[cobalt-security] Slackware on a RaQ (Was: RaQ3 Patches)

[Eugene Crosser <crosser@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 2002-12-12 at 09:36, Jeff Lasman wrote:

> > [But I recently installed Slackware on the RaQ3's that I have physical
> > access to...  Works even better;)]
> 
> Are you willing to tell us how?

I am not sure if this is on-topic...  OK, let's assume this is one of
the ways to make your box more secure ;-)

There is a howto on the Web:

        http://www.traumatized.org/linux/cobalt/index.php

This is the easiest way.  If you don't want to unscrew the box, it is
quite possible to boot the box with root on NFS and then install.  For
that, you need to configure DHCP server and NFS server on the *same* box
(e.g. your Linux workstation).  Create directory /nfsroot-x86 (can be
symlink), export it, and install minimal Slackware into it ('a' series
and 'n' series at least).  Modify /nfsroot-x86/etc/inittab to *not* try
to run getty on virtual consoles, set some real password for root in
/nfsroot-x86/etc/shadow, ensure that you have sshd installed.  When
booting Cobalt, select "boot from network", and with some luck, you will
soon be able to ssh (as root) there.  Now, if you have the distribution
tree copied somewhere into /nfsroot-x86, or CD mounted and exported, you
are ready for installation.  Be prepared to unpleasant surprises that
are extremely difficult to pinpoint if you don't have a serial console
attached.

In either case, it is very important to use filesystem that is supported
by the bootrom kernel.  I personally used ext3, with ext3 capable
bootrom.  If you plan to build custom kernel, get kernel-source RPM from
ftp-eng.cobalt.com and convert it with rpm2tgz.  You can use vanilla
kernel but then you loose LCD device and temperature sensor.

Of course you loose the GUI and LCD menu system.  You can still use LCD
if you take binaries of lcd-write and friends from an original Cobalt or
from an OSRCD.

Eugene