(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Posted: **Sun 25 Feb 2018, 02:12**

ISObooter is really an efficient tool. About mikeslr opinion i fully agree. people should think that the answer to How-to-install Puppy has yet been solved. Just search in the forum in the right place. No need to build new systems which loose newbies in hazardous expermental boot systems.
Don't ignore Grub4Dos, Don't ignore Isobooter Or loose yourself in Grub2... or img2key, or Porteus, or casper..
People don't read how-to, they transfer research to helpers. So well don't ask them to use Linux booter for Ubuntu or Porteus, listen to Puppy Linux tools
Failing to dual-boot puppy and windows 7 is unbelievable.. Just consider that sda1 not to be touched..
Some VIPs still think that a Puppy cannot be boot without having burn a CD... And don't want to admit different ways.
TO be positive This topic has been translated to french by esmourguit Utiliser ISObooter traduction en français

Posted: **Thu 28 Jun 2018, 06:49**

see topic Nilson Morales Ayuda al pueblo latino

Posted: **Tue 25 Dec 2018, 17:54**

Hi rcrsn51,

I still think ISOBooter is one of the best things you've ever done, and that's saying something since I use so many other of your created things.

Currently, I have ~24 ISOs I use on ISOBooter, from pups to ddogs to many Linux distros, and they all work/boot great (except sometimes Fedora-based ones get picky).

But I have only one question: I know Fat32 has a max file limit size of 4GB (if I recall correctly). Well, I forgot this, and I went and downloaded the latest CentOS-7 64-bit (size 4,7GB) and then tried to transfer it into ISOBooter. Then I remembered the limitations of FAT32. Knowing this, I was wondering, is there any chance in the future that a re-vamped ISOBooter (using different partitioning) could/would work with the bigger ISOs from the mainline Linux distros like the 4.7GB CentOS-7 iso?

Posted: **Sun 30 Dec 2018, 14:15**

But I have only one question: I know Fat32 has a max file limit size of 4GB (if I recall correctly). Well, I forgot this, and I went and downloaded the latest CentOS-7 64-bit (size 4,7GB) and then tried to transfer it into ISOBooter. Then I remembered the limitations of FAT32. Knowing this, I was wondering, is there any chance in the future that a re-vamped ISOBooter (using different partitioning) could/would work with the bigger ISOs from the mainline Linux distros like the 4.7GB CentOS-7 iso?

Not to my knowledge. ISObooter uses a Grub4Dos technique that only works with FAT32.

Although, I don't know anything about exFAT.

[Edit] It looks to me like Grub4Dos does NOT recognize exfat partitions.

You could always "burn" the CentOS ISO onto a flash drive with dd.

Posted: **Sun 30 Dec 2018, 19:34**

Hi Belham,

Then I remembered the limitations of FAT32. Knowing this, I was wondering, is there any chance in the future that a re-vamped ISOBooter (using different partitioning) could/would work with the bigger ISOs from the mainline Linux distros like the 4.7GB CentOS-7 iso?

It can be done with GRUB2, but it's a bit complicated "manual way", i.e. install GRUB2 to a partition (not write MBR) e.g. sdb2.
Then add entry in menu.lst that chainloads GRUB2 and have entries in grub.cfg to boot ISO's that are on the second (ext3/4 formatted) partition.
If you are interested, just tell me and I'll try to explain the steps.

The advantage of using GRUB2 for ISO booting is that fragmenting is not a problem (in contrary to using grub4dos (problem can be that the ISO is "not contiguous")).
Disadvantage is that booting ISO "from splash screen" (displaying isolinux screen with the entries) like grub4dos can do) is not possible with GRUB2 AFAIK (but anyone correct me if I'm wrong).

Best Wishes

EDIT: Tried earlier GRUB2 booting with Debian and Ubuntu ISO's, now tried a Puppy, and it didn't boot to the desktop.
Error is: main .sfs not found. Maybe needs some special parameter that I don't know of.

