[deadbug]

[quote name='jetman' post='635595' date='Mar 16 2007, 03:20 AM']If you need to know how to integrate XP/2K3/BartPE:

 
  "chain /BPE1.DAT" 

Now I've tried this in isolinux.cfg:

 
DEFAULT /boot/isolinux/aio.c32
PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 300
TOTALTIMEOUT 450
####
MENU BACKGROUND /boot/isolinux/splash.png
MENU TITLE Super-Disc  **  09Mar07 Edition
####
####  The 1st byte of the fgnd color is brightness.
####                                    blue
MENU COLOR title        1;36;44    #ff0000ff   #00000000   std
####                                    blue
MENU COLOR unsel        37;44      #ff0000ff   #00000000   std
####                                   white
MENU COLOR sel          7;37;40    #c0ffffff   #ff000000   std
####                                     red
MENU COLOR hotkey       1;37;44    #ffff0000   #00000000   std
####                                   green
MENU COLOR hotsel       1;7;37;40  #ff00ff00   #ff000000   all
####
LABEL bpe1
MENU  Bart's PE (CDROM)
KERNEL /BPE1.DAT

LABEL bpe2
MENU  Bart's PE (IN RAM)
KERNEL /boot/isolinux/chain.c32
APPEND /BPE2.DAT
 

but when I try bpe1 I get "Invalid or corrupt kernel image" and when I try bpe2 I get "Cannot read Master Boot Record".

I assume that I'm missing something really obvious here.

I'm building the ISO with CDimage (GUI). I cannot see an explicit option to enable (or disable) boot-info-table, but since others here can get this to work using CDimage, I assume it must be there.

What am I missing?

Thanks

[deadbug]

deadbug, on May 12 2007, 02:30 PM, said:

What am I missing?

I guess I must be missing a sense of humour! I renamed BPE1.DAT to BPE1.bin and bingo it works!

Excuse me while I fume quietly in the corner for a while ...

[jetman]

deadbug, on May 12 2007, 09:31 AM, said:

I guess I must be missing a sense of humour! I renamed BPE1.DAT to BPE1.bin and bingo it works!

Excuse me while I fume quietly in the corner for a while ...

No fault, no foul. It's odd that the file ext was significant there. I certainly wouldn't have expected that and mite have made the same mistake. But now we all know better !

BTW, welcome to the world of Super-Disc. Good luck w/ your proj. What is aio.c32 ? It doesn't show up in any of my SYSLINUX kits....Jet

[deadbug]

jetman, on May 12 2007, 05:25 PM, said:

BTW, welcome to the world of Super-Disc. Good luck w/ your proj. What is aio.c32 ? It doesn't show up in any of my SYSLINUX kits....Jet

I had a nice multiboot using CDshell but given all the activity here and the fact that the Ultimate Boot CD went over to isolinux, I decided to have a go too (it was either that or watch the Eurovision song contest tonight ). My CDshell version had a set of cascading menus to cope with installing WXP with no SP, SP 1, SP2, SP2 + fixes (and each option as regular, unattended and unattended+apps). And then more menus for W2K (4 service packs) and UBCD and a bunch of other bits. That was quite painful in CDshell I can tell you. So when I switched over I took complex.c from syslinux and turned it into a clone of my old menu system and called it aio.c (which compiles to aio.c32).

I've got UBCD integrated reasonably nicely and the Windows stuff seems to at least start installing, so now I'm back to my old problem of getting Debian to install from a netinstall.iso file. I finally tried the "pretend to be installing from USB" trick that I mentioned ages ago and it _nearly_ works ... I think it would have a much greater chance of working if it successfully detected the CDROM at some stage ... anyone here know how the flow of control goes after vmlinuz drags initrd into the picture (it was _so_ easy when I opened up SLAX some time ago but Debian seems a tad more complex!).

[jetman]

deadbug, on May 12 2007, 05:42 PM, said:

I had a nice multiboot using CDshell but given all the activity here and the fact that the Ultimate Boot CD went over to isolinux, I decided to have a go too (it was either that or watch the Eurovision song contest tonight ). My CDshell version had a set of cascading menus to cope with installing WXP with no SP, SP 1, SP2, SP2 + fixes (and each option as regular, unattended and unattended+apps). And then more menus for W2K (4 service packs) and UBCD and a bunch of other bits. That was quite painful in CDshell I can tell you. So when I switched over I took complex.c from syslinux and turned it into a clone of my old menu system and called it aio.c (which compiles to aio.c32).

