* Linux on a 2-Drive Machine
@ John J. Boyer
` Saqib Shaikh
` (2 more replies)
0 siblings, 3 replies; 10+ messages in thread
From: John J. Boyer @ UTC (permalink / raw)
To: blinux-list
Hello,
I have a machine with two disk drives. The C drive is now running Windows
98. The D drive is used for backup. The machine boots into dos, so I can run
dos programs if Windows commits suicide. I'm thinking of puting Linux on
what is now the D drive. Then I would have a little DOS program to start it
up after the machine boots. How can I write such a program? How do I install
Linux on what is now the D drive. There will be plenty of space to still use
it for backup. Better still, there are other machines on our network which
can be used for backup.
Thanks a lot.
John
Computers to Help People, Inc.
http://www.chpi.org
825 East Johnson; Madison, WI 53703
^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 10+ messages in thread* Re: Linux on a 2-Drive Machine Linux on a 2-Drive Machine John J. Boyer @ ` Saqib Shaikh ` John J. Boyer ` Brent Harding ` Linux on a 2-Drive Machine Bill Gaughan 2 siblings, 1 reply; 10+ messages in thread From: Saqib Shaikh @ UTC (permalink / raw) To: blinux-list Hi John, I talked to you about putting Linux on your computer a while back. The answer to your question is to install Linux on the D drive. If you want I could probably make you a BrlTTY enabled boot disk. Then there is a program called Loadlin which can be put on your Windows partition to load linux. Hope this helps, Saqib ----- Original Message ----- From: "John J. Boyer" <director@chpi.org> To: <blinux-list@redhat.com> Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2001 2:12 PM Subject: Linux on a 2-Drive Machine > Hello, > I have a machine with two disk drives. The C drive is now running Windows > 98. The D drive is used for backup. The machine boots into dos, so I can run > dos programs if Windows commits suicide. I'm thinking of puting Linux on > what is now the D drive. Then I would have a little DOS program to start it > up after the machine boots. How can I write such a program? How do I install > Linux on what is now the D drive. There will be plenty of space to still use > it for backup. Better still, there are other machines on our network which > can be used for backup. > Thanks a lot. > John > > Computers to Help People, Inc. > http://www.chpi.org > 825 East Johnson; Madison, WI 53703 > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Blinux-list mailing list > Blinux-list@redhat.com > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 10+ messages in thread
* Re: Linux on a 2-Drive Machine ` Saqib Shaikh @ ` John J. Boyer 0 siblings, 0 replies; 10+ messages in thread From: John J. Boyer @ UTC (permalink / raw) To: blinux-list Saqib, Thanks. a brltty-enabled boot disk would be much appreciated. My Braille Lite 40 is connected to com1 at 9600 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit and no parity. John Computers to Help People, Inc. http://www.chpi.org 825 East Johnson; Madison, WI 53703 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Saqib Shaikh" <ss@saqibshaikh.com> To: <blinux-list@redhat.com> Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2001 10:09 Subject: Re: Linux on a 2-Drive Machine > Hi John, > > I talked to you about putting Linux on your computer a while back. The > answer to your question is to install Linux on the D drive. If you want I > could probably make you a BrlTTY enabled boot disk. Then there is a program > called Loadlin which can be put on your Windows partition to load linux. > > Hope this helps, > Saqib > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "John J. Boyer" <director@chpi.org> > To: <blinux-list@redhat.com> > Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2001 2:12 PM > Subject: Linux on a 2-Drive Machine > > > > Hello, > > I have a machine with two disk drives. The C drive is now running Windows > > 98. The D drive is used for backup. The machine boots into dos, so I can > run > > dos programs if Windows commits suicide. I'm thinking of puting Linux on > > what is now the D drive. Then I would have a little DOS program to start > it > > up after the machine boots. How can I write such a program? How do I > install > > Linux on what is now the D drive. There will be plenty of space to still > use > > it for backup. Better still, there are other machines on our network which > > can be used for backup. > > Thanks a lot. > > John > > > > Computers to Help People, Inc. > > http://www.chpi.org > > 825 East Johnson; Madison, WI 53703 > > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Blinux-list mailing list > > Blinux-list@redhat.com > > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list > > > > _______________________________________________ > Blinux-list mailing list > Blinux-list@redhat.com > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list > ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 10+ messages in thread
