Additional Information About Booting to Linux

IMPORTANT:  This section applies only to ZENworks 6.5 SP1 and earlier.

For information on adding Linux drivers in ZENworks 6.5 SP2, see Adding Linux Drivers in ZENworks 6.5 SP2.

The following sections contain additional information:


Adding Linux Device Drivers

(SP1 and earlier only) If you need to, you can add Linux device drivers to your boot method.


Obtaining Linux Drivers

To obtain a Linux driver for your particular hardware, you should visit the Web site of the hardware vendor and check for a download location.

There are also some other Web sites where you can obtain drivers:

To learn more about drivers, including the loading parameters you need to specify, see the Linux Documentation Project and visit the following HOWTO sites:

  • Hardware
  • PCMCIA
  • SCSI
  • Ethernet


Adding Linux Drivers to Your Boot Method

You can add Linux drivers to the following boot methods:


Adding Linux Drivers for Use with Preboot Services (PXE)

To add Linux drivers for use with Preboot Services, you must have a working Linux workstation capable of mounting a loop device. Most Linux distributions have this ability compiled in the distribution kernel.

  1. On the TFTP server on your Imaging/Preboot Services server, locate the linux.2 file in \public\zenworks\imaging\tftp. Make a backup copy of this file.

  2. On the Linux workstation, create a working directory for linux.2.

  3. Using a transfer method such as FTP, transfer linux.2 to the directory created in Step 2.

  4. Enter the following to rename linux.2 to linux.gz:

    mv linux.2 linux.gz

  5. Enter the following to extract linux.gz:

    gzip -d linux.gz

    This replaces the linux.gz file with a file named linux. This file is a complete file system that can be mounted and changed.

  6. Enter the following to create a mount point:

    mkdir /mnt/loop

  7. Enter the following to mount the file system:

    mount -o loop linux /mnt/loop

  8. Copy the driver files to the appropriate directory in the /mnt/loop directory structure.

  9. Enter the following to unmount the updated file system:

    umount /mnt/loop

  10. Enter the following to zip the file:

    gzip -9c linux > linux.gz

  11. Enter the following to rename the file:

    mv linux.gz linux.2

  12. Using a transfer method such as FTP, transfer linux.2 to the TFTP server.


Adding Linux Drivers for Use with a CD or DVD

For information, see Preparing Imaging Boot CDs or DVDs.


Adding Linux Drivers for Use with Diskettes

For information, see Using Zimgboot.exe to Add Linux Drivers.


Adding Linux Drivers for Use with a Hard-Disk Partition

It is unlikely that you will need to add Linux drivers if you are using a Desktop Management Workstation Imaging partition. If you want to update the Linux drivers, however, follow this procedure:

  1. Boot the workstation using imaging boot diskettes, an imaging boot CD, or if it is PXE-enabled, boot it from the Imaging/Preboot Services server.

  2. Enter manual at the boot prompt or select Start ZENworks Imaging in Maintenance Mode from the PXE menu.

  3. Enter the following to mount the hard drive:

    mount /dev/hda1 /mnt/harddisk

  4. Enter the following to mount the diskette that contains the driver files:

    mount /dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy

  5. Enter the following to copy the files to the appropriate directory on the Desktop Management Imaging partition:

    cp /mnt/floppy/*.o /mnt/harddisk/lib/modules/2.4.22/drivers/net

  6. Type reboot, then press Enter.


Booting with a Non-English Keyboard

If you image workstations that have non-English keyboards, the imaging boot method must include additional language support, in the form of a language diskette. When you boot a workstation from the imaging method, you will be prompted for this diskette. For information on preparing this diskette, see the online help in the Imaging Boot Disk Creator (Zimgboot.exe).

If the Language/Country drop-down list in the Imaging Boot Disk Creator utility doesn't have the keyboard language you need, you can close the utility and reconfigure it to support the additional language. This assumes you can find Linux keyboard support files somewhere on the Web.


Adding Support for Another Keyboard Language

  1. Get the Linux .gz files that contain the keyboard mappings, fonts, and Unicode* mappings for the language that you want to add.

  2. From the folder containing the zimgboot.exe file, browse to the bootdisk folder, then copy the .gz files for the new language to the following subfolders:

    • The keyboard map file goes in the keymaps folder.
    • The font file goes in the consolefonts folder.
    • The Unicode map file goes in the consoletrans folder.
  3. Add a section to the zimglang.ini file using the format illustrated for German in Imaging Bootup Languages (Zimglang.ini).

    1. For the bracketed section heading, specify the language or country name that you want shown in the Imaging Boot Disk Creator utility.

    2. In the KEYMAP, FONT, and ACM parameters, specify the names and locations (relative to the bootdisk folder) of the keyboard map, font, and Unicode map files, respectively.

  4. Save your changes to the zimglang.ini file.

  5. Restart the Imaging Boot Disk Creator utility and verify that the new language appears in the Language/Country drop-down list.