[syslinux] MSDOS not working: problem Solved

[G. Murali Krishnan]

Couple of weeks ago, I had posted a possible problem, saying that
memdisk was unable to boot MSDOS, but PCDOS was working. The problem
was mine.

Basically the IFSHLP.SYS file which was part of the disk image, was
corrupted. Since it was the first device driver to be loaded, you did
not see any other message. I replaced the IFSHLP.SYS with another
version which I got from elsewhere and it worked.

BTW, Are any other users of ISOLinux working on a Linux/Windows/Dualboot
unattended installation.

Another question which may have "no" as the answer.
Is it possible to remember some information between two boots of the CD?
Namely, is it possible to boot into say something like:
   Check if a predetermined file exists on the local hard disk.
   If not the default image is "stddefault".
   If the file exists then:
      1. Let X be the first non-comment line in the file.
      2. Delete all lines upto and including X.
      3. If file has no lines, delete the file.
      4. Boot into image X

If such a thing was possible, then many more things can be automated. For
example, I can boot into the "std default" image, which asks what OS(es),
I want to install. Depending on the answer, I will create the
"predetermined file", telling the order in which the images should be
booted into. So, for example, if it was a dualboot between Windows and
Linux, then the file would contain

WinInstall # This image installs windows on the hard disk (Text mode)
localhdd   # boot off the hard disk, and let windows finish installing
LinInstall # This image installs linux on the hard disk
localhdd   # boot off the hard disk (this will boot into linux) and complete the linux installation

Ofcourse, this would mean that isolinux should be able to read a file
system (may be FAT16), or some other simple file system.


In short: Is it possible to have such a feature in some future version?
          May be someimage like memdisk can do this?
          If not is there any other way I can achieve the same effect.

- Murali

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