We have used our GIAGD distribution for our various utility computers that run stuff like our 8048 dev system and our chicken cam. It is a bit of a pain to maintain our own distribution based on uClibc; however, there is a fabulous new development. You can now get a port of Debian woody compiled with uClibc from the uClibc site. We have a small USBCard we bought from here, and thought that it would be most fabulous to have an entire GNU/Linux system on one of these. It would be easy to plug this in to a server and boot with a floppy with the right kernel for recovery. First, let’s plug it in and create a filesystem:
root@srv-1 / # fdisk /dev/sdc Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sdc: 260 MB, 260046848 bytes 8 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1024 cylinders Units = cylinders of 496 * 512 = 253952 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdc1 ? 3769701 4109801 84344761 69 Unknown Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?): phys=(68, 13, 10) logical=(3769700, 2, 42) Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings: phys=(288, 115, 43) logical=(4109800, 1, 25) Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary. /dev/sdc2 ? 3430483 7200406 934940732+ 73 Unknown Partition 2 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?): phys=(371, 114, 37) logical=(3430482, 6, 38) Partition 2 has different physical/logical endings: phys=(366, 32, 33) logical=(7200405, 1, 4) Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary. /dev/sdc3 ? 6 6 0 74 Unknown Partition 3 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?): phys=(371, 114, 37) logical=(5, 1, 32) Partition 3 has different physical/logical endings: phys=(372, 97, 50) logical=(5, 1, 31) Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary. /dev/sdc4 5817906 5818012 26207+ 0 Empty Partition 4 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?): phys=(0, 0, 0) logical=(5817905, 4, 25) Partition 4 has different physical/logical endings: phys=(0, 0, 0) logical=(5818011, 1, 49) Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary. Partition table entries are not in disk order |
Yow!! The partition table looks odd. That’s OK, we’re deleting the partitions anyway.
Command (m for help): d Partition number (1-4): 1 Command (m for help): d Command (m for help): d Partition number (1-4): 3 Command (m for help): d Selected partition 4 Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sdc: 260 MB, 260046848 bytes 8 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1024 cylinders Units = cylinders of 496 * 512 = 253952 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System |
Let’s create a root and swap partition:
Command (m for help): n Command action e extended p primary partition (1-4) p Partition number (1-4): 1 First cylinder (1-1024, default 1): 1 Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-1024, default 1024): +230M Command (m for help): n Command action e extended p primary partition (1-4) p Partition number (1-4): 2 First cylinder (908-1024, default 908): Using default value 908 Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (908-1024, default 1024): Using default value 1024 Command (m for help): t Partition number (1-4): 2 Hex code (type L to list codes): 82 Changed system type of partition 2 to 82 (Linux swap) Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sdc: 260 MB, 260046848 bytes 8 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1024 cylinders Units = cylinders of 496 * 512 = 253952 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdc1 1 907 224905 83 Linux /dev/sdc2 908 1024 29016 82 Linux swap |
Make the root partition active:
Command (m for help): a Partition number (1-4): 1 Command (m for help): p Disk /dev/sdc: 260 MB, 260046848 bytes 8 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1024 cylinders Units = cylinders of 496 * 512 = 253952 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdc1 * 1 907 224905 83 Linux /dev/sdc2 908 1024 29016 82 Linux swap |
Yes, Agatha did remember for the first time that type 82 was swap. 🙂 Write the partition table:
Command (m for help): Command (m for help): w The partition table has been altered! Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table. Syncing disks. root@srv-1 / # |
Create an ext3 filesystem:
root@srv-1 / # mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdc1 mke2fs 1.34 (25-Jul-2003) Filesystem label= OS type: Linux Block size=1024 (log=0) Fragment size=1024 (log=0) 56448 inodes, 224904 blocks 11245 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user First data block=1 28 block groups 8192 blocks per group, 8192 fragments per group 2016 inodes per group Superblock backups stored on blocks: 8193, 24577, 40961, 57345, 73729, 204801, 221185 Writing inode tables: done Creating journal (4096 blocks): done Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done This filesystem will be automatically checked every 34 mounts or 180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override. root@srv-1 / # |
In the next part of this article we will transfer the filesystem to the USBcard.
