How to start HD knoppix with just CD?

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02-02-2004, 11:12 AM
c123

Couple of observations on the problems I had above:

1. I wrote/edited the above script in Windows, hence the error ":bad interpreter : No such file or directory". Solution is to write it in Linux/Knoppix, or find a way of converting Windows carriage returns to *nix carriage returns.

2. "mkdir /mnt/new_root/mnt/old_root" is needed the first time only; after that (i.e. in a script) the dir exists so so cannot be created.

3. "pivot_root . /mnt/new_root/mnt/old_root" does not work as the working directory when the command is issued is not "/mnt/new_root" :( I don't know how to fix this.
02-03-2004, 07:40 AM
Durand Hicks

I tried these commands on my computer, and when I entered: mkdir /mnt/new_root/mnt/old_root, it fails saying directory or file doesn't exist. However, when I enter mkdir /mnt/old_root, it works. What's up with that? Also, I'm attempting this in script as well, and so far no go as of yet. I do have one question: what's the period after pivot_root for?
02-03-2004, 04:43 PM
c123

Quote:

Originally Posted by Durand Hicks

I tried these commands on my computer, and when I entered: mkdir /mnt/new_root/mnt/old_root, it fails saying directory or file doesn't exist. However, when I enter mkdir /mnt/old_root, it works.

On what sort of a device are you trying to use for your root? I'm using an external HDD, and before I can 'mkdir /mnt/new_root/mnt/old_root' I have to mount my external HDD (for me this is 'mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/new_root'). And before I can mount my external HDD, I have to run the "rescan-scsi-bus.sh" script... Are you sure you external HDD is recognised and then mounted by Knoppix?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Durand Hicks

I do have one question: what's the period after pivot_root for?

Not sure what the . (dot, full stop, period, whatever you want to call it) means :( These two man pages should reveal all though, when I get time to read them:

http://www.die.net/doc/linux/man/man2/pivot_root.2.html
http://www.die.net/doc/linux/man/man8/pivot_root.8.html

OK, time for me to get back to work...
02-04-2004, 06:53 AM
Durand Hicks

I didn't have an external device, just a wicked multi-boot layout. I.e. hda1 is dos 6.22 (FAT16), hda5 is winxp (NTFS), hda6 is apps(NTFS), hda7 is data(NTFS), hda8 is games(NTFS) also 2nd xp (now deleted to make room for-->), hda9 was knoppix hdbased on FAT32. I gave up the ghost and reformatted hda9 to ext3 and did a full hd install of knoppix. After the install, it took me another 3 hrs to figure out what I needed to get LILO installed into NT's bootloader on hda1. For a newbie, I pretty much fried my brain doing this but man, I'm glad I sorted this out.
02-12-2004, 06:57 PM
iron hat

has anyone gotten this to work on a USB HD? It worked fine for me up until entering the "init 5" command which caused error message relating to reading off of the hard drive. I have a USB 2.0 Datastor with a Knoppix distribution on a ext2 partition
02-12-2004, 07:40 PM
Kriton

Hi all,
i'm trying to boot knoppix from an external Iomega CD-RW usb, but it doesn't seem to work can someone help me?
I tried to modify the miniroot.gz as explained here but it can't find the root filesystem and drops me to a (very limited) shell. I also tried the RUNT boot floppy and after it loads usb modules it detects the external cd, but then says that can't mount /dev/sda1 or something like that, what am I wrong?
Is there any way to make it mount the root on the usb cdrom?
Thanks for any help!
03-01-2004, 01:44 PM
beichhor

Quote:

Originally Posted by c123

Couple of observations on the problems I had above:

1. I wrote/edited the above script in Windows, hence the error ":bad interpreter : No such file or directory". Solution is to write it in Linux/Knoppix, or find a way of converting Windows carriage returns to *nix carriage returns.

2. "mkdir /mnt/new_root/mnt/old_root" is needed the first time only; after that (i.e. in a script) the dir exists so so cannot be created.

3. "pivot_root . /mnt/new_root/mnt/old_root" does not work as the working directory when the command is issued is not "/mnt/new_root" :( I don't know how to fix this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Durand Hicks

I tried these commands on my computer, and when I entered: mkdir /mnt/new_root/mnt/old_root, it fails saying directory or file doesn't exist. However, when I enter mkdir /mnt/old_root, it works. What's up with that? Also, I'm attempting this in script as well, and so far no go as of yet. I do have one question: what's the period after pivot_root for?

