[OB] OB 430 Now Running Linux

[bjunk]

The following is my orginal posting describing how I got
Linux running (with a few quirks) on the OB430 with
8 MB of memory.
 
 
Bill
 

________________________________

From: bjunk
Sent: Tue 3/28/2006 1:23 PM
To: omnibook at elektro.cmhnet.org
Subject: OB 430 Now Running Linux


I now have Linux running on my 430.  There is
one quirk, but overall it's not bad.  There is no pcmcia,
power save or mouse.  Screen does blank off in linux.
 
For those who are interested, here's a little info
on how I did it.
 
I used a Toshoba 4GB micro drive for the C: drive.
The OB 430 has 8MB of memory.
 
1.  Boot to the D: drive and format the C: drive.  I had
     a card in the A: drive that had the DOS format.com on it.
     The DOS format will only format the first 1023 cylinders
      for about 520 MB.
 
NOTE:  Quirk - For some reasons, when using the microdrives,
if I boot the 430 directly to the C: (Microdrive) drive, then press off -
when I press ON, the system will do a hard reset.  This happens on
both the 4GB Toshiba and on a 340MB IBM microdrive.
 
BUT, if I press the Alt key during boot and select the Boot to D: option,
then I can turn 430 on/off wth no problems.
 
Note:  This is when I'm turning it off/on in DOS mode - in Linux
power button does not work.
 
2.  Remove the 4GB drive and put in a card reader on a regular
     PC.  Download the Slackware 7.1 ZIPSLACK file and unzip to
     the 4GB drive.
 
3.  Place the 4GB drive back in the OB 430.  Do a hard reset and
     boot to the D: drive.
 
4.  Edit the Linux.bat file so that root=/dev/hda1.
 
5.  Boot into Linux.  You are now running the umsdos version of
      Slackware 7.1 Linux.
 
6.  Use fdisk to create a second Linux partition on the 4GB drive.
     Format the new partition.  Copy the files to the new partition.
     Edit /etc/fstab to change from /dev/fd2 to /dev/hda2.
 
7.  Shutdown Linux  with "shutdown -h now".  Last line on screen
     will read "power down".  Power key does not work.  You have to do
     an Ctl-Alt-Del to reboot the OB 430.  Remember to boot to D: drive.
 
8.  Edit Linux.bat to boot to root=/dev/hda2.  Boot linux. 
     You are now running linux from the second partition on the 4GB hard drive.
 
9.  Set up a swap file.
 
10.  Software packages can now easily be added to the system.  I put the
       microdrive in another PC, copy the packages to a DOS directory. 
       Then under Linux, mount the DOS partition and install from the 
       DOS directory.
 
11.  At this point, the original Zipslack linux files can be removed
       from the DOS side.  Remember to keep Linux.Bat,
       loadlin.exe and vmlinuz files so that you can boot Linux.
 
       NOTE:  linux.bat, loadlin.exe and vmlinuz files can be placed on the
       A: drive.  
 
 
This weekend I plan on re-compiling the Kernel so that it'll
boot a lot faster and free some memory up.  I'll probally use
another computer to do the compile on, but eventually I
want to load the sources on the 430 and do a compile from
there.  I used Slackware 7.1 since it seemed to be the latest
version of Linux that had a good chance of running in 8MB.
 
It would be interesting to load up some of the later Zipslack
versions and see what the absolute latest version is that would
boot and run.
 
In the future, I'd like to use a  compact flash, with one small DOS
partition to hold the Linux.bat and vmlinuz files and rest in a linux partition.
I could use my notebook linux system to mount the CF and then copy the linux
system to the CF.  This would eliminate the requirement of booting
to the D: drive.  Installing packages would be more difficult since
I wouldn't have use of the 500MB dos partition I have on
the 4GB CF.
 
Hope the above is helpful to anyone that wants Linux on these great little
computers.
 
Bill