How to install Knoppix on small HDD (1GB) ?

**nizki** · 10-28-2003, 08:36 AM

Hi. is it possible to install Knoppix from CD to HDD 1 GB just with some software? i.e. I don't need both OpenOffice and KOffice(one of them is enuough), I don't need all those games and other stuff etc. Just system, gui and most important applications. Best regards.

**m_yates** · 10-28-2003, 03:32 PM

The Knoppix installer does not allow package selection. You can only install everything on the CD, then add or remove things after it is installed on the hard drive. However, there are many Knoppix-based distributions that are meant to be smaller. DSL (Damn Small Linux) is one. You should read this:

http://www.knoppix.net/docs/index.ph...Customizations

It gives a complete list of Knoppix-based distributions. More information can be found at distrowatch.com.

**Dave_Bechtel** · 10-28-2003, 09:12 PM

--You could partition the drive like so:
o hda1 = 1 cylinder (4-8MB) FAT16 (boot)
o hda2 = 701+MB FAT32 (has to be a little more than 700MB for filesystem overhead)
o hda3 = 128MB swap (type 82)
o hda4 = ext3 (rest of drive) - should be 200MB or more, for persistent home

--Then boot knoppix cd in runlevel 2 ' knoppix 2 '
o ' dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda1 ' == Clear partition
o ' dd if=/cdrom/KNOPPIX/boot.img of=/dev/hda1 ' == Dump boot floppy image to partition
o ' activate /dev/hda 1 ' == Boot from boot floppy image

--Poor man's install on hda2:
o ' mkdosfs -c -F 32 -v /dev/hda2 ' == Format
o ' mkdir /mnt/hda2 '
o ' mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2 -onoatime,rw ' == Mount Fat32
o ' mkdir /mnt/hda2/knoppix '
o ' cp /cdrom/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX /mnt/hda2/knoppix ' == Copy big knoppix file from CD to msdos partition

--Swap:
o ' mkswap -c /dev/hda3 '
o ' swapon /dev/hda3 ' == Format and turn on swap

--Persistent home setup:
o ' mkfs.ext3 -c -j -m1 -v /dev/hda4 '

--Using persistent home is beyond the scope of this document.

(I've never used it.) Just search the board for it.

--Now the boot image on hda1 can be mounted, and you can modify the syslinux.cfg file for whatever cheatcodes you normally use on boot. Once the active flag is set on partition 1, it will reboot from HD into poor man's install AND you have space left over for PH. Such is the beauty of Knoppix.

Originally Posted by nizki

Hi. is it possible to install Knoppix from CD to HDD 1 GB just with some software? i.e. I don't need both OpenOffice and KOffice(one of them is enuough), I don't need all those games and other stuff etc. Just system, gui and most important applications. Best regards.

**nizki** · 12-23-2003, 10:12 PM

thanks a lot for your full explanation.
I've made letter by letter all You wrote, and...
When I reboot my comp from HDD I installed KNOPPIX, I have only message "GRUB..." on the screen and nothing happens

When I try to install another version of KNOPPIX, even "GRUB.." message doesn't appear

What I made wrong ?
maybe the key answer is in your sentence: "Now the boot image on hda1 can be mounted" (how ?). There are my first steps in Linux/KNOPPIX etc, so I tried to be logic and I tried to use the "automount" or something like that, but no result.

Best regards

nizki

Originally Posted by Dave_Bechtel

--You could partition the drive like so:
o hda1 = 1 cylinder (4-8MB) FAT16 (boot)
o hda2 = 701+MB FAT32 (has to be a little more than 700MB for filesystem overhead)
o hda3 = 128MB swap (type 82)
o hda4 = ext3 (rest of drive) - should be 200MB or more, for persistent home

--Then boot knoppix cd in runlevel 2 ' knoppix 2 '
o ' dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda1 ' == Clear partition
o ' dd if=/cdrom/KNOPPIX/boot.img of=/dev/hda1 ' == Dump boot floppy image to partition
o ' activate /dev/hda 1 ' == Boot from boot floppy image

--Poor man's install on hda2:
o ' mkdosfs -c -F 32 -v /dev/hda2 ' == Format
o ' mkdir /mnt/hda2 '
o ' mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2 -onoatime,rw ' == Mount Fat32
o ' mkdir /mnt/hda2/knoppix '
o ' cp /cdrom/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX /mnt/hda2/knoppix ' == Copy big knoppix file from CD to msdos partition

--Swap:
o ' mkswap -c /dev/hda3 '
o ' swapon /dev/hda3 ' == Format and turn on swap

--Persistent home setup:
o ' mkfs.ext3 -c -j -m1 -v /dev/hda4 '

--Using persistent home is beyond the scope of this document.

(I've never used it.) Just search the board for it.

--Now the boot image on hda1 can be mounted, and you can modify the syslinux.cfg file for whatever cheatcodes you normally use on boot. Once the active flag is set on partition 1, it will reboot from HD into poor man's install AND you have space left over for PH. Such is the beauty of Knoppix.

Originally Posted by nizki

Hi. is it possible to install Knoppix from CD to HDD 1 GB just with some software? i.e. I don't need both OpenOffice and KOffice(one of them is enuough), I don't need all those games and other stuff etc. Just system, gui and most important applications. Best regards.

**L2Cache** · 12-24-2003, 05:41 AM

There's an explanation of the poor man's install on this page under the copy to hard drive topic:
http://www.cclug.org/wiki/Main/KnoppixTricks

**geegs** · 02-20-2004, 01:38 PM

I have made some notes on the poor man's install as described above by Dave Bechtel. Disclaimer: I'm a newbie.