* Re: Linux on a 2-Drive Machine Linux on a 2-Drive Machine John J. Boyer ` Saqib Shaikh @ ` Brent Harding ` John J. Boyer ` Linux on a 2-Drive Machine Bill Gaughan 2 siblings, 1 reply; 10+ messages in thread From: Brent Harding @ UTC (permalink / raw) To: blinux-list Well, you'd have to format the D drive, and install linux on it, redhat is a cool distribution to use. It has to be installed on /dev/hdb1 or something, hdb means the second drive. You need to repartition it with linux fdisk, but it's easy. Redhat, in it's installation, will ask if you have any other OS to boot, and you choose that to be /dev/hda1 for the dos drive. You want to have lilo write to the master boot record of /dev/hda, so when you boot, you would type either dos or linux. You can go in to /etc/lilo.conf later to change the default if you just wait, and rerun lilo. At 09:12 AM 11/13/01 -0500, you wrote: >Hello, >I have a machine with two disk drives. The C drive is now running Windows >98. The D drive is used for backup. The machine boots into dos, so I can run >dos programs if Windows commits suicide. I'm thinking of puting Linux on >what is now the D drive. Then I would have a little DOS program to start it >up after the machine boots. How can I write such a program? How do I install >Linux on what is now the D drive. There will be plenty of space to still use >it for backup. Better still, there are other machines on our network which >can be used for backup. >Thanks a lot. >John > >Computers to Help People, Inc. >http://www.chpi.org >825 East Johnson; Madison, WI 53703 > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ >Blinux-list mailing list >Blinux-list@redhat.com >https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list > > ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 10+ messages in thread
* Re: Linux on a 2-Drive Machine ` Brent Harding @ ` John J. Boyer ` Brent Harding ` L. C. Robinson 0 siblings, 2 replies; 10+ messages in thread From: John J. Boyer @ UTC (permalink / raw) To: blinux-list Brent, I don't want to do anything to the C drive, least of all writing in the boot record. I just want the D drive to have a complete Linux system. I understand that I can start it with loadlin after my system boots to dos in the normal way from the C drive. John Computers to Help People, Inc. http://www.chpi.org 825 East Johnson; Madison, WI 53703 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brent Harding" <bharding@doorpi.net> To: <blinux-list@redhat.com> Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2001 11:51 Subject: Re: Linux on a 2-Drive Machine > Well, you'd have to format the D drive, and install linux on it, redhat is > a cool distribution to use. It has to be installed on /dev/hdb1 or > something, hdb means the second drive. You need to repartition it with > linux fdisk, but it's easy. Redhat, in it's installation, will ask if you > have any other OS to boot, and you choose that to be /dev/hda1 for the dos > drive. You want to have lilo write to the master boot record of /dev/hda, > so when you boot, you would type either dos or linux. You can go in to > /etc/lilo.conf later to change the default if you just wait, and rerun lilo. > At 09:12 AM 11/13/01 -0500, you wrote: > >Hello, > >I have a machine with two disk drives. The C drive is now running Windows > >98. The D drive is used for backup. The machine boots into dos, so I can run > >dos programs if Windows commits suicide. I'm thinking of puting Linux on > >what is now the D drive. Then I would have a little DOS program to start it > >up after the machine boots. How can I write such a program? How do I install > >Linux on what is now the D drive. There will be plenty of space to still use > >it for backup. Better still, there are other machines on our network which > >can be used for backup. > >Thanks a lot. > >John > > > >Computers to Help People, Inc. > >http://www.chpi.org > >825 East Johnson; Madison, WI 53703 > > > > > > > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > >Blinux-list mailing list > >Blinux-list@redhat.com > >https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Blinux-list mailing list > Blinux-list@redhat.com > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list > ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 10+ messages in thread
