Re: Installing LINUX

[jwt@example.com (Jim Tittsler)]

>I think I also put the modem and mouse on the same COM port (COM1), though I
>have not tested either yet.

All those selections do is create symbolic links in the /dev directory.
It makes talking to /dev/modem a synonym for /dev/ttyS0 for example.
You can fix this by using "ln -sf /dev/ttyS1 /dev/modem" if your modem
were on COM2 for example.  (DOS COM ports start with 1, Unix ports are
origin 0).  Actually, I don't like using the symbolic link for the
modem, since it can make creating the "lock files" that keep only one
task at a time from claiming the modem a bit problematic.  The one for
the mouse is useful however.

>Is there a simple way to correct these mistakes, or would it be simpler to
>reformat the partition and reinstall? No Jim - don't tell me anything to do
>with recompiling my kernel.  [...]

Nuts.  That would have been my first choice.  How did you know?  :-)
A smaller kernel is better, so in the long run, you will want to do it
eventually.  If you have the X Window System running, the new xconfig
makes picking and choosing the elements you want for your kernel easy.
"make xconfig" in the /usr/src/linux directory.

Anyway... If you make another "boot" disk, you can copy the kernel from it
to where you are booting from.  Slackware used to use the "minix" filesystem
for its boot disks, but I've not tried 3.0.  If it is still minix, you
will be able to stick in the "corrected" boot disk and do:
  mount -t minix /dev/fd0 /mnt

Now if you do an 'ls /mnt', you should see a file called vmlinuz.

If you are using LOADLIN to boot from DOS:
  1. Just copy vmlinuz to wherever you are booting from:
     cp /mnt/vmlinuz /dosc/linux/vmlinuz (or wherever)
  2. Restart with LOADLIN, specifying the new kernel name.
  
If you use LILO:
  1. Copy the correct vmlinuz off the floppy to your root partition:
     cp /mnt/vmlinuz /vmlinuz
  2. Rerun lilo to get it to notice the new position of the boot image:
     lilo
  3. Reboot and you should have your new kernel.
  (Purists among us would probably copy it to a new name, duplicate
  part of /etc/lilo.conf to include a section which points to the new
  name... allowing you to boot from either kernel... the one you know
  partially works, and the one you hope will be better.)
  
You can also just make the new boot disk, and boot from floppy.  Give
the argument root=/dev/sda7 (or wherever your root partition is located).

Or, you can reinstall.

(That is one nice thing about Red Hat's installation script, you can
back up.)

>Configuring Adaptec at IO:334 IRQ 9 DMA priority 6
>No BIOS32 extensions present. This release still depends on it. Sorry.

I think these are two separate things.  I believe the BIOS32 message
comes from the power management stuff... which can be safely ignored.

>2.I installed two sets of kernel sources: 1.2.13 and 1.3.20. Do I need both?

1.2.13 is the "stable" kernel.  1.3.xx are the "development" kernels that
have new features or improved performance... but (a) changes a couple of
times a week (I'm currently using 1.3.75) and (b) is not guaranteed to
work in all/any of its combinations.  For just getting started, I would
suggest "rm -rf /usr/src/linux-1.3.20" unless you have some hardware 
that isn't supported in the 1.2.xx series.