Debian Woody Bootable CD installing 2.4 kernels (2.4.24)

Created by Roalt Zijlstra - debian@kwenie.org - 24 February 2004
Updated on 27 July 2004

DISCLAIMER: Use this CD at your own risk. This bootable CD is not supported
            by the Debian Installer team so don't bother them.
            
Go to the downloads section            
            
When installing the GNU/Linux distribution Debian Woody on new server machines
using the 3.0rev2 installation CD you will end up failing to do so as the used
kernel (2.4.18-bf2) doesn't support new SCSI (RAID) cards. Also there are no
drivers for new Gigabit network cards from Intel and Broadcom.

Therefore I have modified a bootbf2.4.iso that I found on the URL
http://debian.linux.org.tw/pub/boot-floppies/. This CD installed a 2.4.20
kernel and saved my life a couple of times. But with newer hardware getting
available the 2.4.20 doesn't have up-to-date drivers for that newer
hardware.

Using this setup I managed to get a 2.4.24 kernel crammed into the
boot-floppies image. I removed some features like APM, ACPI and Frame Buffer
support. This way I was able to enable some more SCSI drivers. My aim with
this CD is to make installation on new servers easier. It is possible that
installation on laptops is not improved. Let me know if that is the case.

In addition I added the complete module tree of the compiled kernel on the
CD. So in practice if you're data-storage device is not detected you can
switch to the second console (using Alt-F2) and mount the CD-Rom to insmod
the driver by hand.

The installed packages by this CD are up-date with the security.debian.org 
server and this CD installs Postfix (instead of Exim) and SSH by default. 
It also installes all packages which would be needed to install the 
kernel-image-2.4.18-1 making installation of a newer and better kernel from 
backports.org easier.

DRIVERS IN THE KERNEL

Here is short list of drivers compiled into this kernel (applies to 2.4.24):
* No APM, ACPI and Frame Buffer support
* Compiled for i486 processor
* SMP kernel supporting up to 4Gb of RAM
* Block device support:
        * Compaq SMART2 support
        * Compaq Smart Array 5xxx support
        * Mylex DAC960/DAC1100 PCI RAID Controller support
* IDE devices:
        * HPT36X/37X chipset support
        * ServerWorks OSB4/CSB5/CSB6 chipsets support
* SCSI devices:
        * 3ware Hardware ATA-RAID support
        * Adaptec AACRAID support
        * Adaptec AIC7xxx support
        * Adaptec AIC79xx support
        * Adaptec I2O RAID support
        * SYM53C8XX SCSI support
        * Tekram DC390(T) and Am53/79C974 SCSI support
* Fusion MPT Device and scsi support
* I2O SCSI device support
* Built-in filesystems: reiserfs, ext2, ext3, DOS, vfat and Compressed ROM


If possible all other drivers are compiled as modules and available on the
CD in the /modules/ directory.


WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR DRIVERS IS NOT LOADED

To make installing easier it contains all available modules for the
2.4.24-bf2.4 in the directory /modules/ on the CD. This way you can use the
second console (using ALT-F2) to load extra modules to load drivers for not
default supported SCSI and IDE cards.

If you have to insert a driver module before your SCSI or IDE card is
supported, then you need to install a new kernel which uses an initrd
before rebooting, otherwise your system is perfectly installed but fails to
boot after a reboot.

To make things comfortable in the directory /extra-debs/ there are the
required packages to install the default 2.4.18-386 kernel from the woody
install and also the 2.4.24-1-386 and the 2.4.26-1 kernel image from the 
backports.org site.

In the directory /extra-debs/stable you find the 2.4.18 kernel. This packages 
will install cleanly (use dpkg -i kernel-image-2.4.18-386_2.4.18-5_i386.deb). 
If you have done that you can try
upgrading to the backports.org kernel 2.4.24 or 2.4.26. These kernel can be found in
/extra-debs/2.4.24-backports.org or /extra-debs/2.4.24-backports.org. 

You need to upgrade to these kernels if your SCSI or IDE device was not supported
by the boot-kernel of the CD. In this case you MUST upgrade the kernel before you
let the installer scrip reboot your system.

If your network adapter is not propperly supported you can use the CD to upgrade 
the kernel using the kernel on the CD, but you can do it after a reboot.

In the directories /extra-debs/2.4.24-backports.org and /extra-debs/2.4.24-backports.org 
you will find extra packages you need to install before the kernel-images 
can be installed


INSTALLATION BEFORE REBOOTING IN THE INSTALLER SCRIPT

Some points to know about the kernels in the /extra-debs directory on the CD:

- The kernel-image-2.4.18-386_2.4.18-5_i386.deb in the /extra/stable is an 
  official Debian Woody kernel. Use that if you want to keep your install
  with official Debian Woody packages.
- The kernel-image-2.4.24-1-386_2.4.24-1.backports.org.1_i386.deb is there
  because that is same version as the one the CD installs. Don't install
  on laptops because the kernel-pcmcia-modules are not on the CD.
- The kernel-image-2.4.26-1-386_2.4.26-1.backports.org.1_i386.deb is the latest 
  Linux kernel in the 2.4 branch and should be installed for the best support
  on new hardware. Also install the kernel-pcmcia-modules-2.4.26-1-386_2.4.26-1.backports.org.1_i386.deb
  if you are installing on a laptop.
  
Here are short instruction on installing a new kernel using the CD before
the installer script asks you if it should reboot. We are going to install 
the 2.4.26 kernel.

Swicth to console 2 using Alt-F2. Press ENTER to asctivate the console.

Type:
chroot /target

[You are now switched to your freshly installed system]

Type:

mount /proc
mount /cdrom
cd /cdrom/extra-debs/2.4.24-backports.org

dpkg -i modutils_2.4.26-0.backports.org.1_i386.deb

cd /cdrom/extra-debs/2.4.26-backports.org

dpkg -i initrd-tools_0.1.69.backports.org.1_all.deb

Before installing the kernel edit /etc/lilo.conf because the CD kernel
doesn't use an initrd image:
vi /etc/lilo.conf

Goto the 'image=/vmlinuz' and add below the 'read-only' option the line 
'initrd=/initrd.img'. Save the file and exit vi, then install the kernel:
dpkg -i kernel-image-2.4.26-1-386_2.4.26-1.backports.org.1_i386.deb

On a laptop also do:
dpkg -i kernel-pcmcia-modules-2.4.26-1-386_2.4.26-1.backports.org.1_i386.deb

I always re-run 'lilo' myself to check if things worked out okay. 
Now exit the 'chroot-ed' environment using:
exit


Then let the installer reboot your system.


DOWNLOADS

The available download is now official and well enough tested by me. With this 
bootable CD you can install Debian Woody with the latest security updates. It 
installs Postfix instead of Exim and it also installs OpenSSH by default.

The downloads have moved from my ADSL connection to a different Internet
server. The server space and bandwidth is donated by Vanoost Evi. Downloads should be 
fast and furious!


Download here the bootbf-2.4.24-1.iso.gz (71Mb)
Download here the bootbf-2.4.24-1.iso.bz2 (71Mb)
Download here the bootbf-2.4.24-1.iso.zip (71Mb)

This CD is obsoleted by the current bootbf_2.4.26-x series.


UPDATES

I hope to get a page setup with updates of this CD with every new kernel that
appears. Try the URL http://mail.kwenie.org/debian for more info.