...making Linux just a little more fun!
Benjamin A. Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
Fri, 1 Sep 2006 10:50:18 -0400
----- Forwarded message from Djordje Dragic <orange47 at gmail.com> -----
Hello Ben,
I have been trying to modify your script to work with latest Knoppix with no luck at all. File called 'linux' is too big to fit to floppy and besides, it seems that latest Knoppix cannot boot from diskette.
Please tell me, what is the latest Knoppix version that can work with your script? Could you please make a boot.img that would work with Knoppix V5.0.1 and put it online somewhere?
-- Best regards, Djordje mailto:orange47 at gmail.com ICQ#:308328689* Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Jimmy O'Regan [joregan at gmail.com]
Fri, 1 Sep 2006 16:07:01 +0100
On 01/09/06, Benjamin A. Okopnik <ben at linuxgazette.net> wrote:
> ----- Forwarded message from Djordje Dragic <orange47 at gmail.com> ----- > > Hello Ben, > > I have been trying to modify your script to work with latest Knoppix > with no luck at all. File called 'linux' is too big to fit to floppy > and besides, it seems that latest Knoppix cannot boot from diskette. >
Not what the querent asked (which is why I dropped the cc), but I recently tried out DSL Embedded (http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/damnsmall/current/dsl-embedded.zip) - a version of Damn Small Linux that will boot from a pendrive, or from within Windows using Qemu. Pretty nifty.
Even further off-topic: a friend needed a DOS boot floppy for a floppy-less machine, and I was surprised to learn that treating a pendrive as a floppy... works!
dd if=/dev/fd0 of=/dev/sda bs=512
and boom... the BIOS on the other machine saw a floppy drive, and happily booted.
Benjamin A. Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
Fri, 1 Sep 2006 11:40:01 -0400
On Fri, Sep 01, 2006 at 04:07:01PM +0100, Jimmy O'Regan wrote:
> On 01/09/06, Benjamin A. Okopnik <ben at linuxgazette.net> wrote: > > ----- Forwarded message from Djordje Dragic <orange47 at gmail.com> ----- > > > > Hello Ben, > > > > I have been trying to modify your script to work with latest Knoppix > > with no luck at all. File called 'linux' is too big to fit to floppy > > and besides, it seems that latest Knoppix cannot boot from diskette. > > > > Not what the querent asked (which is why I dropped the cc), but I > recently tried out DSL Embedded > (http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/damnsmall/current/dsl-embedded.zip) > - a version of Damn Small Linux that will boot from a pendrive, or > from within Windows using Qemu. Pretty nifty. > > Even further off-topic: a friend needed a DOS boot floppy for a > floppy-less machine, and I was surprised to learn that treating a > pendrive as a floppy... works! > > dd if=/dev/fd0 of=/dev/sda bs=512 > > and boom... the BIOS on the other machine saw a floppy drive, and > happily booted.
You bet. If you take a look at the whole CD-booting scheme, you'll find that the CD's boot sector is lifted bodily from a DOS floppy. Hence, my previous tip about making bootable CDs:
http://linuxgazette.net/issue99/lg_tips.html#tips.1
Pendrives are just a logical extension of that; the boot mechanism is exactly the same.
* Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Benjamin A. Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
Sat, 2 Sep 2006 13:45:53 -0400
On Fri, Sep 01, 2006 at 10:50:18AM -0400, Djordje Dragic <orange47 at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Hello Ben, > > I have been trying to modify your script to work with latest Knoppix > with no luck at all. File called 'linux' is too big to fit to floppy > and besides, it seems that latest Knoppix cannot boot from diskette.
Yeah, I'm afraid that this is the case today - and became so shortly after I wrote the article. The fact that Knoppix can't boot from external media, by the way, is the result of 'linux' not fitting onto a floppy: the way the booting procedure for external devices works is, believe it or not, still based on a DOS floppy, or at least an image of one.
> Please tell me, what is the latest Knoppix version that can work with > your script?
The one that I had used was, unfortunately, the last one capable of it.
> Could you please make a boot.img that would work with Knoppix V5.0.1 and > put it online somewhere?
Sorry, I don't have that version of Knoppix anymore. :\
There are alternative approaches, however. You could, for example, boot using any sort of Linux distro, e.g. Tom's RootBoot (http://www.toms.net/rb/), mount your USB-based Knoppix filesystem, and "pivot" the system to use the latter with the 'chroot' command. There are a few problems with this approach, but in the main, it works OK.
Conversely, you could use any of the other distros that will boot from a pen drive - DSL Embedded (suggested by Jimmy O'Regan):
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/damnsmall/current/dsl-embedded.zip
Knoppix is great, but it's not the only distro out there.
* Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Jimmy O'Regan [joregan at gmail.com]
Sat, 2 Sep 2006 21:17:22 +0100
On 02/09/06, Benjamin A. Okopnik <ben at linuxgazette.net> wrote:
> Conversely, you could use any of the other distros that will boot from > a pen drive - DSL Embedded (suggested by Jimmy O'Regan): > > http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/damnsmall/current/dsl-embedded.zip > > Knoppix is great, but it's not the only distro out there. >
DSL is based on Knoppix, if that helps 
Benjamin A. Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
Sat, 2 Sep 2006 16:40:12 -0400
On Sat, Sep 02, 2006 at 09:17:22PM +0100, Jimmy O'Regan wrote:
> On 02/09/06, Benjamin A. Okopnik <ben at linuxgazette.net> wrote: > > Conversely, you could use any of the other distros that will boot from > > a pen drive - DSL Embedded (suggested by Jimmy O'Regan): > > > > http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/damnsmall/current/dsl-embedded.zip > > > > Knoppix is great, but it's not the only distro out there. > > DSL is based on Knoppix, if that helps
Only in Maslow-hierarchy, peer-acceptance, emotional-satisfacton terms.
