Re: What's the Dealio with initrd, etc/fstab, initrd.img inittab, vmlinuz, grub and partitions ???

Douglas Mayne wrote:
On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 14:24:23 -0800, iforone wrote:
(?)...oh boy - I can't even get 2 wm's/fm's going at once

Virtual terminals are on <CTL>-<ALT>-<Fx>
X terminals begin at <CTL>-<ALT>-<F7>


Ok - I knew that too ;) Thanks - I'm sure it'll help someone who's sick
enough (a sado-masochist) to have read this far ;-) I just have no idea
howto fire 'em up (wm) - do I run a script ?

Oh - before I forget, atleast it's 100MHz FSB (whoop-de-do, I know)


Oh - so I just need to create more users? perhaps using adduser ?

You should have a non-priviledged (non-root) user for yourself. I use an
account named "doug" on my machine. Any new users will use the default
X windows manager.

I see - thanks
YES - my 1 User has almost no privileges (default) , I always need to
sudo (or enter root + passwd) to do anything meaningful (even get info
from bash - like 'lspci -vv' or 'cfdisk'...IIRC, would give me "Command
not found" - hence sudo heaven). I can't stand not being able to see
"hidden" [ . xxxxxxx ] files!! in KDE - it wasn't that way with Knoppix
(IIRC) -- even worse than MS -- it's an MS nightmare come true - aahh
poop.

Perhaps a [ . ] in my Default $PATH statement ?


vmlinuz-2.6.8-2-386 is a real kernel image, otherwise you wouldn't be
booting linux at all. initrd.img-2.6.8-2-386 appears to be a matching
initial ramdisk for that kernel. Initial ramdisks are used mostly for
loading kernel modules which are necessary to access the root
filesystem. The modules can be for hardware (a scsi controller, for
example) or for software (a filesystem not included directly inside the
kernel, say XFS). The kernel and the kernel modules generally are
prepared as a set when the kernel is configured and compiled.

Should I just run Kpackage and install the appropriate
"kernel-image"(2.6.8, i386, approx 50MB ??)

I don't know what Debian means by a kernel image, other than what I wrote
above.

This is what I mean;
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a217/iforone/kernel-image.png
most seem 40-50MB in size
(I hope you can read the text)

Now look at my vmlinuz and initrd file sizes;

$ ls -al /boot
total 6228
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 2006-02-15 01:56 .
drwxr-xr-x 21 root root 4096 2006-02-19 10:41 ..
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 55809 2005-08-16 08:41 config-2.6.8-2-386
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 2006-02-21 11:10 grub
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 4317184 2006-02-15 01:55 initrd.img-2.6.8-2-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 865767 2005-08-16 11:14 System.map-2.6.8-2-386
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1097554 2005-08-16 11:14 vmlinuz-2.6.8-2-386


vmlinuz = 1.0MB
initrd.image = 4.1MB

these are the files GRUB points to


Thank goodness for kpackage - 'aptitude' gives me strange "boxes as
characters" and as borders for window frames and menus - and 'apt-get'
is ok, but I'll never remember all the commands (and package names), and
there's s-o-o-o many packages...

That's why it's easier to be a Slacker.

You mean as in Slackware :p (j/k)...


My PCMCIA (and/or EISA) needs to be fixed (though I have neither ISA,
nor PCMCIA devices, but this Intel South Bridge (82371AB/EB PIIX4E)
certainly likes to have it's support) - I chose NOT to install PCMCIA
(passed it up during install) because this is a Desktop, not a Laptop,
with seemingly no PCMCIA - BUT, when Knoppix Live (v3.6, 2.6.7 Kernel)
was booting (both from LiveCD /and/ when installed to HDD)
.....

There are some big changes between the 2.4.x and 2.6.x kernels. This is
probably a side effect from that.

Yeah, but I was always using 2.6
Knoppix = 2.6.7
Debian = 2.6.8

I'm almost certain it's PCMCIA related -- I understand you're not
Debian-based (packaged ....whatever) - and I sincerely appreciate the
time, and trying to help me -- how would one go about installing PCMCIA
support ??


start Failures;

pciehp: acpi_pciehprm:\_SB_.PCI0 evaluate _BBN fail=0x5 pciehp:
acpi_pciehprm:get_device PCI ROOT HID fail=0x5 shpchp:
acpi_shpchprm:\_SB_.PCI0 evaluate _BBN fail=0x5 shpchp:
acpi_shpchprm:get_device PCI ROOT HID fail=0x5 input: PC Speaker
inserting floppy driver for 2.6.8-2-386 Floppy drive(s): fd0 is 1.44M
FDC 0 is a post-1991 82077
parport: PnPBIOS parport detected.
parport0: PC-style at 0x378 (0x778), irq 7, dma 3
[PCSPP,TRISTATE,COMPAT,ECP,DMA]
eth0: DSPCFG accepted after 0 usec.
[...]


.....

Note: You can have only ACPI or APM. ACPI is preferred with 2.6.x
kernels.

I understand (I think), but it always seems one's built stop the other
-- but I can easily take the 'apm=' entry away...it just worked, so I
left it (a whole 2-3 days now...whooopie) - atleast
I can shutdown/restart/logout like a normal person...BTW - most ACPI
(and related) entries in 'dmesg' look quite kosher.

So how do I go about giving this system PCMCIA support ?? Through 'make'
'modprobe' ??
Do I have to Re-Run the Debian Installer from CD ??

Probably not.


Okee-dokee then ;-) -- that sounds good (I think)


[...]

This appears to be different under Debian than I am used to in Slackware.

I see - thanks anyway



[...]


Note: my comments inline (above).

hey now - I know what that means (*Notification* - 'heads-up')
lol...thanks

I think you are making rapid progress. Keep up the good work.

now, now - I really appreciate that - but, sometimes I'm a putz :>)
(doh!)


Curiosity
is where it starts. I would recommend a basic book on GNU/Linux command
line tools, such as Linux in a Nutshell:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1565925858/103-9873526-3468618?v=glance&n=283155

Or Teach Yourself Unix in 24 Hours:
http://www.intuitive.com/tyu24/

Of course, the Linux Documentation Project is the definitive resource.
And Wikipedia has some great overviews.

You da man: for even replying with some guidance - I _KNOW_ it's been
painful (ROFL!)...but Thank You very much!

Ok Doug - see ya 'round
Ciao

.

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