[Techtalk] NFS Booting from LILO

MMP - Barb Fox mmp_fox at bellsouth.net
Wed Jan 14 12:21:23 EST 2004


>Maybe too complicated. Isn't there a way to start the installer from an 
>existing linux distro?

I'd love to do that, but don't know how

>Besides, you can look how the FDD should be plugged in. I thought that in 
>old laptops the connectors are the same as on desktop boxes, so you could 
>borrow a floppy drive and give it a try... Or am I wrong?

It's an old Toshiba with a proprietary connector (I tried our parallel 
floppy drives -- no go).  I've called several friends, but nobody has one.

>Next, maybe the BIOS setup has some options for network booting?

Nope, the BIOS only has FDD (floppy, non-existent) and HDD (hardddrive)

>But I think you could:
>
>         - boot as always
>         - mount NFS partition
>         - chroot to that partition
>         - do what you want.

Looking for more hints on what you mean.
If I chroot to an NFS partition, the running linux is still the "old 
one".  The versions won't be compatible between my kernel and executables 
and I'd expect core dumps left and right.  If I manage to format the hard 
drive, I'm afraid I won't get enough working to build a new kernel and 
re-install a boot loader on the hard drive, then I'm left with no way (not 
even NFS) to get information into the machine.  linux is pretty particular 
that installation programs must match the exact kernel that you "boot" 
with, in my experience.  If I even use a boot.iso from RH 9.0 with Install 
disks for RH"9.1"(even though it's listed as 9.0), it won't run the 
installer, for example.

Thanx for the suggestions, I'm still listening!
Barb Fox
mmp_fox at bellsouth.net




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