RedHat Linux 5.2 on the Libretto 100CT

This page is a subsection of my main 'Linux on the Libretto' page. If you haven't read that yet, you should probably go there first. The following is specific to a particular way of getting started with RedHat 5.2.

Getting RedHat 5.2 up and running

I managed to get enough of a boot system up and running to install over the network from a Redhat distribution on another Linux box, using a 3Com 3C589 PCMCIA ethernet card. Other cards which have good Linux support should also work fine. The process below might also get you started towards using some other installation process (Hard Disk/SMB/FTP) if NFS isn't an option for you.
  1. Arrange for a copy of the RedHat distribution to be somewhere accessible on the network.
  2. Under Windows I used Partition Magic to shrink my Windows partition. I wanted about half of the disk as Windows and the other free for Linux. If you don't like buying Windows-based software you can probably use FIPS or something similar, but Partition Magic is a fabulous utility. Or if you're brave, you can wipe out your Windows partition as part of the Linux installation process.
  3. Create a directory called C:\linux. From the RedHat distribution, copy into here the vmlinuz kernel (misc/src/trees/boot/vmlinuz or from dosutils/autoboot), loadlin.exe (from dosutils) and initrd52.gz (or similar) from victorgv's site ( http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Haven/5112/ )
  4. Reboot windows into DOS mode. I found that if I just did a 'Reboot in DOS mode' from windows, I got left with memory-management stuff loaded which confused the Linux installer. Do a complete restart and press F8 as the system starts up. (This is probably when the Toshiba logo is displayed. If you do it when the Windows splash screen comes up, you've left it too late!) Then select 'Safe mode command prompt only'. This avoids loading any excess junk.
  5. Change to the C:\linux directory and run
    6.    loadlin vmlinuz initrd=initrd52.gz
    This puts you into the standard RedHat installation but with PCMCIA support already loaded. If you're lucky, you should be able to proceed from here through a standard RedHat installation.

This should get you a basic system up and running.

Now go back to the main page for more info.