Hmmm... Unless you're really keen on maintain boring, old menu code, you mite take a look at menu.c32 in the later revs of SYSLINUX. While the Freshmeat proj doesn't reflect this, it's up to 3.50+. No official releases in the past several months, but pretty stable in my opinion. Per the docs, MENU and VESAMENU (the graphical menu system) work from the same config file format. There are screenshots of both on SYSLINUX web site.

Quote

I've got UBCD integrated reasonably nicely and the Windows stuff seems to at least start installing, so now I'm back to my old problem of getting Debian to install from a netinstall.iso file. I finally tried the "pretend to be installing from USB" trick that I mentioned ages ago and it _nearly_ works ... I think it would have a much greater chance of working if it successfully detected the CDROM at some stage ... anyone here know how the flow of control goes after vmlinuz drags initrd into the picture (it was _so_ easy when I opened up SLAX some time ago but Debian seems a tad more complex!).

I can't help w/ Debian per se, due to their "true-believer" ideas about free software. WRT Debain-spinoffs, I've integrated Knoppix & DSL w/o a hitch and nearly the same results w/ Kubuntu. You can boot any Linux kernel (vmlinuz) easily, the only issue is disk layout, for a successful outcome. As detailed in the 1st msg of the topic, any given kernel+init ramdisk can be relocated anywhere. Depending on the distro, you mite be able to relocate the support files (compressed filesystem, etc) to cram as many similar distros onto the same disc. Otherwise, one can always duplicate the root dir of the desired ISO in your custom disc layout.

Take Knoppix, DSL, and Slax. They all have cheat codes which permit their support files to be tucked into a custom sub-dir, as they've been designed w/ the intent to be remastered into a custom CD/DVD. OTOH, there's Kubuntu, which has almost no cheat codes at all, so I had to copy /casper, /precopy, and /ubuntu into root of my disc layout. As far as Kubuntu is concerned, it's still on its stand-alone CD, but that means I couldn't add (not that I'd even want to) one of the other Ubuntus to my Super-Disc. Make sense ?

There have been a couple of misses w/ this approach, but I've found enuf "cooperative" distros that the "problem children" aren't missed at all. I've even never considered any ISO emulation tricks, bec they're very limited and the payoff doesn't justify the effort, from my perspective. Later....Jet

[jroc74]

I joined this forum today just because of this topic. Great guide!! I've been looking for something like this for awhile. I been playing around with Linux since early last year. I want to put as many LiveCD's as I can on DVD's. I created the orig Super Disc with no problems except for some minor head scratch moments:

*vmlinuz1 has been renamed to rescuecd
*vmlinuz1.igz has been renamed to rescuecd.igz for the latest version of System Rescue CD

I didnt know where exactly to look for some of the files in the syslinux folder. I also grabbed the whole memdisk folder instead of just the file. And some other minor things that's too trivial to mention. It would help some ppl (like me) if u had made the guide a lil more dumbed down.
I also didnt know that I could take the MKISOFS post in your guide and save it as a batch file. I only found that out after I found a GUI for MKISOFS for Windows. That might help a boatload of ppl, like me, who couldnt get MKISOFS to start or were/are intimidated by it. The easiest way is to load up a sample isolinux batch that comes with the GUI, setup the correct folders in the GUI, save it, click on the newly made batch file then its off to the races. If anyone tries to use the GUI u have to set the boot image. U can use the isolinux.bin file in your boot/isolinux folder. I also found ISOLinux Mate. It helps you make your menus easier with a GUI and a preview screen. (as u can tell by those appz I'm a visual creature. GUI's ftw!!)

Imma experiment with UltraISO (it has a generate bootinfotable option) to see if it can make the right type of cd/dvd. I tried PowerISO but I got a 'ISOLinux created by' screen w/checksum error message on startup.

Ok: Right now I'm trying to make a DVD with Debian Gnome, KDE and Xfce; Kubuntu, uBuntu and Xbuntu. I cant get any of the Debians to load. The uBuntu's almost load then I get kicked to a command prompt. Now one thing I noticed is when I try to boot my single live cd's off my dvd rewriter they fail. But they load fine from the cd drive. Im trying to do this cuz I dont wanna have 20 LiveCD's laying around. Again, great guide!! Now I just gotta get the uBuntu's to act right.
<---reads post above for tips

This post has been edited by jroc74: 22 May 2007 - 04:11 PM

[kof94]

I would love to use mkisofs instead of CDImage but no one will tell me of a decent set of switches that will keep Windows and Linux happy. I also require file optimisation (writing duplicate files once) because I have two vers of XP on my disc.

