Syslinux - Jul 2007 - Request for enlightenment..

I figure I'm probably trying to do something stupid, but here goes.

I'm trying to boot a hard disk image (with one 420MB partition, lilo in 
the MBR) containing debian etch (kernel 2.6.18) using memdisk (onto a 
dell 2950 with 8G of ram).

Lilo (22.6.1) fails on memdisk 3.35, 3.36, 3.50, 3.51, and 3.52-pre, 
with L 99 99 99 99 et al, but works on 2.x, 3.00 and 3.31.

However, the kernel fails to snag the emulated hard disk, and fails to 
boot past it's initramfs as it can't find the rootfs.

Can you tell me if this is because I've a newish kernel, but not got the 
"linux kernel boot protocol" updates in 3.50 and newer, as lilo fails 
with new enough memdisk to have it in?

I suppose what I'm asking is if I'm on a hiding to nothing because
it'll
never work, or whether I'm just being stupid and missing something 
painfully obvious.

-- 
ian

On Thu, Jul 05, 2007 at 12:07:14PM +0100, Ian McDonald
wrote:
> I figure I'm probably trying to do something stupid, but here goes.
> 
> I'm trying to boot a hard disk image (with one 420MB partition, lilo in
> the MBR) containing debian etch (kernel 2.6.18) using memdisk (onto a 
> dell 2950 with 8G of ram).
> 
> Lilo (22.6.1) fails on memdisk 3.35, 3.36, 3.50, 3.51, and 3.52-pre, 
> with L 99 99 99 99 et al, but works on 2.x, 3.00 and 3.31.
> 
> However, the kernel fails to snag the emulated hard disk, and fails to 
> boot past it's initramfs as it can't find the rootfs.
Correct. The Linux kernel and new (from the last decade) operating
systems ignore the BIOS and access the hardware directly. The HDD you're
emulating with memdisk is available to lilo (or should be), because lilo
uses BIOS calls to access the disk.

However, the kernel will never see it, as it accesses the hardware
directly.

-- 
lfr
0/0
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: not available
URL:
<http://www.zytor.com/pipermail/syslinux/attachments/20070705/6f961cc7/attachment.sig>