[tlinux-users:07817] Re: Installing SuSE 10.0: kernel loads but CD-ROM won't mount

:
:
> One slight difference - the kernel does not have all the drivers
> built in - instead there is an initial RAM disk that has a fairly
> wide selection of drivers on it. This has a couple of advantages -
> the first is that the kernel is smaller, and works with a wider
> variety of hardware. It also lets you change the drivers supported
> by specifying a different initrd.img at boot time.

Well... a smaller kernel won't necessarily work on more hardware but
yes I glossed over the fact that many of the drivers are loaded as
modules once the kernel detects the need for them (by probing the devices).

Personally, I would *not* be surprised that the CD-ROM drivers were not
part of the installation kernel as I have run into this myself more than
once with both CD-ROM drives and other devices.  If the device is a
little unusual (or if the system responds to the probe in an unusual
way) it may be necessary manually load the required module.

Other devices may cause the same problems.  I've run into this with
iSCSI HBAs and, most recently, I found that SuSE 10.0 does not have
drivers for the IDE controller in my Toshiba Portege M400.  Fortunately,
the pre-release of SuSE 10.1 does have those drivers.  They are included
as a module that I had to manually load during installation.

More below...

> I would be surprised if the CD-ROM drivers for the 440CDT were not
> in the standard kernel. On the other hand, I don't think that it has
> enough memory for SuSe 10. "Main memory: At least 256 MB; 512 MB
> recommended" So you may want to look at one of distributions
> designed for smaller machines. If you still want to try to install
> SuSe, there are a couple of things you can try. The first is to try
> booting off the second CD instead of the first. Most distributions
> have a different kernel on the second CD that is configured
> differently from the one on the main CD to support different
> hardware. You can also look into the advanced boot options. They
> sometimes help. On a few machines, I have had to help the kernel in
> detecting the CD ROM. This is especially true if the CD is jumpered
> as Slave on an interface that does not have a Master on it. You can
> try adding hdd=cdrom or hdc=cdrom to the command line and see if
> that helps.

The memory recommendations are for the fully running system, and they're
padded a bit.  I've got SuSEPro9.3 running on an old Pentium MMX with
much less than the recommended RAM.  It's the fileserver for my home and
the only time it appears slow is when I try running a remote console via
VNC.  It's KDE that eats memory for breakfast.  The installation system
shouldn't have any trouble with 256MB.

The other suggestions (booting off of CD2 or adding config options at
boot time) make sense to me.

> At least you can boot from CD-ROM. I have installed Linux on a
> 400CDT, and that requires booting from a floppy, as the BIOS does
> not support booting from CD-ROM.

I installed SuSE 9 on a Portege M200 by PXE booting it.  *That* was a
royal pain in the poodles.  (...but it worked!)

:)

Chris -)-----

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Samba Team -- http://www.samba.org/   -)-----  Christopher R. Hertel
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