Installing Slackware 10.1 on a PC110
Contents
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:
- Add "PCMCIA" to the start-up disk choices in the BIOS, or
- 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.
/etc/fstab
/etc/fstab looks like this:
/dev/hda1 /boot ext2 ro 1 2 /dev/hdc2 / ext3 defaults 1 1 /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto noauto,owner 0 0 none /proc proc defaults 0 0 none /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0 /dev/hdc1 swap swap defaults 0 0
