Create your own boot disk for installation

See also : http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Bootdisk-HOWTO/index.html

:The kernel you are working with must be able to mount loop-back devices and must also have the option to mount vfat filesystems. If you decide to compile this into the kernel or as modules doesn't matter. *The kernel source: Get the source of the kernel. You can also fetch it with # apt-get install kernel-source-x.y.z where x.y.z is the desired kernel version. In this example it is 2.4.18 so you have to type # apt-get install kernel-source-2.4.18

Download the boot floppy images (disksize=1.["44MB"], kernel=2.4.x) from a debian mirror, e.g. get all the files with the extension .bin from ftp://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/dists/testing/main/disks-i386/current/images-1.44/bf2.4

Now it's time to mount the rescue image. This is done with the command # mount -t vfat -o loop rescue.bin /mnt Take a look into /mnt with ls -l /mnt

config.gz debian.txt f10.txt f1.txt f2.txt f3.txt f4.txt f5.txt f6.txt f7.txt f8.txt f9.txt install.sh ldlinux.sys linux.bin rdev.sh readme.txt syslinux.cfg sys_map.gz type.txt

Copy the file /mnt/config.gz to the kernel-source tree (normaly /usr/src/linux) and unzip it. # cp /mnt/config.gz /usr/src/linux/. # gzip -d config.gz # cp config.gz .config

Since the kernel-source has the name "2.4.18" and the name of the modules from the installation disks is "2.4.18-bf" you have th modify the version of the kernel source. Open the file /usr/src/linux/include/linux/version.h with your favorite editor and modify the line which starts with #define UTS_RELEASE

Change to the directory where your kernel sourcecode is located (/usr/src/linux int most cases) and change the configuration with # make menuconfig or # make xconfig if you like the graphical version better. Since the discspace of your boot-disk is limited, remove unneeded elements from your kernel and select the ones which are neccessary four your hardware.

After finishing your configuration leafe menuconfig/xconfig with exit (don't forget to save this configuraion) and start the compilation with # make bzImage It's a good idea to recalculate the dependencies with # make dep before creating the new kernel.

Since you only change the kernel and don't replace all modules you shouldn't change too much. *Copy the new files: Now copy the new kernel into the mountpount as linux.bin. # cp arch/i386/bzImage /mnt/linux.bin

If this fails due to insufficient diskspace you have to recompile your kernel with less options so it gets smaller. Copy the kernel configuration and the system map in compressed format to the mountpoint. # gzip .config # cp .config.gz /mnt/config.gz # gzip System.map # cp System.map.gz /mnt/sys_map.gz

Unmount hte filesystem with # umount /mnt and you have successfully created your own boot disk for your own needs.