[BL] An an unusual project . .

[Philip Rhoades]

People,

I have spent DAYS checking out many 1, 2 and 3 FD Linuxes but I haven't
found ONE that will do everything I want . . I did however find BL which
is quite nice and has a functioning mailing list! As an exercise, I
want to create a VM image from a SCSI drive in an old Red Hat (NOT
Enterprise) v5.2 Linux 486 machine (circa 1999) with:

- an ISA Adaptec 1542 SCSI controller attached to a Seagate 2GB drive
with 6 partitions

- an ISA ne2000 network card

- a 1.44MB FD

So, to create the image of the 2GB SCSI drive that is in the 486, I need
to boot the 486 on one or more floppy disks and dd the /dev/sda drive
over SSH to a file on my big Fedora 25 x86_64 workstation. The problems
are that I haven't been able to find a Floppy linux that has everything
I need: dd, ssh and built-in recognition for the Adaptec controller and
the NE2000 card . .

It would have been easier if I had had a PCI Adaptec SCSI controller
that I could put in a newer machine with the old drive and then just do
the dd locally but I don't really want to have to buy one that I would
probably never use again . .

Are there people here who could me get all the bits going on BL?

Thanks,

Phil.
--
Philip Rhoades

PO Box 896
Cowra NSW 2794
Australia
E-mail: ***@pricom.com.au
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[sindi keesan]

aha1542.o (14.6K) for the Adaptec is at the baslinux site under additional
modules.

http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/add-ons/2_2_26/modules/scsi/aha1542.o

The NE2000 module appears to be ne.o

Only a few of the more common (at the time) modules were included in the
main download so that it would fit on floppies.

There is also a kernel optimized for 486.

http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/add-ons/2_2_26/zimage.4dx

You can also compile your own optimized kernel 2.2.26 which includes those
modules and omits unused ones. Or put together your own floppy version of
BL to run directly on your hardware. I managed both and posted about it.

On Sun, 9 Oct 2016, Philip Rhoades wrote:

> People,
>
> I have spent DAYS checking out many 1, 2 and 3 FD Linuxes but I haven't found
> ONE that will do everything I want . . I did however find BL which is quite
> nice and has a functioning mailing list! As an exercise, I want to create a
> VM image from a SCSI drive in an old Red Hat (NOT Enterprise) v5.2 Linux 486
> machine (circa 1999) with:
>
> - an ISA Adaptec 1542 SCSI controller attached to a Seagate 2GB drive with 6
> partitions
>
> - an ISA ne2000 network card
>
> - a 1.44MB FD
>
> So, to create the image of the 2GB SCSI drive that is in the 486, I need to
> boot the 486 on one or more floppy disks and dd the /dev/sda drive over SSH
> to a file on my big Fedora 25 x86_64 workstation. The problems are that I
> haven't been able to find a Floppy linux that has everything I need: dd, ssh
> and built-in recognition for the Adaptec controller and the NE2000 card . .
>
> It would have been easier if I had had a PCI Adaptec SCSI controller that I
> could put in a newer machine with the old drive and then just do the dd
> locally but I don't really want to have to buy one that I would probably
> never use again . .
>
> Are there people here who could me get all the bits going on BL?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Phil.
> --
> Philip Rhoades
>
> PO Box 896
> Cowra NSW 2794
> Australia
> E-mail: ***@pricom.com.au
> -----------------------
> BasicLinux mailing list
> -----------------------
> http://www.basiclinux.info
> http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/
> ------------------------------------
> To exit, send subject=unsubscribe to
> baslinux-***@lists.ibiblio.org
>

Sindi Keesan
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[Philip Rhoades]

sindi,

Thanks for the fast reply! See inline comments:


On 2016-10-09 03:04, sindi keesan wrote:
> aha1542.o (14.6K) for the Adaptec is at the baslinux site under
> additional modules.
>
> http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/add-ons/2_2_26/modules/scsi/aha1542.o


I missed that . .


> The NE2000 module appears to be ne.o


OK, good . .


