[syslinux] RE: Large Floppy Images

Quinn plattel at tiscali.dk
Mon May 16 11:31:43 PDT 2005


Hi,

It is fairly easy actually.  I do it this way:

Set the bios to configure the USB device as a large floppy or zip drive.
With the usb device in, boot from a bootable DOS system floppy and then 
do a 'sys b:' or a 'format b: /s'.
Note: The bios will assign the floppy usb device as drive b: when there 
is a physical floppy already in the
system unless you boot from the usb device directly.

Now you can boot the floppy usb device or take en image of it (eg: dd 
if=/dev/sda of=floppy-usb.bin) and
use it together with memdisk.

I hope this helps you.

Quinn

Pierre Sangouard wrote:

>On Thu, Feb 17, 2005 at 16:09:50 -0800, Mikey Sklar wrote
>  
>
>>I use 8MB DOS images with pxelinux to load firmware. Which platform
>>would you like them for (I have many).
>>    
>>
>
>I just saw your post and I would definitely be interested in an 8 MB DOS
>images to work with pxelinux. I have tried the method described in
>http://people.cs.uchicago.edu/~gmurali/gui/downloads.html but I keep getting
>"Non-System disk or disk error, Replace and press any key when ready" like
>the OP.
>
>TIA,
>Pierre
>
>  
>
>>On Thu, Feb 17, 2005 at 01:49:23PM -0700, Egan Ford wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>I am still unable to build and boot large floppy images.
>>>
>>>1.44, 2.88, and any size HD images work great.  No problem.  However I
>>>      
>>>
>>have
>>    
>>
>>>BIOSes with problems booting HD images and would like to get large
>>>      
>>>
>>floppy
>>    
>>
>>>working.
>>>
>>>I have tried every script and method I could find with PC DOC 7 and MS
>>>      
>>>
>>DOS
>>    
>>
>>>6.22.  I have spent too much time analyzing boot sectors.
>>>
>>>So a few questions:
>>>
>>>1.  Who has actually see it work?
>>>2.  How did you make the image?  Assume nothing, the more detail the
>>>      
>>>
>>better.
>>    
>>
>>>3.  Can you provide a URL to a large floppy image?  I cannot tell if I
>>>      
>>>
>>have
>>    
>>
>>>a BIOS problem or an image creation problem.  I'd just like to see one
>>>      
>>>
>>boot.
>>    
>>
>>>An ideal image would be blank with COMMAND.COM only.
>>>
>>>Thanks.
>>>
>>>
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>SYSLINUX mailing list
>>>Submissions to SYSLINUX at zytor.com
>>>Unsubscribe or set options at:
>>>http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux
>>>Please do not send private replies to mailing list traffic.
>>>      
>>>
>>
>>------------------------------
>>
>>Message: 6
>>Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 01:10:41 +0100
>>From: stappers at stappers.nl (Geert Stappers)
>>Subject: Re: [syslinux] extlinux to boot linux from the second drive
>>To: syslinux at zytor.com
>>Message-ID: <20050218001041.GB24991 at gpm.stappers.nl>
>>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>>
>>On Wed, Feb 16, 2005 at 08:58:03AM +0100, akozlov at nada.kth.se wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>Hi!
>>>
>>>Can extlinux boot Linux kernel from the second drive?  I want to leave
>>>Windows XP on the first IDE drive and put Linux to the first partition
>>>(ext2/ext3) on the second IDE drive. I am allowed to change MBR on the
>>>first drive. Will the following configuration work?
>>>
>>>	/dev/hda1 - Windows
>>>	/dev/hdb1 - Linux root (/, /boot, ...)
>>>	/dev/hda  - extlinux in MBR
>>>	/boot/vmlinuz
>>>
>>>	extlinux /boot
>>>
>>>/boot/extlinux.conf:
>>>
>>>	LABEL win
>>>		KERNEL chain.c32
>>>		APPEND hd0 1
>>>	LABEL lin
>>>		KERNEL vmlinuz
>>>		APPEND hd1 1
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>No, that won't work.
>>
>>What I understand from {sys|ext|iso}linux is that it handles 1
>>filesystem very well.
>>But you are asking multiple filesystems on multiple disks.
>>
>>Use a (bloated) bootloader for such purposes.
>>
>>
>>    
>>
>>>Thank you,
>>>Alex.
>>>      
>>>
>>Cheers
>>Geert Stappers
>>
>>P.S.
>>What caused the ML hick up?
>>(and who to warn the next time?)
>>
>>
>>
>>------------------------------
>>
>>Message: 7
>>Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 13:06:59 +0100
>>From: Marina Hylander <marinahylander at gmail.com>
>>Subject: [syslinux] Loading initrd from a CD when booting with
>>	syslinux
>>To: syslinux at zytor.com, jmerkey at vger.timpanogas.org
>>Message-ID: <6ab235180502180406bd9cbe9 at mail.gmail.com>
>>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
>>
>>Hello,
>>
>>I am having some trouble booting a vmlinuz kernel 2.6 that is copied
>>onto a 1.44 floppy using syslinux.
>>I need to load initrd from a CDROM device (with vmlinuz and
>>syslinux.cfg on the floppy).
>>
>>Is there anything that will allow me to do that?
>>
>>Many thanks
>>
>>Marina
>>
>>
>>
>>------------------------------
>>
>>Message: 8