The other part (the fact that it works) is, perhaps, less important, but
some people find comfort in it nonetheless.
* Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Brian Bilbrey [bilbrey at orbdesigns.com]
Tue, 5 Sep 2006 14:04:29 -0400 (EDT)
> On a day in the past, Benjamin A. Okopnik <ben at linuxgazette.net> wrote:...
> Only in Maslow-hierarchy, peer-acceptance, emotional-satisfacton terms.
is the "satisfacton" the smallest measurable particle of satisfaction? Or are we going to run into the equivalent of quarks, that can be combined into satisfactons, exuberinos, and woetrons?
.brian
Benjamin A. Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
Tue, 5 Sep 2006 23:07:05 -0400
On Tue, Sep 05, 2006 at 02:04:29PM -0400, Brian Bilbrey wrote:
> > On a day in the past, Benjamin A. Okopnik <ben at linuxgazette.net> wrote: > ... > > Only in Maslow-hierarchy, peer-acceptance, emotional-satisfacton terms.
...and which of them has the right spin? [1] Inquiring minds want to know.
[1] The ones that have the best PR firm, of course.
* Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Orange [orange47 at gmail.com]
Sat, 2 Sep 2006 23:12:35 +0200
Hello Benjamin,
BAO> There are alternative approaches, however. You could, for example, boot BAO> using any sort of Linux distro, e.g. Tom's RootBoot BAO> (http://www.toms.net/rb/), mount your USB-based Knoppix filesystem, and BAO> "pivot" the system to use the latter with the 'chroot' command. There BAO> are a few problems with this approach, but in the main, it works OK. BAO> BAO> Conversely, you could use any of the other distros that will boot from BAO> a pen drive - DSL Embedded (suggested by Jimmy O'Regan):
But Knoppix has so much more software.. I do have Damn Small Linux boot floppy for DSLonUSB, how do I modify it to boot Knoppix from USB instead of Damn Small Linux?
BTW, I have managed to boot from Knoppix LiveCD, then put in cheatcode at startup:
knoppix fromhd=/dev/sda1and it runs from USB nicely. still I wish I had a floppy option too..
BAO> http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/damnsmall/current/dsl-embedded.zip BAO> Knoppix is great, but it's not the only distro out there.
BAO> * Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
-- Best regards, Orange mailto:orange47 at gmail.com
Benjamin A. Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
Sat, 2 Sep 2006 17:35:47 -0400
On Sat, Sep 02, 2006 at 11:12:35PM +0200, Orange wrote:
> Hello Benjamin, > > > BAO> There are alternative approaches, however. You could, for example, boot > BAO> using any sort of Linux distro, e.g. Tom's RootBoot > BAO> (http://www.toms.net/rb/), mount your USB-based Knoppix filesystem, and > BAO> "pivot" the system to use the latter with the 'chroot' command. There > BAO> are a few problems with this approach, but in the main, it works OK. > > BAO> Conversely, you could use any of the other distros that will boot from > BAO> a pen drive - DSL Embedded (suggested by Jimmy O'Regan): > > But Knoppix has so much more software..
Since, as Jimmy mentioned, DSL is based on Knoppix, it too can have "so
much more software". Knoppix is, in turn, based on Debian - all you
have to do is modify '/etc/apt/source.list' so that it contains a few
valid servers, and you can 'apt-get' any software you need to your
heart's content.
> I do have Damn Small Linux boot floppy for DSLonUSB, how do I modify it to boot Knoppix from > USB instead of Damn Small Linux?
Since I have no idea how DSL built that boot procedure, I really have no idea - but it might be worth your time to research it and find out, since it just might turn out to be easily adaptable (I'd appreciate it if you'd let us know when you find an answer; yours is not an unusual question.)
* Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *
Kapil Hari Paranjape [kapil at imsc.res.in]
Sun, 3 Sep 2006 18:15:57 +0530
On Sat, 02 Sep 2006, Benjamin A. Okopnik wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 01, 2006 at 10:50:18AM -0400, Djordje Dragic <orange47 at gmail.com> wrote: > > > > Hello Ben, > > > > I have been trying to modify your script to work with latest Knoppix > > with no luck at all. File called 'linux' is too big to fit to floppy > > and besides, it seems that latest Knoppix cannot boot from diskette. > > Yeah, I'm afraid that this is the case today - and became so shortly > after I wrote the article. The fact that Knoppix can't boot from > external media, by the way, is the result of 'linux' not fitting onto a > floppy: the way the booting procedure for external devices works is, > believe it or not, still based on a DOS floppy, or at least an image > of one. > > > Please tell me, what is the latest Knoppix version that can work with > > your script? > > The one that I had used was, unfortunately, the last one capable of it.
Speaking of small bootable linuxen has anyone tried out the "live-package" of Debian unstable. It can produce a 70 MB iso image of a bootable etch/sid distribution. They are working on the USB stick version. (http://live.debian.net).
Kapil. --
Benjamin A. Okopnik [ben at linuxgazette.net]
Mon, 4 Sep 2006 15:43:26 -0400
----- Forwarded message from Orange <orange47 at gmail.com> -----
you were right, I have found puppylinux, it looks as if its designed to run from USB.
----- End forwarded message -----
* Ben Okopnik * Editor-in-Chief, Linux Gazette * http://LinuxGazette.NET *