Installing a Good Boot Manager _________________________________________________________________ > I get the following error messages at bootup, could anyone tell me what they mean? > fcntl_setlk() called by process 51 (lpd) with broken flock() emulation They mean that you have not read the documentation when upgrading the kernel. -- seen on c.o.l.misc _________________________________________________________________ Rationale Traditionally, either [1]LILO or [2]GRUB have been used as a boot loader for Linux distributions. Both have their advantages and their quirks. The quirks tend to be similar: both rely on configuration files that must reside within the main Linux partition; if a mistake is made in the configuration file, you can't easily boot into the system to correct the error (since you can't boot the system due to the error in the first place). There are ways around this, but you have to know what you're doing. Both usually involve writing to the Master Boot Record, which is somewhat of an Achilles heel with PC systems. One good alternative is [3]LOADLIN, often referred to as the "safe way to load your Linux". Those that remember the past days of Novell NetWare will find the concept similar: Boot the system to a small, primary DOS partition and launch the operating system from here. LOADLIN offers many advantages: No configuration files reside in the Linux partition; it is easily configured; nothing needs to be updated when you recompile the Linux kernel; and nothing is ever, ever written to the Master Boot Record. It also allows us to have a bootable DOS partition from which we can upgrade the system/scsi/etc BIOS which can be extremely useful in a pinch. One small disadvantage exists: If you don't have an old copy of MS-DOS lying around, how do you set up DOS? The answer is Jim Hall's FreeDOS: a complete, free, 100% (more or less) MS-DOS compatible operating system. This document discusses setting up the necessary partitions and our recommended instructions for installing FreeDOS. Information on LOADLIN can be found in the INSTALL.TXT file. Instructions If you have a copy of MS-DOS 6.x, then you're in luck and you can follow the rough outline of this guide to accomplish the same goal. Otherwise, head on over to the FreeDOS website (http://www.freedos.org/) and nab their latest ISO image and burn it to CD (see "man 1 cdrecord"). It's worth noting that these instructions are based the on FreeDOS beta9 9"Methusalem" cdrom distribution; it's possible things may change with later versions. 1. Boot your system to the FreeDOS CD and choose the following options, respectively: Boot FreeDOS setup Clean Boot (No CD-ROM driver loaded) 2. We need to make sure that the Master Boot Record is set up correctly. This can be accomplished by typing: FDISK /MBR 3. To manage our DOS disk partition, we want to use the non-Linux version of fdisk as the DOS FORMAT command is historically buggy and looks at the first 512 bytes of the partition differently than the traditional Linux fdisk command. Launch fdisk by typing the following command (below). When prompted if you want to "use large disk (FAT32) support", say Yes: FDISK 4. At the main menu, choose "Display parittion information". What we want to see is the message, "No partitions defined". However, if partitions are listed here, you'll need to delete all of them using the "Delete partition or Logical DOS Drive" option. Note: This will delete all the data on your hard drive -- you have been warned! When there are no more partitions left on your primary hard drive, we are ready to set aside some space for our new 100 MB DOS partition. Respectively choose: Create DOS partition or Logical DOS Drive Create Primary DOS Partition Do you wish to use the maximum available size... --> No Enter partition size... --> 100 5. To activate your new partition, choose: Set Active Partition Enter the number of the partition... --> 1 6. Exit fdisk by hitting ESC. You'll be prompted to reboot. Keep the CD in the drive and reboot the system. 7. After you've rebooted your system to the FreeDOS CD, choose the same options again, respectively: Boot FreeDOS setup Clean Boot (No CD-ROM driver loaded) 8. In order to use our new DOS partition, it must be formatted. Additionally, bootable DOS system files need to be copied to it and ideally a surface scan should be run to check for bad sectors. You can accomplish all of this in one step by typing: FORMAT /U /S C: 9. Finally, we should transfer the FreeDOS Utility Programs to our new DOS partition. This isn't strictly necessary, however this might help us out down the road should we ever need them in a pinch. Reboot the system to the FreeDOS CD again, this time selecting: Boot FreeDOS setup Boot with XMS & (IDE/ATAPI) CD-ROM driver (default) FreeDOS Installation Start installation of FreeDOS ( ... press a key to continue ...) ( ... hit ESC to exit reading the instructions ...) Start the installer program 10. When the installer program runs, you can use the tab/arrow keys and ENTER to select your installation options. Usually, the defaults are acceptable. The necessary files will be copied to C:\FDOS. 11. When done, the installer program will exit to DOS and you will be prompted to install the bootsector. Since we've already done this, simply type "NO" (minus quotes) and hit ENTER. 12. Eject the CD from the drive and reboot the system to DOS. This is an important step as you should verify that the new partition is set up correctly and is bootable. _________________________________________________________________ $Id: BOOTMGR.txt,v 1.01 2004/05/16 15:15:54 Exp $ References 1. http://home.san.rr.com/johninsd/pub/linux/lilo/ 2. ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/grub/ 3. http://elserv.ffm.fgan.de/%7Elermen/ This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License, available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/