23 replies to this topic

[Insomniacno1]

Hi folks, can someone here help me edit already made Xboot usb stick and add more .iso(LiveCD) files? Its using syslinux as bootloader with fallback to grub.

 

I tried doing this myself by manually editing linux.cfg, just by copying the already made text for Puppy Linux and Peppermint 5 - and then just change the name to the .iso I wanted to add - and it worked for some but not all.

 

Newest LTS Lubuntu 14.04.04 - I used Peppermint 5 string - Lubuntu started counting sectors then at 726 it went on to the LiveCD boot menu were you can choose to "Try without installing" - choosing this option ends up in initramfs> and something about it can't find bootable media.

 

If I(at the LiveCD menu) press F6 then edit the boot string and remove quiet splash and instead add live-media=/dev/sdb1 then it boot into Lubuntu.

 

 

So do anyone have a solution that I can add to linux.cfg that will make Lubuntu figure out that its running from usb and not CD and so I don't always have to wait for the sector count and having to add the live-media=/dev/sdb1 to the boot string?

 

Also I like to add Elementary OS  to my usb stick - anyone have the string for that to put in linux.cfg?

 

Also I like to add GhostBSD to my usb stick - anyone know how to do that, and if it will work with syslinux or it has to be added to grub instead(then how to do that?).

 

Pelase don't tell me to google it - I already did but did not find answers to my questions - mostly I just find how to add iso files to Xboot(already did that) and not how to edit linux.cfg with the correct strings. Or I find info that I should rename isolinux.cfg to syslinux.cfg and move it to root - tried that(now my usb had no menu).

 

Hope someone can help:)

 

With kind regards and hope for quick response

 

JBJ

 

syslinux.cfg:

 

MENU title XBOOT DVD
INCLUDE /boot/syslinux/theme.cfg
TIMEOUT 100


### MENU START
LABEL -
MENU LABEL Boot from Hard Disk
MANU START
MENU DEFAULT
COM32 chain.c32
APPEND hd1 1 swap
### MENU END


### MENU START
LABEL -
MENU LABEL Rescue CD
KERNEL /boot/syslinux/vesamenu.c32
APPEND /boot/syslinux/eccbbgeej.cfg
TEXT HELP
ENDTEXT
### MENU END


### MENU START
LABEL -
MENU LABEL Linux
KERNEL /boot/syslinux/vesamenu.c32
APPEND /boot/syslinux/linux.cfg
TEXT HELP
ENDTEXT
### MENU END


### MENU START
LABEL -
MENU LABEL Utility
KERNEL /boot/syslinux/vesamenu.c32
APPEND /boot/syslinux/utility.cfg
TEXT HELP
ENDTEXT
### MENU END


### MENU START
LABEL -
MENU LABEL Help!
LINUX /boot/syslinux/grub.exe
APPEND --config-file="ls /images/help.iso || find --set-root /images/help.iso;map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 /images/help.iso (0xff) || map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 --mem /images/help.iso (0xff);map --hook;chainloader (0xff)"
TEXT HELP
ENDTEXT
### MENU END
 

 

linux.cfg:

MENU TITLE Linux
INCLUDE /boot/syslinux/theme.cfg
INCLUDE /boot/syslinux/mainmenu.cfg


### MENU START
LABEL -
MENU LABEL Puppy Linux
LINUX /boot/syslinux/grub.exe
APPEND --config-file="ls /images/precise.iso || find --set-root /images/precise.iso;map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 /images/precise.iso (0xff) || map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 --mem /images/precise.iso (0xff);map --hook;chainloader (0xff)"
TEXT HELP
ENDTEXT
### MENU END


### MENU START
LABEL -
MENU LABEL peppermint5
LINUX /boot/syslinux/grub.exe
APPEND --config-file="ls /images/peppermint.iso || find --set-root /images/peppermint.iso;map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 /images/peppermint.iso (0xff) || map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 --mem /images/peppermint.iso (0xff);map --hook;chainloader (0xff)"
TEXT HELP
ENDTEXT
### MENU END


### MENU START
LABEL -
MENU LABEL systemback-live-eng
LINUX /boot/syslinux/grub.exe
APPEND --config-file="ls /images/systembackliveeng.iso || find --set-root /images/systembackliveeng.iso;map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 /images/systembackliveeng.iso (0xff) || map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 --mem /images/systembackliveeng.iso (0xff);map --hook;chainloader (0xff)"
TEXT HELP
ENDTEXT
### MENU END


