[syslinux] Syslinux/isolinux: is this possible?

[Seth Kurtzberg]

Peter,

I've made this work, in a manner very similar to what you suggest, at least 
with an IDE cdrom, and then a root file system pivot.  I haven't tried to 
handle SCSI or other possible cdrom types, so it isn't a general solution; on 
the other hand in the last several months I've only had one user complain 
because it would only handle IDE cdrom.  With this configuration the kernel 
and enought of an initrd file system to complete the process fits on a single 
floppy.

You could build a kernel that also has the Adaptek SCSI drivers, which would 
get you another sizeable set of machines that you could operate on.

So, while I agree with you that a general solution would be a lot of work, a 
limited but still very useful solution is not difficult to construct.

On Thursday 20 June 2002 09:01 pm, H. Peter Anvin wrote:
> Jonathan Woithe wrote:
> > Hello Peter
> >
> > I know very little (currently) about the BIOS interfaces/APIs available
> > at boot time except that most of them are buggy to some extent.  However,
> > I have had an idea regarding another way to boot Linux and wanted to run
> > it past you.
> >
> > As you'd be aware, many of the distributions now require multiple
> > floppies to hold their initial root fs to be used during installation.  I
> > was wondering whether it would be possible to make isolinux/syslinux boot
> > from a floppy but then access an initial ramdisk from a (possibly fixed)
> > location on a CD.  This way one can get around buggy bioses which refuse
> > to boot from a CD, but you don't have the inconvenience of 4 or 6
> > floppies when loading that initial ramdisk.
> >
> > This may be completely impossible - that's fine.  However, I thought it
> > best to run it past the expert in these matters before trying to do
> > something myself which would turn out to be impossible.
>
> It's not possible... at least not in the way you want to do it.  The
> reason is that the BIOS doesn't provide any kind of driver for the
> CD-ROM (or the network, for that matter) *unless* it's the boot medium.
>   Therefore, the boot medium is the *only* medium you get before you
> have to become "self-sufficient" -- meaning you have to carry your own
> drivers with you.  This means you have to have drivers for every
> possible way to connect CD-ROMs... IDE, USB, and all kinds of SCSI
> controllers... not to mention proprietary interfaces.
>
> You might be able to use a single-floppy-sized Linux kernel for this
> purpose, mount the CD as root, and then use modules or something like
> Two Kernel Monte to load any other drivers you need.  Otherwise you're
> going to have to do an awful lot of work.
>
> 	-hpa
>
>
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-- 
Seth Kurtzberg
MIS Corp.
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