* Re: Linux on a 2-Drive Machine ` John J. Boyer @ ` Brent Harding ` L. C. Robinson 1 sibling, 0 replies; 10+ messages in thread From: Brent Harding @ UTC (permalink / raw) To: blinux-list Of course you can, suppose no real difference. My system boots to win-98 automatically, so this was the easiest option I found, although if I was using dos, I'd use loadlin. At 11:37 AM 11/13/01 -0500, you wrote: >Brent, >I don't want to do anything to the C drive, least of all writing in the boot >record. I just want the D drive to have a complete Linux system. I >understand that I can start it with loadlin after my system boots to dos in >the normal way from the C drive. >John > >Computers to Help People, Inc. >http://www.chpi.org >825 East Johnson; Madison, WI 53703 > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Brent Harding" <bharding@doorpi.net> >To: <blinux-list@redhat.com> >Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2001 11:51 >Subject: Re: Linux on a 2-Drive Machine > > >> Well, you'd have to format the D drive, and install linux on it, redhat is >> a cool distribution to use. It has to be installed on /dev/hdb1 or >> something, hdb means the second drive. You need to repartition it with >> linux fdisk, but it's easy. Redhat, in it's installation, will ask if you >> have any other OS to boot, and you choose that to be /dev/hda1 for the dos >> drive. You want to have lilo write to the master boot record of /dev/hda, >> so when you boot, you would type either dos or linux. You can go in to >> /etc/lilo.conf later to change the default if you just wait, and rerun >lilo. >> At 09:12 AM 11/13/01 -0500, you wrote: >> >Hello, >> >I have a machine with two disk drives. The C drive is now running Windows >> >98. The D drive is used for backup. The machine boots into dos, so I can >run >> >dos programs if Windows commits suicide. I'm thinking of puting Linux on >> >what is now the D drive. Then I would have a little DOS program to start >it >> >up after the machine boots. How can I write such a program? How do I >install >> >Linux on what is now the D drive. There will be plenty of space to still >use >> >it for backup. Better still, there are other machines on our network >which >> >can be used for backup. >> >Thanks a lot. >> >John >> > >> >Computers to Help People, Inc. >> >http://www.chpi.org >> >825 East Johnson; Madison, WI 53703 >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > >> >_______________________________________________ >> >Blinux-list mailing list >> >Blinux-list@redhat.com >> >https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list >> > >> > >> >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Blinux-list mailing list >> Blinux-list@redhat.com >> https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list >> > > > > >_______________________________________________ >Blinux-list mailing list >Blinux-list@redhat.com >https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list > > ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 10+ messages in thread
* Re: Linux on a 2-Drive Machine ` John J. Boyer ` Brent Harding @ ` L. C. Robinson ` Brent Harding 1 sibling, 1 reply; 10+ messages in thread From: L. C. Robinson @ UTC (permalink / raw) To: blinux-list On Tue, 13 Nov 2001, John J. Boyer wrote: > I don't want to do anything to the C drive, least of all > writing in the boot record. I just want the D drive to have a > complete Linux system. Here's the partition table for my so called "C:" drive: Partitioning info (fdisk -l /dev/hdb): Disk /dev/hdb: 12 heads, 35 sectors, 989 cylinders Units = cylinders of 420 * 512 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/hdb4 1 988 207462+ 6 FAT16 This means that windoze is on partition 4 of my hdb (2nd) hard drive (and in this case, the only partition on that little drive). So you see, the "C:" designation is just a legacy M$ way of labeling a partition on your hard drive, an awkward one, if you ask me. The MBR (Master Boot Record) where a previous poster told you to put lilo, is a small sector outside any partition on the first drive, and is not part of any operating system, including MS-WIN9x,2000, or linux. The MBR is reserved for the installation of a boot loader: lilo is a far more capable, and versatile boot loader than the usual M$ junk (note that it is able to make my second drive appear to be first, when booting win9x); there are at least three other boot loaders in common use with linux. There are also boot sectors available on each partition, which can be used, if you make that partition boot active, or tell your BIOS to boot from that partition (in the case of more recent BIOS versions). I prefer to put lilo on the boot sector of the linux root partition, which can be just about anywhere (currently hdc2, in my case), if the bios will support it, or, if not, another linux partition, and activate the boot flag for that partition. That way, ill behaved viral M$ installation software can't make linux unbootable. All I have to do if MS-Windoze changes the boot flag, is to change it back to the proper partition. But that is just a matter of preference. > I understand that I can start it with loadlin after my system > boots to dos in the normal way from the C drive. Often newbies do prefer to use loadlin, till they get greater confidence and understanding, but that has it's drawbacks, including the fact that the grossly inferior M$ FAT filesystems, with their characteristic fragmentation problems, can easily lead to an unbootable system. I suggest you make sure that you you have at least 2 methods of booting, including a floppy for emergencies, and that you also learn to use one of the rescue disk schemes available. -- L. C. Robinson reply to no_spam+munged_lcr@onewest.net.invalid People buy MicroShaft for compatibility, but get incompatibility and instability instead. This is award winning "innovation". Find out how MS holds your data hostage with "The *Lens*"; see "CyberSnare" at http://www.netaction.org/msoft/cybersnare.html ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 10+ messages in thread
