[syslinux] help

Gene Cumm gene.cumm at gmail.com
Wed Aug 18 14:17:29 PDT 2010


On Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 18:00, Prof S W Damle <swdamle at bsnl.in> wrote:
> Hello Sir,
>
> Following is the extract of my syslinux.cfg file with Syslinux-3.86 and
> is working fine.
>
> DEFAULT vesamenu.c32

DEFAULT localboot
UI vesamenu.c32

This allows the separation of DEFAULT from the UI.

> # main entries
> #
> label localboot
>  menu default
>  menu label ^0. Boot MBR
>  kernel chain.c32
>  append hd0 0

Personally, I'd avoid using a label called localboot as it's also a
directive to Syslinux.  I'd recommend 'local-boot', 'chain-hd0-0',
'chn00', 'boot-mbr' or something else.  With the DEFAULT directive
above set to this entry, 'MENU DEFAULT' is not needed.

Personally, I prefer to use caps on all directives and a tab character
as it helps with reading clarity (just my preference as I don't have a
nice configuration for Kate for Syslinux configs yet).

> # this  boots WinXP/Win98/Win2000
> label Boot Hard Disk
>  menu default
>  menu label ^1. Boot WinXP/Win98/Win2000
>  kernel  chain.c32
>  append hd0 1

This label becomes "Boot".  Syslinux will stop at the space.  I'd also
recommend using a shorter, lowercase label as labels are also used
when you're manually typing things on the command line.  I try to
stick with lowercase letters, numbers, hyphens (-) and underscores (_)
for my labels.

As "Andrew Stuart" <andrew at shopcusa.com> stated, you shouldn't use
multiple 'MENU DEFAULT' as it could break things and not work how you
like.  It's possible that in one version it'll select the last but
another it might select the first.

> LABEL cmdcons  =>Windows Recovery Console
> MENU LABEL ^2.cmdcons  =>Windows Recovery Console
>  COM32 chain.c32
>  APPEND hd0 1 cmldr=cmldr

Again, change label.  cmdcons is good (just by itself).

> LABEL grub4dos
> MENU LABEL ^3.grub4dos
>  COM32 chain.c32
>  APPEND file=/grldr/grldr

Looks good here, depending on what grldr you're using.  See the top of
com32/modules/chain.c for more information.

> #
> label  ** PROGRAMS (Exe/Com type)
> #

LABEL -
	MENU LABEL ** PROGRAMS (Exe/Com type)
	MENU DISABLE

Again, change label.  'MENU DISABLE' also prevents
menu.c32/vesamenu.c32 from selecting this entry and returning an error
that it can't boot it (which fortunately returns to your UI at this
time).

> LABEL nu2
> MENU LABEL ^1. GHOST -->Tool to get Windows partition images
>  kernel /DiskImages/memdisk
>  append initrd=/DiskImages/WnimGho.img

Duplicate hotkey in 'MENU LABEL'.  Testing in menu.c32, only the first
gets a hotkey.

> LABEL nu2
> MENU LABEL ^2. INSERT\partimage -->Tool to get LinuxPartition_UsbDrv Img
>
>  kernel /DiskImages/memdisk
>  append initrd=/DiskImages/BtInsUSB.img

Again, duplicate hotkey in 'MENU LABEL'.

Duplicate label.  It's possible this label will never work.  Labels
that you want to work should always be unique.  How about 'nu2-1',
nu2-2', etc?

> LABEL nu2
> MENU LABEL ^7. Boot to ^DOS  Volkov Commander
>  kernel /DiskImages/memdisk
>  append initrd=/DiskImages/Vc.ima

Duplicate Label.

> LABEL nu2
> MENU LABEL ^10. Boot Knoppix3.3
> kernel Knx33.bin

Duplicate hotkey in 'MENU LABEL' (1).  Duplicate Label.

> #
> label ** Bootable Floppies:
> #

Duplicate Label.  'MENU DISABLE'

> LABEL nu2
>  MENU LABEL ^7.  DosBt622  -->R&S Drives
>  kernel /FloppyImages/memdisk
>  append initrd=/FloppyImages/DosBt622.img

Duplicate Label.

> #
> label ** ^ ISO cd images:
> #

Duplicate Label.  'MENU DISABLE'

>  LABEL Plpbt
>  MENU LABEL ^1. Plpbt
>  KERNEL /ISOimages/memdisk
>  INITRD /ISOimages/Plpbt.iso
>  APPEND iso

Duplicate hotkey in 'MENU LABEL'.

> #
> # memdisk operates on/with ".img/.ima/.iso" files
> #
> LABEL testing ".img/.iso" files
>  MENU LABEL ** ^TEST IMG/ISO File.
>  kernel /test/memdisk
>  initrd  test/filename.iso
>  append  iso
> TEXT HELP
> Press [Tab] >Use  (i) iso  initrd=filename.iso OR (ii)
> initrd=filename.extn
> ENDTEXT

Again, bad label but 'testing' by itself is fine and unique.

> Kindly provide me the syslinux.cfg entries for the REMAINING.

Kindly read doc/syslinux.txt and doc/menu.txt as they should provide
all of the necessary guidance.

> Thanks in advance.
>
> Prof S W Damle

-- 
-Gene




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