Live XP SDI USB BOOT with RAM Image

Hello,

I try to create a booting USB key since my DVD is out...
I have a solution with firadisk and SDI, that works in QEmu from ISO, but is very slow to boot form USB...

Basically, at boot, it says

Try hd(0,0): Fat32: --> This is USB stick

Then Grub with LiveXP virtual SCSI
Then 14 Minutes to create the drive !!!

GRUB Loader is:

Map HD(0) HD(20) && map hook
map --mem /I386/BOOTSDI.IMG (HD0)
map --hook
Chainloader (hd0,0)/NTLDR

And
then it says probed C/H/S = 26/255/63, probed total sectors = 417690
during 14 minutes !!

Then XP loads, and it works...

Is there something wrong ?

Tnaks for your help

Perhaps you'd benefit from PLoP. I sometimes PXE-boot a PLoP payload so that I can then boot a computer from a USB storage device with decent speed.

To hopefully clarify the above:

• some motherboards have USB 1.1 chips <- they WON'T benefit from ANYTHING
• some motherboards have USB 2.0 chips AND boot at 2.0 speed <- they WON'T benefit from ANYTHING (and your setup has some OTHER problem)
• some motherboards have USB 2.0 chips BUT boot at 1.1 speed <- you'll have a GREAT enhancement using PLoP, if it works on your motherboard

Typical (completely faked ) speeds are given here:
http://www.msfn.org/.../page__st__1326


Wonko

Hello,

I think i'll be patient... it's personal computer, not for my company, so i have time.
Or i give up with the image, and use PE2USB which is fine for what i do...
i tried on 2 computers. One very old, the other one is a 2 years old desktop with a Core 2 Duo E5200

I still have a question: What is Plop ? (i know all my computers have PXE Load option)

And what does "Try hd(0,0): Fat32: " refers to? -> Is that GRUB of USB stick?
If USB stick is HD0, should i map it?

Because Fat32 is USB Key (It changed when i tried FAT16), but USB is HD(2,0) (like HD0 is SATA Hard Drive, HD(1)should be SD card reader and HD(2) the USB stick...

Thanks for your all website.

I still have a question: What is Plop ? (i know all my computers have PXE Load option)

The Plop boot manager actually has nothing to do with PXE load option. It is a program that you can run very early in your computer's boot process and gives you choices about what you want to boot. It also includes a "boot from USB" feature, that sometimes yields better performance than the BIOS' "boot from USB" feature, as Wonko the Sane detailed.

And what does "Try hd(0,0): Fat32: " refers to? -> Is that GRUB of USB stick?
If USB stick is HD0, should i map it?

(hd0,0) means: First BIOS hard disk drive, first partition. So it is a partition, not "GRUB of USB stick". You might have GRUB installed to that partition, maybe not.

When using a "boot from USB" feature, it is common that if the USB storage is emulated as a hard disk drive, then it will be the "first BIOS hard disk drive", and any internal hard disk drive(s) will become the "second BIOS hard disk drive," the "third BIOS hard disk drive," and so on.

Because Fat32 is USB Key (It changed when i tried FAT16), but USB is HD(2,0) (like HD0 is SATA Hard Drive, HD(1)should be SD card reader and HD(2) the USB stick...

How do you know that "USB is (hd2,0)"? Here is a common scenario:

Boot from HDD, CD/DVD, PXE:

First physical, internal HDD  == (hd0) == INT 0x13 drive 0x80 == First BIOS hard disk drive

Second physical, internal HDD == (hd1) == INT 0x13 drive 0x81 == Second BIOS hard disk drive



Boot from USB:

USB storage device            == (hd0) == INT 0x13 drive 0x80 == First BIOS hard disk drive

First physical, internal HDD  == (hd1) == INT 0x13 drive 0x81 == Second BIOS hard disk drive

Second physical, internal HDD == (hd2) == INT 0x13 drive 0x82 == Third BIOS hard disk drive

I still have a question: What is Plop ? (i know all my computers have PXE Load option)

Here:
http://tinyurl.com/5uml2aq


Wonko

"The Plop boot manager actually has nothing to do with PXE load option."

Speak for yourself, I have plop as the default choice on my PXE server.

I would have it on my hard drive, but it seems to install over the GPT part of my hybrid GPT/MBR drive. It's a pity he's never released source. It also can't boot (or chainload) an MBR, which is a pity.

However, it can boot a logical partition, so in theory you could have a heap of tiny logical partitions that loaded other boot loaders if you needed.

I think one day I will attempt to burn plop into my bios.

Hi sfinktah

I have never played with plop over pxe
can you please post your setup/settings for pxe plop

Thanks in advance RoyM

I am constantly fighting with myself over whether to flash my BIOS with gPXE or PLOP. Unfortunately neither of them work "quite right."

LABEL plp

   LINUX plpbt.bin

   MENU LABEL The Plop Boot Manager

   MENU DEFAULT

   TEXT HELP

   The Plop Boot Manager is a small program to boot different operating systems.

   ENDTEXT

"PLOP: The only way to boot a USB drive in VMware Fusion"