HOWTO create easy multi-boot USB Puppy from Linux

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Scooby
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Joined: Sat 03 Mar 2012, 09:04

#61 Post by Scooby »

slitaz requests events from the kernel and lock.

Antix 13 Can not mount SDA1 but that could

Steve who created Easy2Boot has posted some menu items of Slitaz and Antix --- I havent tried them!

You can use them directly with Easy2Boot .mnu feature or hack the straight into
isobooter menu.lst and try.

I dunnow if they'll work bur steve is very good at what he does - you could try

Good luck with isobooter!
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Slitaz-4.0.iso.zip
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nooby
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#62 Post by nooby »

Edit. It could have been me downloading the wrong iso.
I still don't know I am too lazy to find out. sorry
old text
I downloaded and looked into Slitaz-4.0.iso.zip and there is
nothing there that is different from what Easy2boot already have
in the boot code so I doubt it would work differently.
Last edited by nooby on Wed 10 Apr 2013, 09:04, edited 1 time in total.
I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

Scooby
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Joined: Sat 03 Mar 2012, 09:04

#63 Post by Scooby »

nooby wrote:I downloaded and looked into Slitaz-4.0.iso.zip and there is
nothing there that is different from what Easy2boot already have
in the boot code so I doubt it would work differently.
As I said I didnt try it(or look at it) but it was reported as working

Scooby
Posts: 599
Joined: Sat 03 Mar 2012, 09:04

#64 Post by Scooby »

looks like rmprep(steve) is working on a new version of Easy2Boot

It seems like he is working on windows install iso's and more

check out

https://sites.google.com/a/rmprepusb.com/www/tutorials/72---easyboot---a-grubdos-multiboot-drive-that-is-easy-to-maintain

also check out his blog for more info


http://rmprepusb.blogspot.co.uk/

DrDeaf
Posts: 69
Joined: Sat 30 Dec 2006, 14:10

#65 Post by DrDeaf »

My present choices of boot media and file system made "Alternative 1" look best to me. I didn't stick with it because it writes out the ISO files to a separate partition.
It worked well but there was one fly in the ointment.
I don't use savefiles so my practice is to boot from "read only".
I did wonder if it is possible to set it up to copy the ISO files to RAM and then proceed? Perhaps delete the files after boot?
I use Fatdog64 and I installed RAM to take advantage of that. RAM space is not a problem.
Thanks for your work!

gcmartin

#66 Post by gcmartin »

Hi DrDeaf
DrDeaf wrote:...
I did wonder if it is possible to set it up to copy the ISO files to RAM and then proceed? Perhaps delete the files after boot? ...
This may help.

When you boot from the USB, after the system is up and running, you will see something like, "sdb1" and "sdb4" icons, on the bottom-left in your desktop. These 2 icon represent your USB drive with one catch: that sdb4 icon is a phantom drive with is a RAM depiction of the real ISO you booted.

Hope this helps.

DrDeaf
Posts: 69
Joined: Sat 30 Dec 2006, 14:10

#67 Post by DrDeaf »

gcmartin wrote:When you boot from the USB, after the system is up and running, you will see something like, "sdb1" and "sdb4" icons, on the bottom-left in your desktop. These 2 icon represent your USB drive with one catch: that sdb4 icon is a phantom drive with is a RAM depiction of the real ISO you booted.
Hi there! Thanks for the reply. It has been a while since I played with it so I was unsure of my memory.... Lucky! I still had the card I used. The "sdb4" was not phantom for me. They are still on the card. Also, as I recall if I forced the card to "read only" it failed. I could not boot if I prevented whatever ISO I chose from writing to sdb4.
I would be happy if the sdb4 was phantom but that was not my experience. Maybe something I don't understand?
Best regards,

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rcrsn51
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#68 Post by rcrsn51 »

DrDeaf wrote:. The "sdb4" was not phantom for me. They are still on the card.
What you see on sdb4 is just a window into the ISO on sdb1. The files on sdb4 have never been physically copied anywhere.

