[syslinux] Advice/directions to users of Syslinux

[Gene Cumm]

On Sun, Jan 19, 2014 at 5:46 PM, Ronald F. Guilmette
<rfg at tristatelogic.com> wrote:
>
> In message <70229.1390169666 at server1.tristatelogic.com>, I wrote:
>
>>In message <52DC29E3.7080004 at mattiasschlenker.de>,
>>Mattias Schlenker <ms at mattiasschlenker.de> wrote:
>>
>>>To cut a log story short, we probably should write some advices for best
>>>practices of creating bootable media...
>>...
>>   http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/SYSLINUX
>
> In addition to any & all other advice and directions given to users
> of Syslinux, I would like to suggest the following:
>
> 1)  Make sure that your distribution images and/or install instructions
>     results in the end-user ending up with a USB stick that contains
>     one partition that is explicity flagged as "bootable".  (As I have
>     now learned, this isn't absolutely necessary for booting off a USB
>     stick with my... admittedly dated... BIOS, however it does cause
>     the device to show up on the Boot Priority list, and this in turn
>     can eliminate one possible source of confusion for end-users.)
>
> 2)  In the usage instructions for your Syslinux-assisted bootable
>     product (i.e. the instructions that YOU give to end-users) advise
>     the end-users that if they have trouble booting your product when
>     it is installed onto a USB device that is itself plugged into one
>     of the front USB ports on a traditional "desktop" type system that
>     they should try instead connecting the device to one of the rear
>     USB ports.   (I personally don't know if this is even actually an
>     issue, but some have suggeted here that it may sometimes be.)
>
>     In the usage instructions for your Syslinux-assisted bootable
>     product (i.e. the instructions that YOU give to end-users) advise
>     the end-users that if they have trouble booting your product when
>     it is installed onto a USB device that is itself plugged into some
>     add-on USB controller card (e.g. a USB 3.0 add-on card), then they
>     should try instead connecting the device to one of the built-in
>     USB ports that are a part of the base motherboard.  (I can attest
>     now, based on an experiment that I just now ran, that indeed the
>     ports on the USB 3.0 add-on card that I have installed into my
>     Gigabtye GA-M55Plus-S3G are not even seen by the BIOS, and that
>     thus, a stick which is perfectly bootable from the regular mother-
>     board USB 2.0 ports cannot be booted when plugged into the USB 3.0
>     ports on the add-on card.)

http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Hardware_Compatibility#USB_related_problems
is probably a good place to start documenting some of these tips and
troubleshooting hints (which I just started).

-- 
-Gene