How to Make a Bootable Flash Drive using ISObooter

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rcrsn51
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#101 Post by rcrsn51 »

d4p wrote: I think Partnew methode is not for old computers???.
I don't have any really old P4 machines to test, but ISObooter works fine on my old Athlon box.

Did you see any error messages?

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d4p
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#102 Post by d4p »

@nooby

There are a lot of loader alternatives you can choose depending on your need.
I have no idea which other loader can support ntfs, vfat, linux ext* and cdfs format.
I use all formats for multiboot on a usb external HD and it suppose to work on a lot of computers, but not for uefi.
Some limitations each format what I know so far:
vfat can not handel a file over 4 Gb
linux ext* will not support windows and iso file
Many linux liveos(s) do not support ntfs
cdfs will not work on extended partition

@rcrsn51

No problem on athlon, p5, i3, i5, i7

error 29: disk write error
Dell workstation 340
pci card usb 2.0
boot from plop
p4 2.8 ghz
rambus 2 Gb

nooby
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#103 Post by nooby »

I don't want to derail this thread but the following thread
has implication for the grub4DOS usage in Puppy?

Simplifying the Boot process for all PUP use: Clearing it UP
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=85059

Sorry I am too lazy to go through each post and only quote
the exact text that tells me that if them have any say in the future
then there will be no GRUB4DOS anymore :) That is how I read them
I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

amigo
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#104 Post by amigo »

nooby, I think you got the wrong idea. The upshot of the other thread is that isolinux is the most likely thing to be able to boot nearly anywhere. grub4dos is way more flexible where it can be used -but a LiveCD that boots with *any* grub will fail to boot on some machines, where and *isolinux* Live CD will boot.

nooby
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#105 Post by nooby »

Amigo thanks for pointing out the real issue
and the driving motivation of that thread.

To find a boot loader that would always work
on a CD/DVD way of booting.

But on small computers like Netboots
they have no CD/DVD so one can use SD card reader
built in and that work also for the USB connector way
of booting but then one need a bootloader made for
booting a USB or SD Card.

rcrsn51 coming up with Isobooter works well
for USB I have tested it many times now.

So if all puppies goes over to *isolinux* Live
would that still work? Mabye it does I only felt
a scare feeling of the end of booting Puppies
this easy way?

What about *isolinux* Live and frugal install on the HD?
Would not that need Grub3dos if one have NTFS only partitions?

*isolinux* Live would need Fat32 or Ext2 or so on?

I know too little but posted my fear here so somebody could explain
I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

nooby
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#106 Post by nooby »

I found this text on the other easy way to iso boot page.
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!
I have only used the Easy2boot once or twice
and did not understand it and ended up with
non contigious error too often due to me on fat 32

So I went over to your isobooter instead that always
create a new contigious fat32 and is even more easy to use.
At least for me.

But I fail to get what they write in that text that I quoted
from here http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 500#698500
I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

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d4p
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#107 Post by d4p »

always create a new contigious fat32
Not only fat32, ntfs will do almost the same thing.
".isomem" extension is recognized to cause a non-contiguous ISO to be copied to RAM first.
but it takes some time to load and finally booting.
If you get the "dis-contiguous" problem, just reformat the drive and start again.
Maybe ok just for 2 or 3 files only, how about if you have hundreds iso files like mine.

I think you can reduce the contiguous problem with multi partitions methode.
At least I dont need to do defragmentation all the time.

nooby
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#108 Post by nooby »

Thanks my questions was not clear enough.
I never heard of the technical term isomem
so I asked more about how does it come up at all
and what cause it and how to avoid it and so on.
Is it GParted that created it or is it the Iso Devs
that chose to include it or is it a kind of error warning or what?
I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

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d4p
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#109 Post by d4p »

Isomem is a good idea (Steve website for tech detail), but (in my opinion) bad result at the end.
Some you may to know:
How big/fast is your physical ram/computer?
How big is your iso file to be copied to ram memory?
How long is the copy process?
How long is the iso booting until you get your desktop?
You will find out some of copied iso will not boot at all.
You can not run isomem from ntfs.

Direct iso booting is better to go and/or anyway frugal booting is the most reliable.

nooby
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#110 Post by nooby »

Thanks for explaining what the term refers to.

I fail to get frugal install of Elive to work on HD
it don't allow me to access the HD even if me root.

Same with Antix both being Debian.

the cute thing is that SickGut made a Debian
that do allow frugal install and still access to HD
so he is clever indeed and none of the others have done that?

Unfortunately I am not good at understanding how to use Pussy Linux.
and when I asked him how to install MakeHuman on Pussy he
seem not sure either how to do it.

But I am derailing our thread here. Apology to rcrsn51
I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

nooby
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#111 Post by nooby »

Tried this using isobooter but failed two times in a row.
Started anew each time. The error it gives are that it fail to find
the mbr signature file? so most likely it is Suse that has set up
something unique for them when one boot this iso

2013-06-14 NEW • Development Release: openSUSE 13.1 Milestone 2
http://download.opensuse.org/distributi ... x86_64.iso
I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

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rcrsn51
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#112 Post by rcrsn51 »

Maybe this is a UEFI issue?

nooby
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#113 Post by nooby »

So the Suse software expect that everybody provide such file
but would they not include some exception in the boot up script
that realize on boot on old hardware with not UEFI active?