To make sdb4 on a flash drive go away, run Gparted > Device > Create Partition Table

Of course, that will delete everything else on the flash drive.

DrDeaf
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Joined: Sat 30 Dec 2006, 14:10

#69 Post by DrDeaf »

Thanks for your reply!
Whether it's a "phantom" or a "window" I am interested in understanding how the mechanics of this works. However, the focus for me is that the card is required to be writable. From my post yesterday
DrDeaf wrote: I don't use savefiles so my practice is to boot from "read only".
I did wonder if it is possible to set it up to copy the ISO files to RAM and then proceed? Perhaps delete the files after boot?
I use Fatdog64 and I installed RAM to take advantage of that. RAM space is not a problem
I did try booting with the card as read only and as I mentioned it failed.
rcrsn51 wrote: What you see on sdb4 is just a window into the ISO on sdb1. The files on sdb4 have never been physically copied anywhere.

To make sdb4 on a flash drive go away, run Gparted > Device > Create Partition Table
Yes, I understood that before. I made it go away and then created the process again... and got the "window" again! Now I also understand why the sdb4 was "read only" on a writable card. :lol:
As mentioned, the main consideration for me is that I can not make the card "read only" at boot.

Not to distract from my first interest here, but if you could point me to some reference(s) which explain the mechanics of what I'd call the "virtual partition" sdb4, I would appreciate it!
Best regards,

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rcrsn51
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#70 Post by rcrsn51 »

DrDeaf wrote:I don't use savefiles so my practice is to boot from "read only".
Are you referring to the little "Lock" switch on an SD card?
Not to distract from my first interest here, but if you could point me to some reference(s) which explain the mechanics of what I'd call the "virtual partition" sdb4, I would appreciate it!
This may be easier to see using ISObooter. In the menu.lst file, you will see the "partnew" command that associates partition #4 with a particular ISO file.
I did try booting with the card as read only and as I mentioned it failed
.
The first time you run ISObooter, it needs to write an entry into the fourth slot of the partition table. If the card is locked, I expect that would fail. However, once you have set up a particular ISO, you may be able to comment out the "partnew" line in the menu.lst and it would still work when the card is locked.

However, you would need to unlock the card in order to switch ISOs.

DrDeaf
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#71 Post by DrDeaf »

rcrsn51 wrote:
DrDeaf wrote:I don't use savefiles so my practice is to boot from "read only".
Are you referring to the little "Lock" switch on an SD card?
Yes. As I recall it was Bruce Schneier who said "The only real security is physical security". It's been written elsewhere that this is not failsafe for all equipment but it tests OK here.
rcrsn51 wrote:
DrDeaf wrote:Not to distract from my first interest here, but if you could point me to some reference(s) which explain the mechanics of what I'd call the "virtual partition" sdb4, I would appreciate it!
This may be easier to see using ISObooter. In the menu.lst file, you will see the "partnew" command that associates partition #4 with a particular ISO file.
ISObooter was one of the methods I considered. However, the stated requirement to use Ext2 caused me to rule that out. The menu "alias" and as I recall some mentions of allowing persistent storage were concerns. Anyway, if ISObooter will better illustrate the general principle here I will play with it.
rcrsn51 wrote:
DrDeaf wrote:I did try booting with the card as read only and as I mentioned it failed
.
The first time you run ISObooter, it needs to write an entry into the fourth slot of the partition table. If the card is locked, I expect that would fail. However, once you have set up a particular ISO, you may be able to comment out the "partnew" line in the menu.lst and it would still work when the card is locked.

However, you would need to unlock the card in order to switch ISOs.
:lol: :lol: :lol: Yes, that was exactly my experience!

As an aside here, do you know where I can find an existing topic on mounting an external HD as "read only" with FD64?
Thanks!

