Can't boot 2.10 on Sony PGC-505G with 96 MB RAM, external CD

[zaphod_es]

I am trying to boot Puppy 2.10 with the intention of running it as the only OS on a Sony PGC-505G (Pentium 200MMX, 96 megs RAM and 2Gig HD)
It fails to complete booting with this message

• Error, Cannot find Puppy on idecd boot media.
  PUPMODE=1 PDEV=1
  Exited to initial ramdisk command line ...
  /bin/sh: can't access tty; job control turned off

The reason for this is, I think, the non standard Sony external CD drive. At http://www.joechiu.com/computing/vaio/linuxon505.html I found this:

Supporting the PCGA-CD5 CD-ROM drive under RedHat Linux 5.2

The PCGA-CD5 CD-ROM accessory is a plug-and-play CD-ROM drive and interface kit. While the Sony documentation specifies that the drive is ATAPI compatible, the default configuration of RedHat Linux 5.2 does not allow the system to properly detect (and use) the drive. This is true even if you specifically enable PCMCIA support during RedHat Linux 5.2 installation. This happens because the laptop configures the CD-ROM accessory's ATA (drive) interface at input-output addresses that differ from those which RedHat Linux expects.

In order to use the drive, you need to pass the following arguments to the Linux kernel:
ide2=0x180,0x386
For example, at the first boot prompt for the RedHat Linux 5.2 installation floppy or CD (the screen where it says "Welcome to RedHat"), type in:
linux ide2=0x180,0x386

Starting Puppy with the line:

• puppy ide2=0x180,0x386

does not make any difference.

I need some help getting past this block. Is it an option to remove the hard drive, put it in another computer, repartition and format it and copy the Puppy OS and boot up Puppy on the HD?

ZB

[tempestuous]

I, too, have a "Superslim" VAIO PCG-505TS with a Sony PCGA-CD5 CD drive. This CD drive has a non-standard PCMCIA interface so that the Sony bios can access it as a boot device. That's why most Linux distro's need the "ide2=0x180,0x386 nopcmcia" boot parameters: this defines the device as an IDE interface, not PCMCIA.
But Puppy Linux is different. Puppy 1x's boot script somehow handles the device without any special boot parameters. But Puppy 2x has a different kernel and different boot script, and cannot boot Puppy 2x from my Sony CD drive. (edit: wrong! see later in post)

I believe the best solution is to manually copy the files from the Puppy 2x CD to hard drive, then boot to these files (this is a "Type 1" HD installation) with either LILO or Grub ... the trick is how to get LILO or Grub installed.
In my case, I have Vector Linux installed on my VAIO, so I just use Vector's LILO.
There are various other boot methods discussed on this forum.

UPDATE: forum member talkeetnik reports that under Puppy2.x the boot option should be ide1=.., not ide2=..,
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=13519

So at the boot prompt you should enter this -

puppy ide1=0x180,0x386 nopcmcia acpi=off

[zaphod_es]

Thanks for a helpful and quick reply. I can now stop messing with the CD drive and look at the alternatives.

ZB

[Rudy]

Tempestuous,
Thank you very much for the advice above!
Indeed, "puppy ide1=0x180 nopcmcia" instead of "ide2=.." does the magic and has brought PL2.14/2.15 alpha back on my favourite old computer again (PCG-SR1K, 64MB).

Kind regards
Rudy

[rcrsn51]

Tempestuous: Do you still need these options if you have done a frugal install that boots off the hard drive, or must they be added as arguments to the kernel line in menu.lst? There was a recent posting here
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=16494
from someone who had done a frugal install on a laptop, but it still aborted in the boot process.

[tempestuous]

Do you still need these options if you have done a frugal install that boots off the hard drive,

No. Those boot options are purely so that Puppy can access the proprietary Sony CD drive. Once installed to hard drive, those boot options are irrelevant.

[rcrsn51]

Thanks.