> Only a few of the more common (at the time) modules were included in
> the main download so that it would fit on floppies.


Yes, I thought so . .


> There is also a kernel optimized for 486.
>
> http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/add-ons/2_2_26/zimage.4dx


But I guess that is also missing the Adaptec and NE2000 drivers . .


> You can also compile your own optimized kernel 2.2.26 which includes
> those modules and omits unused ones. Or put together your own floppy
> version of BL to run directly on your hardware. I managed both and
> posted about it.


Could you give me the link?

Thanks!

Phil.


> On Sun, 9 Oct 2016, Philip Rhoades wrote:
>
>> People,
>>
>> I have spent DAYS checking out many 1, 2 and 3 FD Linuxes but I
>> haven't found ONE that will do everything I want . . I did however
>> find BL which is quite nice and has a functioning mailing list! As an
>> exercise, I want to create a VM image from a SCSI drive in an old Red
>> Hat (NOT Enterprise) v5.2 Linux 486 machine (circa 1999) with:
>>
>> - an ISA Adaptec 1542 SCSI controller attached to a Seagate 2GB drive
>> with 6 partitions
>>
>> - an ISA ne2000 network card
>>
>> - a 1.44MB FD
>>
>> So, to create the image of the 2GB SCSI drive that is in the 486, I
>> need to boot the 486 on one or more floppy disks and dd the /dev/sda
>> drive over SSH to a file on my big Fedora 25 x86_64 workstation. The
>> problems are that I haven't been able to find a Floppy linux that has
>> everything I need: dd, ssh and built-in recognition for the Adaptec
>> controller and the NE2000 card . .
>>
>> It would have been easier if I had had a PCI Adaptec SCSI controller
>> that I could put in a newer machine with the old drive and then just
>> do the dd locally but I don't really want to have to buy one that I
>> would probably never use again . .
>>
>> Are there people here who could me get all the bits going on BL?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Phil.
>> -- Philip Rhoades
>>
>> PO Box 896
>> Cowra NSW 2794
>> Australia
>> E-mail: ***@pricom.com.au
>> -----------------------
>> BasicLinux mailing list
>> -----------------------
>> http://www.basiclinux.info
>> http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/
>> ------------------------------------
>> To exit, send subject=unsubscribe to
>> baslinux-***@lists.ibiblio.org
>>
>
> Sindi Keesan

--
Philip Rhoades

PO Box 896
Cowra NSW 2794
Australia
E-mail: ***@pricom.com.au
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[sindi keesan]

>> There is also a kernel optimized for 486.
>>
>> http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/add-ons/2_2_26/zimage.4dx
>
>
> But I guess that is also missing the Adaptec and NE2000 drivers . .

Very few drivers were included in Stephen's kernels. I just looked at the
config file for compiling the 'big' kernel and he set it to compile almost
everything as modules.

>> You can also compile your own optimized kernel 2.2.26 which includes
>> those modules and omits unused ones. Or put together your own floppy
>> version of BL to run directly on your hardware. I managed both and
>> posted about it.
>
>
> Could you give me the link?

Try searching on my baslinux, my name (keesan) compile and kernel.
I also compiled a lot of programs. You will need the kernel source code
(large) for 2.2.26 and a few other files to compile with. Edit the
standard config file (or borrow Stephen's and modify it).

Kernels compile rather slowly on a 486. My first BL computer had 12MB RAM
(around 1999). We were big on modem support then. I used a 486 laptop as
a terminal (running programs on a speedy Pentium II, displaying on the 486
in VGA resolution).

For the custom BL, I think what I did was mount -o loop and replace the
kernel and some of the modules.

http://keesan.freeshell.org/bl (for a list of what is there blfiles.htm).

Try bl3fbfd.zip for a 2-floppy BL3 with framebuffer support.

