how to boot dsl from the harddrive live cd style
 

Hi all
I have a problem trying to boot dsl from a fat partition on my hard drive using loadlin and a batch file? when I boot it gives the kernel panic no init=2 or init=1

I usually boot from a floppy and do an hd install but I would really like to do the live cd thing with out the floppy! seems that if it will do it with a floppy it should not be to difficult to do from a fat partition
just cant get the parameters correct would be thankful for any help

Hi,

A few months back I went through a similar ordeal. I don't remember what errors I got but I eventually got it to work.

I use the following batch file (which I originally derived from one I got off of the I-net somewhere). I am leaving in the rem statements where I commented out what I originally tried that failed miserably, in case you can learn what not to do from it.:) The kernel, initrd and param.cfg file are all in the directory d:\bootdsl

the param.cfg file is

Once the kernel boots it will automatically find d:\KNOPPIX\KNOPPIX

Obviously I've opted to boot in runlevel 2 with vga set to normal. This is for a very old laptop that I have never gotten graphics to work under DSL.

And I should let you know that this is for DSL v1.0. I don't know if anything would change for newer versions or not (except that they use a different kernel and initrd).

I just noticed the "nomce quiet" being on the same line in param.cfg. I don't think I did that intentionally, and I don't know if it matters.

Good luck

the version I have is .07x or somthing like that its the only version that
I could get to download anyway Its the only one that creates a boot floppy
which is good thing for me.
the boot floppy uses a syslinux configuration and iam not sure how to redo that
I still have the same eror no init? what I am not understanding is can I just
put initrd.gz in the boot directory or do I have to specially configure the
initrd for this particular boot? I am figureing I must becouse I tried to put a
initrd.gz file from another distro and the same eror like wize with a initrd.img
file so I am totlaly lost as how to do this?

I usually just have to put a boot.bat with either an @file or the
loadlin image root=/dev/ram rw initrd=file or somthing and it works not this time
and not sure why? any ideas I kinda like this setup and would like to get a
toolchain to work with it also but that another thread i suppose

by the way my boot image file seems to be miniroot.gz I see that
this has changed with the version 2.0x not sure that this will help
and also here is the whole version number is dsl 0.7.3 I do not
hve the ftp link any more i seem to have lost it but i believe it is
on the main web page

I cannot really figure out what you are trying to say in post #4.

The scripts and config file I posted work for me with v1.0, which is still available. That version will boot from the boot floppy for v0.8.0 which also can still be downloaded. I used the floppy to boot my laptop until the floppy drive became flaky. I already had the DSL image (called KNOPPIX) on the laptop and I copied the kernel (linux24) and the compressed ram disk (minirt24.gz) that were on the boot floppy to the laptop and used the files I posted to boot it. I added a little menu to my autoexec.bat file to give the choice of Evil Empire or DSL at boot time.

I now posses a DSL V2.4 disk and have played with it a little, but not on the laptop. I have only booted it from the CD, but I noticed it had a provision in its menus to create a boot floppy. I believe you can also download the floppy image directly. I also noticed the kernel image and ramdisk image are different from the those on the 0.8.0 floppy.

I was going to post some of the links for DSL downloads, but I gather you have already found them.

The boot floppy uses syslinux and I believe the kernel and ramdisk must be in the same directory as syslinux. I don't know what the requirements for loadlin are, but as my script shows, I put both the kernel and ramdisk in the same directory, along with my config file and cded to that directory before calling loadlin.

You cannot use just any ramdisk file. You should use the one for the version of DSL you are using. I am not sure where the limit is with mixing different stuff, but you will certainly make life easier for yourself if the DSL image (called KNOPPIX), your kernel, and your ramdisk all come from the same version.

I hope this helps. You should be able to download any version you want.

----

Late breaking thought:

I am thinking that the "no init" error means the kernel cannot find the init binary, which should be on you ramdisk.

HEY I GOT IT

what I was doing was trying to use your image and kernel
code with my acuall image and kernel and it was wiging out
so I took your first rem line and put it in a batch file
and substituted my kernel and image like this

loadlin vmlinuz initrd=miniroot.gz
ramdisk_size=100000
init=/etc/init
lang=us
apm=power-off
vga=normal
nomce quiet
BOOT_IMAGE=knoppix
2 noprompt noeject

I dont quite understand why you have to have all that other
stuf after loadlin vmlinuz initrd for but it seems to work
I can pick it apart later I suppose anyway thanks

by the way where can this be found in the file system?
what file has this code in that boots from the floppy?
is there any way to deduse this information without haveing
to ask a stupid question like this or is this a good queation

It's going to take me a while to digest your last post. I am not going to try it tonight. I am glad you got it working. We might both be feeling our way in the dark here!:)

As I said, I started with booting my laptop from the v0.8.0 floppy. The file on that floppy that has the boot options is syslinux.cfg (I hope I got that right ... I am going by memory here.) I had already modified that file to give the custom boot options I wanted. When my floppy drive went flaky on me, I started with those custom options and tried to use them with loadlin in the .bat file. And you can see my attempts to make it work from the lines I commented out.

I think you now know everything about this I know. They told us in grade school "there are no stupid questions." (Of course, they then proceeded to make us feel stupid when we asked certain questions! ;))