Problems with booting from the floppys, oh and scsi shit too

gaah · 2003-09-12 16:06:46

Hello!

I need some help! I'm trying to install Arch linux on my old computer on wich I have only a SCSI cd writer. And I don't have a network at home so my only option is the cd install. I downloaded the 0.5 basic version since pacman should update everything while done(?). And I also downloaded and made the floppys with rawwrite.

On the computer I only have one partition that is inactive and allot of empty space...

I boot on the "boot" floppy and comes to lilo and then the promt where the only working command is "arch" (that I've found anyway). Then everything boots okay (I think) until the computer tells me to "enter the root floppy", here the "fun" begins... Now I enter the root floppy and press enter I get "kernel panic: no init found" or something like that.

So what to do? I can't edit the floppys since my windows computer can't read the filesystem... I can't boot from the cd because I need to load the SCSI drivers first (but can't find a place to load them from)

Well, I have no idea what to do now, so please help me before I pull all my blonde hair off my head! :-)

marin_linuxer · 2003-09-12 16:56:12

OK, first off, any Linux hacker ought to have(IMHO) a rescue floppy/cd. My personal favorite, so far, is KNOPPIX. You can download/burn from Windoze and then use to boot a fully functional workstation with Internet access(in most cases, anyway) and edit whatever you need. Assuming your hardware is not so 'unique' as to be beyond the auto-detect abilities of KNOPPIX, you'd be good-to-go. Try one these, below:

1. http://knoppix.com/

or

2. http://www.sysresccd.org/download.en.php

gaah · 2003-09-12 17:41:19

Okay, thanks! I'm downloading it now... But I hope it has some floppys in it since I can't access my cd-player at all without loading the right SCSI modules first...?

marin_linuxer · 2003-09-12 17:56:08

Not knowing much 'bout floppy-based installs, I'd have to say give KNOPPIX a shot and see if it auto-detects/installs the correct SCSI driver for you ---- you'll be amazed at being able to have a complete workstation by just booting a CD.

I'm kicking myself at the moment for not mentioning 'rasat's' great ArchLinux-based boot-cd. It's more of a work-in-progress, but he has made some wonderful tools for Arch. You might check it out also:

http://amlug.org/new-projects/live-cd/a … ve-cd.html

(hope nobody notices. :oops: )

gaah · 2003-09-12 18:07:46

thanks again! knoppix are already downloading over here so I'll try that! but again, I really hope there are some floppys in it since I can't even open my cd drive without loading the scsi modules! :-)

gaah · 2003-09-13 22:52:19

Thanks for all the help but I gave up! I took an ide burner and installed from...

marin_linuxer · 2003-09-14 00:05:40

OK, hope you make it. It's a great ride.

Arch Linux

#1 2003-09-12 16:06:46

Problems with booting from the floppys, oh and scsi shit too

#2 2003-09-12 16:56:12

Re: Problems with booting from the floppys, oh and scsi shit too

#3 2003-09-12 17:41:19

Re: Problems with booting from the floppys, oh and scsi shit too

#4 2003-09-12 17:56:08

Re: Problems with booting from the floppys, oh and scsi shit too

#5 2003-09-12 18:07:46

Re: Problems with booting from the floppys, oh and scsi shit too

#6 2003-09-13 22:52:19

Re: Problems with booting from the floppys, oh and scsi shit too

#7 2003-09-14 00:05:40

Re: Problems with booting from the floppys, oh and scsi shit too

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