[pocket-linux] Chapter 2: Some suggestions for newbie like me

[ARKKIMEDE]

Two weeks ago a started with Pocket Linux Guide and I met severals errors 
solved with the help of a friend (mamomc.tin.it). 
Now I would like to share this help.

 - Diskette
If you use unformat disks, probably you don't have problems.  
If you use, like me, old disk used under dos/windows, the command 
"mke2fs -m0 /dev/fd0" could have some problems to realize a correct 
ext2 file system. In fact, when you try to mount the floppy 
("mount /dev/df0 /mnt"), probably in the file /etc/fstab is specified how the
 floppy must be mounted. Usually is specified in auto mode 
(the system verify if the floppy is formatted vfat[windows] or 
ext2[linux] and mount vfat of ext2).
For this reason, old data not erased by the command mke2fs could cause that 
you mount the floppy with a fs vfat. In this situation there are problems when 
you try to use the command mknod obtaining that the operation is impossible
(to check this you can verify if in /mnt there is the directory lost+found or using 
fdisk /dev/fd0/ or with the command mount).
To obtain a more clean solution, you can format the floppy before to use
mke2fs with the command "fdformat /dev/fd0".

 - The kernel
About the kernel, the guide suggest to include support for
386 processor
floppy disk
ram disk
console on virtual terminal
but you have also to include other features like ext2 file system, etc.
In a first time I followed exactly the guide and the boot process stopped.
Using also the ext2 fs I arrived just to the message of kernel panic reported in this
mail list. For setting the kernel options you can use "make menuconfig" but you need the 
ncurses library installed or, if you have a X session, you can use "make xconfig".
The solution is check EVERY item in the kernel and, also using the help, decide
to include or not the feature.
If someone want to try without spend time, I can send him a configuration file that can be read by make menuconfig or xconfig.

Arkki

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