jetman

It's now official. I'm happy to report Extreme Tech has seen fit to publish an article of mine called Slax-The Do-It-Yourselfer's Linux. It isn't a perfect fit for Super-Disc, that is, the ET article is about a stand-alone, customized Slax. However, it illustrates how to customize Slax-6 and once customized, that Slax system can easily be incorporated into a Super-Disc project. Anyway, that's it for now. Let me know what you think, altho I suspect I may be a little busy in the next week or so....Jet

When you setup the cmd line (via APPEND) for a Slax menu entry, you can use 'from=/some-sub-dir', underneath one puts the /boot and /slax sub-dirs from the ISO. I use 'from=/slax6', but other than that it's cake....Jet

<snip> jaclaz Jaclaz: I was just thinking about you ! Good to have you stop by. How goes w/ GRUB 2 ? When time permits, I'd like to give that a try, to see what the GRUB team has come up with. Looking forward to those links you just posted, but in the meantime, I'm going to resume my very 1st Linux development project. Be well. C'ya....Jet

My 1st guess is SETUPLDR.BIN. In my travels to this point, I've never been able to boot XP or BartPE using SETUPLDR.BIN. Tried SETUPLDR.BIN before I saw the lite w/ ISOLINUX+VESAMENU, but no joy whatsoever. When I gen a BartPE image, the builder always leaves BOOTSECT.BIN along side PROGRAMS/, I386/, and the rest. That's the file I demo'd in the fragment you quoted last time. SETUPLDR gets patched by Andre Gascal's <sp ?> multiboot XP thinga-ma-jig. That works like a champ. HTH....Jet

Can you detail the process of integrating BartPE/XP in the multiboot dvd? Beginner question, i know, but i'm new to multibooting stuff and kind of lost. Thanks I don't wish to sound rude, but don't take a fragment of a msg in the middle of this very long thread, then hide behind the 'beginner' thing. Nobody likes that. Start at the very 1st msg, read the 1st two or three pages, then make and burn an ISO (or you can test in a VirtualPC/VirtualBox/VMWare VM.) If it works, then enhance it until you get stuck. If it doesn't work, THEN you should organize your thoughts, to explain what you did deviates from the provided instructions and why you needed a detour. The majority of the knowledge needed for making a Super-Disc is Files and Sub-Directories 101. That means \Super-Disc will become the root of the new CD/DVD and anything you place in that sub-dir will show up in the root of the CD/DVD. Even though I've made dozens of these, I still start from a structure similar to the \Super-Disc structure described in the 1st msg. Virtually everything else is a tweak to ISOLINUX.CFG. Experiment, experiment, experiment. After you've tried a few things, most questions will answer themselves. The rest you are welcome to post here.....Jet

Well I feel really confident now . You're soooo sensitive.... You'e probably already seen this in your travels, but I think it mite be time for a new .signature.....Jet We are debian.org. Lower your prices, surrender your code. We will add your hardware and software distinctiveness to our own. Resistance is futile.

You think GParted is bad, MPlayer has at least twenty dependencies, most of which don't come w/ the stock Slax CD ! I bailed on that one. Good luck. BTW, on the Live CD News site they reference a couple articles about GParted, et al.

Can't help w/ CDSHELL. In fact, that's kinda point of this thread. CDSHELL is dead, but there are dozens of folks all over MSFN who want to do something w/ it. Commune w/ them. We speak ISOLINUX exclusively in this thread. The ISOLINUX module included in the CDSHELL kit is hacked, I believe. Anyway, I only grok the true ISOLINUX. ISOLINUX lives and is still in active development. Regarding your initial question about my post w/ the fragment of an ISOLINUX.CFG: the idea is that you start at the very 1st msg and work your way down. The post you refer to is simply an example of how one would create a sub-menu. You have to populate your own menu as you see fit. The 1st msg in the thread provides a complete ISOLINUX.CFG and subsequent msgs show fragments, which presume you grok what has come before, so you can fill in the blanks and enhance your own project in a stepwise-fashion. Actually, the ISOLINUX part of this exercise is as much about VESAMENU as it is about ISOLINUX.BIN. Later....Jet

