How to Make a Bootable Flash Drive using ISObooter

[rcrsn51]

USB bootability is controlled by your system BIOS and it varies widely. For example, I have a machine that will not boot Fatdog off USB because of its large initrd file. But if I rebuild Fatdog with a conventional sfs file, it works fine.

I suspect that you are having the same kind of problem, since ISObooter works for you with small ISOs like Puppy.

BTW, I also got phinxdesktop-2012-64bit-beta1.iso to boot for me.

[johnywhy]

I have a machine that will not boot Fatdog off USB because of its large initrd file. But if I rebuild Fatdog with a conventional sfs file, it works fine.

is it possible for me to rebuild PCLinuxOS with a conventional sfs file?

thx!

[johnywhy]

hi

i installed stock tahr puppy to a usb drive, using isobooter.

note, my hard drive contained pupsaves for NOPtahrpuppy, and LXPuppytahr.

on boot of the stock tahr puppy from usb drive, i noticed i booted into xfce.

wha?

seems the usb found and used the pupsave on my harddrive. That's unexpected/undesirable.

suggestion/request for the isobooter team: please don't use pupsaves outside of the iso, or at least outside of the usb device.

Or make it optional somehow.

thx!

----
meanwhile, i cannot figure out how to boot off other pupsaves when i want to! :/
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 129#839129

[rcrsn51]

The responsibility for locating a savefile belongs to the Puppy being booted, not ISObooter. If Puppy X is accidentally picking the savefile of a related Puppy Y, you should address the problem with the builder of Puppy X.

However, there are two ways of setting up ISObooter. If you boot to the splash screen, ISObooter simulates booting off an actual CD. In that mode, most Puppies will automatically search the hard drive for a savefile. That's standard procedure in Puppy. But you can bypass this by typing the "puppy pfix=ram" boot option.

If you boot to the desktop, ISObooter simulates a frugal install. So Puppy looks for the savefile close to the main SFS - ie. on the USB drive. But this search mechanism is constantly changing in Puppy, and there is no guarantee that the USB savefile will be picked before a hard drive savefile. Again, this has nothing to do with ISObooter.

After you have run the ISObooter setup, look at its menu.lst file. You are free to customize it any way you want to get a different boot procedure that fits your needs.

[johnywhy]

thx for that

[slavvo67]

@rcrsn51

Following your instructions to the letter, I added Slacko, 5 Headed Titan and the new VividPup. This worked like a charm including the save file (at least for Vivid). So my only concern is the quality of the save file; as I have had many issues with puppy's save files in the past. This is why I tend to use Barry's full USB installs (Quirky series).

Anyway, thank you for the tutorial. It was a fun and easy project to undertake.

Regards,

Slavvo67

[ASRI éducation]

@ rcrsn51

I started testing isobooter.
For a small script (under 100 lines), it is impressive what he is capable of.
I made some changes to suit my needs (adding options grub menu).
Thank you a lot.

Regards,

[rcrsn51]

Some users want to boot off a flash drive, but put their savefile on the hard drive. Puppy does not like this combination with ISObooter - it wants to make the flash drive install self-contained. So here is a work-around:

1. Set up ISObooter with "splash screen = y".
2. Boot Puppy off the flash drive.
3. Once booted, mount the flash drive and edit the menu.lst file.
4. Delete the "chainloader" line and replace it with

Code: Select all

kernel /vmlinuz pmedia=atahd pdev1=sdaX
initrd /initrd.gz

Note that "pdev1" ends with the digit "one" and "X" is the number of the target hard drive partition.

5. Save and unmount the flash drive.
6. Shut down and make your savefile on partition sdaX. Also copy the main SFS file(s) to sdaX.
7. Reboot.

[Sylvander]

Woohoo!
1. I was really pleased when I used IsoBooter to make a bootable Flash Drive holding the latest TahrPup [6.0.3?], and it boots on a laptop just fine.

2. Now I'm even more delighted, because I've just added an ISO file for the latest Comodo Virus Scanner [Comodo Rescue disk here], and its working just fine, scanning away at the Windows-7 partitions as I type, and found 1 threat.
a. Originally Windows had run Avast to eliminate infection.
b. Then I scanned using Slacko-5.7.0-pae->Avast_on_demand_scanner, and it found 1 virus on a "scanned/clean" system.
c. Then I scanned using the new Comodo, and so far it has found 1 "threat".
d. Only problem is: Comodo is unable to connect wirelessly to my router, so is unable update its virus database. I'll need to try connecting by cable.
Puppy connects wirelessly just fine using "Frisbee".

3. IsoBooter is FABULOUS!

[rcrsn51]

Excellent. Unfortunately, if your system has the "sfs file not found" problem, it will probably also happen with ISObooter. I have always suspected that this is a USB timing issue with some hardware and might be fixed by a "waitusb" boot option like in other LInuxes.