Where did you get your mkisofs GUI from?

Moving on, Kubuntu, Ubuntu and any other buntu will probably give you a head ache.

I personally prefer Ubuntu, the folders required are:

.disk
boot
casper
dists
pool
preseed

The rest are just there for the Windows apps!

In previous versions you didn't need the .disk folder but as of Feisty Fawn you need it. Must be a tag or something i.e. with out it the live setup cannot find the .squashfs file.

This post has been edited by kof94: 22 May 2007 - 02:36 PM

[jroc74]

I got both the mkisofs GUI and ISOLinux Mate from here:

http://members.chello.at/bobby100/ Its also has some good reading material. (for newbies like me) One section breaks down what ISOLinux does and what each file do. If u get the GUI and it doesnt start, click on the help file in the folder that u extracted the GUI to. Click installation to the left and it tells u everything u need with download links. Just put all necessary files in the folder u extracted the GUI to.

EDIT:
I'm still at it. If yall dont use it, get MagicISO. This way u can just open the iso, edit what files u need to, save it, and test. Its beautiful cuz when u edit files in the iso and save it, its like saving a regular file. No need to remake the iso all over.

EDIT:

Im getting somewhere!! I think my folder names were too long for Debian. I made em no longer than 8 letters and finally I got past the OS choice screen. Got all the way down to loading file system then....some error message and a command prompt.

This post has been edited by jroc74: 22 May 2007 - 09:44 PM

[jetman]

jroc74, on May 22 2007, 12:37 AM, said:

I joined this forum today just because of this topic. Great guide!! I've been looking for something like this for awhile. I been playing around with Linux since early last year. I want to put as many LiveCD's as I can on DVD's. I created the orig Super Disc with no problems except for some minor head scratch moments:

*vmlinuz1 has been renamed to rescuecd
*vmlinuz1.igz has been renamed to rescuecd.igz for the latest version of System Rescue CD

Welcome. Renaming is cool, but beware that SYSLINUX mite be sensitive to filename lgths, particularly WRT the names of kernel and init ramdisk images. I'm not absolutely certain, but beware....

Quote

I didnt know where exactly to look for some of the files in the syslinux folder. I also grabbed the whole memdisk folder instead of just the file. And some other minor things that's too trivial to mention. It would help some ppl (like me) if u had made the guide a lil more dumbed down.

I'll review certain instructions like the MEMDISK thing that you mention.

Quote

I also didnt know that I could take the MKISOFS post in your guide and save it as a batch file. I only found that out after I found a GUI for MKISOFS for Windows. That might help a boatload of ppl, like me, who couldnt get MKISOFS to start or were/are intimidated by it. The easiest way is to load up a sample isolinux batch that comes with the GUI, setup the correct folders in the GUI, save it, click on the newly made batch file then its off to the races. If anyone tries to use the GUI u have to set the boot image. U can use the isolinux.bin file in your boot/isolinux folder. I also found ISOLinux Mate. It helps you make your menus easier with a GUI and a preview screen. (as u can tell by those appz I'm a visual creature. GUI's ftw!!)

ISOLINUX Mate is worth looking into. Thanx for the pointer.

Quote

Imma experiment with UltraISO (it has a generate bootinfotable option) to see if it can make the right type of cd/dvd. I tried PowerISO but I got a 'ISOLinux created by' screen w/checksum error message on startup.

Ok: Right now I'm trying to make a DVD with Debian Gnome, KDE and Xfce; Kubuntu, uBuntu and Xbuntu. I cant get any of the Debians to load. The uBuntu's almost load then I get kicked to a command prompt. Now one thing I noticed is when I try to boot my single live cd's off my dvd rewriter they fail. But they load fine from the cd drive. Im trying to do this cuz I dont wanna have 20 LiveCD's laying around. Again, great guide!! Now I just gotta get the uBuntu's to act right.
<---reads post above for tips

My work on Kubuntu found its way into Super-Disc's predecessor, many months ago. It booted into the GUI, but that's as far as I went w/ it. Essentially, the Ubuntu family are more demo discs than live CDs, hence I've never done much w/ them in their stock form. When time permits, I want to do some customization, then perhaps they'll find their way back into good graces. But to make them work, I now believe one must do the work in Linux exclusively, as I suspect there are symlinks on the disc that can't be represented in the Windows world. Another pos consideration, is the Rock Ridge ISO attribute. Not researched WRT Ubuntu, but something to keep in mind. I did find this attr critical in making something else work and mite be helpful. However, I also discovered that Rock Ridge was like Kryptonite to the BartPE/Windows systems on the DVD !

