Bootdisks with a full dhcpcd client, ethernet and more.

[Ultimai]

I cannot use the CD boot simply because my computer currently refuses to boot from any bootable CD (and it used to boot CD's, which is strange, even when I put it in the right bios settings...)

So therefore, right now, I have to use the floppy disk install and guide in these fourms. But the problem is that "tombrst" does not have a dhcp client that allows me to do the hostname (-h *) command. And to get dhcp ip's to work, I need the hostname command.

In the "tombrst" CLI, I couldnt reintialize dhcp-- (it said so and so file allready existed). And dhcp-- was already intialized in boot up.

So do you guys have any suggestions in what boot disk i could use that has these feautures (mu-linux looked possible, but):

- A DHCP client that can do hostnames.
- Has an ethernet module for the 3COM 905B (I think the module is called 3c59*.o)
- wget
- fdisk (that can regonize hardrives at least up to 40GB)
- mkdir
- the abillity to make and regonize ext3 partions (XFS would be nice too)
- bzip2
- tar
- mount
- the abillity to chroot and env-update.

What do you guys think?

[Guest]

Not what you want to hear but re-consider
Sooner or later you will want ability you had.
Fix that, can't be too much - try swaps (another machine or cd drive)
for fastest proving where trouble lies
If frazzed drive - new drives are really cheap now
Re-test with proven bootable disc that worked for you in past.,
( you stated it won't boot ANY bootable ?)
If above not to your liking, an alternate is to install via a linux
partition Even quick (temp) minimum install (from floppy) of some linux distro.
most will have all needed utilities.

floppies can only hold so much every mainstream distro can install from created
floppies if not already supplied.
Bet you fix CD boot faster than locating all needs using "Linux-on-floppy"

[ultimai]

Can someone answer my question instead of just giving me "fix the CD boot" 'cause you will want it later and if all else fails, install another distro and then try it from there.

1. It wont boot any bootable
2. Its not a frazzled CD drive
3. If I install another disto, I might as well go with that one.

[Naan Yaar]

What do you have on this box right now (other OS's)? Do you have other machines that can "assist" you with the install? How do you network to post to the forum and download tomsrtbt, etc.?

More information can probably net more answers.

[ultimai]

Well, I have win2k on this machine that is fully working and all that on a partition. I cannot use any other machine to "assist" with my install.

Everything works except the freaking networking (and cd-boot). Which prevents me from installing gentoo since the "emerge" command wont work and its neccessary to install metaloger. I tried the manual way (ifconfig and /sbin/route) but emerge still cannot connect. dhcpcd-- doesnt work because its too stripped down and cannot use -h command neither does it figure out what your DNS servers are.

I think maybe its a problem with the dns servers but I doubt it since I entered everything correctly in the /etc/resolv.conf file. And win2k is currently figuring out what the nameservers are on this (and yes, I did enter the same ip's.)

The only thing I think could be the problem is that I cannot figure out what the broadcast address is. (and I put in the netmask area what ipconfig gives as the "subnet mask".) Maybe you guys can tell me what it is when I do an 'ipconfig /all' in the dos prompt in win2k?

Also, when I try to chroot with tombrst it "cannot find" the command env-update unless I type 'source /etc/profile' it and the Bootdisk Install HOWTO puts that before the command 'source /etc/profile. Also when I am chrooted I am not the root user and cannot su into root. Maybe its because I cannot do 'env-update' before 'source /etc/profile' in the chroot process.

Everything else works although. I was thinking of maybe taking the isolinux files on the CDROM and using loadlin to boot them up, but I dont know exactly what files and commands I should use from the CD.

(Here is is what it gives incase you cannot access the ipconfig command, minus all the network information:)

Windows 2000 IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : *
Primary DNS Suffix . . . . . . . : (nothing here)
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcast
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : *

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : *
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : 3Com EtherLink XL PCI TPO NIC (3C900
B-TPO)
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : *
DHCP Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : *
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : *
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : *
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : *
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : *
*
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Monday, July 22, 2002 3:59:44 PM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Wednesday, July 24, 2002 3:59:44 PM

[Naan Yaar]

Since you have your dhcp lease on W2K, why don't you just assign a static IP address that corresponds to the dhcp address you got with W2K and then go with the rest of the install. Your lease doesn't run out till mid-week. I am not sure whether you have to power-out your W2K box to prevent it from relinquishing the IP during shutdown.

[ultimai]

I have already tried that and it still refuses to work.

[Naan Yaar]

What happens? What does ifconfig give you? Did you set the default route correctly?

Also, did you try to ping anything by IP rather than by name (to check whether it is a DNS issue or IP).

[Ultimai]

ifconfig says nothing at all
it actually seems like if everything is a-ok.

I try pinging random ip's but I get timeouts. But I dont even know if those IP's are reliable. Do you suggest any ips that I could ping?

[Naan Yaar]

ifconfig should say something actually, typically one entry for your loopback device and one for eth0. Did you do these steps from the installation guide:

# /sbin/ifconfig $IFACE $IPNUM broadcast $BCAST netmask $NMASK
# /sbin/route add -net default gw $GTWAY netmask 0.0.0.0 metric 1

You need to substitute eth0 for $IFACE, your DHCP address for $IPNUM, and broadcast and netmask as appropriate.

I ping yahoo.com, e.g., 64.58.76.179

[ultimai]

I got too frustrated with the gentoo install procedure so I just went with the much easier and flexible slackware install. So now I''m using mozillia 1.0 on slackware to type this. The source install and update feature sounded nice (with supposedly no dependency hell or other things, a.k.a installing that works), but I can live without it for now. I wont try debian because of its reputation for a quirky and hard install. Unless that has changed now too.

So you dont have to reply to this thread anymore