boot frugal hd and usb flash w/o bios usb support

[rockets]

I have puppy 3.00 on hd.

bios does not support usb boot.

I put grldr and menu.lst on c:\.

I want to boot puppy 2.14 on usb pen.

Also want option to boot other ver's on other pen drives

Found several helpful posts on boot single version via system files to c:\.
but nothing that would allow diff ver boot.

I tried : boot cd , puppy pmedia=usbflash

result: /bin/sh : can't access tty; job control turned off

Is it possible to do it my way?????

menu.lst

Code: Select all

 timeout 10
color black/cyan yellow/cyan
default 3

title linux Mandrake
kernel (hd0,5)/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda7 devfs=mount acpi=ht resume=/dev/hda8
initrd (hd0,5)/initrd.img

title 263-7
kernel (hd0,5)/vmlinuz-2.6.3-7mdk root=/dev/hda7 devfs=mount acpi=ht resume=/dev/hda8
initrd (hd0,5)/initrd-2.6.3-7mdk.img

title failsafe
kernel (hd0,5)/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda7 failsafe acpi=ht resume=/dev/hda8 devfs=nomount
initrd (hd0,5)/initrd.img

title windows xp
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

title floppy
root (fd0)
chainloader +1

title usb boot
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
kernel /vmlinuz 
initrd /initrd.gz


title Puppy Linux 300 frugal
rootnoverify (hd0,4)
kernel /puppy300/vmlinuz pmedia=idehd psubdir=puppy300
initrd /puppy300/initrd.gz


 

[rcrsn51]

Your current USB entry sounds reasonable:

title usb boot
rootnoverify (hd1,0)
kernel /vmlinuz
initrd /initrd.gz

But there is a catch. GRUB does not contain USB drivers, so it cannot jump to (hd1,0) and find the Puppy files. Here is a method that works:

Put the four core Puppy 3.00 files on the USB drive - vmlinuz, initrd.gz, pup300.sfs and zdrv300.sfs. Don't put them in a folder. Then use this GRUB entry:

title Puppy Linux 300 on USB
rootnoverify (hd0,4)
kernel /puppy300/vmlinuz pmedia=usbflash
initrd /puppy300/initrd.gz

This will load the initial files from (hd0,4). Then Puppy's own hardware detection can find the remaining files on the USB drive.

However, on re-reading your post, I realized that you want to put 2.14 on the USB drive. In that case, make a new folder in (hd0,4) and put the 2.14 versions of vmlinuz and initrd.gz there. Then modify the GRUB entry to point to that folder.

Also 2.14 may require another kernel argument:

kernel /puppy214/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 PMEDIA=usbflash

[rockets]

Sorry, I was not clear: the pen drive has a fully functional puppy 2.14 that boots from my laptop with no problems.

When I select 'usb boot' from the grub menu;

Code: Select all

Booting 'usb boot'
kernel /vmlinuz
error26: selected disk does not exist

I don't know what this means. Looks like I am refering to the wrong drive or usb support is missing or ???? usb works on this computer...I have usb printer, and wintv connected and functional in xp.

[rockets]

Have booted and rebooted with menu.lst changes.....
I'm going in circles.

grub says:

Code: Select all

root (....tab
fd0  hd0  rd

AND i forgot to mention hd0 is ntfs
So I am stuck...think I'll take the rest of the day to go play with a kayak.

[rcrsn51]

Please post your current menu.lst so we can see where you're at.

[rockets]

Since its only this one computer that I want to use several old ver's of puppy on I am taking another approach:

Copy mbr of whichever stick I want to use to c:\
point boot.ini to above file

It should work but I aint there yet.

partial menu.lst

Code: Select all

title windows xp
root (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

title floppy
root (fd0)
chainloader +1

title usb boot
root (rd) 
kernel (hd1,0) /vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 PMEDIA=usbflash
initrd /initrd.gz


title Puppy Linux 300 frugal
rootnoverify (hd0,4)
kernel /puppy300/vmlinuz pmedia=idehd psubdir=puppy300
initrd /puppy300/initrd.gz

Boot.ini

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[boot loader]

timeout=5

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn

c:\pup214mbr.bin="pup214 on usb stick"

c:\grldr = "sundry distros"

I think I am close but no banna yet.....I have a problem with / vs \ and simple things.

[rcrsn51]

I guess my instructions above were too vague. Here are the steps again.

1. In your current setup on hda5, make a folder named /puppy214. It should sit beside the /puppy300 folder.

2. Copy two files off your 2.14 pen drive - vmlinuz and initrd.gz - into this folder.

3. Add the following entry to your menu.lst:

title Puppy Linux 214 on USB
rootnoverify (hd0,4)
kernel /puppy214/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 PMEDIA=usbflash
initrd /puppy214/initrd.gz

[rockets]

SOLVED
Thanks rcrsn51... I don't understand how this fixed the problem. I would not have gone that way because hda5 is ntfs, but I'm beginning to see the light. The kernel and initrd on hda5 bypasses the ntfs prob w/grub etc.

I am using 214 now or at least what I had marked on the pen as 214 it probably is 214 upped to 216.

This was a long way around a simple problem and points out the utility of posting complete information in the beginning.

Again thanks...I did not get my kayak run in as the weather blew in from the south and our bays are running 5 to 7 ft.

[rcrsn51]

I suspect that grldr can see an ntfs partition because Windows has already reached the boot.ini phase and there is enough ntfs support in place. GRUB run from the MBR has no such support.

On the other hand, because you have dedicated hda5 to Linux, there is no good reason for having it formatted as ntfs.