Loadlin and Knoppix 3.7?

[bigkahuna]

Hi,

I've got an old notebook computer that I want to run Knoppix 3.7 on. Problem is that it's old bios won't allow boot from CD, and it's designed so a single bay is shared by a floppy drive or CD-ROM. Also, the drives are not hot-swappable, so I have to power down to swap drives.

Can I use loadlin.exe to run Knoppix from the CD? That way I can boot Windows 95 with the CD-ROM installed, then exit to DOS and launch Knoppix through loadlin.exe.

If this is possible, please give me the -exact- command line as I'm a real Linix newbie.

Thanks!

Paul

P.S. - Incidently, I tried "Smart Boot Manager" and for some wierd reason it doesn't work on my system.

[Harry Kuhman]

P.S. - Incidently, I tried "Smart Boot Manager" and for some wierd reason it doesn't work on my system.

What did it do? Have you ever used SBM on another system and had it work?

Did you look at using XOSL?

[bigkahuna]

What did it do? Have you ever used SBM on another system and had it work?

No, didn't try it on other systems. Here's what happened:

I've tried running SBM from hard drive or floppy and all I get is "SBMK Bad!".I'm trying to use Smart Boot Manager on my computer:

Samsung Sens 810, Pentium 133, 40 mb ram, 2 gb hard drive, Phoenix NoteBios
4, Windows 95

And I get this error:

SBMK Bad!

I've tried installing SBM to hard drive and floppy disk, but I get the same
error. I have also tried version 3.7 and 3.6, but I still get the same
error.

I have the two files (sbminst.exe and cwsdpmi.exe) in a separate directory
( c:\temp ) and I tried installing to the floppy drive with this command
line:

sbminst -t us -d 0 -b sbm-bak.dat

It appears to install correctly, but the program will not run. I tried
installing to a bootable floppy disk, and I still get the "SBMK Bad!" error.
I also tried creating a Linux disk, and still get this error.

Did you look at using XOSL?

Yes, but I haven't tried it yet. When I looked at the docs for XOSL, it's CD-ROM boot uses SBM, so I'm guessing it won't work.

My thinking is "-if- I can get loadlin.exe to work, it'll be the -safest- way to give Knoppix a try on this system.

Paul

Paul[/quote]

[Harry Kuhman]

I've tried running SBM from hard drive or floppy and all I get is "SBMK Bad!".......
And I get this error:

SBMK Bad!

I'm not clear just when you get this error. If is as you try to boot the SBM floppy, with no chance to interact with it before this happens? Or at some other point?

I have the two files (sbminst.exe and cwsdpmi.exe) in a separate directory
( c:\temp ) and I tried installing to the floppy drive with this command
line:

sbminst -t us -d 0 -b sbm-bak.dat

It appears to install correctly, but the program will not run. I tried
installing to a bootable floppy disk, and I still get the "SBMK Bad!" error.
I also tried creating a Linux disk, and still get this error.

I made mine without even having the cwsdpmi.exe file. I doubt if this is the issue, but you might want to try without it. I also made my SBM floppy without using the -b switch. Actually this switch makes little or no sense when making a floppy anyway, as you don't install it to a bootable floppy (just a cleanly formatted floppy), and you would never use such a file to recover the MBR of a floppy anyway, you would just reformat it. My SBM floppy boots everything I try it on. You might want to try again without cwsdpmi.exe present, and without the -b option, just sbminst -t us -d 0, and just to be safe using a different floppy disk.

Making a backup file might make sense with a hard drive install, but when I installed SBM to the hard drive MBR on my test bed system I didn't bother with that either, I just installed it. I figure I can always put back a simple MBR with fdisk is the need arrises, but it never has.

[bigkahuna]

I'm not clear just when you get this error. If is as you try to boot the SBM floppy, with no chance to interact with it before this happens? Or at some other point?

Immediately upon bootup. The beep, then bios flash screen, then "SBMK Bad!" and the system stops.

I made mine without even having the cwsdpmi.exe file.

Yeah, I actually tried this also. I got a different error (sorry, I don't remember exactly what it said, but it was something about a missing file).

I searched the 'net' and found other posts on other forums with the exact same errors. Unfortunately, there weren't any replies to those posts

Back on topic though: how can I get loadlin.exe to work, if it's possible?

Also (I started another thread on this, no replies yet), where can I find the ".img" file to create a Knoppix bootable floppy disk?

Thanks,

Paul

[bigkahuna]

Ok, I just tried creating a boot floppy on another system (WinXP) and installed SBM to that floppy. When I ran it on the newer XP system, SBM loaded properly. But when I tried to run it on the older W95 system, it gave the "SBMK Bad!" error. I'm guessing this means there's some sort of bios incompatibility (it's mentioned on the SBM site).

So, looks like the -only- way I'll be able to run Knoppix on this system is by either running loadlin or by floppy install. So my two remaining questions are:

1. Has anyone tried to run Knoppix from loadlin.exe and if so, what is the command line?

2. Where is the boot floppy image file found?

Thanks,

Paul