Putting Linux on ZIP disk using ppa ZIP Drive Mini-Howto
v0.2, December 5, 1996
by John Wiggins <[email protected]>

Slackware 2.2 section courtesy of
Michael Littlejohn <[email protected]>

[------- Index -------]

    0. Disclaimer

    1. Introduction
       1.1. Conventions
       1.2. Updates
       1.3. Related documents

    2. Setting up the ZIP disk (Common for both distributions.)
       2.1. Partitioning ZIP disk
       2.2. Formating and mounting ZIP disk
       2.3. Creating the boot disk
            2.3.1. Configuring and making the kernel
            2.3.2. Getting the kernel to a floppy
            2.3.3. Setting the root and swap devices on the boot floppy

    3. RedHat 4.0.1 installation
       3.1. Personal setup
       3.2. Package installation
            3.2.1. What packages to get
            3.2.2. How to install the packages with rpm
       3.3. Problems after installation of packages
            3.3.1. /etc/ld.so.cache
            3.3.2. pamconfig
            3.3.3. Setting things back

    4. Slackware 2.2 installation
       4.1. Requirements
       4.2. Installation
       4.3. What to install

    5. Modifying /etc/fstab (Common for both distributions.)

-----------------------------------

0. Disclaimer

     This document is only useful for those with the printer port
     version of a ZIP drive who wish to have either a portable or
     backup Linux system on a ZIP disk.

     This document assumes the following:
        * You already have Linux installed and running; this document is
          not for a first time install of Linux.
        * You have ppa support in your current kernel or if module, the ppa
          module has been loaded.
        * The mount point for the ZIP disk is the /iomega directory.

1. Introduction

      This document is divided into three sections each describing how to
      install a Linux system on a 100MB ZIP disk using a ppa ZIP drive.
      The first section describes how to set up the ZIP disk and is common
      to both distribution installations.  The second and third sections
      describe how to install RedHat 4.0.1 and Slackware 2.2 distributions,
      respectively, onto the ZIP disk.

1.1. Conventions

      ==> Indicates the following text are commands.

1.2. Updates

      For any updates, please check:
      http://comp.uark.edu/~jwiggins/linuxZIP/

1.3. Related documents

        * Installation-HOWTO
        * SCSI-HOWTO
        * ZIP-Drive (mini-HOWTO)

2. Setting up the ZIP disk (Common for both distributions.)

2.1. Partitioning ZIP disk

      First, I ran fdisk:
        ==> fdisk /dev/sda
      Here is a snap of the partition table I have setup:

       Disk /dev/sda: 64 heads, 32 sectors, 96 cylinders
       Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 bytes

          Device Boot   Begin    Start      End   Blocks   Id  System
       /dev/sda1            1        1       81    82928   83  Linux native
       /dev/sda2           82       82       96    15360   82  Linux swap

      I decided to use a swap partition since I wanted to be able to use
      this with any machine.

2.2. Formating and mounting the ZIP disk

      After running fdisk, format the new partition:
        ==> mke2fs -c /dev/sda1
      Then, create the swap partition:
        ==> mkswap -c 15360 /dev/sda2
      Last, you'll need to mount the ZIP disk:
        ==> mount /dev/sda1 /iomega -t ext2

2.3. Creating the boot disk

      Since the ppa version of the ZIP drive isn't a true SCSI device, it
      isn't a bootable device and, therefore, requires a boot disk.

2.3.1. Configuring and making the kernel

      First, you'll need to configure and make a kernel that has ppa
      support enabled and not as a loadable module.  In order to get
      to the ppa option, select SCSI support:
        SCSI support (CONFIG_SCSI) [Y/m/n/?]
      Plus, SCSI disk support:
        SCSI disk support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD) [Y/m/n/?]
      And finally, under the SCSI low-level drivers, is the ppa support:
        IOMEGA Parallel Port ZIP drive SCSI support (CONFIG_SCSI_PPA) [Y/m/n/?]
      Again, be sure not to include ppa as a module, but rather in the kernel.
      Thus far, the ppa driver will not allow the passive port of the ZIP
      drive to be used for a printer, so you may want to say no to
      parallel printer support:
        Parallel printer support (CONFIG_PRINTER) [N/y/m/?]
      NOTE: For more information concerning the ppa driver, please refer
      to the ZIP-Drive mini-HOWTO.
      Once the kernel is configured, make the kernel:
        ==> make dep;make clean;make zImage
      The new kernel should be found in arch/i386/boot/zImage.

2.3.2. Getting the kernel to a floppy

      Copy the newly made kernel to a floppy disk:
        ==> cp arch/i386/boot/zImage /dev/fd0
      or
        ==> cat arch/i386/boot/zImage > /dev/fd0
      Yes, there are many ways to copy the kernel to a floppy, but the
      last way, my favorite, is a little more encryptic.  Try not to
      forget the > unless you like viewing binary files :)

2.3.3. Setting the root and swap devices on the boot floppy

      Once the kernel is on the floppy, you need to set the root device to
      the ZIP disk:
        ==> rdev /dev/fd0 /dev/sda1
      I'm not sure if the next option is needed, but I did it none the less.
      To set the swap:
        ==> rdev -s /dev/fd0 /dev/sda2

3. RedHat 4.0.1 installation

3.1. Personal setup

      For my installation, I have and used:
        * kernel 2.0.25
        * Iomega ppa disk drive
        * RedHat 4.0.1

3.2. Package installation

3.2.1. What packages to get

      I found what packages to install by browsing a file I had found on
      one of RedHat's mirrors.  This file can be found on any mirror at
      redhat/redhat-4.0/i386/RedHat/base/comps