Your kind of questions aren't stupid, cause you have a clue. B) Let me know how XCONF2 works in general (like in a week or so.) Most of the numb-nutz on the Slax forum are completely clueless. BTW, the Framebuffer menu picks illustrate a twitchy part of Linux. Not all displays support the exact same modes, so these picks will work on some display adapters and not on others. But they also illustrate the FB driver can be coaxed into the hi-perf (rez) realm w/ a bit of effort, obviating the need for a specific video driver in some circumstances. One way to get a heads-up on FB modes and a lot of other useful info is HWINFO. This site (live-modules.org) is run by two of the few (Quax+Flux) on the Slax forum that have a clue. They may already have your GParted module already built and operating. If I were doing the GParted module, I'd probably do the trick I showed you w/ the Firefox+Flash module, w/ GParted's deps. When I looked it up on LinuxPackages, it appears to be only three or four small pkgs to combine. You may also want to get a copy of NTFSPROGS, as Tomas has left that out of the curr Slax-6 kit (prob for good.) It's my hope to be doing some paying writing on this subj RSN. Keep your fingers crossed for me....Jet

About SATA/chain.c32: Why don't you post something about it to the SYSLINUX mail list ? It's probably something he'd like to fix and Peter's pretty good about stuf like this. It's prob a BIOS issue he's gotta workthru...

I do believe they are the same. PCLOS is slick, but what's the diff over Ubuntu/Kubuntu, besides one is based on Mandrake and the other on Debian ? I think they're pretty much even on the slick factor. Both are very well done Linux distros. BTW, have you tried adding PCLOS to your Super-Disc ? What happened w/ Reconstructor ? [Adding to Slax]GParted, PartImage, and Clonezilla shud not be a prob. The sole issue for adding those guys is the .desktop file that puts them on the KMenu. Putting things on the Desktop is trivial, not that putting things on the KMenu is hard. PS: The ISOLINUX.BIN in the slax6rc6 SFX doesn't like XP's BOOTSECT.BIN. Roll back to ISOLINUX.BIN from 3.50, in case you decide to merge your Slax+BartPE projects....Jet

VirtualBox is on my list of things to try RSN. Hopefully, it uses VMWare vdrives. Regarding Slackware pkgs and dependencies: you just have to wing it or give ZenWalk a try. ZW uses the same architecture (the Linux-Live scripts+Slackware), but they've added several enhancements like they operate their own net-based pkg repo w/ dependency resolution, true hdrive installation along w/ the live CD, and a better forum. I don't have a hard-and-fast rule on Slax and dependencies. Most of the time dependencies are advertised by the whoever made the pkg or tarball. If the dependent pkg is only used by a single pkg, then I bundle everything together in a single module. But I thought you were already hooked on Ubuntu ? Anyway, going back to bundling modules: 1) Once you've got a Firefox module, d/l Flash from linuxpackages.net and convert it into a module. 2) Make a /temp sub-dir. 3) Next: lzm2dir firefox-2.0.0.6.lzm /temp lzm2dir flash-9.31.lzm /temp cd /temp dir2lzm . /mnt/hda1/firefox-2.0.0.6+flash-9.31.lzm Flash is available to Konqueror as well as the Fox, it just seems (to me) that the Fox and Flash belong together. And that's how I deal w/ dependencies (so to speak.) BTW, slacky.eu is new repo I found for Slackware-12 pkgs. It's mostly Italian, but they also host English pkgs. And linuxpackages has tutorials on pkg building incl how to deal w/ deps. This shud keep you busy for a while. Later....Jet

That's right, blame it all on the Americans..... I'm busy today, but give Ark a try. It mite be able to figure the SFX out. If all goes well, I'll PM you something this evening my time. Here's a Q-n-D for making a new Firefox: 1) Boot Slax-6 into console mode. 2) Download the latest Firefox and put it into /tmp. 3) Next: cd /tmp tgz2lzm mozilla-firefox-en-us-2.0.0.6-i686-1sl.tgz /mnt/hda1/firefox-2.0.0.6-i686.lzm uselivemod /mnt/hda1/firefox-2.0.0.6-i686.lzm kbuildsycoca 4) Take a look at your Internet sub-menu on the K-menu. You should have a functional Firefox listed. Congrats, you just made your 1st Slax module ! Ideally, once you've made a few of these you'll want to integrate them formally, by adding them onto a CD-R. HTH. Gotta split for a prior appt....Jet

