Installing Slackware 10.1 on a PC110

Kernel configuration

These instructions are intended for use with kernel version 2.4.29, and not with any of the kernels included with the Slackware 10.1 distribution.

The stock kernel requires a patch before $ make config will produce a configuration appropriate for an i486. Alternatively, skip the $ make config stage and use this configuration.

<Compile the kernel and modules (overnight, probably :-) and copy the kernel to /boot/bzImage-2.4.29. Install the modules in /lib/modules/2.4.29. Reinstall the hostap modules if # make modules_install removes them.

Boot sequence

Booting with / on a PCMCIA device is a bit tricky. There are two ways to do it:

1. Add "PCMCIA" to the start-up disk choices in the BIOS, or
2. Use an initial ram disk to load the pcmcia modules.

The first option is easier -- the BIOS takes over the slot with the Microdrive in, and the other one is free for other devices. This works for booting, but the BIOS doesn't seem to be able to wake the disk up after a suspend-resume cycle. It used to work with the original type III PCMCIA disk, so it seems the Microdrive needs to be prodded in a different way to revive it.

The solution is to create a PCMCIA-aware initrd to initialise the PCMCIA controller before / is mounted. /sbin/pcinitrd, part of the pcmcia-cs package, will do most of the work. The ramdisk it creates uses ash to execute /linuxrc, so make sure ash is installed before running pcinitrd. The ramdisk created by pcinitrd isn't quite complete; add the missing libraries and binaries like so:

root@carrot:~# /sbin/pcinitrd initrd
2400+0 records in
2400+0 records out
mke2fs 1.35 (28-Feb-2004)
1836K/2357K used
root@carrot:~# mount -o loop initrd /mnt/
root@carrot:~# cp /sbin/insmod.old /mnt/bin/
root@carrot:~# cp /lib/libblkid.so.1 /mnt/lib/
root@carrot:~# cp /lib/libuuid.so.1 /mnt/lib/
root@carrot:~# cp /lib/modules/2.4.29/kernel/drivers/pcmcia/i82365.o /mnt/lib/pcmcia
root@carrot:~# cp /lib/modules/2.4.29/kernel/drivers/ide/legacy/ide-cs.o /mnt/lib/pcmcia
root@carrot:~# ldconfig -v -r /mnt
ldconfig: Can't open configuration file /etc/ld.so.conf: No such file or directory
ldconfig: Can't stat /usr/lib: No such file or directory
/lib:
  libuuid.so.1 -> libuuid.so.1
  libblkid.so.1 -> libblkid.so.1
  ld-linux.so.2 -> ld-linux.so.2
  libc.so.6 -> libc.so.6
root@carrot:~# umount /mnt/
root@carrot:~# gzip initrd
root@carrot:~# cp initrd.gz /boot/initrd

Set the [http://www.basterfield.com/pc110/bios/startup.htm BIOS startup sequence] to "FDD-1", "HDD-1", in that order¹. /boot is mounted on /dev/hda1, the 4MB internal flash disk (Hard disk 1 in the BIOS).

/etc/lilo.conf should look like

boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
prompt
timeout=50
linear
default=slackware-10.1

image=/boot/bzImage-2.4.29
    label=slackware-10.1
    inirtd=/boot/initrd
    read-only
    root=/dev/hdc2
    append="hdd=noprobe"

LILO version 22.5.9, as installed with Slackware 10.1, complains about the linear option, but there is no immediate need to take it out; it's always been there and it's always worked. /dev/hda isn't bigger than 8.4GB, so using lba32 instead wouldn't gain anything.

append="hdd=noprobe" prevents the IDE driver probing for a slave device on the second IDE interface (the other PCMCIA slot); nothing bad happens if the probe takes place, but the boot process hangs for a few seconds. We know there's nothing there, so there's no point looking.