Very Computer

Sorry if you already read about it many times, but I tried almost
everything I saw on USENET about this topic, and failed...

I got this WesternDigital 9GB disk.
Windows fdisk says it's only 8GB, but I know about the 1024 cylinder
problem, OK.

I reserved with FIPS 2GB to Win98, and went to RedHat5.2 install

No matter what I do in DiskDruid, I can't go beyond "L" at LILO boot,
 -> geometry problem (LILO-HOWTO).
From the floppy it boots OK, anyway.
I tried making a /boot (in /hda5, it seems to me), but no way.
I put "linear" in lilo.conf, but no way.

HOW can I put a boot partition inside the damned 1024cyl limit?
(By the way, diskdruid does not tell you where it creates its
partitions,
just how big they are).

Thank you for any help

 Alessandro

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\ Alessandro Magni
/                               IEN Galileo Ferraris
\                               c.M.d'Azeglio 42, 10125 Torino (ITALIA)

\                               Fax (39)11-6507611
/                               Tel (39)11-3919757
\                               Homepage at:
http://alpha.ien.it/~magni/home.html
/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sorry if you already read about it many times, but I tried almost
everything I saw on USENET about this topic, and failed...

I got this WesternDigital 9GB disk.
Windows fdisk says it's only 8GB, but I know about the 1024 cylinder
problem, OK.

I reserved with FIPS 2GB to Win98, and went to RedHat5.2 install

No matter what I do in DiskDruid, I can't go beyond "L" at LILO boot,
 -> geometry problem (LILO-HOWTO).
From the floppy it boots OK, anyway.
I tried making a /boot (in /hda5, it seems to me), but no way.
I put "linear" in lilo.conf, but no way.

HOW can I put a boot partition inside the damned 1024cyl limit?
(By the way, diskdruid does not tell you where it creates its
partitions,
just how big they are).

Thank you for any help

 Alessandro

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
\ Alessandro Magni
/                               IEN Galileo Ferraris
\                               c.M.d'Azeglio 42, 10125 Torino (ITALIA)

\                               Fax (39)11-6507611
/                               Tel (39)11-3919757
\                               Homepage at:
http://alpha.ien.it/~magni/home.html
/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This may be a daft question, however, with you saying that Win98 only
sees it as a 8GB hard drive it sounds like you motherboard may not
accept hard drives greater than 8GB. Not sure though?????? Might be
the root of your problem.

Ken

***** Posted via the UK Online online newsreader *****

 Go to http://www.ukonline.co.uk to find out
 about other online services we offer our subscribers.

Another alternative is to use a bootdisk (hint: this is a lot easier)

Quote:

> Sorry if you already read about it many times, but I tried almost
> everything I saw on USENET about this topic, and failed...

> I got this WesternDigital 9GB disk.
> Windows fdisk says it's only 8GB, but I know about the 1024 cylinder
> problem, OK.

> I reserved with FIPS 2GB to Win98, and went to RedHat5.2 install

> No matter what I do in DiskDruid, I can't go beyond "L" at LILO boot,
>  -> geometry problem (LILO-HOWTO).
> From the floppy it boots OK, anyway.
> I tried making a /boot (in /hda5, it seems to me), but no way.
> I put "linear" in lilo.conf, but no way.

> HOW can I put a boot partition inside the damned 1024cyl limit?
> (By the way, diskdruid does not tell you where it creates its
> partitions,
> just how big they are).

NEVER use more than ONE fdisk on ONE system!

Get yourself a fdisk, which is able to create all your partitions CLEANLY. I
ended up using Ranish partition manager (
http://www.users.intercom.com/~ranish/part/ ) version 2.38 beta 1.6. It's
ugly :-), incomplete and not very easy to set up, but there is a good FAQ
and related material. And it works!
Please read the license section in readme.txt!

Another suited tool is XFDisk (
 http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Way/4090/index.html )
I did not try it myself, but friends of mine (who went through this mess
several times, too) use it and are very satisfied.