      Here's a listing of what packages I installed:
        pamconfig-0.50-5               setup-1.5-1
        MAKEDEV-2.2-5                  filesystem-1.2-1
        etcskel-1.1-1                  adduser-1.2-1
        cpio-2.4.2-3                   dev-2.3-1
        rootfiles-1.3-1                redhat-release-4.0-1
        libc-5.3.12-8                  ld.so-1.7.14-4
        zlib-1.0.4-1                   gdbm-1.7.3-8
        ncurses-1.9.9e-2               modules-2.0.0-4
        kbd-0.91-8                     db-1.85-10
        termcap-9.12.6-5               slang-0.99.33-1
        statserial-1.1-7               mailcap-1.0-3
        libtermcap-2.0.8-2             readline-2.0-10
        libgr-2.0.9-4                  libg++-2.7.1.4-4
        libelf-0.5.2-4                 tmpwatch-1.1-1
        newt-0.6-1                     cracklib-dicts-2.5-1
        pam-0.50-17                    crontabs-1.3-1
        less-321-3                     zip-2.1-1
        tar-1.11.8-8                   unzip-5.12-5
        ed-0.2-5                       gzip-1.2.4-5
        grep-2.0-4                     bash-1.14.7-1
        mingetty-0.9.4-1               initscripts-2.73-1
        rpm-2.2.5-1                    zoneinfo-96i-3
        util-linux-2.5-26              losetup-2.5l-1
        info-3.7-5                     e2fsprogs-1.04-8
        diffutils-2.7-5                hdparm-3.1-1
        sed-2.05-6                     SysVinit-2.64-2
        quota-1.51-3                   which-1.0-5
        vixie-cron-3.0.1-9             mount-2.5l-1
        textutils-1.19-2               passwd-0.50-2
        gawk-3.0.0-5                   sysklogd-1.3-9
        file-3.20-3                    groff-1.10-6
        vim-4.2-5                      fileutils-3.13-2
        bdflush-1.5-5                  ncompress-4.2.4-6
        at-2.9b-2                      ash-0.2-5
        fwhois-1.00-5                  procps-1.01-7
        psmisc-11-4                    sh-utils-1.12-9
        procinfo-0.9-1                 stat-1.5-5
        time-1.7-1                     gdb-4.16-5
        kbdconfig-1.3-1                findutils-4.1-9
        timeconfig-1.4-1               shadow-utils-960530-6
        perl-5.003-4

3.2.2. How to install the packages with rpm

      With rpm, use the --root option to specify the mounted directory as
      the root for installation.  I had discovered that many packages
      were failing to install because of preinstall or postinstall scripts
      that weren't executing correctly due to the different root directory,
      thus, use the --noscripts option:
        ==> rpm --root /iomega -i --noscripts PACKAGE.i386.rpm

3.3. Finished with package installation

      Once the last package has been installed, there are two slight
      problems that the pre/post installation scripts were to fix but
      couldn't.  Without LILO (never could get it to work on the floppy)
      getting into single user mode is done via editing the
      /iomega/etc/inittab.  Change the following lines:
      From--> id:3:initdefault:
      To----> id:1:initdefault:
      and then, reboot the new system.

3.3.1. /etc/ld.so.cache

      If you tried booting, you'd get two error messages, the first will be
      the absence of /etc/ld.so.cache file.  Once booted as single user
      mode, run ldconfig to create the cache file:
        ==> ldconfig

3.3.2. pamconfig

      Yet another annoyance, for those who tried booting in multiuser mode,
      is that no matter what login you try, you won't be able to logon as
      any user.  To fix this, run the following command while still in
      single user mode:
        ==> rpm --qf '%{POSTIN}' $(rpm -q --whatrequires pamconfig) | sh -x

3.3.3. Setting things back

      Now that those two things are taken care of, re-edit the file
      /etc/inittab once more, so the system will boot in multiuser mode.

4. Slackware 2.2 installation

4.1. Requirements

       * ZIP Disk and Drive (obviously)
       * Kernel with ZIP support
       * ZIP Howto (recommended)
       * 1.44" HD formated floppy
       * 1 to 2 hours of time

4.2. Installation

      Okay, now comes the fun part:  Figuring out what files need to be
      on the system disk, and what packages that you want (and can fit)
      on your ZIP drive.

      I decided that the easiest way to get started was install Slackware
      directly to the ZIP drive.  I decided on this approach mostly because
      Slackware is a smaller distribution then Red Hat, and it would be easier
      to trim out what I didn't want.  That and the fact that I am using the
      Slackware distribution anyway made it an obvious choice.

      Installing Slackware onto the ZIP disk is easy, as root run the setup
      program, and choose /iomega as the install to partition, set the
      install from partition to where the Slackware sources are (cdrom,
      harddrive, etc), select install and follow the prompts.

4.3. What to install

      The hardest part is deciding what to add, and what not to add.
      Obviously, you'll need the 'A' series (Which is about 8 megs),
      the rest is up to you.

      I managed to trim down the Slackware release to a respectable
      installation of 70 megs, which included gcc/g++, perl, X11R6
      (NOT ALL OF IT!), sendmail, online docs (Minus all the development
      man pages, but including all the howto's), and an assortment of
      other goodies, while leaving about 10 megs free for user files. YMMV

5. Modifying /etc/fstab (Common for both distributions.)

      The last thing that needs to be done before rebooting is to change the
      fstab on the soon to be root partion.  Edit the /iomega/etc/fstab file
      to look have the following as a minimum:

      /dev/sda1      /         ext2        defaults   1   1
      /dev/sda2      none      swap        sw
      none           /proc     proc        defaults   1   1

      Save the file, and reboot with the freshly made boot floppy and enjoy!

      (Special thanks to Mike for reminding me about this very important
      and crucial step. - John)

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