[Mike Walsh]

@rcrsn51:-

I sometimes have this problem myself. With most Puppies, they'll happily install to, and boot from, USB. I've never been able to do this with Carolina, or X-Tahr, or X-Slacko.

Coincidentally, they all use the XFCE desktop. I can't believe this has anything to do with it, however. I used to run the XFCE desktop alongside Unity in Ubuntu 'Trusty' last year, and also had a spell using Xubuntu itself. Never had any problems with either of them.

The only reason I quit the 'buntus was that 1), they were starting to get too 'high-maintenance', and 2), Canonical's constant updates began trashing my graphics.....freezes and 'jam-ups' were becoming a regular occurrence. Might have meant they were starting to drop support for older graphics hardware, in their eagerness to win over the 'ex-Windows' crowd. I haven't had the problem since going 'all-Puppy'.

Can you elaborate a little further on the 'waitusb' timing thing, please? I'm curious to know whether there's a way of implementing this in Puppy.


Regards,

Mike.

[Mike7]

With most Puppies, they'll happily install to, and boot from, USB. I've never been able to do this with Carolina

I installed Carolite-1.2 on a USB stick using grub4dos and it boots okay every time. So it doesn't look like an Xfce issue.

M.

[rcrsn51]

@Mike Walsh: Have you tried one of these troublesome X-Puppies with ISObooter?

[Ether]

7a. Add some ISO files to your drive. You can copy them from other locations or download them directly from the web.
7b. After putting an ISO on the drive, run the "sync" command.

I'm new at Linux so go easy on me if the answer to this question should be obvious (see note at bottom).

What does the "sync" command do, and does 7b mean:

Run the sync command after you've put all the ISO files on the drive.

or

Run the sync command each time you put an ISO on the drive.


I think it means the latter but I want to be sure.


For context, here is what I am attempting to do: I have a test machine (Dell Dimension E310) that I want to set up to multiboot DD Jesse, Puppy Precise 5.7.1, and Linux Mint 17.2 Rafaela 32bit (I have the live/install ISO).


Note: I tried searching this thread for "sync" but I think it only searched the first page. Is there a simple way to search an entire thread for a word or phrase?
.

[rcrsn51]

When using ISObooter with multiple ISOs, it's essential that the data on the USB drive is contiguous. I believe that the safest way to ensure this is to run the "sync" command from a terminal after each copy. This ensures that the data transfer is complete before you start another operation.

However, the latest posted version of ISObooter will automatically do a sync before it builds the menu. So it may be sufficient to copy all the ISOs, then run the program.

Maintaining contiguity depends on a lot of factors. I would add one ISO at a time, run the program and check that the device boots.

Are you making a bootable USB drive or are you attempting to do a hard drive setup? As a beginner, you should do a USB setup first.

[Ether]

Are you making a bootable USB drive or are you attempting to do a hard drive setup? As a beginner, you should do a USB setup first.

I can do the USB first if that is highly recommended, but my ultimate goal is to install everything on the hard disk of the E310 (there's nothing of value presently on the hard disk, so I will format it FAT32 before proceeding).

I do know how to install GRUB4DOS on a hard disk, and I know how to frugal install multiple Puppy distros on a hard disk.

I don't know how to frugal install the Linux Mint 17.2 Rafaela 32bit ISO. Maybe there's an easier way to accomplish what I want to do, if someone knows how to frugal-install it?

.

[rcrsn51]

ISObooter is an easy way to test-boot distros. But you will eventually have to deal with how it handles persistent storage. That is not a problem with Puppy (see page 10).

But I have no idea how it will work wtih a big-boy Linux that expects a full install. You should look at the recent discussion in the MintPup thread.

Since you have a blank hard drive, you might be better off making separate partitions and doing conventional full installs.

[Ether]

Since you have a blank hard drive, you might be better off making separate partitions and doing conventional full installs.

I thought about that. But Mint 17.2 uses grub 2.02 which I don't know how to use (it is radically different from GRUB4DOS), and I don't know how to install both on the same disk.

A little background on why I want to do this:

1) Mint 17.2 has a great repo which has all the math/science apps that I want. But the desktop response is very sluggish, and web browsers do not scroll smoothly (on the lower-end machines I am re-purposing).

2) I really like Puppy Precise 5.7.1 snappy desktop response, and web browsing is fast and smooth, but it has very limited support for math/science apps.

3) DD is a compromise between 1 and 2 above. Browsing is fast and smooth, and I have access to the Debian repo. But the math/science apps in the Debian repo lag behind the ones in the Mint repo. Sometimes I need the functionality in the newer ones.


.

.

[rcrsn51]

Then look at MintPup. It can be installed with ISObooter and have storage on the hard drive.

[Ether]

Then look at MintPup. It can be installed with ISObooter and have storage on the hard drive.

OK, I will do that.

Just so my expectations are correct, are you suggesting that MintPup may fulfill both roles (support for entire Mint repo, plus fast desktop and smooth web browser scrolling), or are you suggesting that it will more easily enable me to multiboot the 3 distros I mentioned?

.