TRYIN’ to install MOBLIN 2 beta, permanently on a SD card on eeePC 1000h

Now with the new refresh img image you can simply:
1. boot your USB with the live image;
2. install to the SD card (make only one partition ext3 with / mountpoint), pay attention to install grub boot loader to the SD not to the MBR or elsewhere;
3. reboot to your previous system and modify this files:
$ sudo gedit /media/netbook-beta-r-i/etc/fstab

entering sdb
#
# /etc/fstab
# Created by anaconda on Thu Jun 11 15:37:13 2009
#
# Accessible filesystems, by reference, are maintained under '/dev/disk'
# See man pages fstab(5), findfs(8), mount(8) and/or vol_id(8) for more info
#
/dev/sdb1 / ext3 defaults,noatime,barrier=1 1 1
tmpfs /dev/shm tmpfs defaults 0 0
devpts /dev/pts devpts gid=5,mode=620 0 0
sysfs /sys sysfs defaults 0 0
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0

then the file

$ sudo gedit /media/netbook-beta-r-i/boot/grub/menu.lst
modifying like this
# grub.conf generated by anaconda
#
# Note that you do not have to rerun grub after making changes to this file
# NOTICE: You do not have a /boot partition. This means that
# all kernel and initrd paths are relative to /, eg.
# root (hd0,0)
# kernel /boot/vmlinuz-version ro root=/dev/sdb1
# initrd /boot/initrd-version.img
#boot=/dev/sdb
default=0
timeout=5
splashimage=(hd0,0)/boot/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
silent
title Moblin (2.6.29.4-6.1.moblin2-netbook)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.29.4-6.1.moblin2-netbook ro root=/dev/sdb1 quiet vga=current rootdelay=9

and then

$ sudo gedit /media/netbook-beta-r-i/etc/rc.d/rc.sysinit

insering the line
like

...
...
...

# Configure kernel parameters
sysctl -e -p /etc/sysctl.conf >/dev/null 2>&1

# Set the hostname.
hostname ${HOSTNAME}

sleep 2

if [ -f /fsckoptions ]; then
fsckoptions=`cat /fsckoptions`
fi
...
...
...


if this is enough like for me in order to boot moblin you can simply reinstall grub entering in a terminal:
$ sudo grub
> root (hd1,0)
> setup (hd1)
> quit
then reboot. should work.
after a speedy download of the image file (.img … i’m wondering why not an iso, unetbootin in fact shows some problems with that file if you don’t change FILE type to ISO type..) ad a bit to bit copy to an USB device, i went trough the idea of installing permanently the distro in a 4Gb SD card, coz it is always inserted in the netbook.
the boot from USB device went well, selecting “boot and install” the installation in to a SD card went well too.
i’ve created 3 partitions : /boot, /, swap …
i’ve installed the bootloader on the MBR of the SD, but when i reboot the pc , the bios doesn’t see the SD anymore (like it isn’t bootable ANYMORE) .. and so the bootloader can’t start beacuse in the bios i cannot set the boot sequence to the sd first…

i think i must try to reinstall on the sd an another version of grub because someone told me that the version that comes with moblin is a little too buggy.
maybe there’s the option that i have mistaken something.. has anyone the same problem????

EDIT (news from EeeUser forum) — tnx mhfrey:
I finally got Moblin to boot from an SD card, Sandisk Ultra II 8GB SD /USB card on my EEE 1000:

This assumes some familiarity with Linux, basic editors like vi, that you know how to boot from the device menu, and you have a working Live Moblin USB flash drive. These instructions are specifically for booting from drives other than sda or sdb.

1: Boot Live Moblin and select Boot and Install, this should be device /dev/sdc
2: Set the installer to format and install to sdd and set the boot loader to use sdd, DO NOT install to sda or sdb unless you want to wipe your current OS
3: Let the install finish and reboot to the Live Moblin
4: Open the Applications / Accessories / Terminal
5: Switch to super user, su -, enter the root password, moblin for the live Moblin boot
6: cd to /media/disk/grub
7: Edit the menu.lst file
8: Change the /dev/sdd2 to /dev/sdc2
9: Add rootdelay=9 to the end of the kernel entry
10: cd to /media/netbook-ux-bet-i/etc
11: Edit fstab and change the sdd# devices to sdc#
12: cd to /media/netbook-ux-bet-i/etc/rc.d
13: Edit rc.sysinit
14: Add sleep 2 just before the first fsck, on my system this was directly after the hostname ${HOSTNAME} line
15: Reboot, remove the usb drive before the BIOS prompt appears and boot from the Single Flash Card Reader
16: Moblin should boot from the SD card.
17: Enjoy

Tags: eeepc, grub, linux, moblin, netbook, sd