>>Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 13:24:48 +0100
>>From: <akozlov at nada.kth.se>
>>Subject: [syslinux] extlinux to boot linux from the second drive
>>To: syslinux at zytor.com
>>Message-ID: <200502181224.j1ICOmTj012587 at sans28.nada.kth.se>
>>
>>    
>>
>>>*Geert Stappers* stappers at stappers.nl wrote:
>>>
>>>No, that won't work.
>>>
>>>What I understand from {sys|ext|iso}linux is that it handles 1
>>>filesystem very well.
>>>But you are asking multiple filesystems on multiple disks.
>>>
>>>Use a (bloated) bootloader for such purposes.
>>>      
>>>
>>I see.. But the chainloading is implemented! Can I load a ce/me/nt system
>>from the second drive then?
>>
>>/boot/extlinux.conf:
>>
>>	LABEL lin
>> 		KERNEL /boot/vmlinuz-2.4.27-2-686-smp
>>
>>	LABEL win
>>		KERNEL chain.c32
>> 		APPEND hd1 1
>>
>>I'm asking because I appreciate syslinux very much and use it since
>>early slackware releases, I think. If extlinux were that good I'd avoid
>>happily other loaders in favor of a fast, compact and reliable one.
>>I don't mind it is not documented since people are replying anyway.
>>
>>Thank you,
>>Alex.
>>
>>
>>
>>------------------------------
>>
>>Message: 9
>>Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 08:31:55 -0700
>>From: "Egan Ford" <egan at sense.net>
>>Subject: RE: [syslinux] Large Floppy Images
>>To: "'ganapathy murali krishnan'" <gmurali at cs.uchicago.edu>
>>Cc: syslinux at zytor.com
>>Message-ID: <01ac01c515ce$fb787930$9a264109 at oberon>
>>Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"
>>
>>Thanks, already tried it, I still get:
>>
>>Non-System disk or disk error
>>Replace and press any key when ready
>>
>>    
>>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: syslinux-bounces at zytor.com
>>>[mailto:syslinux-bounces at zytor.com] On Behalf Of ganapathy
>>>murali krishnan
>>>Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2005 2:23 PM
>>>To: egan at sense.net
>>>Cc: syslinux at zytor.com
>>>Subject: Re: [syslinux] Large Floppy Images
>>>
>>>
>>>I use a 10MB floppy image with ISOLinux. If you have a working 2.88MB
>>>bootable image, and just want to enlarge it look at the
>>>"{new,}mkfloppyimg.sh" script in
>>>http://people.cs.uchicago.edu/~gmurali/gui/downloads.html. Also don't
>>>forget to tell memdisk about the non-standard geometry.
>>>
>>>- Murali
>>>
>>>Egan Ford wrote:
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>>>I am still unable to build and boot large floppy images.
>>>>
>>>>1.44, 2.88, and any size HD images work great.  No problem.
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>However I have
>>>      
>>>
>>>>BIOSes with problems booting HD images and would like to get
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>large floppy
>>>      
>>>
>>>>working.
>>>>
>>>>I have tried every script and method I could find with PC
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>DOC 7 and MS DOS
>>>      
>>>
>>>>6.22.  I have spent too much time analyzing boot sectors.
>>>>
>>>>So a few questions:
>>>>
>>>>1.  Who has actually see it work?
>>>>2.  How did you make the image?  Assume nothing, the more
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>detail the better.
>>>      
>>>
>>>>3.  Can you provide a URL to a large floppy image?  I cannot
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>tell if I have
>>>      
>>>
>>>>a BIOS problem or an image creation problem.  I'd just like
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>to see one boot.
>>>      
>>>
>>>>An ideal image would be blank with COMMAND.COM only.
>>>>
>>>>Thanks.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>_______________________________________________
>>>>SYSLINUX mailing list
>>>>Submissions to SYSLINUX at zytor.com
>>>>Unsubscribe or set options at:
>>>>http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux
>>>>Please do not send private replies to mailing list traffic.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>        
>>>>
>>>_______________________________________________
>>>SYSLINUX mailing list
>>>Submissions to SYSLINUX at zytor.com
>>>Unsubscribe or set options at:
>>>http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux
>>>Please do not send private replies to mailing list traffic.
>>>
>>>      
>>>
>>
>>------------------------------
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>SYSLINUX mailing list
>>Submissions to SYSLINUX at zytor.com
>>Unsubscribe or set options at:
>>http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux
>>Please do not send private replies to mailing list traffic.
>>
>>
>>End of SYSLINUX Digest, Vol 23, Issue 16
>>****************************************
>>    
>>
>
>
>
>
>
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>  
>




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