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rcrsn51
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#72 Post by rcrsn51 »

DrDeaf wrote:ISObooter was one of the methods I considered. However, the stated requirement to use Ext2 caused me to rule that out.
The requirement is for FAT32, not ext2.

DrDeaf
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#73 Post by DrDeaf »

rcrsn51 wrote:
DrDeaf wrote:ISObooter was one of the methods I considered. However, the stated requirement to use Ext2 caused me to rule that out.
The requirement is for FAT32, not ext2.
From your ISObooter. link:

"3. Create a new ext2 partition and flag it as bootable."

In good will and good spirits, I suppose I must have misunderstood!
I tend to pursue a project at full speed until I encounter something that is not quickly overcome. Then, I don't quit... I just put it back in the queue and pursue the next until something appears at hand that may be helpful with that one I had set aside. In my impatience I can miss something!

Anyway, I have some larger NTFS drives that I want to mount as external "read only" with FD64. Know how I can do that? I have searched diligently but I am impatient :lol:
Cheers!

amigo
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#74 Post by amigo »

mount -o ro /dev/somedev /some/mountpoint

muggins
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#75 Post by muggins »

DrDeaf wrote:
"3. Create a new ext2 partition and flag it as bootable."
That's from the grub2 part of the thread...in isobooter section, further below, it has:
1. Format the flash drive partition as FAT32. Flag it bootable.

Scooby
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#76 Post by Scooby »

DrDeaf wrote: Whether it's a "phantom" or a "window" I am interested in understanding how the mechanics of this works.
If you want to know more about how Easy2Boot works
you can check out its homepage at

https://sites.google.com/a/rmprepusb.com/www/tutorials/72---easyboot---a-grubdos-multiboot-drive-that-is-easy-to-maintain/e2bv1

DrDeaf
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#77 Post by DrDeaf »

Hello Amigo!
amigo wrote:mount -o ro /dev/somedev /some/mountpoint
Thanks for your reply, I do understand that and I just wasn't clear in what I wrote, that what I wanted to see when I plugged in an external drive was the icon appear in the lower left hand corner and a right click would offer a mount read only option. I had hunted through the utilities for a way to no avail.
I do miss seeing the active path precede the cursor. Other little things too but it will just take time to become accustomed to it all. Typing in a bare command to see what the correct arguments are here, etc.
Thanks again for your kind reply!

DrDeaf
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Joined: Sat 30 Dec 2006, 14:10

#78 Post by DrDeaf »

Scooby wrote: If you want to know more about how Easy2Boot works
you can check out its homepage at
Thanks Scooby. When I was first thinking about the ISO thing I chose your Alt. 1 (Easy2Boot-grub4dos_v0.5.zip) since I was already using Grub4Dos to boot different versions from different partitions on a read only card and that had worked well. Your files worked well but I had to leave the media rw so that the sdx4 partition could be created. I did read about Easy2Boot back then and I noticed that he was working on a version to use Windows ISOs as well.
Thanks to your reply here, I went back and looked again. Now the new version is out and I saw much more than just Windows added.
Now, an ".isomem" extension is recognized to cause a non-contiguous ISO to be copied to RAM first. It will try to write the sdx4 phantom partition but perhaps it would boot anyway.
Yes!
The new version does work on a read only media!
It does not fail if it can not write the dbx4 partition!
Success, and a big "Thanks" :D

DrDeaf
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#79 Post by DrDeaf »

Thanks! :oops:
Should have read down deeper. Just in a hurry!
muggins wrote:DrDeaf wrote:
"3. Create a new ext2 partition and flag it as bootable."
That's from the grub2 part of the thread...in isobooter section, further below, it has:
1. Format the flash drive partition as FAT32. Flag it bootable.

Scooby
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#80 Post by Scooby »

DrDeaf wrote: Now, an ".isomem" extension is recognized to cause a non-contiguous ISO to be copied to RAM first.
That sounds great!

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