[syslinux] Trying to build bootable iso but very confused by syslinux documentation

[John Lewis]

Right now I am trying to boot a memtest, and I got pretty far, but it
still isn't working. I linked to a screenshot in a virtual machine.

https://i.sli.mg/6pvtAJ.png

On 05/10/2016 04:55 AM, Thomas Schmitt wrote:
> Hi,
>
>> I only have the vaguest
>> understand of what the flags in the man page of xorrisofs and xorriso are.
> The options reflect a long tradition of program mkisofs and the
> winded road of boot firmware entry points in ISO 9660 filesystems.
> So one cannot expect to find much of a common system in them.
>
>
>> there doesn't seem to
>> exist a hello word like exercise that is simple and predictable.
> OSDev.org tries to provide such examples. Begin to read here:
>
>   http://wiki.osdev.org/El-Torito
>   http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php?title=ISOLINUX
>
> for booting from optical media and then go on to
>
>   http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php?title=Isohybrid
>
> for learning about enhancing the ISO for USB stick or hard disk.
>
> Be aware that booting via EFI firmware from optical media cannot yet
> be done by SYSLINUX. You need other bootloaders or boot strategies
> for that. They can be combined with ISOLINUX in the same ISO image.
>
> Examples are netinst ISOs of Debian (not their LiveCDs), or ISOs
> of Archlinux, Gentoo, Fedora, or openSuSE.
> xorriso-1.4.2 will show you their equipment by
>
>   xorriso -indev debian-8.4.0-amd64-netinst.iso \
>           -report_el_torito plain -report_system_area plain
>
> It will make proposals of boot related xorrisofs options to reproduce
> the shown equipment by
>
>   xorriso -indev debian-8.4.0-amd64-netinst.iso \
>           -report_el_torito as_mkisofs
>
>
>> I would
>> need to get an Electrical Engineer to translate the parts I don't
>> understand.
> The EE would be Joerg Schilling, developer of mkisofs. I studied math. :))
>
> Do not hesitate to ask.
>
> As long as it is about booting ISOLINUX it will be on-topic and
> hopefully of interest here.
> If it is about pure xorriso aspects, ask at  gnu-xorriso at gnu.org .
> (This list is tightly moderated. Be patient until your mail shows up.
>  As soon as i read it, i will make it public.)
> If privacy is needed, write to scdbackup at gmx.net .
>
>
> Have a nice day :)
>
> Thomas
>