* Re: Linux on a 2-Drive Machine ` L. C. Robinson @ ` Brent Harding ` BIOS boot control (Was: Linux on a 2-Drive Machine) L. C. Robinson 0 siblings, 1 reply; 10+ messages in thread From: Brent Harding @ UTC (permalink / raw) To: blinux-list Wow, never thought of switching to boot linux from it's own drive by loading lilo on it and switching the boot flag. Do I really have to switch in the bios if I use two different drives, as technically they have different partition tables and will both be able to be set bootable. At 07:17 PM 11/13/01 -0700, you wrote: >On Tue, 13 Nov 2001, John J. Boyer wrote: > >> I don't want to do anything to the C drive, least of all >> writing in the boot record. I just want the D drive to have a >> complete Linux system. > >Here's the partition table for my so called "C:" drive: >Partitioning info (fdisk -l /dev/hdb): >Disk /dev/hdb: 12 heads, 35 sectors, 989 cylinders >Units = cylinders of 420 * 512 bytes > > Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System >/dev/hdb4 1 988 207462+ 6 FAT16 > >This means that windoze is on partition 4 of my hdb (2nd) hard >drive (and in this case, the only partition on that little >drive). So you see, the "C:" designation is just a legacy M$ way >of labeling a partition on your hard drive, an awkward one, if >you ask me. The MBR (Master Boot Record) where a previous poster >told you to put lilo, is a small sector outside any partition on >the first drive, and is not part of any operating system, >including MS-WIN9x,2000, or linux. The MBR is reserved for the >installation of a boot loader: lilo is a far more capable, and >versatile boot loader than the usual M$ junk (note that it is >able to make my second drive appear to be first, when booting >win9x); there are at least three other boot loaders in common use >with linux. > >There are also boot sectors available on each partition, which >can be used, if you make that partition boot active, or tell your >BIOS to boot from that partition (in the case of more recent BIOS >versions). I prefer to put lilo on the boot sector of the linux >root partition, which can be just about anywhere (currently hdc2, >in my case), if the bios will support it, or, if not, another >linux partition, and activate the boot flag for that partition. >That way, ill behaved viral M$ installation software can't make >linux unbootable. All I have to do if MS-Windoze changes the >boot flag, is to change it back to the proper partition. But >that is just a matter of preference. > >> I understand that I can start it with loadlin after my system >> boots to dos in the normal way from the C drive. > >Often newbies do prefer to use loadlin, till they get greater >confidence and understanding, but that has it's drawbacks, >including the fact that the grossly inferior M$ FAT filesystems, >with their characteristic fragmentation problems, can easily lead >to an unbootable system. I suggest you make sure that you you >have at least 2 methods of booting, including a floppy for >emergencies, and that you also learn to use one of the rescue >disk schemes available. > >-- >L. C. Robinson >reply to no_spam+munged_lcr@onewest.net.invalid > >People buy MicroShaft for compatibility, but get incompatibility and >instability instead. This is award winning "innovation". Find >out how MS holds your data hostage with "The *Lens*"; see >"CyberSnare" at http://www.netaction.org/msoft/cybersnare.html > > > >_______________________________________________ >Blinux-list mailing list >Blinux-list@redhat.com >https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list > > ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 10+ messages in thread