Here's something else which may be helpful for bgnd info: the Ubuntu Customization Kit. Haven't used it yet, but it's high on my TODO list....Jet

[jetman]

kof94, on May 22 2007, 02:33 PM, said:

I would love to use mkisofs instead of CDImage but no one will tell me of a decent set of switches that will keep Windows and Linux happy. I also require file optimisation (writing duplicate files once) because I have two vers of XP on my disc.

Dude ! You don't need MKISOFS (at least not directly) bec you have Slax and K3B ! The Slax module repo (at least) has a (late) K3B 1.0-RC module (I made and uploaded it) and probably has a production 1.01 (from someone else) by now. Moreover, the batch script I provided earlier is almost certain to make a BartPE/Slax/Knoppix hybrid as is. I seem to recall that it did ! Will review and get back to you. I only abandoned it bec I got better turnaround times from UltraISO and bec of the graphical layout builder. With K3B, you get that too for free !

Maybe it's time for a K3B addendum....Jet

PS: How goes your pursuit of connectivity ?

[jetman]

jroc74, on May 22 2007, 03:59 PM, said:

I got both the mkisofs GUI and ISOLinux Mate from here:

http://members.chello.at/bobby100/ Its also has some good reading material. (for newbies like me) One section breaks down what ISOLinux does and what each file do. If u get the GUI and it doesnt start, click on the help file in the folder that u extracted the GUI to. Click installation to the left and it tells u everything u need with download links. Just put all necessary files in the folder u extracted the GUI to.

I've been there, a looong time ago, before the development of these tools. However, ISOLINUX Mate is a tool for making LSS-type splash screens. Not recommended, as VESAMENU does the same, but no PPM files, no dithering, no PPM2LSS hack, just industry-std PNG gfx. It's up to you, though.

The README files in the ISOLINUX pkg are pretty much the same as what he offers, exc he did a lot to explain the whole LSS thing, which is (for the most part) obsolete. It was helpful for me, prior to VESAMENU becoming documented. If you want to the 'boot:' prompt, just put PROMPT 1 in your ISOLINUX.CFG.

Quote

EDIT:
I'm still at it. If yall dont use it, get MagicISO. This way u can just open the iso, edit what files u need to, save it, and test. Its beautiful cuz when u edit files in the iso and save it, its like saving a regular file. No need to remake the iso all over.

EDIT:

Im getting somewhere!! I think my folder names were too long for Debian. I made em no longer than 8 letters and finally I got past the OS choice screen. Got all the way down to loading file system then....some error message and a command prompt.

Tried MagicISO, but UltraISO does everything you've described. Plus the latest version has rudimentary project files support, so it's pos to repeat a certain ISO layout over and over again, instead of always editing an ISO image. On the Linux side (meaning free), there's ISOMaster. Haven't tried that yet either, but it's out there and part of Knoppix....Jet

[jetman]

kof94, on May 22 2007, 02:33 PM, said:

I would love to use mkisofs instead of CDImage but no one will tell me of a decent set of switches that will keep Windows and Linux happy. I also require file optimisation (writing duplicate files once) because I have two vers of XP on my disc.

<snip>

For the record, the MKISOFS script I provided back when, does in fact work w/ Linux and BartPE (therefore all Windows installers.) Just tried it again. WRT to file optimization, I saw a util for that ref'd on the site w/ the MKISOFS GUI/ISOLINUX Mate/etc....

[kof94]

Sorry Jet, I completely overlooked it in the first post. I don't know why, I know I've read the whole thing a number of times.

I was under the impression though that certain Distro's needed Joliet e.g Knoppix. I know I needed to add this setting to my previous images using CDShell to get version 4.x of Knoppix to boot.

I don't really know why I want to get away from CDImage, it does the job I want it to do after all. I suppose it's just the whole M$ thing.

Quote

Dude ! You don't need MKISOFS (at least not directly) bec you have Slax and K3B !

With the amount of testing and p***ing about I do when creating my discs I'd be in and out of Slax every five minutes if I did that. On the other hand, if I could get k3b to work properly in Ubuntu it wouldn't be so bad.

Quote

Maybe it's time for a K3B addendum....Jet

Not a bad idea.

Quote

How goes your pursuit of connectivity ?

Put it this way, I've got a bloody great big hole in the wall next to me with a cable going through it .