### MENU START
LABEL -
MENU LABEL LxQtPup-14.12.01-s-nopae
LINUX /boot/syslinux/grub.exe
APPEND --config-file="ls /images/lxqtpup.iso || find --set-root /images/lxqtpup.iso;map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 /images/lxqtpup.iso (0xff) || map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 --mem /images/lxqtpup.iso (0xff);map --hook;chainloader (0xff)"
TEXT HELP
ENDTEXT
### MENU END
 

 

Grub4Dos> linux.lst:

 

color magenta/white white/magenta black/white black/white

### MENU END
title MAIN MENU
configfile /menu.lst
### MENU END


### MENU START
title Puppy Linux\n
ls /images/precise.iso || find --set-root /images/precise.iso
map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 /images/precise.iso (0xff) || map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 --mem /images/precise.iso (0xff)
map --hook
chainloader (0xff)
### MENU END


### MENU START
title peppermint5\n
ls /images/peppermint.iso || find --set-root /images/peppermint.iso
map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 /images/peppermint.iso (0xff) || map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 --mem /images/peppermint.iso (0xff)
map --hook
chainloader (0xff)
### MENU END


### MENU START
title systemback-live-eng\n
ls /images/systembackliveeng.iso || find --set-root /images/systembackliveeng.iso
map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 /images/systembackliveeng.iso (0xff) || map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 --mem /images/systembackliveeng.iso (0xff)
map --hook
chainloader (0xff)
### MENU END
 

Edited by Insomniacno1, 28 February 2016 - 09:15 AM.

[Wonko the Sane]

The Xboot is (was) a wrap-around some existing bootmanagers/bootloaders (syslinux/memdisk and grub4dos, NOT grub) in order to make multiboot thingies "easier".

The project is abandoned since several years as the original author died prematurely in an accident (and the source code was never released).

 

Right now what you are doing is directly writing the configuration file linux.cfg (which probably is simply a syslinux.cfg or a menu.lst renamed ), post your current linux.cfg contents, and someone will be able to tell which is which, and at that point it will be just a matter of trying to add a suitable grub4dos menu.lst entry or a syslinux.cfg/isolinux.cfg entry for the distro you want to boot.

 

You have to understand five things:

1) isolinux.cfg's are specific for booting the distro when it is on optical media and often needs to be adapted to become working with syslinux on USB stick instead of isolinux

2) some distro's need some "cheat-codes" to work on USB instead of CD/DVD

3) the bootmanager(s)/bootloader(s) coming with Xboot are by now largely obsolete and it is possible that they simply won't work with some distro's

4) some distro's are made in such a way that they need to be mapped as a partition on the USB stick in order to work

5) in the several years since Xboot was discontinued several other multiboot on USB utilities were developed and are actively maintained, among the many Easy2boot is worth a mention that make use of latest "state of the art" bootmanager(s)/bootloader(s) and that have a much larger user base and a rather large number of tested and verified booting supported distro's

 

 

Wonko

[steve6375]

XBOOT modifies the ISO and repackages it.

See my blog post here.

 

Unfortunately there is no easy answer for what you want because there are at least 20 completely different distros of linux and they all use different methods.

 

The problem with booting linux is that it is a two-stage (or more) process. When booting from an ISO (as opposed to a CD) the files that linux wants are inside the ISO, but the linux kernel doesn't know where the ISO is or even that it should look for the files inside the ISO (or if they have been extracted to the USB drive, it does not know where they are on the USB drive).

 

To tell the kernel where the files are, there are dozens of different cheat code parameters used by dozens of different distros (and sometimes this changes with a new release!).

 

You may find this blog post useful.

 

so what you are really asking is 'can someone tell me what all the different cheat codes are for all the different linux distros in the world please?'

 

XBOOT is discontinued now (the author has sadly died).

If you are interested in what these cheat codes are, then you can Google for them, or search my www.rmprepusb.com site.

 

Another approach is to see what other solutions do for the same ISO, e.g. make a YUMI, SARDU, Unetbootin, etc. USB drive and see what cheat codes they use for each distro.