There is no need to include all of previous posts when you reply - ibiblio
keeps them all.
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[Philip Rhoades]

sindi,


On 2016-10-09 03:36, sindi keesan wrote:
>>> You can also compile your own optimized kernel 2.2.26 which includes
>>> those modules and omits unused ones. Or put together your own floppy
>>> version of BL to run directly on your hardware. I managed both and
>>> posted about it.
>>
>>
>> Could you give me the link?
>
> Try searching on my baslinux, my name (keesan) compile and kernel.


I am not sure what you mean - the
http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/baslinux archives are not searchable.
I had a look at http://keesan.freeshell.org/bl but that didn't help
much . .


> I also compiled a lot of programs. You will need the kernel source
> code (large) for 2.2.26 and a few other files to compile with. Edit
> the standard config file (or borrow Stephen's and modify it).
>
> Kernels compile rather slowly on a 486.


Isn't it possible to cross-compile on my big Fedora 25 workstation?


> My first BL computer had 12MB
> RAM (around 1999). We were big on modem support then. I used a 486
> laptop as a terminal (running programs on a speedy Pentium II,
> displaying on the 486 in VGA resolution).


About that time I had set up a small insurance company running a lot of
floppy-booted Linux PCs that would get X etc from a server - they worked
quite well as terminals / X servers - I should work out how I did that
again . . after that exercise we went to commercial thin clients running
X.


> For the custom BL, I think what I did was mount -o loop and replace
> the kernel and some of the modules.
>
> http://keesan.freeshell.org/bl (for a list of what is there
> blfiles.htm).
>
> Try bl3fbfd.zip for a 2-floppy BL3 with framebuffer support.


OK, I will have a look.


> There is no need to include all of previous posts when you reply -
> ibiblio keeps them all.


OK!

BTW, Pricom used to produce a DOS-based Scientific / Multilingual WP
(including Cyrillic character sets) - which worked in "character
graphics" mode (8*16 pixels) on EGA and VGA screens. I still have all
the code and it works in dosemu etc from memory - I can show you some
screen captures if you like.

Regards,

Phil.
--
Philip Rhoades

PO Box 896
Cowra NSW 2794
Australia
E-mail: ***@pricom.com.au
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[sindi keesan]

> sindi,
>
>
> On 2016-10-09 03:36, sindi keesan wrote:

>> Try searching on baslinux, my name (keesan) compile and kernel.
>
>
> I am not sure what you mean - the http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/baslinux
> archives are not searchable. I had a look at http://keesan.freeshell.org/bl
> but that didn't help much . .

At the baslinux ibiblio site is a link to help, which besides letting you
sign up for the mail list has a Searching the Archive. Fill in the terms
you are after where it says xxx. This does a google search for you.

http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/baslin.htm


>> Kernels compile rather slowly on a 486.
>
>
> Isn't it possible to cross-compile on my big Fedora 25 workstation?

Yes, I was just commenting that I used to compile on a 486.

>
>
>> My first BL computer had 12MB
>> RAM (around 1999). We were big on modem support then. I used a 486
>> laptop as a terminal (running programs on a speedy Pentium II,
>> displaying on the 486 in VGA resolution).
>
>
> About that time I had set up a small insurance company running a lot of
> floppy-booted Linux PCs that would get X etc from a server - they worked
> quite well as terminals / X servers - I should work out how I did that again
> . . after that exercise we went to commercial thin clients running X.

Stephen explained how to do this with BL.
Also how to share a modem connection.

>
> OK!
>
> BTW, Pricom used to produce a DOS-based Scientific / Multilingual WP
> (including Cyrillic character sets) - which worked in "character graphics"
> mode (8*16 pixels) on EGA and VGA screens. I still have all the code and it
> works in dosemu etc from memory - I can show you some screen captures if you
> like.

I once designed a lambda for my 9-pin printer. I think also something
for the screen. No need for screen captures.

I wonder if anyone else is still reading this mail list.

