[TriLUG] Installing Debian Stable on old hardware

[paul]

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 20:49:07 -0500, Alan Porter <porter at trilug.org> wrote:
> 
>  > Which release of Debian did you use? I just tried that approach with
>  >Sarge and my dad's laptop.. Seemed to get the base system "installed"
> okay,
>  >but I couldn't get grub installed. I tried booting from floppy with the
>  >drive in the Stylistic anyhow, specifying root=/dev/hda3, but for some
>  >reason it didn't like that. The error messages were quite cryptic and I
>  >don't remember them exactly, but it was something to the effect of it
>  >couldn't find /dev/hda3 (although I'm certiain it's there...).
> 
> I run into this same type of problem with embedded Linux. I make
> an image on my laptop, write the image to a compact flash card, and
> then move the CF card to a target system.
> 
> If the drive is not called "/dev/hda" on both systems, it can be
> confusing.
> 
> You have to be very careful with GRUB (and LILO). In some cases, you
> specify the device name as it appears to the development machine. In
> other cases, you use the device that the target uses.

My apologies for the later reply, just got back from NYC and wasn't
checking list mail ( i know i know, what kind of nerd are you!?!?)

I actually did it with rc2 of the debian-installer (sarge) most
recently. And I was doing it as the primary drive in a desktop (with
an adapter) the last time I did it. The first time was with a laptop
and the drive was the primary once again. I only installed it a second
time because the first drive I had died <zap>.

Have you tried pointing to a different partition? Since you can't get
to dmesg, then it would be tough to find out which disk it sees,
though the obvious choices would be /dev/h*3 or /dev/s*3. Mine was the
same "/dev/hda1" from machine to machine.

Sorry, I don't live in the area so I don't get to the meetings
(Charlottean atm). Though the next time I am there visiting I will be
happy to bring it and make it to a meeting. I have a wrt54g strapped
to the back of it in client mode and a wireless pcmcia card in the
top. A sort of "wireless analysis" tool atm. And other times is it
strapped to a tiny keyboard and serves as my console server. Just
depends on the day and the need....

Paul