Re: Running Linux from external Jaz via PCMCIA

["Ken D'Ambrosio" <kend@Summa4.COM>]

According to the documentation that comes with the Adaptec
PCMCIA SCSI card, the PCMCIA spec does NOT support bootable
devices, period.  In other words, regardless of what you've
got hanging off your PCMCIA device, it ain't gonna boot.  No,
I don't know the specifics; perhaps checking on Adaptec's web
site (is there a PCMCIA newsgroup?) might help.

Ken

Andrew Richards wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I'm installing Linux (Slackware, 2.0 kernel) on my Thinkpad 701CS.
> What I want to do is to have all of Linux except for a tiny boot
> floppy or partition on my external SCSI device (IOMega Jaz), which
> is connected via a New Media Bus Toaster PCMCIA card.
> 
> What I've succeed in doing so far is to setup a small partition on the
> Thinkpad's hard drive with a basic core of Linux including PCMCIA
> support. This happily recognises the Bus Toaster and allows me to
> access the Jaz drive - but by this time my root partition is /dev/hda3
> and I can't change it to be /dev/sda1. How can I get round this?
> Presumably I need to create a LILO boot image with PCMCIA
> built in that sets up PCMCIA support before trying to mount the
> root (SCSI) directory.
> 
> I realise that I could keep my core Linux on the hard disk and
> setup various partitions - /usr, /etc, /lib etc on the Jaz disk, but
> this is messy. I would much prefer to have everything for Linux
> on the Jaz disk (the whole filesystem in one partition) with only
> the required boot (LILO?) files on the Thinkpad or floppy.
> 
> All suggestions/guidelines would be most welcome - although
> I'm experienced in Unix, I'm new to Linux (and LILO) - please
> be detailed in any Linux/LILO specific instructions.
> 
> cheers,
> 
> Andrew.