LAPTOP AND LILO 1

[dabowles]

Hi,
I am not that new to Linux, been using it off and on but have recently come into a problem. I bought a new Toshiba Satellite 1005. This machine doesn't have the ability to have the CDROM and floppy drive in it at the same time. It also has WinXP Home on it which is installed by the Restore disk, which puts itself on the computer and uses all the disk space. I have used partition magic to shorten the XP partition and add Linux. Therefore, I have to use a 3 1/2 to boot up Linux with LILO. My problem is I want to be able to use the CDROM under Linux. However if I boot up to Linux the 3 1/2 is initialized while Linux boots. Is there an option where I can hot swap the 3 1/2 and the CDROM after Linux has booted? Whenever I swap the 3 1/2 and the CDROM after it has booted, I cannot seem to mount the CDROM because it says it cannot see it, however it found it fine when I installed it. So I know I would have to have it redetect the hardware or something like that. If that isn't possible, then my next question is can I create a lilo CDROM instead of 3 1/2? My burner is on my desktop, but it only has Windows 98 on it. Is there a way I can create a Lilo CDROM under Windows? to burn the LILO image onto a CDROM with the ISO 9660 image?

Thanks,

David B.

 

[pcunix]

Why do you have to use the floppy for lilo? Is there something about Xp that is so different from 98 that lilo on the hard drive cannot boot it? And (other than shortening Windows) what do you need PM for? Is perhaps that the real problem? I've never bothered with PM- lilo can do what I need, at least for 98..

BTW, have you tried running kudzo after switching the hardware? That might find it for you - your CD driver would have to be modular of course.
Tony Lawrence
SCO Unix/Linux Resources

http://pcunix.com

tony@pcunix.com

 

[dabowles]

I need the floppy for booting into Linux. The problem is LILO has to exist below the first 1024 of the hard drive to be bootable. Windows XP already occupies that space. I cannot repartition the drive to put Windows XP on it and put Linux and have LILO take up the first 1024, because of my XP being on a system restore disk. I only used PM for shortening the XP partition to make room to install Linux. I will try running kudzo and see if that helps. Thanks,
David

 

[BobMCT]

I run a similar configuration on my laptop very successfully. When installing lilo it prompted me for the floppies stating the same reasons you have. I ignored the request and ultimately was asked if I wanted to install lilo in the MBR (Master Boot Record) which I selected. It now works fine offering a lilo boot selector immediately after the bios boot. I've got the timeout to 10 seconds so the boot continues with the selected default if I don't respond.

Try booting from linux and use a configurator to modify the lilo settings.

 

[ifincham]

Hi,







The answer to your original bootable CD question can be found in the bootdisk howto -->

http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Bootdisk-HOWTO/cd-roms.html

Basically, the way bootable CDs work is via the el-torito standard whereby you create an image file exactly equivalent to a 1.44mb floppy disk and put it at the front of the CD.




Regards

 

[ahc142a]

I don't know much but, from what i can recollect only LILO has to be within the 1024, ie. U can use up much space as u like for XP, but so long as u do a custom install and choose to load LILO to the MBR then u won't ever have use for that floppy again. try the following URL for a dual boot without floppy loading:

http://www.psoupco.com/install

 

[stevethom]

Alternatively, try moving the Windows partition to the end of the drive (using Partition Magic) and installing Linux at the front, thus overcoming Lilo's 1024 limitation.

Also consider using Grub. It doesn't suffer from the 1024 limitation.

Whichever you use, you may not see Windows when you are done. Just edit the lilo or grub conf file to show the additional OS. 'Then I thought - it is easier to get out of the way when we are in it, than to get in when we are out'... John Bunyon, "Pilgrims Progress"

 

[ifincham]

Hi,

Just to clarify on this... both the lilo and grub bootloaders (and no doubt others) are quite capable of booting a partition > 1024 cyls. However, whether they can do this in practice depends on the capabilities of the bios of the PC/laptop concerned. Specifically, the bios needs to support the extended interrupt 13h which most bioses manufactured in the last approx 4/5 years do.

The main advantage that grub has over lilo is that once it is installed in the boot sector you only need to change the grub.conf config file because grub reads that at boot time. By contrast, the /etc/lilo.conf file has no meaning in its own right, i.e. editing that alone does nothing unless you re-write the binary boot record too.

Regards

 

[stevethom]

Additional comments...

I just purchased a new Toshiba 1905-S277 from Best Buy, and had a very easy install.

Firstly, I installed Windows 2000, blowing away XP in the process. I created a 24GB Fat32 partition, leaving 6GB free for Linux. I then installed Mandrake 8.1, manually creating the necessary partitions (/boot, swap, /). The install went flawless, and I was prompted which system to launch on bootup. Both worked perfectly.

I tried the same thing with Redhat, and the booting was just as successful. Redhat had a tougher time with the graphics, and I didn't feel like fighting it. I overwrote the partitions with Mandrake. 'Then I thought - it is easier to get out of the way when we are in it, than to get in when we are out'... John Bunyon, "Pilgrims Progress"