Marc CORSINI: "help installing linux on hd" (Nov 11,  0:23):
quoted text
> Using Minix I've tried mkfs /dev/hdX with Xgreater than 5
> the only reponse i got was/is 
> no space on root device 1/0
> Error: file system is too big for minor device
> Line 1 being processed when error detected

This seems like the error which happens when there is no /dev/hd?
special device, in which case the minix demo will make a normal file on
the root-device, filling it up totally. Thus the "no space on root
device".

What does "ls -l /dev/hd*" give you under demo-minix? Are all the listed
files block devices? I haven't used the minix demo for a long time -
could it be that it doesn't support hd5-9? I guess I'll have to make a
mkfs for linux in the near future, and make a new root-image with it, so
that we could scrap the minix demo. It is too confusing.

quoted text
> On the other hand I've tried under linux the
> cat /dev/hdx for x in 0...9
> some accesses were refused (since the partition does not exist)
> cat worked on hd0, hd4, hd5, hd8, hd9
>
> Question : Am I supposed to patiotion my first disk in 4?

Don't use /dev/hd4 - that's probably your big DOS partition (and I doubt
you want to write over that?).  Also *never* use /dev/hd0, /dev/hd5,
they aren't partitions at all, but the raw disk. 

The partitions on your second drive are probably called /dev/hd6 and
/dev/hd7 under minix, /dev/hd8 and /dev/hd9 under linux.  I don't see
why "mkfs /dev/hd6 blocks-in-partition" wouldn't work unless the
demo-minix cannot access the second harddisk. Some clever person used
minix/DOS to write some easily distinguishable string at the start of a
partition, and then "cat /dev/hdX" to find out what the partition
numbering was under minix/linux. A good idea.

		Linus