[Re: [Voyage-linux] Can't boot from USB flash drive]

[William M. Brack]

Danny,

Since you're more comfortable with grub, you should try downloading:
    http://www.voyage.hk/download/voyage/voyage-current.tar.gz
The voyage.update in the current snapshot allows you to set up grub,
including the option of setting it up in a separate partition, with no
editing required.  Make sure to choose "Generic PC" so that the console
is set up appropriately.

There are several things that you will have to (manually) change after
the installation is completed.  First, of course, are the grub parameters
controlling where the kernel is located ('root' and 'kernel').  Second is
on the parameters at the end of the 'kernel' line - you must change
"root=/dev/hdaX" to be whatever you need for your USB
drive("root=/dev/sda2"??).  Third, you must edit /etc/fstab to set the
correct location for the root mount.  That's all I can think of off-hand
- let us know how it all progresses, and I'm looking forward to reading
the "HowTo" after it's all working!

Bill

Danny Adair wrote:
> Thanks Punky,
>
> Apparently I was a bit naive when I posted the question.
>
> Here's what I did so far - I guess grub/lilo is a matter of taste; I'm
>  more comfortable with grub:
>
> - Recompile the voyage Kernel with USB / USB storage / SCSI support
> built-in instead of modules.
> - Create a grub partition (sda1) with the kernel image in it so that
> it doesn't sit outside BIOS boundaries.
> - chroot into voyage and dpkg --purge lilo
> - Manually change voyage.update: a) change the hardcoded "1" to a "2"
> (voyage goes on sda2) b) comment out the call to lilo_update() as
> there is no lilo anymore.
> - grub needs a "rootdelay" parameter when loading the kernel, so that
> there is enough time for the USB/SCSI drivers to detect the USB key so
> that sda2 can be mounted to /.
>
> However, :-)
> I haven't got it working yet.
> I'll keep you up-to-date. Firstly I _need_ this working, and secondly
> I _need_ this documented anyway, so I'll post a HowTo here once I'm
> done.
>
> http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Small_Footprint_Gentoo_on_USB#Create_a_useable_kernel
> mentions re: 2.6 Kernel that he left the USB support outside as
> modules and then used "preload" on an initrd. I'll investigate that
> today.
>
> Btw, on this Phoenix Award BIOS not only did I need to put "USB-HDD"
> as the first boot device, I also had to enable "USB Keyboard Support"
> to be able to boot from the key.
>
> Cheers,
> Danny
>
> On 5/17/06, Kim-man Punky TSE <punkytse at punknix.com> wrote:
>> Hi Danny,
>>
>> See this thread, just talk about it yesterday. ;-)
>>     http://list.voyage.hk/pipermail/voyage-linux/2006-May/000898.html
>>
>> But I am not sure you can boot from USB successfully.  If you have
>> successful experience on boot voyage from USB, please share with us.
>>
>> - Punky
>>
>> Danny Adair wrote:
>> > Hi,
>> >
>> > I installed a plain vanilla voyage-0.2 on a usb flash drive on sda
>> > (sda1 is ext2) on my host.
>> > When I boot from it (on the target computer) I get:
>> >
>> > VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem) readonly.
>> > Freeing unused kernel memory: 140k freed
>> > Warning: unable to open an initial console.
>> > Kernel panic - not syncing: No init found.   Try passing init= option
>> > to the kernel
>> >
>> > I also see that hda was detected. The target computer has a hard disk
>> > but I don't want to use it at all. I want to boot and work only off
>> > the usb key.
>> >
>> > README says:
>> > 4.4 Known Issues ======================
>> > - There is a problem reported when installing voyage over usb device
>> > using ub kernel module. Moreover, it is assumed that voyage is
>> > installed in /dev/hda1 of the target platform.
>> >
>> > Any ideas? I couldn't find the problem report in the archives.
>> > I suspect that LILO needs to be configured differently but a) I don't
>> > know much about lilo and b) there is /etc/lilo.conf
>> > /etc/lilo.conf.voyage and /etc/lilo.install.conf and I don't know
>> > which one to change.
>> >
>> > I changed hda to sda and hda1 to sda1 on all of them but to no avail.
>> > I appreciate any help.
>> >
>> > Cheers,
>> > Danny
>> > danny at adair.net
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Voyage-linux mailing list
>> > Voyage-linux at list.voyage.hk
>> > http://list.voyage.hk/mailman/listinfo/voyage-linux
>>
>>
>> --
>> Regards,
>> Punky
>>
>> P U N K N ! X  . c o m
>> Technology + Lifestyle
>> (http://www.punknix.com)
>>
>> V O Y A G E . H K - http://www.voyage.hk
>> Linux - voyage-0.2 is released!
>> Store - Senao NMP-8602 Plus (400mW) is now in stock!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
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