Fred

Posted: **Mon 31 Dec 2018, 04:16**

fredx181 wrote: EDIT: Tried earlier GRUB2 booting with Debian and Ubuntu ISO's, now tried a Puppy, and it didn't boot to the desktop.
Error is: main .sfs not found. Maybe needs some special parameter that I don't know of.

Fred

Extract the main sfs from the iso to the same partition where it is and boot again. This worked for me in several cases.

Posted: **Sun 27 Jan 2019, 18:55**

Update: Some BIOSes won't boot an ISObooter flash drive because they mistake it for a ZIP drive. Your flash drive may appear in the BIOS incorrectly under Removable Devices. Here is a work-around.

1. Run Gparted and make two partitions:
a. Make a SMALL ext2 partition and flag it bootable.
b. Make the rest of the drive into a FAT32 partition.

2a. Copy the ISObooter script onto the first partition. Do NOT put any ISOs there.
2b. Run ISObooter. Make the drive bootable.
2c. Add the following menu.lst file:

Code: Select all

timeout 10
default 0

title More ISOs (see the instructions)
configfile (hd0,1)/menu.lst
commandline

3a. Copy the ISObooter script onto the second partition. Add an ISO file.
3b. Run ISObooter. Do NOT make the drive bootable. Create the menu entry for your ISO.

4. Boot the flash drive.

Posted: **Sat 16 Mar 2019, 19:37**

Bill,

Do you know how I may need to setup the latest 64b Slax ISO in order to gain persistence?

My 2g stick is partitioned with a 262mb FAT primary with the remainder as an ext4 primary.

Thoughts or suggestions?

Posted: **Sat 16 Mar 2019, 20:35**

No. But there is lots of documentation for installing Slax on a USB device.

Posted: **Sat 16 Mar 2019, 20:53**

Semme wrote:Bill,

Do you know how I may need to setup the latest 64b Slax ISO in order to gain persistence?

My 2g stick is partitioned with a 262mb FAT primary with the remainder as an ext4 primary.

Thoughts or suggestions?

Sorry, off-topic reply because it hasn't got to do with Isobooter, anyway:
Don't know how to do with Isobooter, but for a frugal install I've created 'slax' directory on sdb1 (ext4 filesystem), copied the contents of the Slax ISO to it and have as grub4dos menu.lst entry:

Code: Select all

title Run Slax (Persistent changes)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /slax/boot/vmlinuz from=/slax/ vga=normal load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw printk.time=0 slax.flags=perch,automount
initrd /slax/boot/initrfs.img

(change "root (hd0,0)" to what it is for you)

Fred

Posted: **Sun 17 Mar 2019, 00:52**

Fred,

While I don't fully understand the menu.lst layout when defining a bootable partition on thumb drives, I believe the answer lies within this post.

I suppose there's no harm in a little trial-n-error to navigate the waters..

Posted: **Fri 12 Apr 2019, 23:01**

used rcrsn51 isobooter fredx181 respin on inostar 8 gig usb
pup slacko 6.0 64, slacko6.2.0 64, antix 7, thar.6.0.6 64,
all run. enter y terminal, boot like cd this good
try save in slacko 6.0 it work then run like frugal [save icon on desk top]
thanks

Posted: **Sun 29 Mar 2020, 00:07**

rcrsn51 Your ISOboot is brilliant. Thank you so much for all the professional quality work you do for Puppy. You have given so much help over the years in such a clear, concise manner.
Do you have another name other than 'rcrsn51' that's easier to remember? I'd like to break my habit of calling you that 'distinquished bronze head' contributor.

Sky

Posted: **Sun 29 Mar 2020, 11:14**

Sky Aisling wrote:rcrsn51 Your ISOboot is brilliant. Thank you so much for all the professional quality work you do for Puppy. You have given so much help over the years in such a clear, concise manner.
Do you have another name other than 'rcrsn51' that's easier to remember? I'd like to break my habit of calling you that 'distinquished bronze head' contributor.

Sky

@ Sky Aisling:-

Well, if you do a bit of detective work:-

Lives in Stratford, Ontario. --> Stratford, UK?

The avatar is that of a bust of the playwright William Shakespeare, who was born in Stratford, here in England....

