[K12OSN] HD boot-Format 1722kb floppy on Fedora Core 2
Mark Cockrell
cockrell at honeygroveisd.net
Sun Oct 24 21:01:41 UTC 2004
> OK! This is where I was going wrong (for any newbies out there trying
> to do the same thing)
>
> I was following the method describe in
> http://www.k12ltsp.org/phpwiki/index.php/Technical:Booting:Client:LiLo
>
> *excellent* instructions, step-by-step.
> Except when they say "5...copy [the rom] to a floppy..." THEY MEAN
> WHAT THEY SAY - COPY!! 'CP' NOT 'CAT' - DUH!! Takes me a while to
> figure these things out, but I seem to get there in the end.
>
> So my old Digital PCs can now boot, without a floppy, straight to my
> server - another milestone for me!
Hello all,
I've seen this thread bounced around a few times since I signed on
to this list and, being a Windows guy from way back, most of it has been
Greek to me. So, for others who might be in my shoes, I thought I'd
share my solution to this issue. I snagged a copy of FreeDOS from
www.freedos.org and made a boot floppy. From there I can use the
familiar, old DOS commands like FDISK, FORMAT, and SYS. Then I
downloaded the "DOS Executable ROM Image" appropriate for my NICs
(RTL8139.com, for example) from Rom-O-Matic and then created an
"Autoexec.bat" file with "Copy CON" that runs the file.
In fact, with a little bit of DOS batch scripting I've created a
single disk that will wipe out any existing partitions, create a new
partition, format the new C: drive and make it bootable. Then the user
gets a choice of the most common NIC ROMs and by pressing 1,2 or 3, can
instruct the system to copy all the necessary files to the newly erased
drive. It's perfect for me since I can hand the disk to a student (or a
loosely trained monkey, for that matter) and have them roll out new thin
clients with minimal effort.
I'm sure the Tom's Root Boot/LILO method is just as good, but I've
got too many Linux learning curve issues right now to try to figure out
a new way to do something I've been doing for 15 years. Still Free and
Open Source with no curtsy to Redmond necessary.
--
C-ya,
Mark
____
"Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys." -- P. J. O'Rourke
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