>
> Regards,
>
> Phil.
> --
> Philip Rhoades
>
> PO Box 896
> Cowra NSW 2794
> Australia
> E-mail: ***@pricom.com.au
>

Sindi Keesan
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[Philip Rhoades]

sindi,


On 2016-10-10 00:38, sindi keesan wrote:
>> sindi,
>>
>>
>> On 2016-10-09 03:36, sindi keesan wrote:
>
>>> Try searching on baslinux, my name (keesan) compile and kernel.
>>
>>
>> I am not sure what you mean - the
>> http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/baslinux archives are not
>> searchable. I had a look at http://keesan.freeshell.org/bl but that
>> didn't help much . .
>
> At the baslinux ibiblio site is a link to help, which besides letting
> you sign up for the mail list has a Searching the Archive. Fill in
> the terms you are after where it says xxx. This does a google search
> for you.
>
> http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/baslin.htm


That doesn't seem to be any better than the Google search I did before -
I found posts like this:

http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/baslinux/2005-January/006443.html

but what I am looking for is a complete HowTo doc - starting building BL
from scratch . . does something like that exist?


>> About that time I had set up a small insurance company running a lot
>> of floppy-booted Linux PCs that would get X etc from a server - they
>> worked quite well as terminals / X servers - I should work out how I
>> did that again . . after that exercise we went to commercial thin
>> clients running X.
>
> Stephen explained how to do this with BL. Also how to share a modem
> connection.


OK, if I can find enough stuff to allow me to start building BL myself I
will have a look at that as well . .


> I wonder if anyone else is still reading this mail list.


Doesn't look like it . .

Thanks,

Phil.
--
Philip Rhoades

PO Box 896
Cowra NSW 2794
Australia
E-mail: ***@pricom.com.au
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[Sheldon Isaac]

From: sindi keesan <***@SDF.ORG>
To: Philip Rhoades <***@pricom.com.au>
Cc: ***@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [BL] An unusual project . .
Date: Sun, 9 Oct 2016 13:38:49 +0000 (UTC)

> I wonder if anyone else is still reading this mail list.

Yep.

Although most of what is said is beyond my current understanding.


Thanks,
Sheldon
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[sindi keesan]

On Sun, 9 Oct 2016, Sheldon Isaac wrote:

> From: sindi keesan <***@SDF.ORG>
> To: Philip Rhoades <***@pricom.com.au>
> Cc: ***@lists.ibiblio.org
> Subject: Re: [BL] An unusual project . .
> Date: Sun, 9 Oct 2016 13:38:49 +0000 (UTC)
>
>> I wonder if anyone else is still reading this mail list.
>
> Yep.
>
> Although most of what is said is beyond my current understanding.
>
>
> Thanks,
> Sheldon

I know nothing about VM, myself, and everything I know about linux I
learned from other list members. BL is the first linux I ever used, and
by far the best for my purposes. I never did manage to compile a kernel
that supports SATA drives. Opera 9 no longer works at many websites.

I am still friends with two of the BL users who taught me, one of them now
in his mid 90s. I learned a lot from someone else who turned out to be
15 at the time.
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[Harsha Godavari]

Yes Cindi, I still do :-) Right now I am trying to get my old 486 running again. HD controller seems to have failed (a multi I/O card) but then I am not sure of the HD either :-(

regards
harsha godavari

----- Original Message -----

From: "sindi keesan" <***@SDF.ORG>
To: "Philip Rhoades" <***@pricom.com.au>
Cc: ***@lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Sunday, October 9, 2016 1:38:49 PM
Subject: Re: [BL] An unusual project . .


> sindi,
>
>
> On 2016-10-09 03:36, sindi keesan wrote:

>> Try searching on baslinux, my name (keesan) compile and kernel.
>
>
> I am not sure what you mean - the http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/baslinux
> archives are not searchable. I had a look at http://keesan.freeshell.org/bl
> but that didn't help much . .

At the baslinux ibiblio site is a link to help, which besides letting you
sign up for the mail list has a Searching the Archive. Fill in the terms
you are after where it says xxx. This does a google search for you.

http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/baslin.htm


>> Kernels compile rather slowly on a 486.
>
>
> Isn't it possible to cross-compile on my big Fedora 25 workstation?

