[NTLUG:Discuss] [DISCUSS}

[Kevin Brannen]

David Gadd wrote:
> 
> Hello all
> 
> I have an old 486 system that has been put together from salvaged
> computer parts.
> The BIOS cant see the HD its to big ...

Not at all, or not all of it?  I suspect the later.

Linux only uses the BIOS to boot, after that, it'll take care of the
disk geometry on its own.  That just means that your *ENTIRE* root
partition must be below the 1024th cylinder.  I have a big root and it's
only 200M (/usr, /opt, /var, /home are their own partitions).  You could
do with less than 100M for / if needed.

> The CD-ROM is ancient and I get the following error as the floppy boot
> disk starts
> 
> RHLINUX ...[description]
> Boot failure
> 
> Am I just looking at a bad boot disk or culd this be something else?

Not sure what to say here.  DOS is actually good for something, like
seeing if your hardware can even boot. :-)  Oh, and Doom! :-)  If at all
possible, I always put a small DOS partition on the disk, especially if
I should ever get hardware that requires a DOS driver to initialize a
device then a warm boot.  (not that I'm in that situation, but I see
plenty of stories from those that are)

HTH,
Kevin


> 
> Thanks
> 
> Dave Gadd
> 
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