Re: [Sheflug] linux on an aging laptop (take2)

["Chris J/#6" <nospam [at] nccnet.co.uk>]

> not surprizingly... i want a bit more.......
> is it possible to copy a live system accross on floppies to the new machine
> Chris touched on this subject but i'd appreciate a bit more info please?
> i'm running mandrake7.1.... can the bare bones be transfered?
> is a parallel port network possible to copy the files over?

If you have a working system that supports parallel connections, yes. Else 
it's the floppy drive :) Any distrubution can be used - its trial and error 
finding out which files you need though. The best way to do it is to think 
what programs run when the machine boots (I'm not talking about all the stuff 
thats started up at boot like webservers and the like, more system-centric 
stuff like init, fsck, login, and the like).

How I did it on an empty disk:
- Boot with tomsrtbt
- Create the file system
- Create a basic directory structure (/bin, /usr/bin, /home, /etc, /var, 
/lib, /sbin)
- Copied files I thought I needed over: init, libc, fsck, login, the RC 
scripts, sh/bash, lilo, cp, mv, ln, rm, tar, gzip, ldconfig, and others)
- Built a custom kernel on my main machine for the laptop
- Copied the kernel and other /boot files over
- Created a small /etc/passwd and /etc/group
- Created an /etc/fstab
- Created /etc/ld.so.conf
- Did symlink munging so I could build ld.so.cache from ld.so.conf (as the 
file system is mounted under a point from the floppy dist, ie the new root is 
/mnt, I needed to symlink /mnt/mnt to . so that the directories in ld.so.conf 
were valid and ldconfig didn't complain)
- Created a lilo.conf and plonked lilo on the drive
- Rebooted
- Rebooted again with tomsrtbt after the previous reboot failed. Look for the 
problem (missing files, libraries? lilo not quite right?). You may need to 
copy PAM libs and config (SuSE does and I imagine Redhat would...as Mandrake 
is loosely based on Redhat, Mandrake may need PAM copied as well)
- Attempt to fix problem
- Reboot
- Repeat last three steps until you've got the thing booted.
- Repeat last four steps until you can login :)
- Once in, files can be copied using method of your choice :)

> but back to the reason for all of this.........
> i need to use this machine as an interface to a building management system.
> the interface requires a serial link between the laptop and the system.
> the manufacturers recomend 'crosstalk' running on windows... but i can't
> afford that!
> i have the cable..... i have a working linux setup........
> how do i access the serial port?

minicom? Or similar program...the serial port will be /dev/ttySx where 0 <= x 
<= n, where n is number of serial ports on your machine :) Is it just a 
terminal program you need? I don't know what crosstalk is/does.

> there is no authentication required just a straight forward comms link.
> i have used minicom to connect to the system before without problems.. just
> fire up minicom and dial the number.... minicom carries out the required vt100
> emulation for the interface.
> so i want to do the same with the direct cable connect?

Yep -- it's minicom I use to talk direct to the Sun.

> trouble is.... the minicom provided with MUlinux only seems to allow
> connection through the modem! is it possible through the terminal to establish
> a serial link?

All you need to do is reconofigure minicom ... you'll probably find that 
you've got lots of dialling and modem propeties you can blank out. I don't 
know of a minicom that forces you to use a modem. (In minicom, press ALT-O 
and go to 'Modem and dialing'. You may also want to check 'Serial Port 
Setup').

Chris...

-- 
Chris Johnson            \  "If not for me then, do it for yourself. If not
sixie@nccnet.co.uk        \  for then do it for the world." -- Stevie Nicks
www.nccnet.co.uk/~sixie/   ~---------------------------------------+
Redclaw chat - http://redclaw.org.uk - telnet redclaw.org.uk 2000   \______


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