[syslinux] Syslinux + Localboot

Miller, Shao Shao.Miller at yrdsb.edu.on.ca
Fri Mar 27 07:42:40 PDT 2009


Good day Matthew,

You either want to change your process to use something like:

GDISK 2 /mbr /wipe

or you need to do some clever swapping at the right times.  Because you are booting from the USB stick, the BIOS probably sets it as drive 0x80 and your previous drive 0x80 to 0x81.

I suspect that you are migrating a process from either a floppy disk or a CD...  I think you should investigate "superfloppy" images.  That way you use the latest memdisk from the latest Syslinux git and do:

memdisk floppy initrd=ghost.vfd

and your process will be executed from the DOS A: drive.  If you can swap the BIOS drive numbers before loading memdisk, then once DOS gets going, your USB stick will be the second drive.

It might be easiest to maintain your USB's GDISK batch file separately from the one you put on floppies/CDs.  This is not a limitation of Syslinux, to my knowledge, but a limitation to using your USB stick with your USB-booting BIOS.

Good luck to you.

- Shao Miller

-----Original Message-----
From: syslinux-bounces at zytor.com [mailto:syslinux-bounces at zytor.com] On Behalf Of Matthew Holevinski
Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2009 20:52
To: For discussion of Syslinux and tftp-hpa
Subject: Re: [syslinux] Syslinux + Localboot

Yes I'm testing on a couple different models
the Optiplex 740 with different bios versions
with similar results, it just reboots the thumb


On Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 6:52 PM, Gene Cumm <gene.cumm at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 5:42 PM, Matthew Holevinski <eylusion at gmail.com> wrote:
>> chain hd0 1 doesn't work
>> is that because all the machines i work on have sata drives?
>>
>
> Currently I'm testing with my thumbdrive on a Dell OptiPlex GX620 BIOS
> A11 (SATA HDD).  When I do "chain.c32 hd0" it boots to the thumbdrive
> again.  If I try "chain.c32 hd1" it boots the hdd.  I also tested a
> Dell OptiPlex GX260 (PATA HDD) with the same results.
>
> I believe this is because if the active BIOS boot device is acting
> like a hard drive, it is always the first.  If the HDD was the active
> BIOS boot device, it would be first.  If you booted from a CD/DVD, the
> HDD would be first.  If you booted from a ZIP drive, I think the HDD
> would be the first HDD but I'm uncertain on this one.
>
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 4:30 PM, Matthew Holevinski <eylusion at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Will that work with my BSS file? This is a usb thumbdrive with 1
>>> partition here is what my sys cfg looks like
>>>
>>> #DEFAULT vesamenu.c32
>>> DEFAULT menu.c32
>>> PROMPT 0
>>> TIMEOUT 200
>>> ONTIMEOUT pe
>>> MENU TABMSG *greeked*
>>>
>>> MENU BACKGROUND splash.png
>>> MENU TITLE *greeked*
>>>
>>> MENU COLOR screen   37;40
>>> MENU COLOR border   30;44
>>> MENU COLOR title    1;36;44
>>> MENU COLOR unsel    37;44
>>> MENU COLOR hotkey   1;37;44
>>> MENU COLOR sel      7;37;40
>>> MENU COLOR hotsel   1;7;37;40
>>> MENU COLOR scrollbar    30;44
>>> MENU COLOR tabmsg   31;40
>>> MENU COLOR cmdmark  1;36;40
>>> MENU COLOR cmdline  37;40
>>> MENU COLOR pwdborder    30;47
>>> MENU COLOR pwdheader    31;47
>>> MENU COLOR pwdentry 30;47
>>> MENU COLOR timeout_msg  37;40
>>> MENU COLOR timeout  1;37;40
>>>
>>> MENU WIDTH 80
>>> MENU MARGIN 10
>>> MENU PASSWORDMARGIN 3
>>> MENU ROWS 12
>>> MENU TABMSGROW 18
>>> MENU CMDLINEROW 18
>>> MENU ENDROW 24
>>> MENU PASSWORDROW 11
>>> MENU TIMEOUTROW 20
>>>
>>> LABEL pe
>>> MENU DEFAULT
>>> MENU LABEL ^1. DSR PE
>>> BSS vista.bss
>>>
>>> LABEL memtest
>>> MENU LABEL ^2. MemTest86+
>>> KERNEL /syslinux/memtest
>>>
>>> LABEL gdisk (Currently Doesn't work as it wipes the usb drive and not
>>> the hard drive)
>>> MENU LABEL ^3. Gdisk - Wipe Disk
>>> KERNEL memdisk
>>> append initrd=gdisk.ima
>>>
>>> LABEL INPD (unknown if works)
>>> MENU LABEL ^4. Initialize Primary Disk Drive
>>> KERNEL memdisk
>>> append initrd=INPD.ima
>>>
>>> LABEL win98
>>> MENU LABEL ^5. Win98 Boot Disk
>>> KERNEL memdisk
>>> append initrd=win98.ima
>>>
>>> LABEL RECO (not important)
>>> MENU LABEL ^6. RECO PointSec Recovery Tool
>>> KERNEL memdisk
>>> append initrd=reco.IMZ
>>>
>>> LABEL boothd (this fails with syslinux)
>>> MENU LABEL ^7. Boot First Hard Drive
>>> localboot 0x80
>>>
>>> LABEL bootFlop (ditto)
>>> MENU LABEL ^8. Boot Floppy
>>> localboot 0x00
>>>
>>> Those are currently most of the tools I use the most on my isolinux
>>> formatted cd's.
>>> So if I was to use chain I would modify my localboot 0x80 to something like
>>> chain mbr:0
>>>
>>> Matt
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 3:57 PM, Miller, Shao
>>> <Shao.Miller at yrdsb.edu.on.ca> wrote:
>>>> Matt:
>>>>
>>>> _What_ isn't supported?  The LOCALBOOT option with SYSLINUX?  You must
>>>> have meant this, judging from your subject line.
>>>>
>>>> I think you'd enjoy looking at the chain.c32 module, and the bit of
>>>> documentation inside its source code at syslinux/com32/modules/chain.c.
>>>>
>>>> Good luck!
>>>>
>>>> - Shao Miller
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: syslinux-bounces at zytor.com [mailto:syslinux-bounces at zytor.com] On
>>>> Behalf Of Matthew Holevinski
>>>> Sent: Thursday, March 26, 2009 16:47
>>>> To: For discussion of Syslinux and tftp-hpa
>>>> Subject: [syslinux] Syslinux + Localboot
>>>>
>>>> I understand this isn't supported, but I was curious will it ever be,
>>>> and also
>>>> I use a hard drive wiping utility not dban and when i boot off my usb
>>>> stick and wipe the hard drive
>>>> it wipes the usb stick :(
>>>>
>>>> Matt
>>>>
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>>>
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> -Gene
>
> "No one ever says, 'I can't read that ASCII E-mail you sent me.'"
>
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