Haven't been posted anything in a while, in part due to paying work related to Slax-6, but along the way I came up w/ SLAX6RC6.EXE. This SFX is to overlay a stock copy of Slax-6 RC-6 w/ an improved boot menu+splash graphic, as well as one of my fav Slax customizations: XCONF2. First, download the Slax-6 RC-6 ISO from here. Copy its contents (ie. \boot and \slax) to a sub-dir called \slax6rc6. Download the above-mentioned SFX and extract it on top of \slax6rc6. Yes, when prompted by the SFX, overwrite everything. To make an updated Slax-6 RC6 disc, it's simply a matter of opening a command window on \slax6rc6\slax and running: MAKE_ISO.CMD \slax6rc6.iso Since this about the Super-Disc project, here's how one would add our custom Slax-6 to Super-Disc: 0) Copy \slax6rc6 to \Super-Disc. 1) Add the following stanza to the ISOLINUX.CFG for your Super-Disc. #### LABEL slax MENU LABEL ^Slax-6 (Linux) Sub-menu TEXT HELP Display the Slax (Linux) sub-menu.... ENDTEXT KERNEL /boot/isolinux/vesamenu.c32 APPEND /slax6rc6/boot/isolinux/isolinux.cfg Note the APPEND stmt (above) chains to our new menu. You'll have to add something similar to return back to our main menu from the Slax-6 menu.... 2) You'll also need to change each stanza in the Slax-6 menu that boots Slax, to add a 'from=/slax6rc6' clause, as shown in the next stanza: LABEL xconf2 MENU LABEL ^Best Graphics Mode [using XCONF2] MENU DEFAULT TEXT HELP Best Graphics Mode attempts to find the widest number of graphics modes using the XCONF2 script. Works best for CRT monitors, but many LCDs will work better as well.... ENDTEXT KERNEL /boot/vmlinuz APPEND vga=769 initrd=/boot/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw from=/slax6rc6 autoexec=xconf2;kdm #### That's pretty much it. Slax-6 is way better than Slax-5 and is such an improvement (even in pre-release form) that I haven't booted any Slax-5 discs in over a month. Above is a snapshot of the new and improved Slax-6 menu found in the SFX. Later....Jet

You could try SuperDisc. It's pretty easy, actually.....Jet

A final word on this: ROOT # mkdir /tmp/initrd; cd /tmp/initrd ROOT # gzip -dc /initrd.img | cpio -id; ls With this little snippet, one can open up the init ramdisk and at least look at the linuxrc script, to better understand the boot initialization process. Ultimately, that's the principal point I've been emphasizing throughout this thread. That is, to open up the underlying components and figure out how they work to realize a custom solution. Not just for the immed issue, but for helping in future efforts....Jet

Yeah, I remember those conversations, but those talks aren't coloring my words today. Kubuntu could be a fine live CD distro, w/ some work. It's clearly from one of the most respected Linux "families" (in a manner of speaking), hence worth some consideration. It's a toss-up bet Kubuntu or Knoppix. Knoppix is closer (in terms of completeness) and therefore easier, while Kubuntu would be more of a "prize", but much more effort...Jet

There isn't much to UISO. Set the Properties of the ISO to use Joliet w/ all of the long file name options enabled and NO Rock Ridge. Joliet isn't nec, exc for long filename compat w/ Windows. Disable ISO9660 version numbering and no lower-case support. All of my discs are setup that way, the same as my discs made w/ MKISOFS. Can't help w/ Debian (never got one to work, prob the RockRidge) and the Ubuntu family really don't lend themselves to the Super-Disc idea. As I've already said, they really aren't live CDs. I do have a Kubuntu proj on the stack, but no date other than sometime in the next couple of months. To make an Ubuntu work, it'll need to be customized quite a bit, hence my link to the UCK. Just to put one on a disc, try enabling Rock Ridge, which will nuke any Windows systems, so you may have to go for an all Linux disc for that. Later....Jet

For the record, the MKISOFS script I provided back when, does in fact work w/ Linux and BartPE (therefore all Windows installers.) Just tried it again. WRT to file optimization, I saw a util for that ref'd on the site w/ the MKISOFS GUI/ISOLINUX Mate/etc....