So, some of us refer to, and address rcrsn51, as..... "Bill". I doubt it's his real name, but it's a bit easier to remember!

Mike.

Posted: **Thu 23 Apr 2020, 11:34**

A surprise experience.

I have used ISObooter many times, running it from USB flashdrive.
I got a surprise today, when I used it to test an iso which I had produced after a remaster.
The OS booted ok, but the loaded base sfs was not the one in the iso. What’s more, a fdrv got loaded that was not included in the iso .
Both these ‘foreign’ sfs were shown in /initrd/mnt/tmpfs/
After scratching my head, I realized that on booting, init first checks the (unmounted) computer partitions before it checks the USB to find the base sfs.
First found, best served .... the two sfs that got loaded were in / of one of the computer’s partitions.
It does not matter which partition they are on, as long as they are in /, init does not check sub directories.
The lesson: When tinkering with Puppy, place files in a subdirectory, ISObooter will then do what you expect from it.
cheers
proebler

Posted: **Thu 23 Apr 2020, 12:19**

Just to be clear, your situation is not the "fault" of ISObooter. Its ONLY job is to build a menu.lst file that Grub4Dos will use when the USB boots.

What happens after that is the responsibility of Grub4DOS and the stuff inside the ISO.

It's the same situation as booting off a CD. Some Puppies will give higher priority to SFS files found on the hard drive over those on the CD.

If your ISObooter menu contains "pmedia=cd", try changing it to "pmedia=usbflash".

Posted: **Thu 23 Apr 2020, 12:57**

Understood.
I do not consider it to be a "fault" of ISObooter.
Thanks for the tip about changing the pmedia parameter.

Posted: **Thu 30 Apr 2020, 01:41**

where is plik ?

Posted: **Fri 19 Jun 2020, 15:53**

Morning Bill,

A little help if you would please.. I'm trying to set up the latest Peppermint with persistence.

The section here is the standard ISObooter method and goes off without a hitch:

Code: Select all

title Peppermint-10-20191210-amd64
partnew (hd0,3) 0x00 (hd0,0)/Peppermint-10-20191210-amd64.iso
map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 (hd0,0)/Peppermint-10-20191210-amd64.iso (0xff)
map --hook
root (0xff)
chainloader (0xff)

This, one of which I've tried doesn't quite fly (code block wrapped beginning with the "noeject" bit so as not to explode our page):

Code: Select all

title Peppermint-10-20191210-amd64
find --set-root /Peppermint-10-20191210-amd64.iso
map --heads=255 --sectors-per-track=63 /Peppermint-10-20191210-amd64.iso (0xff)
map --hook
root (0xff)
kernel /casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=(hd0,0)/Peppermint-10-20191210-amd64.iso 
noeject noprompt splash persistent --
initrd /casper/initrd.lz

It hangs on:

Code: Select all

(initramfs) /scripts/casper-premount/20iso_scan:
line 46: Can't open /dev/sr0: No medium found

Advice? Or is there something I could dig out with ISOMaster?

Because I'm unsure as to how big "casper-rw" should be, here's how I've got the stick partitioned...

Posted: **Fri 19 Jun 2020, 17:28**

A lot has changed since the early days of ISObooter. It's been years since I even attempted to set up a big-boy Linux with persistence.

Your best bet now is GRUB2 with a boot entry like this:

Code: Select all

menuentry "linuxmint-19.1-xfce-64bit" {
	set isopath="/linuxmint-19.1-xfce-64bit.iso"
	set uuid="7a177726-a6b6-4ef6-a717-98e2e8142080"
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root $uuid
	loopback loop $isopath
	linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=$isopath noeject noprompt splash --
	initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}

I recently wrote a how-to for putting GRUB2 on a flash drive. It may still be posted somewhere in the Starter Kit threads.

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

How to Make a Bootable Flash Drive using ISObooter

How-to-install Puppy has yet been solved

see topic Nilson Morales

How to Make a Bootable Flash Drive using ISObooter

Re: How to Make a Bootable Flash Drive using ISObooter

ISObooter