Help with a older laptop-Please - Page 2

OU812 · posted: 2009-07-19 05:42

I had such a hard time trying to install vector linux on an old dell laptop that I finally gave up. In fact, the problem sounds very similar to yours. Most other distros worked or I used one or both of the aforementioned cheat codes. Anyway, while trying to solve the vl problem, I found that puppy linux and knoppix have an amazing set of cheat codes. Google and keep on trying.

john

Kubuntu76 · posted: 2009-07-19 18:42

thanks ill try puppy but for the Antix crew maybe add a driver for sony drives i.e. sr0 there are alot of sonys out there and their drives map to sr0

voyvf · posted: 2009-07-22 00:15

Kubuntu76 wrote:I am running a sony vaio pcg-r505el laptop
I have tried all the boot options. I keep getting this error.
Can't find MEPIS filesystem, sorry dropping to a limited shell
/static/ash: can't access tty:job control turned off
I have searched the forum and can't figure why the MEPIS filesystem can't be read.

Thanks in advance as this will help others in the same boat looking to revive their sweet sony vaios- I tried 8.0 and 7.5 and I checked the MD5sums of each ISO.

I keep getting this same error message wth my vaio pcg-z505js (128mb ram, 650mhz cpu). It doesn't have a cdrom, or floppy, and the bios doesn't support booting from usb, so I'm stuck using the ISO.

I managed to get damn small linux to load using unetbootin, so I know it's in some way possible. I just want something a bit more current than a 2.4.xx kernel. (:

I've tried failsafe boot from antiX-M8 and antiX-M8-base.iso using the fromiso and fromhd cheat codes, and a great number of variations on it, with no luck.

That said, I didn't check the md5 sum of my iso's, which I'm going to go do now. I'm glad you mentioned that, thanks. __{{emoticon}}__

Also, thanks to rokytnji for the cheat code link, that helps a lot.

By the way, does anyone know of some of the parameters to pass to linuxrc? I've tried reading through it using awk cantations, but it's a pain without less or more on hand.

EDIT: It hadn't occurred to me to mount the darn initrd as a loopback device - never mind about the linuxrc. Doh! __{{emoticon}}__

EDIT2: md5sum checks out. __{{emoticon}}__

rokytnji · posted: 2009-07-22 01:42

Gentoo boot cheat codes

========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=1&chap=2"
linktext was:"http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/h ... t=1&chap=2"
====================================

voyvf · posted: 2009-07-23 02:25

rokytnji wrote:Gentoo boot cheat codes

========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/handbook-x86.xml?part=1&chap=2"
linktext was:"http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/h ... t=1&chap=2"
====================================

Err, those aren't all valid for antiX, at least from reading through the linuxrc in the initrd. Doing

Code: Select all

grep -A 1"case \"\$CMDLINE\"" linuxrc

gives a decent list.

By the way, I've gotten much closer to getting it to boot. It drops me into a less limited shell; it just can't find the root partition.

I might try an earlier version of antiX and see if that works, then upgrade it. (:

anticapitalista · posted: 2009-07-23 13:48

Maybe the last post in this thread will help:

========= SCRAPER REMOVED AN EMBEDDED LINK HERE ===========
url was:"antix.freeforu ms.org/bootup-looking-for-cdrom-t337.html"
linktext was:"antix.freeforu ms.org/bootup-look ... -t337.html"
====================================
" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false

voyvf · posted: 2009-07-23 23:36

anticapitalista wrote:Maybe the last post in this thread will help:

bootup-looking-for-cdrom-t337.html

No, I have partitions hda1 and hda2.

hda2 is where I want to install to; it has a nearly empty msdos partition, 5 gb.

hda1 is the win98 partition.

Currently I'm booting using grub4dos, via unetbootin, with the following as my menu.lst:

Code: Select all

title pleasework
kernel (hd0,0)/antix/vmlinuz nosplash vga=791 fromhd=/dev/hda1 fromiso=/antix/antix.iso aufs en clocksource=hpet nofirewire noagp nodhcp nocpufreq nobluetooth
initrd (hd0,0)/antix/initrd.gz
boot

Any ideas?