Yes, I was just commenting that I used to compile on a 486.

>
>
>> My first BL computer had 12MB
>> RAM (around 1999). We were big on modem support then. I used a 486
>> laptop as a terminal (running programs on a speedy Pentium II,
>> displaying on the 486 in VGA resolution).
>
>
> About that time I had set up a small insurance company running a lot of
> floppy-booted Linux PCs that would get X etc from a server - they worked
> quite well as terminals / X servers - I should work out how I did that again
> . . after that exercise we went to commercial thin clients running X.

Stephen explained how to do this with BL.
Also how to share a modem connection.

>
> OK!
>
> BTW, Pricom used to produce a DOS-based Scientific / Multilingual WP
> (including Cyrillic character sets) - which worked in "character graphics"
> mode (8*16 pixels) on EGA and VGA screens. I still have all the code and it
> works in dosemu etc from memory - I can show you some screen captures if you
> like.

I once designed a lambda for my 9-pin printer. I think also something
for the screen. No need for screen captures.

I wonder if anyone else is still reading this mail list.

>
> Regards,
>
> Phil.
> --
> Philip Rhoades
>
> PO Box 896
> Cowra NSW 2794
> Australia
> E-mail: ***@pricom.com.au
>

Sindi Keesan
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[sindi keesan]

On Sun, 9 Oct 2016, Harsha Godavari wrote:

> Yes Cindi, I still do :-) Right now I am trying to get my old 486 running again. HD controller seems to have failed (a multi I/O card) but then I am not sure of the HD either :-(
>
> regards
> harsha godavari

I could send you a Superdisk drive - for reading 120MB superdisks, IDE
connection. Not useful if the IDE controller is bad.
What will you do with the 486 if it works?
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[Harsha Godavari]

OOps sorry about the wrong spelling of your name.

regards
harsha godavari

----- Original Message -----

From: "sindi keesan" <***@SDF.ORG>
To: "Philip Rhoades" <***@pricom.com.au>
Cc: ***@lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Sunday, October 9, 2016 1:38:49 PM
Subject: Re: [BL] An unusual project . .


> sindi,
>
>
> On 2016-10-09 03:36, sindi keesan wrote:

>> Try searching on baslinux, my name (keesan) compile and kernel.
>
>
> I am not sure what you mean - the http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/baslinux
> archives are not searchable. I had a look at http://keesan.freeshell.org/bl
> but that didn't help much . .

At the baslinux ibiblio site is a link to help, which besides letting you
sign up for the mail list has a Searching the Archive. Fill in the terms
you are after where it says xxx. This does a google search for you.

http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/baslin.htm


>> Kernels compile rather slowly on a 486.
>
>
> Isn't it possible to cross-compile on my big Fedora 25 workstation?

Yes, I was just commenting that I used to compile on a 486.

>
>
>> My first BL computer had 12MB
>> RAM (around 1999). We were big on modem support then. I used a 486
>> laptop as a terminal (running programs on a speedy Pentium II,
>> displaying on the 486 in VGA resolution).
>
>
> About that time I had set up a small insurance company running a lot of
> floppy-booted Linux PCs that would get X etc from a server - they worked
> quite well as terminals / X servers - I should work out how I did that again
> . . after that exercise we went to commercial thin clients running X.

Stephen explained how to do this with BL.
Also how to share a modem connection.

>
> OK!
>
> BTW, Pricom used to produce a DOS-based Scientific / Multilingual WP
> (including Cyrillic character sets) - which worked in "character graphics"
> mode (8*16 pixels) on EGA and VGA screens. I still have all the code and it
> works in dosemu etc from memory - I can show you some screen captures if you
> like.

I once designed a lambda for my 9-pin printer. I think also something
for the screen. No need for screen captures.

I wonder if anyone else is still reading this mail list.