Common guys, use your brains!! :

Code:

pivot_root /mnt/new_root /mnt/new_root/mnt/old_root

Try thinking about the code/commands you are typing and you may really learn about what you are doing!

BTW:
Good work tinker... I'd been looking for this pivot technique.
09-13-2004, 02:18 AM
testuser

thanks, can I automate this using knoppix.sh or linuxrc?

Thanks, this works great. It lets me use Linux on my laptop using an external drive. Unlike the poormansinstall, I was able to use apt-get to install gnome and mono and update the whole system.

The only change I needed to the above instructions was to type knoppix26 single on boot instead of just knoppix single, because otherwise my ethernet wasn't working (eepro100 issue perhaps). One other issue is that shutting down hangs at the very end, but I can live with that.

Now, I'd like to have it so I don't have to manually type in all the commands each time I boot. I'm not sure if this can be accomplished via a custom knoppix.sh file (and use the myconfig cheatcode or else burn a new CD with knoppix.sh), or if I need to modify the linuxrc file in the initrd boot image used by the CD, similar to what this article describes doing: http://www-106.ibm.com/developerwork...lnxw16FireBoot.
09-19-2004, 11:12 AM
c123

Apparently as from 3.4, the bootfrom cheatcode will now work with firewire (and usb) drives as well, but I still (after more than two minths or so) have to try this.

I'm not sure if you have to point to the partition or to the actual kernel... Anway a bit of trial and error should tell you pretty quickly.

Please post back with your results.

BTW the IBM article is a a good read :)
12-05-2004, 09:52 AM
daneel101

Pivot_root causes X server to crash

Hi,

Hope that this forum is still being monitored...

I downloaded knoppix 3.6 and installed it into a (non-bootable) external USB-HDD as a Debian Distribution with Hardware Auto detection. I then booted into the cd in single user mode and used the "pivot_root" command to transfer to the Hard Drive as detailed in the how-to at

http://www.knoppix.net/docs/index.php/PivotRootInstall
Everything worked fine and I thought I had a fully operational Mobile Debian installation. I used apt-get to update all packages and installed some new ones and everything was okay across several reboots. However, when I connected my HD to another machine and tried to do pivot_root from it's CD-ROM drive, disaster struck. The CD booted correctly and dropped me into a shell. The pivot_root command worked and everything, but the minute I switched to runlevel 5, my X Server Crashed, claiming that the config of xf86Config file was wrong. Apparently, the X server config from my original machine persisted in the HD!!!

I have included the log file below. Is this supposed to happen? Why is it that all the other hardware parameters did not stay persistent (as is required for a mobile HD installation that will be connected to different computers) and were autodetected but the X-Server config was not? How do I make sure that the X-Server and display manager are automatically configged in all computers to which I connect the HD (Bear in mind that the knoppix cd itself boots fine all the way to X, so detection is not the problem)>

If I have to manually config X each time I put it in a different machine, then is there a good non-graphical tool in Debian that I can use?

Please let me know.

Thanks,
AR

Log File:

This is a pre-release version of XFree86, and is not supported in any
way. Bugs may be reported to [email protected] and patches submitted
to [email protected]. Before reporting bugs in pre-release versions,
please check the latest version in the XFree86 CVS repository
(http://www.XFree86.Org/cvs).

XFree86 Version 4.3.0.1 (Debian 4.3.0.dfsg.1-6 20040707142024 [email protected])
Release Date: 15 August 2003
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0, Release 6.6
Build Operating System: Linux 2.4.23 i686 [ELF]
Build Date: 07 July 2004
Before reporting problems, check http://www.XFree86.Org/
to make sure that you have the latest version.
Module Loader present
OS Kernel: Linux version 2.6.7 (root@Knoppix) (gcc-Version 3.3.4 (Debian 1:3.3.4-3)) #2 SMP Wed Jul 28 04:25:36 CEST 2004
Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
(==) Log file: "/var/log/XFree86.0.log", Time: Sun Nov 28 17:44:43 2004
(EE) Unable to locate/open config file
(EE) Error from xf86HandleConfigFile()

Fatal server error:
no screens found

When reporting a problem related to a server crash, please send
the full server output, not just the last messages.
This can be found in the log file "/var/log/XFree86.0.log".
Please report problems to [email protected].

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