-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 You should install lilo. I'm not sure why it makes it seem like lilo is such a dangerous thing to install...I guess it's because eomeone who's dual-booting can screw up their system. On Tue, May 11, 2004 at 10:20:35AM -0700, Debee Norling wrote: > I've read thru the past year of archives, hoping this got answered for some > other newbie. If I missed an answer, feel free to point me to the > appropriate month, rather than feeling like you need to repeat yourself. > > I cleared off my desktop and installed Slackware 8.1 on it over the weekend. > I used 8.1 because I had those CDS on hand and it's an old, slow machine. > > I made two partitions, one for Linux native-83 and one for Linux-swap-82. > DOS and Windows are no longer on the machine. > > The install suggested that because Lilo was dangerous, beginners should skip > installing it -- so I did. But now I can't boot. It appears that you have to > have some sort of boot loader, even if you don't have another operating > system on the disk -- is this correct? > > I enjoyed Saqib's fine document on how to install Slackware with speakup, > but it says nothing at all about lilo or booting, except how to boot the > floppy you make with rawrite. The slackware install how-to has lots to say > about booting, but it's for people who want to keep other operating systems > on the hard disk. I didn't, because it sounded too complicated. > > I made boot disks, and before I installed, I assembled a collection of > talking, bootable media. I've got the partimage CD, the Systemrescue CD, the > original installation boot and root floppies, the boot floppy I made during > the install, and the Slackware CDS; the first two can be booted. > > So I guess I have three questions here. First, I can boot all this media, > but how do I use the Slackware I installed on my hard drive? > > Second, how do I get that Slackware to boot, without worrying about > complicated boot managers? > > Third, what do all these different boot parameters mean anyway. They are: > > For the Partimage CD: linux speakup_synth=xxx > For the System rescue CD: nokeymap speakup_synth=xxx > For the slackware cd: speakup.i speakup_synth=xxx > For the original install floppy: ramdisk speakup_synth=xxx > and the Slackware docs say for the boot floppy you made during install to > type: "mount root=/dev/hda1" (or whatever your partition is.) > > I understand what speakup_synth does, but what's all this variation in the > start command: ramdis, mount, speak.s, speakup,i, linux, nokeymap etc. At > first I thought they were all different names for the kernel you wanted > loaded, but then why do the docs for Slackware telll you to boot by typing > mount root=/dev/hda1? That makes no sense, because if a kernel isn't loaded > yet, how can it mount anything? And where do you stick in the speakup_synth > parameter in this mount command? > > I hope my beginner questions aren't becoming too annoying. > > > -- Debee > (Deborah Norling) > Alternate Media Specialist > DeAnza College > Phone: 408-864-5815 > <MailTo: norlingdeborah at fhda.edu> > > > _______________________________________________ > Speakup mailing list > Speakup at braille.uwo.ca > http://speech.braille.uwo.ca/mailman/listinfo/speakup - -- Microsoft is not the answer. Microsoft is the question. NO (or Linux) is the answer. -- Taken from a .signature from someone from the UK, source unknown -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.2.3 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFAoTal9XVrM3ri110RAqq6AKCJHUVjNaHj4Jq+Frp6Uo+Wq9wErwCdFb7L B7u5KRU9h3n0Y05FWUPlVxI= =yCzk -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