Also, am I correct in that I should be using the vmlinuz and initrd from the live cd, and not the root of the iso?

e.g., if I mount the iso as loopback on another machine in /home/voyvf/antix/, I shouldn't copy it from /home/voyvf/antix/boot/vmlinuz and /home/voyvf/antix/boot/initrd.gz, but rather from the squashfs image in /home/voyvf/antix/mepis/mepis

Or do I have that backward?

voyvf · posted: 2009-07-23 23:46

Well, I'm at a (slightly) more advanced shell - it says:

Code: Select all

Begin: Mounting root file system ... Begin: Running /scripts/local-top ... Clocksource tsc unstable (delta = -195430547 ns)
done.
Begin: Running /scripts/local-premount ... done.
mount: cannot read /etc/fstab: No such file or directory
Begin: Running /scripts/local-bottom ... done.
done.
Begin: running /scripts/init-bottom ... mount: mounting /dev on /root/dev failed: No such file or directory
done.
mount: mounting /sys on /root/sys failed: No such file or directory
mount: mounting /proc on /root/proc failed: No such file or directory
Target filesystem doesn't have /sbin/init.
No init found. Try passing init= bootarg.

BusyBox v1.10.2 (Debian 1:1.10.2-2) built-in shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of built-in commands.

/bin/sh: can't access tty: job control turned off
(initramfs)

eriefisher · posted: 2009-07-24 01:20

These are all signs of a bad burn. You say the disc work fine on other systems so I'm at a loss as to what to suggest.

voyvf · posted: 2009-07-25 22:35

eriefisher wrote:These are all signs of a bad burn. You say the disc work fine on other systems so I'm at a loss as to what to suggest.

Hmm. The iso checks out as far as the md5sum goes, and I'm not booting from a CD; my vaio doesn't even have a cd drive. (:

Last night, around midnight, I used netbootin to make a bootable USB drive, and booted it with PLoP; it was basically like booting from a CD (had the antiX grub screen and everything), but it still dropped me to the initrd busybox shell. That was actually pretty promising, as I'm guessing it just couldn't find the"cd drive".

I'm tinkering with the cheatcodes now, as rootdelay might fix that. Or the sed trick. Or both! (:

voyvf · posted: 2009-07-26 01:41

Ok. I booted from iso using grub. It couldn't find file system, the normal SNAFU. So I copied the uhci kernel module (which I copied from livecd iso) to /modules in initrd busybox shell. insmod uhci.ko and tada, it saw my usb drive. so I did sed incantation as noted by anticapitalista's link. ran new linuxrc script, it found"cdrom", and dropped me into new shell, on"livecd". did not init, so I exported my PATH to include /bin, /sbin, /usr/bin, /usr/sbin - for my sanity -, then cd'd to /etc/init.d/, ran"rc 3" to switch to runlevel 3.

This worked nicely, and configured then started X for me.

Sweet.

It doesn't recognize my touchpad, and my usb port is used up by usb drive.

Doh.

I will get this working, and post full HOWTO. __{{emoticon}}__ Seriously, these little vaios were popular way back when, so I bet there are plenty of unix and/or linux hackers, like myself, who'd love to try antix on them.

Quick question for anticaptalista: I know next to nothing about initrd's (or ISO's for that matter), please forgive my ignorance, but is it possible to have uhci/ehci support modules"shipped" in the iso?

Oh, and thanks to all who've helped me get this far. The community for this distro rocks. (:

Kubuntu76 · posted: 2009-07-26 12:14

not a burn problem I can promise you that...just burned and booted up to sidux and parted magic. sorry __{{emoticon}}__ __{{emoticon}}__

voyvf · posted: 2009-07-26 21:36

It's installed, and is rather zippy. I'll probably wind up installing antix on my main notebook at some point, as I figure if it can run on a PIII 650mhz without much lag, it'll be really nice on a P4 2.4ghz. __{{emoticon}}__

After I update my packages I'll post how I did it.

anticapitalista · posted: 2009-07-26 21:39

Unbelievable patience and persistence on your part voyvf. You desrve the"order of Lenny" LOl

I'm looking forward to reading your how to post.

10cc · posted: 2009-08-06 14:47

Those of you with older laptops and who maybe are looking to replace them soon, might like to look at some on the mobile broadband website. There are some good deals on offer at the moment.

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This is a warning 10cc. Anymore links to adverts and you will be banned.