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November 2012

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From:
"EXT-Askew, R W" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
EXT-Askew, R W
Date:
Wed, 28 Nov 2012 05:32:34 -0800
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Thanks for the additional information.  You have been a big help.

Bill 
A Harley Ride A Day, Helps Drive The Blues Away 


-----Original Message-----
From: Konstantin Olchanski [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 6:00 PM
To: EXT-Askew, R W
Cc: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: self contained usb install using kickstart howto

On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 07:52:02AM -0600, Bill wrote:
> On Thu, 15 Nov 2012 07:17:51 -0800, EXT-Askew, R W <[log in to unmask]> 
> wrote:
> I wanted to follow up with answers to my own questions in case it may help 
> someone else.
> 
> >Thanks for the response.
> >
> >I have couple of more questions.
> >In your readme mentioned mbr.bin and extlinux.  
> >Is mbr.bin a copy of /usr/share/syslinux/mbr.bin ?
> 
> /usr/share/syslinux/mbr.bin seems to work just fine
>

My instructions do not assume that one has the SYSLINUX package
installed on your machine - because the default SL SYSLINUX package
is severely out of date.

But I think any SYSLINUX mbr.bin is okey.

>
> >Are extlinux and extlinux.conf copies of /sbin/extlinux 
> and /etc/extlinux.conf ?
> 

No. Negative.

extlinux.conf is necessarily customized for booting the SL installer package.

extlinux binary:
I tend to use the latest version of SYSLINUX/EXTLINUX/PXELINUX
so that would be the binary present in the image boot directory.
These new versions support many advanced functions such as menus,
conditional boot loading, etc.

One way to tell old EXTLINUX from new one is the command syntax
changed from "./extlinux ." to "./extlinux -i ." ("-i" was added).

>
> The above worked fine as well
>

Yes, the old SYSLINUX/EXTLINUX still works quiet well, but I am not too sure
about support for booting from EXT4 filesystems.

Also it works because my example extlinux.conf does not use any advanced features.

> >
> >Also, do you do the install with a kickstart file on the USB drive?
> >From a DVD, my boot line looks like this
> >Boot: Linux ks=cdrom:/ks.cfg
> >What would I replace cdrom: with?

No, I did not make a kickstart file for the USB bootable installer.

I usually do PXEBOOT network installs and I do have a kickstart file there.

The USB installer was done for doing vanilla SL installations.

>
> I am still trying to determine the smallest packege set required, but I am 
> off and running. :-)
>

I gave up on "smallest package set" long time ago. The full installation fits
on 16 GB media and I do not have to install yet anothing one missing package
every day. (I am still pissed at upstream for removing the "install everything"
installer button).


K.O.






> >-----Original Message-----
> >From: Konstantin Olchanski [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
> >Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2012 11:09 AM
> >To: EXT-Askew, R W
> >Cc: [log in to unmask]
> >Subject: Re: self contained usb install using kickstart howto
> >
> >On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 09:48:01AM -0600, rwa wrote:
> >> 
> >> I am working on a custom SL6.2 installation and am interested in using 
> a 
> >> USB thumb drive to trouble shoot the installation so that I do not need 
> to 
> >> burn so many DVDs.  I have looked through a lot of HowTos but none of 
> them 
> >> seem to be geared toward a standalone self contained install from a USB 
> >> drive using a kickstart file.
> >> Can anyone point me to such a HowTo?
> >> 
> >
> >I have instructions for building an SL6.1 USB install disk here
> >(trivial to update for SL6.2):
> >
> >http://trshare.triumf.ca/~olchansk/linux/SL61-64-USBBOOT/
> >
> >-- 
> >Konstantin Olchanski
> >Data Acquisition Systems: The Bytes Must Flow!
> >Email: olchansk-at-triumf-dot-ca
> >Snail mail: 4004 Wesbrook Mall, TRIUMF, Vancouver, B.C., V6T 2A3, Canada
> >========================================================================

-- 
Konstantin Olchanski
Data Acquisition Systems: The Bytes Must Flow!
Email: olchansk-at-triumf-dot-ca
Snail mail: 4004 Wesbrook Mall, TRIUMF, Vancouver, B.C., V6T 2A3, Canada

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