>
> Regards,
>
> Phil.
> --
> Philip Rhoades
>
> PO Box 896
> Cowra NSW 2794
> Australia
> E-mail: ***@pricom.com.au
>

Sindi Keesan
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[Ian]

I'm still on this list. I don't use BL anymore but wrestling with it was useful learning about
Linux. I never got BL to do much useful, except getting Opera to work with it. I now use
Puppy Linux and can find my way round that moderately well. Thanks to Sindi and others on
this list for their advice in the past.

Pity that Steven never kept BL going, else I'm sure many of us would still be using it.

Ian.



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[Ron Clarke]

On Mon, 10 Oct 2016 01:03:09 +1100, Philip Rhoades wrote:

>> I wonder if anyone else is still reading this mail list.

> Doesn't look like it . .

I still read this mail list.
And I still have working BL distros, but I now mostly use DOS and Slackware 14.2


Ron Clarke
AUSREG Consultancy http://www.ausreg.com
Tadpole Tunes http://www.tadpoletunes.com
Sna Keo Il http://www.tadpoletunes.com/sna_keo_il/
-- This mail was written by a user of the Arachne Browser - http://www.glennmcc.org/

DOS: For IQs higher than 7, 8, 95, 98 or 2000.
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[Harsha Godavari]

----- Original Message -----

From: "sindi keesan" <***@SDF.ORG>
To: ***@lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Sunday, October 9, 2016 8:00:28 PM
Subject: Re: [BL] An unusual project . .

On Sun, 9 Oct 2016, Harsha Godavari wrote:

> Yes Cindi, I still do :-) Right now I am trying to get my old 486 running again. HD controller seems to have failed (a multi I/O card) but then I am not sure of the HD either :-(
>
> regards
> harsha godavari

I could send you a Superdisk drive - for reading 120MB superdisks, IDE
connection. Not useful if the IDE controller is bad.
What will you do with the 486 if it works?


I am going to see how much use I can get out of it, especially using mini/micro OSes. I would guess millions of computers are sitting in the basements because they are "under powered". If they can have an OS & appropriate software to meet the basic needs, those computers can be saved from E-Waste and serve the needs of the less wealthy :-)

The controller works fine, I forgot about the 500MB limitation of the i486_systems and was trying to use a 2.3 GB hard_drive. I found a couple of HDs under 500MB and it is working fine. Thanks for the offer of a Superdisk drive. I will ask for it later when I am satisfied that this system is working ok :-)

regards
harsha godavari

[sindi keesan]

> I am going to see how much use I can get out of it, especially using mini/micro OSes. I would guess millions of computers are sitting in the basements because they are "under powered". If they can have an OS & appropriate software to meet the basic needs, those computers can be saved from E-Waste and serve the needs of the less wealthy :-)
>
> The controller works fine, I forgot about the 500MB limitation of the i486_systems and was trying to use a 2.3 GB hard_drive. I found a couple of HDs under 500MB and it is working fine. Thanks for the offer of a Superdisk drive. I will ask for it later when I am satisfied that this system is working ok :-)
>
> regards
> harsha godavari

Where I live, 10 year old desktops are free.
I do not have superdisks to go with the drive.

Can you partition a larger hard disk to 500MB to use with the 486?
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[Narcis Garcia]

Seagate released some kind of driver to deal with LBA BIOS limitations
(500MB?). If someone is looking for it, I can search in my software
archives.


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[Harsha Godavari]

I think, I mentioned that earlier and I do recall using "Ezdrive" overlay to install an 800MB HD into a i486 system.Thanks for the offer but I won't need it at this point.

regards
harsha godavari

----- Original Message -----

From: "Narcis Garcia" <***@actiu.net>
To: ***@lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Monday, October 10, 2016 7:16:55 PM
Subject: Re: [BL] An unusual project . .

Seagate released some kind of driver to deal with LBA BIOS limitations
(500MB?). If someone is looking for it, I can search in my software
archives.

