[lug] mkbootdisk -- no space left on device

[David Stepaniak]

I am attempting to create a boot diskette for RH Enterprise Linux WS v.3,
kernel 2.4.21-9.0.1, with mkbootdisk which copies over
/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.21-9.0.1.EL to the diskette, but then
runs out of space during the transfer of initrd-2.4.21-9.0.1.EL.img.
What is really essential to get my machine booted from a diskette?
Is it possible to put vmlinuz-2.4.21-9.0.1.EL by itself on one diskette
(i.e. the "boot" diskette) then other ancillary files on a second diskette,
using cp or dd, etc? (By the way, after using fdformat to format
the diskettes, what filesystem type - e.g. ext2, msdos -- should be
applied to the diskettes with mkfs?)

Thank you for any insight.

David Stepaniak davestep at ucar.edu 303-497-1343

Here is a listing of the diskette with the failed mkbootdisk
process:

-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Apr  5 14:34 boot.msg
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root       215552 Apr  5 14:34 initrd.img
-r-xr-xr-x      1 root     root         7856 Apr  5 14:34 ldlinux.sys
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root            0 Apr  5 14:34 syslinux.cfg
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root      1240218 Feb  9 20:51 vmlinuz

Here is a listing of /boot (it's the 2.4.21-9.0.1.EL kernel I want):

-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          512 Mar 16 14:32 boot.0300
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root         5824 Sep  8  2003 boot.b
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          612 Sep  8  2003 chain.b
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        48022 Oct  3  2003 config-2.4.21-4.EL
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        48070 Feb  9 20:51 
config-2.4.21-9.0.1.EL
drwxr-xr-x    2 root     root         1024 Mar 29 15:00 grub
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root       244832 Mar 16 14:04 
initrd-2.4.21-4.EL.img
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root       293260 Mar 29 15:00 
initrd-2.4.21-9.0.1.EL.img
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          543 Mar 16 14:04 kernel.h
drwx------    2 root     root        12288 Mar 16 07:00 lost+found
-rw-------    1 root     root        35840 Apr  1 07:12 map
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        23108 Sep 11  2003 message
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root        21282 Sep 11  2003 message.ja
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root          640 Sep  8  2003 os2_d.b
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           26 Mar 29 15:27 System.map -> 
System.map-2.4.21-9.0.1.EL
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root       570887 Oct  3  2003 
System.map-2.4.21-4.EL
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root       571552 Feb  9 20:51 
System.map-2.4.21-9.0.1.EL
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root      2900380 Oct  3  2003 vmlinux-2.4.21-4.EL
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root      2904480 Feb  9 20:52 
vmlinux-2.4.21-9.0.1.EL
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root      1236945 Oct  3  2003 vmlinuz-2.4.21-4.EL
-rw-r--r--    1 root     root      1240218 Feb  9 20:51 
vmlinuz-2.4.21-9.0.1.EL

and here is /etc/lilo.conf (note "linear" for now, which puts limits on 
the sector number
and thus is incompatible with higher floppy densities > 1440K; the BIOS 
may also be
in conflict with sector numbers corresponding to floppy densities > 1440K)


prompt
timeout=50
default=2.4.21-9.0.1.EL
boot=/dev/hda
map=/boot/map
install=/boot/boot.b
restricted
password=lilo4lilo
message=/boot/message
linear

image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.21-9.0.1.EL
       label=2.4.21-9.0.1.EL
       initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.21-9.0.1.EL.img
       read-only
       append="root=LABEL=/"
image=/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.21-4.EL
       label=2.4.21-4.EL
       initrd=/boot/initrd-2.4.21-4.EL.img
       read-only
       append="root=LABEL=/"