 

My Easy2Boot project does not use these cheat codes (although if you look at the \_ISO\e2b\grub\isoboot.g4b file you will see many useful linux cheat code examples for grub4dos because it uses the cheat code method as a 'fallback' solution). With E2B, you just copy any linux ISO you want onto the USB drive and boot. Also, you can convert your current XBOOT USB to work with Easy2Boot.

 

WinSetupFromUSB is another example of a multiboot solution that you may like. I think it also uses the same technique as E2B now for booting linux distros.

[Insomniacno1]

Thank you for answering guys:)

 

Wonko - I have added the files to my first post.

 

Steve - I know about the other tools and have in fact tried most of them, problem is that they do not play well with Puppylinux or Rescatux or Hiren's bootcd. Sorry to say that that when I used your E2B Hirens could boot but none of the apps would work, just ended up in a prompt. In xboot everything works! RMPrepUSB did not work nice with Puppy Linux nor Peppermint 5 - I got to the boot and then it hanged.

Yumi - well, basically all my distro's hanged at boot.

 

I just need info on how to edit and add the distro's I wrote about in my first post, not 1000 different ones. Which file to edit, if I can change the grub.exe in the syslinux folder to Grub2 or if I need cheatcodes and where to find those/ where to add them.

 

JBJ

[Insomniacno1]

WinSetupFromUSB seem to be using syslinux and Grub4Dos as well

[steve6375]

Hirens works fine on E2B if you name the ISO as .isowinvh or better still, convert it to a .imgPTN file using the MPI Tool Kit

http://www.easy2boot...es/hirens-isos/

Puppy works, just rename the ISO to .isopup.

E2B itself will prompt you to change the file extension and you can find a comprehensive list of payloads supported by E2B on the website (including a small list of those that don't work).

XBOOT is not supported. E2B and the others mentioned are supported.

What you are asking is not an easy question and would require us to actually try it in order to see if it works or not in each case (or do some research or guess!).

I have already told you how to find the cheat codes that you need (e.g. look at isoboot.g4b). However, to use them with XBOOT you need to understand syslinux and/or grub4dos.

 

If you have any problems with E2B, I will be glad to help you.

[steve6375]

XBOOT uses syslinux+grub4dos too - e.g.

### MENU START
LABEL -
MENU LABEL LxQtPup-14.12.01-s-nopae
LINUX /boot/syslinux/grub.exe
APPEND --config-file="ls /images/lxqtpup.iso || find --set-root /images/lxqtpup.iso;map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 /images/lxqtpup.iso (0xff) || map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 --mem /images/lxqtpup.iso (0xff);map --hook;chainloader (0xff)"
TEXT HELP
ENDTEXT
### MENU END

but note that the ISO is not the same ISO that was downloaded. It has been modified by XBOOT.

Edited by steve6375, 28 February 2016 - 10:10 AM.

[Insomniacno1]

Steve:  when you write these things that need to be told to the OS then which file do you add them to? That is not very clear! Is it in menu.lst?

How do you get grub to load this when the usb is set up syslinux as the loader - others have tried this but menu.lst were not loaded.

 

title LinuxMint 8

map /boot/LinuxMint-8.iso (0xa0)                 - map ISO as device A0h

map --hook                                                - hook the Int 13h interrupt so it takes affect

root (0a0h)                                                 - set root device as A0h - now if we say /casper we are referring to (0xa0)/casper

kernel /casper/vmlinuz iso-scan/filename=/boot/LinuxMint-8.iso file=/cdrom/preseed/mint.seed boot=casper                                                                     - load vmlinuz into memory - add cheatcodes into memory

initrd /casper/initrd.lz                                   - load the initrd.lz file as the initial ramdrive

boot                                                           - jump to the loaded code to start the linux OS  (note 'boot' is not needed as grub4dos automatically adds boot as the last command anyway)

[Insomniacno1]

doublepost because system did not continue - Delete

Edited by Insomniacno1, 28 February 2016 - 10:19 AM.

[steve6375]

Post #7 is an example of how to use grub4dos commands in a syslinux menu

[Insomniacno1]

Actually I already knew that xboot used syslinux and grub4dos - I were refering to that!

 

I have changed the setup since some of the modified .iso files would not boot, so the ones on my usb stick is the original ones not modified. and it works.

[steve6375]

Glad you have it all working now.

