reboot the new system.
-
- 3.3.1. /etc/ld.so.cache
-
- If you tried booting, you'd get two error messages, the first will be
- the absence of /etc/ld.so.cache file. Once booted as single user
- mode, run ldconfig to create the cache file:
- ==> ldconfig
-
- 3.3.2. pamconfig
-
- Yet another annoyance, for those who tried booting in multiuser mode,
- is that no matter what login you try, you won't be able to logon as
- any user. To fix this, run the following command while still in
- single user mode:
- ==> rpm --qf '%{POSTIN}' $(rpm -q --whatrequires pamconfig) | sh -x
-
- 3.3.3. Setting things back
-
- Now that those two things are taken care of, re-edit the file
- /etc/inittab once more, so the system will boot in multiuser mode.
-
- 4. Slackware 2.2 installation
-
- 4.1. Requirements
-
- * ZIP Disk and Drive (obviously)
- * Kernel with ZIP support
- * ZIP Howto (recommended)
- * 1.44" HD formated floppy
- * 1 to 2 hours of time
-
- 4.2. Installation
-
- Okay, now comes the fun part: Figuring out what files need to be
- on the system disk, and what packages that you want (and can fit)
- on your ZIP drive.
-
- I decided that the easiest way to get started was install Slackware
- directly to the ZIP drive. I decided on this approach mostly because
- Slackware is a smaller distribution then Red Hat, and it would be easier
- to trim out what I didn't want. That and the fact that I am using the
- Slackware distribution anyway made it an obvious choice.
-
- Installing Slackware onto the ZIP disk is easy, as root run the setup
- program, and choose /iomega as the install to partition, set the
- install from partition to where the Slackware sources are (cdrom,
- harddrive, etc), select install and follow the prompts.
-
- 4.3. What to install
-
- The hardest part is deciding what to add, and what not to add.
- Obviously, you'll need the 'A' series (Which is about 8 megs),
- the rest is up to you.
-
- I managed to trim down the Slackware release to a respectable
- installation of 70 megs, which included gcc/g++, perl, X11R6
- (NOT ALL OF IT!), sendmail, online docs (Minus all the development
- man pages, but including all the howto's), and an assortment of
- other goodies, while leaving about 10 megs free for user files. YMMV
-
- 5. Modifying /etc/fstab (Common for both distributions.)
-
- The last thing that needs to be done before rebooting is to change the
- fstab on the soon to be root partion. Edit the /iomega/etc/fstab file
- to look have the following as a minimum:
-
- /dev/sda1 / ext2 defaults 1 1
- /dev/sda2 none swap sw
- none /proc proc defaults 1 1
-
- Save the file, and reboot with the freshly made boot floppy and enjoy!
-
- (Special thanks to Mike for reminding me about this very important
- and crucial step. - John)
-
-