I've been there, a looong time ago, before the development of these tools. However, ISOLINUX Mate is a tool for making LSS-type splash screens. Not recommended, as VESAMENU does the same, but no PPM files, no dithering, no PPM2LSS hack, just industry-std PNG gfx. It's up to you, though. The README files in the ISOLINUX pkg are pretty much the same as what he offers, exc he did a lot to explain the whole LSS thing, which is (for the most part) obsolete. It was helpful for me, prior to VESAMENU becoming documented. If you want to the 'boot:' prompt, just put PROMPT 1 in your ISOLINUX.CFG. Tried MagicISO, but UltraISO does everything you've described. Plus the latest version has rudimentary project files support, so it's pos to repeat a certain ISO layout over and over again, instead of always editing an ISO image. On the Linux side (meaning free), there's ISOMaster. Haven't tried that yet either, but it's out there and part of Knoppix....Jet

Dude ! You don't need MKISOFS (at least not directly) bec you have Slax and K3B ! The Slax module repo (at least) has a (late) K3B 1.0-RC module (I made and uploaded it) and probably has a production 1.01 (from someone else) by now. Moreover, the batch script I provided earlier is almost certain to make a BartPE/Slax/Knoppix hybrid as is. I seem to recall that it did ! Will review and get back to you. I only abandoned it bec I got better turnaround times from UltraISO and bec of the graphical layout builder. With K3B, you get that too for free ! Maybe it's time for a K3B addendum....Jet PS: How goes your pursuit of connectivity ?

Welcome. Renaming is cool, but beware that SYSLINUX mite be sensitive to filename lgths, particularly WRT the names of kernel and init ramdisk images. I'm not absolutely certain, but beware.... I'll review certain instructions like the MEMDISK thing that you mention. ISOLINUX Mate is worth looking into. Thanx for the pointer. My work on Kubuntu found its way into Super-Disc's predecessor, many months ago. It booted into the GUI, but that's as far as I went w/ it. Essentially, the Ubuntu family are more demo discs than live CDs, hence I've never done much w/ them in their stock form. When time permits, I want to do some customization, then perhaps they'll find their way back into good graces. But to make them work, I now believe one must do the work in Linux exclusively, as I suspect there are symlinks on the disc that can't be represented in the Windows world. Another pos consideration, is the Rock Ridge ISO attribute. Not researched WRT Ubuntu, but something to keep in mind. I did find this attr critical in making something else work and mite be helpful. However, I also discovered that Rock Ridge was like Kryptonite to the BartPE/Windows systems on the DVD ! Here's something else which may be helpful for bgnd info: the Ubuntu Customization Kit. Haven't used it yet, but it's high on my TODO list....Jet

Not sure, but it sounds that you mite be having script probs, particularly WRT to 'cls' in a Windows batch script. Typically, these can be caused by faulty line-endings, which can be confirmed w/ NOTEPAD. If a file doesn't format correctly w/ NOTEPAD, you know you need to run them thru something else, like WORDPAD and save them in 'MSDOS format'. HTH....Jet

Hmmm... Unless you're really keen on maintain boring, old menu code, you mite take a look at menu.c32 in the later revs of SYSLINUX. While the Freshmeat proj doesn't reflect this, it's up to 3.50+. No official releases in the past several months, but pretty stable in my opinion. Per the docs, MENU and VESAMENU (the graphical menu system) work from the same config file format. There are screenshots of both on SYSLINUX web site. I can't help w/ Debian per se, due to their "true-believer" ideas about free software. WRT Debain-spinoffs, I've integrated Knoppix & DSL w/o a hitch and nearly the same results w/ Kubuntu. You can boot any Linux kernel (vmlinuz) easily, the only issue is disk layout, for a successful outcome. As detailed in the 1st msg of the topic, any given kernel+init ramdisk can be relocated anywhere. Depending on the distro, you mite be able to relocate the support files (compressed filesystem, etc) to cram as many similar distros onto the same disc. Otherwise, one can always duplicate the root dir of the desired ISO in your custom disc layout. Take Knoppix, DSL, and Slax. They all have cheat codes which permit their support files to be tucked into a custom sub-dir, as they've been designed w/ the intent to be remastered into a custom CD/DVD. OTOH, there's Kubuntu, which has almost no cheat codes at all, so I had to copy /casper, /precopy, and /ubuntu into root of my disc layout. As far as Kubuntu is concerned, it's still on its stand-alone CD, but that means I couldn't add (not that I'd even want to) one of the other Ubuntus to my Super-Disc. Make sense ? There have been a couple of misses w/ this approach, but I've found enuf "cooperative" distros that the "problem children" aren't missed at all. I've even never considered any ISO emulation tricks, bec they're very limited and the payoff doesn't justify the effort, from my perspective. Later....Jet

No fault, no foul. It's odd that the file ext was significant there. I certainly wouldn't have expected that and mite have made the same mistake. But now we all know better ! BTW, welcome to the world of Super-Disc. Good luck w/ your proj. What is aio.c32 ? It doesn't show up in any of my SYSLINUX kits....Jet