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General discussion

mount vfat partition manually during RH 6.0 install

Jul 28, 2005 5:53AM PDT

I just got a Compaq Contura 410c laptop. Its a 486 50Mhz, 8 MB RAM, 2 GB HDD and a FDD. I have access to an OnSpec 90c26 parallel port CD drive. It currently runs Win95(a) (no LFN support, its a FAT16 patition???). I want to get RH 6.0 onto this underdog. I've resized the HDD with fips.

Unfortunately, during a parport install it freezes when tring to read the packages for install. After a couple of retries with the same results, I decided to do HD install. With enough free space I created a 650 MB FAT32 partition (hda5) using a Win98 boot disk. (to support LFN) to do the HD install.

Now coming to the reason for this post.....
I would like to know how to mount the 650 MB vfat during the install (Alt-F2) so I could copy the /tmp/rhimage/RedHat tree to the mounted hda5.

TIA.

Discussion is locked

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50 mhz?
Jul 29, 2005 2:14AM PDT

You are not going to have much fun with RH6. Why not try a "live cd" instead.

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yes, 50 mhz!
Jul 29, 2005 5:27AM PDT

do you know which live cd has parallel port support? I have no intention of running X, even if I could it'd be with something like blackbox.

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Back then... a boot diskette with FTP based install.
Jul 29, 2005 2:23AM PDT

I can't guess if you have a network card but PCMCIA network cards can still be found then you find a boot diskette to install it via FTP. Loads of fun and a way to blow a day.

Bob

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no pcmcia network cards yet.
Jul 29, 2005 5:33AM PDT

i dont have any pcmcia. i will invest in 2 if i can get linux to run. maybe set it up as a firewall?
Any idea how the install script from the boot disk mounts partitions. I mean where are the devices located during install, they are not in /dev

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Invest?
Jul 29, 2005 5:56AM PDT

My last PCMCIA ethercard was 5 bucks. Found it at a local shop in the used department. I know the old methods and wish you the best of luck.

Bob

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$70
Jul 29, 2005 9:22AM PDT

I'm currently in India. Unfortunately, the town I'm in doesn't have any 'used parts shop. I'll have to look at ebay to get somthing cheap. With a postal service I don't fully trust, I'd rather buy new. That over $35!!! here per PCMCIA and I plan on getting 2 (firewall) if this works.

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Best way to update from Mandrake 7.0
Aug 3, 2005 4:58AM PDT

I installed Mandrake i486 (Mdk 7) on my ancient Compaq Contura 410c 1.7 GB harddisk by performing the install with the hardisk connected to my PC (with an 2.5" adapter cable). It currently runs well in the laptop on the original 2.2 kernel.

What would be the best way to bring the install to current levels (say Mdk 9.1 or even 10.1). Should I get the source rpms and build them locally to get a i486 architechture? How should I go about doing this?

The current h/w config is: 486 DX2 50 mhz, 8 MB RAM (to be upgraded to 20 Mb), 1.7 GB. I will be getting a 16-bit ethernet pcmcia. I've found a vendor with Netgear FA411. Any better suggestions?

Also which kernel would be better? (given the limited RAM) I plan to run X occasionally with the icewm or blackbox window manager. I've managed to configure the X server correctly.

I would eventually use this to ssh or vnc to my desktop or a server. And ofcourse mainly just to show off the versitality of Linux. Maybe do the odd bit of web browsing.

All help would be greatly appreciated.