Debian on a USBCard -- Part 1 - Creating the filesystem
We have used our GIAGD distribution for our various utility computers that run stuff like our 8048 dev system and our chicken cam. It is a bit of a pain to maintain our own distribution based on uClibc; however, there is a fabulous new development. You can now get a port of Debian woody compiled with uClibc from the uClibc site. We have a small USBCard we bought from here, and thought that it would be most fabulous to have an entire GNU/Linux system on one of these. It would be easy to plug this in to a server and boot with a floppy with the right kernel for recovery. First, let's plug it in and create a filesystem:
root@srv-1 / # fdisk /dev/sdc
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdc: 260 MB, 260046848 bytes
8 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1024 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 496 * 512 = 253952 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 ? 3769701 4109801 84344761 69 Unknown
Partition 1 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(68, 13, 10) logical=(3769700, 2, 42)
Partition 1 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(288, 115, 43) logical=(4109800, 1, 25)
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdc2 ? 3430483 7200406 934940732+ 73 Unknown
Partition 2 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(371, 114, 37) logical=(3430482, 6, 38)
Partition 2 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(366, 32, 33) logical=(7200405, 1, 4)
Partition 2 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdc3 ? 6 6 0 74 Unknown
Partition 3 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(371, 114, 37) logical=(5, 1, 32)
Partition 3 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(372, 97, 50) logical=(5, 1, 31)
Partition 3 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdc4 5817906 5818012 26207+ 0 Empty
Partition 4 has different physical/logical beginnings (non-Linux?):
phys=(0, 0, 0) logical=(5817905, 4, 25)
Partition 4 has different physical/logical endings:
phys=(0, 0, 0) logical=(5818011, 1, 49)
Partition 4 does not end on cylinder boundary.
Partition table entries are not in disk order
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Yow!! The partition table looks odd. That's OK, we're deleting the partitions anyway.
Command (m for help): d
Partition number (1-4): 1
Command (m for help): d
Command (m for help): d
Partition number (1-4): 3
Command (m for help): d
Selected partition 4
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdc: 260 MB, 260046848 bytes
8 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1024 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 496 * 512 = 253952 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
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Let's create a root and swap partition:
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 1
First cylinder (1-1024, default 1): 1
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (1-1024, default 1024): +230M
Command (m for help): n
Command action
e extended
p primary partition (1-4)
p
Partition number (1-4): 2
First cylinder (908-1024, default 908):
Using default value 908
Last cylinder or +size or +sizeM or +sizeK (908-1024, default 1024):
Using default value 1024
Command (m for help): t
Partition number (1-4): 2
Hex code (type L to list codes): 82
Changed system type of partition 2 to 82 (Linux swap)
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdc: 260 MB, 260046848 bytes
8 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1024 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 496 * 512 = 253952 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 1 907 224905 83 Linux
/dev/sdc2 908 1024 29016 82 Linux swap
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Make the root partition active:
Command (m for help): a
Partition number (1-4): 1
Command (m for help): p
Disk /dev/sdc: 260 MB, 260046848 bytes
8 heads, 62 sectors/track, 1024 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 496 * 512 = 253952 bytes
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdc1 * 1 907 224905 83 Linux
/dev/sdc2 908 1024 29016 82 Linux swap
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Yes, Agatha did remember for the first time that type 82 was swap. :)
Write the partition table:
Command (m for help):
Command (m for help): w
The partition table has been altered!
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.
root@srv-1 / #
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Create an ext3 filesystem:
root@srv-1 / # mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdc1
mke2fs 1.34 (25-Jul-2003)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=1024 (log=0)
Fragment size=1024 (log=0)
56448 inodes, 224904 blocks
11245 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=1
28 block groups
8192 blocks per group, 8192 fragments per group
2016 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
8193, 24577, 40961, 57345, 73729, 204801, 221185
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (4096 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
This filesystem will be automatically checked every 34 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
root@srv-1 / #
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In the next part of this article we will transfer the filesystem to the USBcard.
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