* Re: BIOS boot control (Was: Linux on a 2-Drive Machine) ` Brent Harding @ ` L. C. Robinson 0 siblings, 0 replies; 10+ messages in thread From: L. C. Robinson @ UTC (permalink / raw) To: blinux-list On Tue, 13 Nov 2001, Brent Harding wrote: > Wow, never thought of switching to boot linux from it's own > drive by loading lilo on it and switching the boot flag. Do I > really have to switch in the bios if I use two different > drives, as technically they have different partition tables and > will both be able to be set bootable. Well, much of this depends on the BIOS, and how current the hardware is. I have only got experience with the machines here. The machines I used to run would boot only from partitions marked boot active in the first drive, or maybe the second, and this was not controlled from the BIOS, but we are now seeing more flexibility through the BIOS, not only in booting from more drives, but in overcoming the 1024 cylinder limit, which is ridiculous with todays large hard drives. So your question really needs to be addressed by someone with wider experience, maybe on a hardware list. I just look to see what my stuff can do, and try things. Lilo issues a bunch of warnings if you try to do the extended stuff, since it may not be supported through your particular BIOS: make sure you have a tested, working boot floppy before you start experimenting, of course. Note that if you have already installed lilo on the MBR, you can only boot from there, unless you restore the original MBR. I'm not sure if the newer BIOSs can bypass that. As an aside, there is really no reason why the BIOS should have the braindead limititions that they have had in the past. In particular, their inaccessibility from other than a local monitor is a problem for lots of people, even with no disability. This is especially true in server (possibly farm) environments and for clusters, where monitors would be a nuisance, and a waste of money. For more on this see the section on the Open Source BIOS projects in LWN, at: http://lwn.net/2001/1018/devel.php3/ For these environments, serial and remote BIOS access is essential. I learned from the etherboot project that the way they debug a BIOS setup (for a NIC card), is to write the (locally customized) cookbook code to a floppy, and boot from that. Later, for production systems, they burn the very same code into the usual PROM chip, possibly sending it away to a company that does it for them. Of course, for a single personal system, you would probably just keep using the floppy. I'm guessing the Open BIOS projects do the same. Something to think about. -- L. C. Robinson reply to no_spam+munged_lcr@onewest.net.invalid People buy MicroShaft for compatibility, but get incompatibility and instability instead. This is award winning "innovation". Find out how MS holds your data hostage with "The *Lens*"; see "CyberSnare" at http://www.netaction.org/msoft/cybersnare.html ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 10+ messages in thread
* Re: Linux on a 2-Drive Machine Linux on a 2-Drive Machine John J. Boyer ` Saqib Shaikh ` Brent Harding @ ` Bill Gaughan 2 siblings, 0 replies; 10+ messages in thread From: Bill Gaughan @ UTC (permalink / raw) To: blinux-list You would need to install zipslack or bigslack. (bigslack, if you want the entire linux). Zipslack is designed to be installed a full running copy on linux on a zip disk, but, you can install it on to a dos partition in the c:\linux directory. you run a batch file from dos called loadlin.bat. Better to have a separate linux partition on the drive and boot to linux from lilo. I have dos and win95 on my c: drive and linux on a second drive. dos/win95 doesn't know I have a second drive for linux. It's called a dual-boot system. lilo comes up from the master boot record and asks you which system you want to load, dos/windows for linux. hope this helps. Oh, from my experience you have to unzip zipslack or bigslack archives from windows not from pkunzip from dos. the zipslack and bigslack archives are huge files! -- Bill Gaughan wgaughan@snet.net On Tue, 13 Nov 2001, John J. Boyer wrote: > Hello, > I have a machine with two disk drives. The C drive is now running Windows > 98. The D drive is used for backup. The machine boots into dos, so I can run > dos programs if Windows commits suicide. I'm thinking of puting Linux on > what is now the D drive. Then I would have a little DOS program to start it > up after the machine boots. How can I write such a program? How do I install > Linux on what is now the D drive. There will be plenty of space to still use > it for backup. Better still, there are other machines on our network which > can be used for backup. > Thanks a lot. > John > > Computers to Help People, Inc. > http://www.chpi.org > 825 East Johnson; Madison, WI 53703 > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Blinux-list mailing list > Blinux-list@redhat.com > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list > ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 10+ messages in thread
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Linux on a 2-Drive Machine John J. Boyer
` Saqib Shaikh
` John J. Boyer
` Brent Harding
` John J. Boyer
` Brent Harding
` L. C. Robinson
` Brent Harding
` BIOS boot control (Was: Linux on a 2-Drive Machine) L. C. Robinson
` Linux on a 2-Drive Machine Bill Gaughan
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