You know these things way above my grasp so I can only share
my surprise that the Devs of Suse would send out an ISO
that fail to boot on old gear? No big deal. Fedora booted
but them had no Adobe Flash so no use for me.
Crunchbang, Linux Mint LXDE, Solyd Linux, Solus Linux and Zorin linux
all of them have Adobe Flash so I have enough rescue usb now that boots :)

Thanks indeed for your isobooter. So much easier to boot other linuxes this way. Fast set up and boot and works almost like Puppy no need for to be Sudo or root at all. one can do almost anything and it ask nothing or complain
I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

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d4p
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#114 Post by d4p »

openSUSE-12.3-GNOME-Live/-Edu-life/-Rescue-CD & kiwi-12.08 work ok.

Some linux lives you suppose to try even not in the top of the list like you mentioned above:
Mozillux
Australis linux
Alinux live
Avlinux
LXLE

nooby
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#115 Post by nooby »

You mention
Mozillux
Australis linux
Alinux live
Avlinux
LXLE

Does any of them have Adobe Flash built in from scratch in the "live" iso?
or else no need for me to test them.
I use Google Search on Puppy Forum
not an ideal solution though

rmcellig
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#116 Post by rmcellig »

I figured it out. Disregard below.

When I type this into the terminal:

Code: Select all

grub-install --force --no-floppy --root-directory=/mnt/sdb1 /dev/sdb
I get this:

Code: Select all

sh-4.1# grub-install --force --no-floppy --root-directory=/mnt/sdb1 /dev/sdb
Unrecognized option `--force'
Usage: grub-install [OPTION] install_device
Install GRUB on your drive.

  -h, --help              print this message and exit
  -v, --version           print the version information and exit
  --root-directory=DIR    install GRUB images under the directory DIR
                          instead of the root directory
  --grub-shell=FILE       use FILE as the grub shell
  --no-floppy             do not probe any floppy drive
  --force-lba             force GRUB to use LBA mode even for a buggy
                          BIOS
  --recheck               probe a device map even if it already exists

INSTALL_DEVICE can be a GRUB device name or a system device filename.

grub-install copies GRUB images into the DIR/boot directory specfied by
--root-directory, and uses the grub shell to install grub into the boot
sector.

Report bugs to <bug-grub@gnu.org>.
sh-4.1# 
What should I do? My usb stick is sdb1

rmcellig
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#117 Post by rmcellig »

I'm obviously doing something wrong here. When I boot from the USB stick, I see the menu with only one of my four iso's listed. I am not able to boot from any of the items that are listed in Grub.

Here is my config file. I have all of the iso files on my usb stick.

Code: Select all

# This grub.cfg file was created by Lance http://www.pendrivelinux.com
# Suggested Entries and the suggestor, if available, will also be noted.

set timeout=10
set default=0

menuentry "lxle" {
 loopback loop /lxle.iso
 linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/lxle.iso noeject noprompt splash --
 initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
 
 menuentry "wattos" {
 loopback loop /wattos.iso
 linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/wattos.iso noeject noprompt splash --
 initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}

menuentry "mangeia3" {
 loopback loop /mageia.iso
 linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/mint.seed boot=casper initrd=/casper/initrd.lz iso-scan/filename=/mageia.iso noeject noprompt splash --
 initrd (loop)/casper/initrd.lz
}

menuentry "pclinuxos" {
 loopback loop /pclinuxos.iso
 linux (loop)/DBAN.BZI nuke="dwipe" iso-scan/filename=/pclinuxos.iso silent --
} 

## menuentry "Tinycore ISO" {
 ## loopback loop /tinycore.iso
 ## linux (loop)/boot/bzImage --
 ## initrd (loop)/boot/tinycore.gz
}

menuentry "Memtest 86+" {
 linux16 /memtest86+.bin
}

menuentry "SystemRescueCd" {
 loopback loop /systemrescuecd.iso
 linux (loop)/isolinux/rescuecd isoloop=/systemrescuecd.iso setkmap=us docache dostartx
 initrd (loop)/isolinux/initram.igz
}
Attachments
stick.jpg
(14.63 KiB) Downloaded 1365 times

Scooby
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#118 Post by Scooby »

rmcellig wrote:

Code: Select all

## menuentry "Tinycore ISO" {
 ## loopback loop /tinycore.iso
 ## linux (loop)/boot/bzImage --
 ## initrd (loop)/boot/tinycore.gz
}


I havent tested but i spotted you forgot to comment out closing curly bracket }
Maybe this F***S up parsing?

rmcellig
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#119 Post by rmcellig »

Thanks for pointing this out.

watchdog
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Location: Italy

#120 Post by watchdog »

I want to tell to you about my experiments. By unetbootin I created a usb stick persistent of lubuntu 13.04. Unetbootin uses a file as casper-rw. I found that my install was too slow running from usb stick so I wanted to transfer the install to hd using grub2 to boot the iso. I had not success to make recognized the casper-rw file of the usb-stick copied to hd. If someone has success in this I beg him to tell to me how. But I achieved another result. I copied by pudd the original casper-rw file to a usb-stick partition. Then labeled the usb stick partition as casper-rw. Now booting the lubuntu's iso by grub2 from hd it recognize the original persistent install casper-rw in the usb-stick. Now my lubuntu is fast enough.

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