Re: [Devil-linux-develop] usb boot

[Heiko Z. <he...@zu...>]

Bruce Smith wrote:

>>>Do you want me to install grub on DL, and write a install-on-usb
>>>script using GRUB with a boot menu and a horned-Tux background?
>>>      
>>>
>>Sure! Go ahead, would look much better !
>>    
>>
>
>OK, I modified the install-on-usb script to use grub.
>(your lilo code is still in there, and can be selected by changing 
>one line in the script)  
>
>Give grub a try and see how it looks and works for you! :-)
>
>I still want to rework some of the code so it detects the device file
>better (right now it's detecting my SCSI HDD as a USB stick).
>
>And there is one current limitation in my grub code.  It will only work
>if DL is on the first partition of the USB device.  I can change that if
>you want me to.  Or we can make the first partition a requirement.  Let
>me know which why you'd like it.
>
If it's easy to implement I would suggest it.
This script will then work with all kinds of media, not only USB sticks.

>>>>>I got a few misc. errors, but nothing that sounded too serious.
>>>>>It came up, I logged in, ran setup, ... everything seemed to work.
>>>>>(except my NIC module (3c2000) doesn't exist in DL - not surprised)
>>>>>
>>>>>Anything specific you want me to try?
>>>>>          
>>>>>
>>>>Do a save-config and reboot a few times.
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>OK, I can try that tomorrow (LUG tonight, out of time now).
>>>      
>>>
>>Yeah I have SCUBA club meeting today.
>>    
>>
>
>How many times do I need to reboot for it to happen?
>I did it a few times without a problem.
>
It happend to me imediately . So I guess it's a problem here on my system.
I'll need to take another look at it.

>One possible problem that people may run into is they do a save-config,
>and reboot with a power-cycle or RESET button.  The buffer hasn't been
>written out to the USB stick when save-config completes.
>
>I recommend putting a "sync" at the end of the save-config script.
>
That's a good idea.

>>>>I had a corrupt file system, it couldn't load the modules....
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>I noticed you don't have the "ro" boot parameter in lilo.conf.
>>>Could that be the cause of your problem?
>>>(I put "ro" in my grub.conf and it didn't _cause_ any problems)
>>>      
>>>
>>Just try to do a save-config with the RO. ;-)
>>    
>>
>
>It works fine.  The "ro" _KERNEL_ option mounts it initially RO, but the
>startup script remounts it RW.
>
>  
>
>>>Should the USB media be write protected during boot, or not?
>>>      
>>>
>>I would say so, but for testing it doesn't make sense.
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Is it OK to change the write protect switch while it's running
>>>(for save-config)?
>>>      
>>>
>
>I booted up with the USB stick write protected.  I then switched the USB
>to RW and ran save-config.  save-config failed because the filesystem
>was still mounted RO.  Then I ran a "mount / -oremount,rw" and
>save-config worked.
>
>Maybe you should check for that in save-config.  If the root partition
>is RO, do a -oremount,rw at the beginning and a -oremount,ro at the end?
>  
>
Yeah that's probably better.

Heiko