[syslinux] New user problem

[Seth David Schoen]

Gerry Escobar writes:

> Peter,
> 
> I'm a new user of Linux trying to use the SYSLINUX boot loader to create a
> Linux system. I'm doing it on a PC with WIN98 installed, and I prefer using
> a dual boot system.
> I got through as far as creating a semi-bootable floppy.  The problem I'm
> getting states "could not find kernel image: Linux."  However, I do get the
> "boot:" prompt as well (I just don't know what command to type from there).
> What type of file is the kernel image?  Is it any file with an .img
> extension?  What are some basic files I would need?
> I believe if you can walk me through this process, you can very much write a
> book on it.  I appreciate very much any help you might be able to give.

Did you already install a Linux system onto a hard drive, or are you
trying to create your own installation from scratch?

The kernel image is now normally called "vmlinuz" and usually resides
in /boot on a modern Linux system or / on an older Linux system.  Many
people rename it to "linux" if they copy it onto a SYSLINUX disk.

In order to use SYSLINUX, you will need to copy the kernel onto your
SYSLINUX disk.  You'll also (for your purposes) need to have a Linux
boot environment already installed on a hard drive partition.  If you
don't, you'll want to go and get a Linux distribution of some sort and
use its installer, which will probably install for you a hard-disk
based boot loader (like LILO or GRUB) which you can use instead of
SYSLINUX.

-- 
Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org> | Reading is a right, not a feature!
     http://www.loyalty.org/~schoen/   |                 -- Kathryn Myronuk
     http://vitanuova.loyalty.org/     |