[ltp] thinkpad with floppy OR cdrom but not both

[linux-thinkpad@www.bm-soft.com]

Michael,

>>
i seem to remember an article somewhere on how to load linux onto a
thinkpad
that can have either the floppy drive OR the cdrom, but not both, but i
can't find that article. can anyone point me to it?
<<

Here's the info from a note I sent a while back. I don't think it made it
into a FAQ or anything.

==========================================
Robert,

>>
I'm new to Linux and am trying to load Linux Mandrake 6.0 onto the system.
The only problem I've run into (so far:)) is that the floppy and the CD-Rom
share the same bay. When I boot up using the floppy, it doesn't recognize
the CD-Rom. Any suggetions? TIA
<<

Although I don't have a 755CD on hand, I do have a 760CD, which also
requires swapping the CDROM drive and diskette drive in its single bay. So,
last night, I used the 760CD to create a procedure for you. I used Red Hat
Linux 6.0 for the install. The trick is to suspend the machine (via Fn+F4)
and switch from diskette to CD at just the right time -- when the loader is
done with the diskette and before the kernel has begun execution. The
method below performs the switch-a-roo during the uncompressing of the
kernel image.

1. Boot the RH6 install diskette.
2. Press Enter (or let the loader time-out) to begin the loading process.
    - You'll see the message: "Loading initrd.img........."
    - You'll see the message: "Loading vmlinux.........."
      (About 10 progress dots -- keep your finger on the Fn key!)
3. As soon as you see the message, "Uncompressing Linux," press Fn+F4 to
trigger the suspend. If you see the kernel spewing out information before
the suspend occurs, you've waited too long.
4. Replace the diskette drive with the CDROM drive.
5. Resume. The loader should continue uncompressing the kernel.
6. When the kernel starts execution, if you watch very closely you should
see it report the CD-ROM drive.
7. On one of my attempts, the kernel trapped during the device probing --
possibly a result of the suspend. If this happens, simply go back to step 1
and try again. This procedure has worked for me 3 out of 4 times.
8. Continue with the install. When asked to insert the RH6 install CD:
    a. Open the CD-ROM drive (ie., eject).
    b. Insert the RH6 CD if it is not already in the drive.
    c. Close the drive and wait a few seconds for the drive to scope out
the CD.
9. Continue with the install. If the installs says that it could not
recognize the media, go back to step 8 and try again. It seems that after a
suspend, the eject-close drive sequence is necessary, even though the RH6
CD may have already been in the drive.
10. Once the CD is recognized, proceed with the install.
11. Skip the "Make boot disk" phase or any other option that requires going
back out to diskette. As long as you put LILO on the hard disk (master boot
record or first sector of boot partition), you should be able to boot into
Linux and make a boot disk at that time.

I hope this works for you. It's usually a good idea to make sure you are
running with the latest level of BIOS.
==========================================

Keith Frechette
Linux Development Lead, Mobile Computing Options and Software Development
IBM Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
kfrechet@us.ibm.com / 919-543-3761 / TieLine:441-3761


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