Both products can use more than 8GB and have a own boot manager.

Hope this helps!

CU
Stefan

Quote:

>Another alternative is to use a bootdisk (hint: this is a lot easier)

Chris L

Bye

Werner

k> This may be a daft question, however, with you saying that Win98 only
k> sees it as a 8GB hard drive it sounds like you motherboard may not
k> accept hard drives greater than 8GB. Not sure though?????? Might be
k> the root of your problem.

BIOS's can only play LBA magic up to about 8 gig -- beyond 8 gig, 1024
cylinder mapping yields too many heads and/or sectors.

Unless you plan on running MS-DOS 6.2 / Win 3.11, this really does not
matter, except you cannot make it one giant FAT32 disk for Win98.  You
must have at least two partitions, even with a pure Win98 system (or
Win95 w/FAT32 patches).  Note: NT's boot partition must be under the
1024 cylinder (BIOS LBA is NOT used under NT) -- we have a couple of
machines, one with 9 gig disks and one with only a 4 gig disk -- both
run NT and NT can only work with a 1 gig partition on the 4 gig box and
a 2 gig partition on the 9 gig box (these are the NT 'C:' drive).  NT
can use the rest of the disk, but because of NT's boot loader's
limitations, the *boot* partition has to be under the disk's *real* 1024
cylinder -- the BIOS LBA hackery is not used by NT's boot loader).

OTOH, we have a Linux box with a second hard drive that is 23gig in
size.  This disk is broken up into 10 2gig partitions (all Ext2).  This
is not the boot disk (which is a 4 gig disk).  Linux is happy with this
drive (the BIOS is not happy with this drive, but Linux cares not).

I think Win95 and Win98 have special drivers that allow access of
partitions past the BIOS's limit (but I am not sure).  If Win95 and
Win98 don't have special drivers, that Win95 and Win98 are indeed
limited by whatever the BIOS is limited to (8 gig). WinNT and Linux
both don't use the BIOS once they have been booted.  Both use a boot
loader stored in the MBR.  LILO uses BIOS calls to load vmlinuz, NT's
boot loader is more self contained, but has its own BIOS-ish
limitations.

k>
k> Ken
k>
k> >
k> >
k> >Sorry if you already read about it many times, but I tried almost
k> >everything I saw on USENET about this topic, and failed...
k> >
k> >I got this WesternDigital 9GB disk.
k> >Windows fdisk says it's only 8GB, but I know about the 1024 cylinder
k> >problem, OK.
k> >
k> >I reserved with FIPS 2GB to Win98, and went to RedHat5.2 install
k> >
k> >No matter what I do in DiskDruid, I can't go beyond "L" at LILO
k> boot,
k> > -> geometry problem (LILO-HOWTO).
k> >From the floppy it boots OK, anyway.
k> >I tried making a /boot (in /hda5, it seems to me), but no way.
k> >I put "linear" in lilo.conf, but no way.
k> >
k> >HOW can I put a boot partition inside the damned 1024cyl limit?
k> >(By the way, diskdruid does not tell you where it creates its
k> >partitions,
k> >just how big they are).
k> >
k> >
k> >Thank you for any help
k> >
k> > Alessandro
k> >
k> >--
k> >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
k> >\ Alessandro Magni
k> >/                               IEN Galileo Ferraris
k> >\                               c.M.d'Azeglio 42, 10125 Torino
k> (ITALIA)

k> >\                               Fax (39)11-6507611
k> >/                               Tel (39)11-3919757
k> >\                               Homepage at:
k> >http://alpha.ien.it/~magni/home.html
k> >/
k> >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
k> >
k> >
k>
k>
k> Please remove the XWLQNW before replying by email.
k>
k> ***** Posted via the UK Online online newsreader *****
k>
k>  Go to http://www.ukonline.co.uk to find out
k>  about other online services we offer our subscribers.
k>
k>
k>        

