Re: compiling kernel / booting from usb

[Haidut <haidut@xxxxxxxxx>]

See my answers below. I just don't have the time right now to write it
into a wiki but if something is better than nothing right:-)

On 12/23/06, walt <wa1ter@myrealbox.com> wrote:
> Haidut wrote:
> > I've had no trouble installing Dfly directly on a 512MB USB memory
> > stick just as I would on a normal HDD and it booted fine.
>
> Excellent work.  I think a feat like that should be explained in
> the DragonFly wiki.  I know I would like to try it :o)
>
> I'm curious about things like:  did you use the DFly Installer, or
> just copy an existing installation to a mounted USB stick?

I used the Dfly installer. Basically I installed Dfly just like a
normal install will proceed - downloaded the ISO image for 1.6.0 and
booted from it and used the installer it provides.

> Did you
> need to change any BIOS settings for changing boot devices or listing
> alternative boot devices?

I did not change any BIOS settings, just did a vanilla install and it
booted fine.

> Did you re-format or make a new filesystem
> on the USB stick before installing?  (If yes, how did you do it?)
> How did you partition that tiny little 512MB, and did you make a swap
> partition?

I just created one partition under root "/", so there is just one
partition of about 500MB.
As far as formatting, yes I did format the drive since the installer
asked me if I want to, so I just configured it to make one big
partition and it formatted the USB stisk and created one partition. I
did not create a swap partition.



> Did you put a generic kernel on the USB stick, or a custom
> kernel?

I used the GENERIC kernel that came with the installation CD. That
kernel booted fine, but I also compiled other kernels later and used
them and they all worked fine too.
BTW, for the record my machine is Dell Optiplex SX260 - it's a very
small and compact machine (SFF) with P4 at 2.8GHz and with 2GB of RAM.
After I created the bootable Dfly USB stick I also tried it on several
laptops (Dell Inspiron 8600, IBM X31, IBM T60) and again it worked
without a glitch.

> These are the little things that can use up hours of trial-and-error
> even for people who have experience installing to normal hard disks,
> and I would be grateful if you would create a wiki entry explaining
> how you did it.
>
> Thanks!

I hope this is helpful. Like I said I just don't have the time right
now to write a wiki but at least this info could be helpful to people
that are trying the same thing.