This post has been edited by kof94: 23 May 2007 - 04:36 PM

[jroc74]

jetman, on May 23 2007, 12:19 PM, said:

Tried MagicISO, but UltraISO does everything you've described. Plus the latest version has rudimentary project files support, so it's pos to repeat a certain ISO layout over and over again, instead of always editing an ISO image. On the Linux side (meaning free), there's ISOMaster. Haven't tried that yet either, but it's out there and part of Knoppix....Jet

I played with UltraISO a lil bit and u right it does the same thing. But even just changing something as small as the config file, UltraISO remakes the whole iso. MagicISO treats it like saving a file unless its large data being added or removed from the iso. Even then it remakes the iso alot faster then when it first got made.
How do u use UltraISO to make the correct cd/dvd? I tried the generate bootinfotable option but it must be some step(s) I'm not doing. I've been playing around with the config file for my lil project and get different things happening each time for the uBuntu's and the Debian's. So is it possible for me to just setup the config file the right way (cuz I just dumped the the whole iso into their own folders for my project) or would it be best to try to find out which folders/files I need only (like in your guide)?

This post has been edited by jroc74: 24 May 2007 - 05:55 AM

[jetman]

jroc74, on May 24 2007, 05:54 AM, said:

<snip>

How do u use UltraISO to make the correct cd/dvd? I tried the generate bootinfotable option but it must be some step(s) I'm not doing. I've been playing around with the config file for my lil project and get different things happening each time for the uBuntu's and the Debian's. So is it possible for me to just setup the config file the right way (cuz I just dumped the the whole iso into their own folders for my project) or would it be best to try to find out which folders/files I need only (like in your guide)?

There isn't much to UISO. Set the Properties of the ISO to use Joliet w/ all of the long file name options enabled and NO Rock Ridge. Joliet isn't nec, exc for long filename compat w/ Windows. Disable ISO9660 version numbering and no lower-case support. All of my discs are setup that way, the same as my discs made w/ MKISOFS.

Can't help w/ Debian (never got one to work, prob the RockRidge) and the Ubuntu family really don't lend themselves to the Super-Disc idea. As I've already said, they really aren't live CDs. I do have a Kubuntu proj on the stack, but no date other than sometime in the next couple of months. To make an Ubuntu work, it'll need to be customized quite a bit, hence my link to the UCK. Just to put one on a disc, try enabling Rock Ridge, which will nuke any Windows systems, so you may have to go for an all Linux disc for that.

Later....Jet

[kof94]

Ubuntu works A-OK from my project.

Although I do use the default locations and boot commands but that doesn't bother me, I'm past caring about having everything in one folder and I'd never install one of the other buntu's anyway.

Quote

Joliet isn't nec, exc for long filename compat w/ Windows.

Thanks.

[jetman]

kof94, on May 24 2007, 03:11 PM, said:

Ubuntu works A-OK from my project.

Although I do use the default locations and boot commands but that doesn't bother me, I'm past caring about having everything in one folder and I'd never install one of the other buntu's anyway.

<snip>

Thanks.

Yeah, I remember those conversations, but those talks aren't coloring my words today. Kubuntu could be a fine live CD distro, w/ some work. It's clearly from one of the most respected Linux "families" (in a manner of speaking), hence worth some consideration. It's a toss-up bet Kubuntu or Knoppix. Knoppix is closer (in terms of completeness) and therefore easier, while Kubuntu would be more of a "prize", but much more effort...Jet

[kof94]

I think we have different goals here.

I could get by without the live CD part since I have Ubuntu installed as my secondary (although fastly becoming more primary by the week) OS. I have to agree though that the live CD is rather weak.

I solved the issues with k3b and taken a proper look at it, it's quite an app . I'm might start using it since you can now access NTFS partitions from Ubuntu.

As you can tell I'm testing out a Windows XP=>Ubuntu migration. Might as well since Vista doesn't exactly inspire me!

[Godzilla]

@ kof94
I started creating my MultiBoot 2.0 with syslinux yesterday.
Now I want to integrade Ubuntu.
You said wich files/folders I have to copy,
but what else I have to do?

Do I have to rename or edit some files?
What command starts Ubuntu (or the Ubuntu-boot-menu) from the syslinux-menu?

Thx



@Jotnar
Your menu looks fantastic.
Could you post your cfg-files, please??

Thx

[kof94]

If you've copied the folders I specified to the root of your disc structure you can use the default boot commands from original Ubuntu isolinux.cfg.

The kernel and initrd are in the 'casper' folder and not the usual isolinux folder so no editing is required!