Firstly: Thanks a lot Dave!

I got it working but I had to make the CD-copy partition 730MB large (in whatever variety of megabyte cfdisk uses). This is for the 2003-11-19 Knoppix 3.3 CD.

I also had to do some extra work with LILO.

Before Knoppix my PC (a laptop with a 4GB HD) had Windows 98 in hda1 and a Linux installation on other partitions. Booting was done with LILO in the hda MBR, which is why I had to do some extra work: running "activate" doesn't work with LILO.

I decided to replace my old Linux installation with Knoppix. Half-way through this I found that by trashing the old Linux, I had left LILO incapable of booting Windows. The problem was that I didn't understand how LILO worked (and still don't really).
I did some research into LILO and realised I had lost the second-stage bootloader (in boot.b) and the chain bootloader (chain.b) that LILO needs to boot Windows.

I fixed things by making a new partition just to hold LILO's second-stage bootloader and friends from /boot . I made this partition (let's call it hdaY) as small as I could (8MB) and formatted it with mkfs.ext2 .
I then rebooted (from the Knoppix CD) and copied /boot to /mnt/hdaY .

I edited /etc/lilo.conf:

Code:

boot=/dev/hda
map=/mnt/hdaY/boot/map
install=/mnt/hdaY/boot/boot.b
lba32
prompt
timeout=100
default=Windows
other=/dev/hda1
  label=Windows
other=/dev/hdaX
  label=Knoppix

I then ran lilo to update the MBR. hdaX is the partition where I copied boot.img to in Dave's instructions. Because it has a boot loader in its own boot sector, you use "other=" and not "image=".

I had been worrying that I had not told the boot.img loader how to find the CD-copy partition, but I didn't have to -- it searches all partitions for it. Happiness!

**johnb** · 02-20-2004, 08:06 PM

This gives me an idea, I like finding new uses for old hardware.
1.2 laptop hard drive(smaller than a pack of cigaretts) +
small plugconverter so that it will mate with a standard IDE cable +
Knoppix install using this post=
With knoppix's great auto detection and use of cheat codes it would be able to plug-in to and run most standard laptop and desktop computers. Just leave it in my travel bag as a back-up or emergency use ect. Any thoughts or ideas on this positive/negitive?
johnb

**Dave_Bechtel** · 02-20-2004, 08:10 PM

--Aside from older drives being a bit slow, and remember - the IDE connector pins are a bit fragile; go for it d00d

Originally Posted by johnb

This gives me an idea, I like finding new uses for old hardware.
1.2 laptop hard drive(smaller than a pack of cigaretts) +
small plugconverter so that it will mate with a standard IDE cable +
Knoppix install using this post=
With knoppix's great auto detection and use of cheat codes it would be able to plug-in to and run most standard laptop and desktop computers. Just leave it in my travel bag as a back-up or emergency use ect. Any thoughts or ideas on this positive/negitive?
johnb

**JaVelin >X** · 02-21-2004, 11:06 PM

I was mistyping the command as activate /dev/hda1 when it was supposed to be actvate /dev/hda 1

But I have another snag. formating hda2 gives me the error bad number of fats : 32

thanks

If I could I have a few questions on this procedure.

I am also trying to get a HD install on a very small 1.2g laptop
I think I have my partitins set up properly
I have a fat-16 for boot but the only thing i could find was win95 fat-32 for hda2 and type 83 for hda4. I am hoping this is correct

I rebooted after this and proceeded with the "dd" commands but I am not sure they are working dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda1 reports 'no space left on device" but it says it wrote to it (4M) now I copy the boot image over and it seems to do what it's supposed to then I get to activate /dev/hda1 and it says no active partition found on /dev/hda1 and I don't now whether to proceed or not. HDA1 is set to be a boot device.

thanks

[quote="Dave_Bechtel"]--You could partition the drive like so:
o hda1 = 1 cylinder (4-8MB) FAT16 (boot)
o hda2 = 701+MB FAT32 (has to be a little more than 700MB for filesystem overhead)
o hda3 = 128MB swap (type 82)
o hda4 = ext3 (rest of drive) - should be 200MB or more, for persistent home

--Then boot knoppix cd in runlevel 2 ' knoppix 2 '
o ' dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda1 ' == Clear partition
o ' dd if=/cdrom/KNOPPIX/boot.img of=/dev/hda1 ' == Dump boot floppy image to partition
o ' activate /dev/hda 1 ' == Boot from boot floppy image

--Poor man's install on hda2:
o ' mkdosfs -c -F 32 -v /dev/hda2 ' == Format
o ' mkdir /mnt/hda2 '
o ' mount /dev/hda2 /mnt/hda2 -onoatime,rw ' == Mount Fat32
o ' mkdir /mnt/hda2/knoppix '
o ' cp /cdrom/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX /mnt/hda2/knoppix ' == Copy big knoppix file from CD to msdos partition

--Swap:
o ' mkswap -c /dev/hda3 '
o ' swapon /dev/hda3 ' == Format and turn on swap

--Persistent home setup:
o ' mkfs.ext3 -c -j -m1 -v /dev/hda4 '

--Using persistent home is beyond the scope of this document.

(I've never used it.) Just search the board for it.

--Now the boot image on hda1 can be mounted, and you can modify the syslinux.cfg file for whatever cheatcodes you normally use on boot. Once the active flag is set on partition 1, it will reboot from HD into poor man's install AND you have space left over for PH. Such is the beauty of Knoppix.