--
                                     \/


http://www.deepsoft.com              /\FidoNet:    1:321/153

AM> Sorry if you already read about it many times, but I tried almost
AM> everything I saw on USENET about this topic, and failed...
AM>
AM> I got this WesternDigital 9GB disk.
AM> Windows fdisk says it's only 8GB, but I know about the 1024 cylinder
AM> problem, OK.
AM>
AM> I reserved with FIPS 2GB to Win98, and went to RedHat5.2 install
AM>
AM> No matter what I do in DiskDruid, I can't go beyond "L" at LILO boot,
AM>  -> geometry problem (LILO-HOWTO).
AM> From the floppy it boots OK, anyway.
AM> I tried making a /boot (in /hda5, it seems to me), but no way.
AM> I put "linear" in lilo.conf, but no way.
AM>
AM> HOW can I put a boot partition inside the damned 1024cyl limit?
AM> (By the way, diskdruid does not tell you where it creates its
AM> partitions,
AM> just how big they are).

Use fdisk, not diskdruid.  Diskdruid does not seem to work well with
anything but really simple situations (disks < 1024 cylinders, only 4
partitions, single boot, etc.).  Fdisk is not as 'easy' (no colorful
GUI, etc. -- just a simple B&W command-line console interface, not
really hard).  Fdisk shows the geometry, etc.

Given the size of the disk, it is possible that giving 2gig to Win98
might get you close or over the 1024 cylinder limit.

/dev/hda5 seems way to far up to be under the 1024 cylinder.  What you
want is something like:

'primary partitions':
/dev/hda1    2gig FAT16 or FAT32
/dev/hda2    64meg Ext2 (Linux Native)  / (root) Hopefully this will be under
                                        the 1024th cylinder
/dev/hda3    64-128meg Swap

'extended partition':
/dev/hda4    <extended -- the rest of the disk>

'logical partitions':
/dev/hda5    1.5gig  Ext2 (Linux Native) /usr
/dev/hda6    64meg   Ext2 (Linux Native) /var (optional)
/dev/hda7    *rest of disk* Ext2 (Linux Native) /home
        Note: given the size of the disk, it might make sense to break
/dev/hda7 (/dev/hda6 if /var is skipped), into 2 or three chunks for
administrative ease -- eg /dev/hda7 -> /home (2-4 gig), /dev/hda8 ->
/home2 (2-4 gig), etc.

You *may* have to make the Win98 FAT16/FAT32 partition smaller --
depending on the disk geometry -- and maybe create another (logical)
FAT16/FAT32 up in the extended partition (will be 'D:' in Win98).

Fdisk displays the partition limits in *cylinders* eg:

Disk /dev/sda: 64 heads, 32 sectors, 329 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 bytes

   Device Boot    Start      End   Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *         1      329   336880    6  DOS 16-bit >=32M (MS-DOS 6.2)

Disk /dev/sdb: 64 heads, 32 sectors, 2049 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 bytes

   Device Boot    Start      End   Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1             1       51    52208   83  Linux native  <- / (Slackware 3.0, Kern 1.2.13)
/dev/sdb2            52      102    52224   82  Linux swap
/dev/sdb3           103      203   103424   83  Linux native
/dev/sdb4           204     2048  1889280    5  Extended
/dev/sdb5           204      460   263167+  83  Linux native
/dev/sdb6           461     1018   571376   83  Linux native
/dev/sdb7          1019     2048  1054704   83  Linux native

Disk /dev/sdc: 64 heads, 32 sectors, 4340 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 2048 * 512 bytes

