Super-Disc: Multi-Boot Project CD/DVD Using ISOLINUX

[Razgriz]

I'm having trouble while making the iso with mkisofs, is there any alternative?

[kof94]

If your using Windows take a look at CDImage GUI, all the relevant switches are set for you just need to update the locations.

Edited August 20, 2007 by kof94

[Razgriz]

If your using Windows take a look at CDImage GUI, all the relevant switches are set for you just need to update the locations.

Thank you

I'm trying to make a multiboot dvd with Debian (both x86 and amd64 versions), Gentoo, Slackware and Kubuntu...

Should I kinda merge them (with merge i mean follow the original structure of all distros)or will they work if i re locate the files?

[kof94]

That's one phat disc your planning there, are you sure all that will fit on one DVD, Slackware's nearly a full DVD for a start?

Unless there's cheatcodes available for each distro so that you can specify a different location then you'll have to stick with what you've got.

The (K)Ubuntu disc comes with a lot of crap on it, if I remember right you need these folders:

.disk (tag folder, you have to have it)

casper (debian live folder, contains filesystem, kernel and ramdisk, you have to have it)

dists (needed for customisation, you might be able to remove it)

pool (needed for customisation, you might be able to remove it)

preseed (needed for customisation, you might be able to remove it)

I've never downloaded Slackware because of the size of it and I can't remember Gentoo's disc structure. You may come unstuck having Debian and Kubuntu on the same disc if they both use the Casper live system.

Hope this helps a little.

[LeveL]

When something is posted here in code tags like in this post:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?s=&amp...st&p=635349

What file is that code meant to be in and where is the file?!

I am having a nightmare trying to dual boot Knoppix (DSL) with Slax using cdshell.

The problem is that cdshell already comes with an isolinux folder and isolinux.cfg, if you put Knoppix in it works but when I add Slax to it (under its own boot folder) even when cdshell.ini points to the slax BIN file it still boots DSL!

Heres the post explaining it:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?s=&amp...st&p=685537

[jetman]

When something is posted here in code tags like in this post:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?s=&amp...st&p=635349

What file is that code meant to be in and where is the file?!

I am having a nightmare trying to dual boot Knoppix (DSL) with Slax using cdshell.

The problem is that cdshell already comes with an isolinux folder and isolinux.cfg, if you put Knoppix in it works but when I add Slax to it (under its own boot folder) even when cdshell.ini points to the slax BIN file it still boots DSL!

Heres the post explaining it:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?s=&amp...st&p=685537

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

[Razgriz]

That's one phat disc your planning there, are you sure all that will fit on one DVD, Slackware's nearly a full DVD for a start?

Unless there's cheatcodes available for each distro so that you can specify a different location then you'll have to stick with what you've got.

The (K)Ubuntu disc comes with a lot of crap on it, if I remember right you need these folders:

.disk (tag folder, you have to have it)

casper (debian live folder, contains filesystem, kernel and ramdisk, you have to have it)

dists (needed for customisation, you might be able to remove it)

pool (needed for customisation, you might be able to remove it)

preseed (needed for customisation, you might be able to remove it)

I've never downloaded Slackware because of the size of it and I can't remember Gentoo's disc structure. You may come unstuck having Debian and Kubuntu on the same disc if they both use the Casper live system.

Hope this helps a little.

Slackware fits in a cd, and its structure is completely different from the others

I think that one of my main problems is to try to make both x86 and x64 versions fit in the same dvd, because the disc structure is the same and files have the same name in both (except install.amd and install.i386, perhaps only with adding one of those it would work)

The gentoo disk has got only one folder, isolinux (with other files than the "common ones", like memtest) and the other files are in the root; so gentoo shouldn't be hard to merge into this cd

Thanks for the extra info, i'll do some research tomorrow

[kof94]

@Jet

Just an update!

I'm still on the case of creating a multipurpose Slax and I've downloaded most of the packages/tarballs for GParted. There's quite a lot when you get stuck into it, more than I expected.

I'm gonna finish up my current project then take this on separately since I think it's gonna take a while to perfect.

So, be prepared for an onslaught of questions sometime in the next week .

Cya

Edited August 23, 2007 by kof94

[jetman]

@Jet

Just an update!

I'm still on the case of creating a multipurpose Slax and I've downloaded most of the packages/tarballs for GParted. There's quite a lot when you get stuck into it, more than I expected.

I'm gonna finish up my current project then take this on separately since I think it's gonna take a while to perfect.

So, be prepared for an onslaught of questions sometime in the next week .

Cya

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.

[Jotnar]

If you guys want to get rid of that annoying text drop shadow on the vesamenu in ISOLinux, just replace the "std" and the end of your color selections with "rev".

ie. Change

menu color sel 0 #ffffffff #85000000 std

to

menu color sel 0 #ffffffff #85000000 rev

It'll look much more readable on lighter backgrounds.

Cheers

[kof94]

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.

Well I feel really confident now .

BTW, on the Live CD News site they reference a couple articles about GParted, et al.

I read that as well afew days ago, Parted Magic is now on my disc instead of the GParted LiveCD for the time being.

[jetman]

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.

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.

[kof94]

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.

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.

Debian sounding more like the Borg or should I say M$.

[midz]

If you need to know how to integrate XP/2K3/BartPE:

LABEL bartpe
MENU LABEL ^BartPE/WinPE
MENU DEFAULT
KERNEL /BOOTSECT.BIN

It's that simple....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

[jetman]

If you need to know how to integrate XP/2K3/BartPE:

LABEL bartpe
MENU LABEL ^BartPE/WinPE
MENU DEFAULT
KERNEL /BOOTSECT.BIN

It's that simple....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