[Soekris] net4801 and hard drives

[Wayne Walker]

Thanks!  I finally figured it out with the help in person of one of the
members here.  I had set up everything correctly except the
"console=ttyS0,19200,8" that needed to be in
/tftpboot/linux-install/pxelinux.cfg/default

Added that line and did the install like I thought it should have worked
the very first time.

Very slow as William states, but 2 hours later, CentOS4.4 is installed.

I was unsuccessful in getting the system to recognize Flash and HD at
the same time.  Anyone got a link for what jumpers to do on the hard
drive and which Compact Flash cards properly handle a slave?

Wayne

On Wed, Nov 22, 2006 at 01:12:29PM -0800, William Estrada wrote:
> Wayne,
> 
>  I have installed Redhat and Fedora twice on my 4801.  It is a lengthy 
>  process
> due to the under powered 4801 (266mhz).  
> 
>  There are many different processes you can use.  I found that the PXE boot 
>  of the
> install disk worked the best.  The last install took three hours.  I found 
> that doing a simple install without all of the add ons works best.  You can 
> then use 'yum'
> to upgrade your system at a later date.  The setup for this can be found at:
> 
>  http://64.124.13.3/hacks/network_boot.html
> 
>  It is not complete but will give you a start.  I can help you if you wish.
> 
>  At this point, it appears you have a usable install from the laptop.  You
> just need to get grub steup the right way.  Post or Email your grub.conf.
> 
>  Have you tried to boot from your laptop?  This will tell you if the install
> worked.
> 
>  What does your 4801 hardware look like?  Flash primary/second, etc.  You 
>  could
> load a working image on the flash to help with debugging.  I have used 
> Pebble, DSL
> and alike.  Install grub on the flash disk.  Make sure you use the serial 
> console
> setup.  This may help:
> 
>  http://64.124.13.3/hacks/USB_Boot_using_GRUB.html
> 
>  Although you will not boot from the USB port, you can see who to set up 
>  grub.
> Make the flash disk primary and the start testing.  You can set the hard 
> drive to
> be the first boot device, with the flash disk as a secondary (back up) 
> device.
> Remember to turn off hard ware flow control on you console program 
> (minicom, etc).
> 
>  Hope some of this will help?
> 
> -- 
>  Thanks for your time.
> 
> William Estrada
> 
> Email      : MrUmunhum at popdial dot com
> Resume     : www.Mt-Umunhum-Wireless.net/resume/william_estrada.html
> HTTP       : www.Mt-Umunhum-Wireless.net
> 
> >Message: 1
> >Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 16:33:25 -0600
> >From: Wayne Walker <wwalker at bybent.com>
> >Subject: [Soekris] net4801 and hard drives
> >To: soekris-tech at lists.soekris.com
> >Message-ID: <20061121223325.GA20379 at bybent.com>
> >Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> >
> >Hi all,
> >
> >I've been trying without success to load linux on a hard drive on the
> >net4801.
> >
> >I've tried two methods:
> >
> >1. use PXE boot to run the installation of CentOS4.4 over the network
> >
> >2. Installing it on the hard drive via a notebook computer with a
> >Pentium class processor, then disabling the vga tty's and enabling the
> >serial one (in inittab and in grub).
> >
> >the PXE boot boots, loads the initrd and spews messages to the screen,
> >but then the kernel fails to load.
> >
> >The installation on the notebook works mostly, but when grub boots, ti
> >says loading stage 1.5, then blanks the serial terminal and does nothing
> >else...
> >
> >Has anyone gotten a modern linux installed on the net4801 on a hard
> >drive?
> >
> >-- Wayne Walker

-- 

Wayne Walker

www.unwiredbuyer.com - when you just can't be by the computer

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