Network utils available without X?

Booting, installing, newbie
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berk0081
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu 04 Aug 2005, 16:02
Location: Minneapolis - USA

Network utils available without X?

#1 Post by berk0081 »

Greetings,

Apologies if this has been discussed before, but I've not found anything in the archives.

I'm trying to setup a system with no working CDROM, no BIOS network boot, or USB boot. I have been able to boot Puppy from floppy to an external USB CDROM, but not with an X server. (Can't load usr_cram.fs despite checksum OK)

This is just as well because my main goal here is installing Vector Linux with Puppy as a backup. What I need are standard network utils like ftp, ssh, wget, and a way to configure DHCP from the command line so that I can grab the Vector installation files from another system and perform a HD installation.

I can't find an ipconfig (unless it's in /usr/sbin where I realize I didn't think to look).

So my question is, are there any network utils available without an X server, and without usr_cram.fs? Should I just work harder at getting the X server to run?

Thanks much,
-m
Raising puppies since 1.04

Bruce B

#2 Post by Bruce B »

My eperience usr_cram.fs has to be in the same partition as the pupxxx file.

vmlinux and image.gz can be where ever your boot routine defines it.

Exception of course is when you are booting from CD-ROM, in this case all three above mentioned file are on the CD disk.

I have not specifically tried a USB device, but my recommendationis is to place the usr_cram.fs on the same device as pupxxx, unless you learn different from someone else with more USB experience than I.

berk0081
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu 04 Aug 2005, 16:02
Location: Minneapolis - USA

#3 Post by berk0081 »

Thanks for your reply. I've been less concerned about getting usr_cram.fs to load, since I had a functioning command line. If I am to get it to boot though, I need to be able to mount the external CDROM to copy usr_cram.fs onto the ext3 partition with pupxxx.

Any idea which device I should be trying to mount? I've tried /dev/sda1-sda4 as well as a few sdb with no luck. All claim no such device. It's a USB CDROM drive. I know my USB flash drive will typically mount as sda1 in Fedora (but it's only 32meg and can't hold usr_cram.fs).

Thanks again,
-m
Raising puppies since 1.04

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rarsa
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Location: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
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#4 Post by rarsa »

Actually you should be concerned about loading usr_cram.fs.

That file is contains the /usr folder. Without it you will not have any utilities, just the kernel. So you would not have a /usr/sbin.

What do you currently have in your HDD ?

By the way, Have you tried to mount it manually?

I guess that the command is something like the following (I haven't tried):

Code: Select all

mount <CDdevice> <CDmountPoint>
mount -o loop <CDmountPoint>/usr_cram.fs /usr

# for example:
mount /dev/hdc /mnt/cdrom
mount -o loop /mnt/cdrom/usr_cram.fs /usr
I don't know if it will work but trying it will take you a few seconds.

After that you should have ifconfig, iwconfig, dhcpd, etc available

berk0081
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu 04 Aug 2005, 16:02
Location: Minneapolis - USA

#5 Post by berk0081 »

The HDD is currently empty. It contains a swap and a couple of linux ext3 paritions, no data. I have tried to mount the external USB cdrom so that I can mount or copy usr_cram.fs, but the trouble is I can't figure out which device it is supposed to be. Any guesses?

Only then can I copy usr_cram.fs <and vmlinuz, image.gz> onto the HDD.

You have answered my original question though. I wasn't sure if any basic net utils were available in the kernel or on the boot floppy.

I'll be away from the system for a few days now, but when I get a chance I'm going to try floppy-booting and reading the external cdrom with a standard Puppy distribution. Originally I had been using Chubby and forgot about it after extracting everything from the ISO. I wonder now if this caused problems when trying to load from various external devices. This would all be much simpler if the laptop's internal CDROM worked.

Thanks for your suggestion,
-m

PS: I get the same results with the boot2pup and wakepup floppies.
Raising puppies since 1.04

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rarsa
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#6 Post by rarsa »

Other questions?
Are you booting directly from CD?
Are you booting using Floppy?
Can you load any other OS?
Do you have relevant data in your HDD, or can it be wipped out?

The following suggestions may or may not apply depending on the aswer to the previous question:

To findout what device it is
You could try copying the lsusb utility from another computer and run it on this one.

To get away with not knowing the device name

Delete (or rename) any pup file (pup001, pup100, etc) and any usr_cram.fs from all the partitions in your HDD.

Then try to booting from CD again.

Use another puppy iso
Use one of the Puppy ISO images that include usr_cram.fs inside image.gz.
I don't have the link but if you ask for it in the forum you will get one.

Do a manual HDD installation
If you are booting using floppy, you should be able to create an autoexec.bat file that just mounts the CD and returns to the command line, without trying to load the linux kernel.

You can then follow this thread

Then try to boot again

Learning to fish
I don't know if you have already read it, but reading How Puppy Works may give you more ideas.

========================
If I get more ideas I will let you know.

berk0081
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu 04 Aug 2005, 16:02
Location: Minneapolis - USA

#7 Post by berk0081 »

Are you booting directly from CD?
Are you booting using Floppy?
Can you load any other OS?
Do you have relevant data in your HDD, or can it be wipped out?
The laptop CDROM doesn't work, so I'm booting from floppy. I can't boot USB. The hard drive is empty, with ext3 partitions and a swap. No data or other OS.

Your suggestion of using one of the older ISOs with usr_cram.fs included in image.gz is a good one. I'll try this when I get a chance, though it won't be until after the weekend.

Also, thanks for suggesting I grab lsusb from my other system. I wouldn't have thought of this.

Once I find out what the device is, I can attempt a manual installation. That's been my plan, anyway. Getting lsusb will be the way to get started here.

Thanks for your help.
-m
Raising puppies since 1.04

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