syslinux and 2.4.0 initrd size problems

syslinux and 2.4.0 initrd size problems

[Jeff V. Merkey]

I am having trouble getting a 2.4 vmlinuz (bzImage) and initrd 
image onto a 1.44 floppy with all the new stuff.  Even a stipped 
down kernel compiled under 2.4 is @ 600K compressed, and I need 
about 800K for the initrd image.  I noticed that syslinux 
has some comments about not allowing initrd to span media.  

I there something more current that does or will allow me to
load the inittrd off a CD-ROM device (with vmlinuz and syslinux
on the floppy).   I know how to do this with GRUB (Grand 
Unified Boot Loader), but I want to use syslinux if possible. 

Thanks

Jeff
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Re: syslinux and 2.4.0 initrd size problems

[H. Peter Anvin]

Followup to:  <20001126211642.A2763@vger.timpanogas.org>
By author:    "Jeff V. Merkey" <jmerkey@vger.timpanogas.org>
In newsgroup: linux.dev.kernel
> 
> I am having trouble getting a 2.4 vmlinuz (bzImage) and initrd 
> image onto a 1.44 floppy with all the new stuff.  Even a stipped 
> down kernel compiled under 2.4 is @ 600K compressed, and I need 
> about 800K for the initrd image.  I noticed that syslinux 
> has some comments about not allowing initrd to span media.  
> 
> I there something more current that does or will allow me to
> load the inittrd off a CD-ROM device (with vmlinuz and syslinux
> on the floppy).   I know how to do this with GRUB (Grand 
> Unified Boot Loader), but I want to use syslinux if possible. 
> 

Why are you posting this to the kernel list?  See the SYSLINUX
documentation for the SYSLINUX mailing list address.

	-hpa
-- 
<hpa@transmeta.com> at work, <hpa@zytor.com> in private!
"Unix gives you enough rope to shoot yourself in the foot."
http://www.zytor.com/~hpa/puzzle.txt
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Re: syslinux and 2.4.0 initrd size problems

[Jeff V. Merkey]

On Sun, Nov 26, 2000 at 08:22:54PM -0800, H. Peter Anvin wrote:

> Why are you posting this to the kernel list?  See the SYSLINUX
> documentation for the SYSLINUX mailing list address.

Never mind.  I am rewriting the install init program instead and 
restructuring the driver organization to do what I need.  

Jeff

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Re: syslinux and 2.4.0 initrd size problems

[Michael Peddemors]

Happily using initrd on a 1.44 floppy here, and there should be no reason why 
you can't use it for a CDROM distro as well, you can have syslinux on the 
CDROM too... I believe their is a a syslinux mailing list to check if you 
have problems, and he has recently released updated versions of syslinux.

On Sun, 26 Nov 2000, Jeff V. Merkey wrote:
> I am having trouble getting a 2.4 vmlinuz (bzImage) and initrd
> image onto a 1.44 floppy with all the new stuff.  Even a stipped
> down kernel compiled under 2.4 is @ 600K compressed, and I need
> about 800K for the initrd image.  I noticed that syslinux
> has some comments about not allowing initrd to span media.
>
> I there something more current that does or will allow me to
> load the inittrd off a CD-ROM device (with vmlinuz and syslinux
> on the floppy).   I know how to do this with GRUB (Grand
> Unified Boot Loader), but I want to use syslinux if possible.

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Re: syslinux and 2.4.0 initrd size problems

[Jeff V. Merkey]

On Mon, Nov 27, 2000 at 09:29:08AM -0800, Michael Peddemors wrote:
> Happily using initrd on a 1.44 floppy here, and there should be no reason why 
> you can't use it for a CDROM distro as well, you can have syslinux on the 
> CDROM too... I believe their is a a syslinux mailing list to check if you 
> have problems, and he has recently released updated versions of syslinux.

I've got it working here too, but not with an initrd image and vmlinuz image
that's bigger than the floppy.  

Jeff

> 
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Re: syslinux and 2.4.0 initrd size problems

[Peter Samuelson]

[Jeff V. Merkey]
> I am having trouble getting a 2.4 vmlinuz (bzImage) and initrd image
> onto a 1.44 floppy with all the new stuff.

Check out what Debian did for 2.2 ("potato").  Kernel and syslinux are
on a FAT floppy, and a second floppy holds a raw ext2 image, gzipped.
SYSLINUX.CFG begins like so:

  DEFAULT linux
  APPEND vga=normal noinitrd load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=1 ramdisk_size=16384 root=/dev/fd0 disksize=1.44
  TIMEOUT 0
  DISPLAY debian.txt
  PROMPT 1

Just before mounting the root filesystem, the kernel says "insert
floppy and press <enter>" or some such.

You can download the images at

  http://http.us.debian.org/debian/dists/potato/main/disks-i386/current/images-1.44/

See 'rescue.bin' (syslinux+kernel) and 'root.bin' (initrd.gz).

> I there something more current that does or will allow me to
> load the inittrd off a CD-ROM device (with vmlinuz and syslinux
> on the floppy).   I know how to do this with GRUB (Grand 
> Unified Boot Loader), but I want to use syslinux if possible. 

If you can count on having a BIOS that knows how to boot a CD-ROM (i.e.
the BIOS is new enough to be Y2K compliant) you can put a 2.88MB floppy
image on the CD for the BIOS to find.  Should be big enough for the
next year or two.

Peter
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