[Insomniacno1]

Hmm, I think we are talking past eachother:)

 

I still need to get answer for #8

 

I just tried adding GhostBSD to my linux.cfg and it came as far as to grub where it started counting the MB of the iso file(not sectors as mentioned before - my bad). Then ended up in a grub>

 

 

### MENU START
LABEL -
MENU LABEL GhostBSD10.1-RELEASE-20150912-mate-i386
LINUX /boot/syslinux/grub.exe
APPEND --config-file="ls /images/GhostBSD10.1-RELEASE-20150912-mate-i386.iso || find --set-root /images/GhostBSD10.1-RELEASE-20150912-mate-i386.iso;map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 /images/GhostBSD10.1-RELEASE-20150912-mate-i386.iso (0xff) || map --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 --mem /images/GhostBSD10.1-RELEASE-20150912-mate-i386.iso (0xff);map --hook;chainloader (0xff)"
TEXT HELP
ENDTEXT
### MENU END
 

For what I read the ghostBSD should work with grub, so any idea of what is wrong here - the string work fine with Peppermint 5 LiveCD .iso?

Edited by Insomniacno1, 28 February 2016 - 11:51 AM.

[steve6375]

BSD is one of the most difficult to multiboot and I don't think it supports cheat codes for ISOs.

They usually have a different download for 'memstick' = USB images and those only work if you use dd the image (or maybe fully extract the files). Note sure there is a multiboot solution for freeBSD (maybe 'multiboot' ???).

E2B does support some FreeBSD versions...

[Wonko the Sane]

And besides the usual intent to use WAREZ , the issue is still:
What are the cheatcodes (if any) for GhostBSD?
 
And still, the whole idea is - if not totally botched - at least not as simple as it could be, using an obsolete syslinux to load a (possibly also obsolete) grub4dos introduces an additional complication and indirectly a possible point of failure.

 

Wonko

[Insomniacno1]

Wonko - which tool do you use that don't use syslinux and grub4dos?

[Insomniacno1]

Steve - Right now I'm making a backup of my usb stick and then I will try your E2B. I have all original .iso files, not using the xboot modified ones.

 

Edit: do I really need to extract to desktop or can I use any drive for this? Ilike to put it on my E: - possible?

Edited by Insomniacno1, 28 February 2016 - 12:58 PM.

[Wonko the Sane]

Wonko - which tool do you use that don't use syslinux and grub4dos?

No "tool", BUT grub4dos.
If you need a "tool", Easy2boot is a good one.


Wonko

[Insomniacno1]

Arrgh! My USB drive is in a state of limbo.

 

I followed your guides to the dot, and when trying to boot GhostBSD it said the GhostBSD.imgPTN were before the GhostBSD or something like that. Then I could continue which I did and QEMU hanged. No way when in win7 to send Ctrl+Alt+Del to QEMU, that just takes you to the menu were you among other things can start task manager. 

 

The usb drive is stuck in this mode - not being recognized by windows as formatted and all my hard work since yesterday is locked up in this "Limbo".

 

How do I get QEMU to reboot so that I can choose the E2B menu and MBR again?

[Insomniacno1]

guess I'm starting over

[steve6375]

In Windows. Run switch_e2b.exe -  restore e2b partitions

Edited by steve6375, 29 February 2016 - 10:13 AM.

[steve6375]

Maybe you got names wrong. .imgptn and . wrong way round?

Edit: Where did you get the .img file from? They don't seem to provide them any more?

Edited by steve6375, 29 February 2016 - 10:29 AM.

[Insomniacno1]

Hi Steve

 

Sorry to say this but your E2B did something to my USB stick so that I couldn't do anything with it - not even start over - I had to use paragon HDD manager to delete the partition and the format to fat32. Then I could start over but chose to not use E2B anymore - its way too much struggle to set it up - it may be Easy to boot but not to configure!

 

So I went to Yummy, newest version but can't get Hirens 10.6 to play nice. Keep getting Failed to load Com32 file - eventhough I have modified the cfg files to point to HBCD and copied the chain.32 file there from my syslinux wich were on my xboot backup.

 

Any idea?

[Insomniacno1]

EDIT: Problem solved.

 

I used Yumi to remove Hirens, then Add Hirens 10.6 as "Try Unlisted ISO (GRUB)" - Then find the .iso file in folder and click create.

For Puppy linux: unpack the .iso and copy the .sfs files to root of USB stick.