   Device Boot    Start      End   Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1             1       65    66544   83  Linux native <- / (RH 5.2, Kern 2.0.36)
/dev/sdc2            66      130    66560   82  Linux swap
/dev/sdc3           131     1155  1049600   83  Linux native
/dev/sdc4          1156     4340  3261440    5  Extended
/dev/sdc5          1156     1220    66544   83  Linux native
/dev/sdc6          1221     1477   263152   83  Linux native
/dev/sdc7          1478     2502  1049584   83  Linux native
/dev/sdc8          2503     3527  1049584   83  Linux native
/dev/sdc9          3528     4340   832496   83  Linux native

                   \------V----/
                      Cylinder #s
AM>
AM>
AM> Thank you for any help
AM>
AM>  Alessandro
AM>
AM> --
AM> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AM> \ Alessandro Magni
AM> /                               IEN Galileo Ferraris
AM> \                               c.M.d'Azeglio 42, 10125 Torino (ITALIA)

AM> \                               Fax (39)11-6507611
AM> /                               Tel (39)11-3919757
AM> \                               Homepage at:
AM> http://alpha.ien.it/~magni/home.html
AM> /
AM> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AM>
AM>
AM>                                                                  

--
                                     \/


http://www.deepsoft.com              /\FidoNet:    1:321/153

Quote:>/dev/hda5 seems way to far up to be under the 1024 cylinder.  What you
>want is something like:

>'primary partitions':
>/dev/hda1    2gig FAT16 or FAT32
>/dev/hda2    64meg Ext2 (Linux Native)  / (root) Hopefully this will be under
>                                    the 1024th cylinder
>/dev/hda3    64-128meg Swap

/dev/hda1     1.5 MB  /u1  (for LILO and kernels)
/dev/hda2     4 GB    C:
/dev/hda3     150 MB  /
/dev/hda4     (extended)
/dev/hda5     120 MB  swap
/dev/hda6     2.5 GB  /u6  (for /usr)
/dev/hda7     2.5 GB  /u7  (/home, /var)

Do your install in two stages.  First stage, partition the
drive, exercise each partition with "badblocks -w", make
file systems, then create a /usr directory in /u6
and a symlink in / pointing to it.  Example follows.
You're in the ramdisk shell, on the install floppy.

cfdisk             # create partition table
mkdir /m3 /m6 /m1
badblocks -w /dev/hda1 1500
mke2fs /dev/hda1 1500
badblocks -w /dev/hda3 150000
mke2fs /dev/hda3 150000
badblocks -w /dev/hda6 2500000
mke2fs /dev/hda6 2500000
badblocks -w /dev/hda7 2500000
mke2fs /dev/hda7 2500000
badblocks -w /dev/hda5 128000
mkswap /dev/hda5 128000

mount -t ext2 /dev/hda6 /m6
mkdir /m6/usr
mount -t ext2 /dev/hda3 /m3
cd m3
ln -s u6/usr .
mount -t ext2 /dev/hda1 /m1
mkdir /m1/boot
ln -s u1/boot .

Reboot.  Run the install.  It will ask what to do with the existing
partitions.  Activate the existing swap.  Mount /dev/hda3 as /
and /dev/hda6 as /u6   (Not as /usr!)
Mound /dev/hda1 as /u1
Let the install program mount them.  Go to a shell on the second
virtual console and verify that /usr is on /dev/hda6.

df # (prints a table of mounted partitions)
cd /target/usr       # (or whereever Red Hat uses)
df .

Now let the install proceed.
This is how to install a small root and big usr in one pass,
without filling up any partitions and without creating the space
management problems you get when /usr is, itself, a mount point.

The badblocks -w operation isn't going to report any bad blocks
on a modern drive.  What it's really doing is warming the drive up
to operating temperature before you write anything important on it,
and giving the drive electronics a chance to spare out any sectors that
have gone bad in shipping.

By using symlinks from root to the other traditional partitions,
your storage allocation remains flexible.  You can move parts or all of
/usr to a second drive, for example.

It's too bad the distributions' install programs aren't smart enough
to do this stuff.  People would have a lot less trouble.

Cameron

--

Dept. of Mathematics, Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL 60208