[Sean Mozo]

Phil,

This reply may be late and you've already sorted things out for
yourself, nevertheless I just wanted to chime in with a suggestion as
follows:

1. Copy your needed modules and the ssh add-on to a third floppy.

http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/add-ons/2_2_26/modules/scsi/scsi_mod.o
http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/add-ons/2_2_26/modules/scsi/aha1542.o
http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/add-ons/2_2_26/modules/net/ne.o
http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/add-ons/ssh.tgz

2. After booting with the first two floppies and logging in by pressing
enter, insert and mount the floppy you copied those files to.

3. Change to the /fd directory and use insmod to load your modules.

4. Set up your network connection. (e.g. "ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.100"
and "route add default gw 192.168.1.1")

5. Use "pkg ssh.tgz" to install ssh add-on.

After that you should be set to mount your hard drive and dd your image
through ssh.

The caveat here is having enough RAM to load all of this into the
ramdisk BL is operating from so hopefully this isn't the case for you.

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[Philip Rhoades]

Sean,


On 2017-02-26 09:05, Sean Mozo wrote:
> Phil,
>
> This reply may be late and you've already sorted things out for
> yourself, nevertheless I just wanted to chime in with a suggestion as
> follows:


No, definitely not too late - it is an ongoing thing that I have to sort
out in between other projects and life dramas! If it is OK with you I
will give this another shot in a few weeks and report back here?

BTW, do people here know about micro-kernels? How do they relate to
producing a very small system for things like I am trying to do? ie
being able to boot from floppies with a reasonably complete system?

Many thanks!

Regards,

Phil.


> 1. Copy your needed modules and the ssh add-on to a third floppy.
>
> http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/add-ons/2_2_26/modules/scsi/scsi_mod.o
> http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/add-ons/2_2_26/modules/scsi/aha1542.o
> http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/add-ons/2_2_26/modules/net/ne.o
> http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/add-ons/ssh.tgz
>
> 2. After booting with the first two floppies and logging in by
> pressing enter, insert and mount the floppy you copied those files to.
>
> 3. Change to the /fd directory and use insmod to load your modules.
>
> 4. Set up your network connection. (e.g. "ifconfig eth0 192.168.1.100"
> and "route add default gw 192.168.1.1")
>
> 5. Use "pkg ssh.tgz" to install ssh add-on.
>
> After that you should be set to mount your hard drive and dd your
> image through ssh.
>
> The caveat here is having enough RAM to load all of this into the
> ramdisk BL is operating from so hopefully this isn't the case for you.
>
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> http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/
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> baslinux-***@lists.ibiblio.org

--
Philip Rhoades

PO Box 896
Cowra NSW 2794
Australia
E-mail: ***@pricom.com.au
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[Sean Mozo]

Phil,

That sounds good to me. I'm curious to see how it turns out.

I can't be of much help with the micro kernel thing. The only experience
I have with a small floppy-based distro is using BasicLinux in a virtual
machine to help me learn about Linux. I do know that with the way BL is
modularly built and its ability to load packages from the Slakware4.0
distro you can get a decent system up and running. You can even automate
the install of modules and packages from subsequent disks after the
first two by editing the /etc/rc file in the image on the first disk.

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[sindi keesan]

I compiled a lot of 2.4.31 kernels for laptops
http://keesan.freeshell.org/bl/2.4.31

It is not that hard to compile your own kernel if you have broadband.
Look in the mail list for instructions.

On Mon, 27 Feb 2017, Sean Mozo wrote:

> Phil,
>
> That sounds good to me. I'm curious to see how it turns out.
>
> I can't be of much help with the micro kernel thing. The only experience I
> have with a small floppy-based distro is using BasicLinux in a virtual
> machine to help me learn about Linux. I do know that with the way BL is
> modularly built and its ability to load packages from the Slakware4.0 distro
> you can get a decent system up and running. You can even automate the install
> of modules and packages from subsequent disks after the first two by editing
> the /etc/rc file in the image on the first disk.
>
> -----------------------
> BasicLinux mailing list
> -----------------------
> http://www.basiclinux.info
> http://distro.ibiblio.org/baslinux/
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> baslinux-***@lists.ibiblio.org
>

Sindi Keesan
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