A boot menu opties

[david]

Hello,

First, I wish congratulated Chris for this new release.

I would like to 'propose' (?) an idea ... a little menu when you boot the livecd.
I think .. is more simple to have a menu at start up that enter some bootcode

Ex : when the keyboard is azerty or when user don't spend time to read help

I do it for a little livecd (multiboot) that i make for my personal use.
I create a little menu with the bootcode I usually use.

---
# create temp directory ( modify for your use )
mkdir /tmp/remaster
mkdir /tmp/remaster/iso
mkdir /tmp/remaster/root

# OK .. now , mount image ISO ( as user ROOT )
mount -o loop /where/is/iso/MCNLive-VirtualCity.iso /tmp/remaster/iso

# copy all file in directory 'iso' to 'root'
cp -v -a /tmp/remaster/iso/* /tmp/remaster/root

# .. now , umount image ISO ( as user ROOT )
umount /tmp/remaster/iso

# now , modify ' isolinux.cfg ' ( i use 'vi' ) .. copy / paste
rm -f /tmp/remaster/root/isolinux/isolinux.cfg
vi /tmp/remaster/root/isolinux/isolinux.cfg

-------------------------------------- isolinux.cfg ----------------------------------------------

#####
default livecd
prompt 1
timeout 150
display livecd.msg
F2 livecd.msg
F1 livecd_F1.msg

## keep for bootcode : livecd keyb=fr splash=silent ...
label livecd
kernel vmlinuz
append livecd=livecd initrd=initrd.gz root=/dev/rd/3 vga=788 keyb=be splash=verbose fstab=rw,auto

## menu
## default ( livecd )
label 1
kernel vmlinuz
append livecd=livecd initrd=initrd.gz root=/dev/rd/3 vga=788 keyb=be splash=verbose fstab=rw,auto
## copy2ram
label 2
kernel vmlinuz
append livecd=livecd initrd=initrd.gz root=/dev/rd/3 vga=788 keyb=be splash=verbose fstab=rw,auto copy2ram
## fromusb
label 3
kernel vmlinuz
append livecd=livecd initrd=initrd.gz root=/dev/rd/3 vga=788 keyb=be splash=verbose fstab=rw,auto fromusb
## fromusb & copy2ram
label 4
kernel vmlinuz
append livecd=livecd initrd=initrd.gz root=/dev/rd/3 vga=788 keyb=be splash=verbose fstab=rw,auto fromusb copy2ram
## safeboot
label 5
kernel vmlinuz
append livecd=livecd initrd=initrd.gz root=/dev/rd/3 acpi=off vga=normal keyb=be noapic nolapic noscsi nopcmcia nomce unionfs=no

-------------------------------------- isolinux.cfg ----------------------------------------------

# now modify the boot message
rm -f /tmp/remaster/root/isolinux/livecd.msg
vi /tmp/remaster/root/isolinux/livecd.msg

-------------------------------------- livecd.msg ----------------------------------------------

Welcome to MCNLive
-----------------------------

MENU :

[ 1 ] use it as a Live CD, as it is.
[ 2 ] 'copy2ram' to get a really speedy system ( 512 MB RAM, min. )
[ 3 ] boot from USB
[ 4 ] boot from USB and copy2ram
[ 5 ] safeboot

Hint [ Enter ] to start the LiveCD with default hardware detection

Or use menu ( bootcode ) ..

user: guest password: guest
( password for root is root )



Press [ F1 ] for more option


-------------------------------------- livecd.msg ----------------------------------------------

## Note : you can use an image like livecd.msg ( original ) .. is just an example

# " Et voilà .. " .. now , I have a menu. Don't need to enter bootcode anymore
#
# Make a new ISO

mkisofs -o /tmp/mcnl-menu.iso -b isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat \
-p ADcomp -V MADx -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table \
-l -R -r /tmp/remaster/root

## The End .... delete temp file/directory
rm -rf /tmp/remaster

But first , I always test new ISO with 'qemu' ..

qemu -cdrom /tmp/mcnl-menu.iso

I hope this can be useful for someone

With this method, I make a little livecd multiboot :



you can found it here : http://download.tuxfamily.org/madbox/madx-02_07/madx.iso 444 Mo

Bye

David [a.k.a] ADcomp ( a little man from belgium .. )
http://madbox.tuxfamily.org/



PS : Please excuse me for my “poor English”

Dit bericht is bewerkt door david: Feb 12 2007, 11:55 PM

[kris]

Salut David, welcome on mandrivaclub.nl

Great tutorial, wonderful idea!

A tip for those without a Belgian keyboard layout: change the keyb=be code in David's code, otherwise you will get this little man:

Another tip for people booting solely from USB key. You would just have to modify with a simple texteditor the two files: syslinux.cfg and livecd.msg, stored on the usb stick. No need to rebuild the iso, in this case.

David, in the weekend I will try the madx multiboot iso, looks very promising.

--chris

PS: your website is getting better and better

[doelman]

Looks promising

[kris]

David,

your madx multi-live rocks !!! Very well done.

Pretty interesting to compare DSL with MCNLive. While the startup of DSL is faster, I was surprised that the actual RAM usage and the overall responsivness of the system is not **that** different. I expected something very different.

geexbox is simply neat

A minor issue, though. You changed the default MCNLive isolinux.cfg kernel-options command line, you added 'noapic nolapic acpi=off" and the psmouse thingie. That's from an old mklivecd version.

For MDV 2007 it is a no-go. On my computer the result is that the pc does not shut down properly, but just hangs instead of powering off. The wanted behaviour is, that you shut down, the CD is automatically ejected, and when you hit the enter key, the tray closes automatically and the computer powers off.

I have not tested GParted. I found diskdrake easier to use and more reliable But thats just me.

[david]

Hello ,

Thanks Chris ..

MCNLive is fast .. as dsl I believe but on old computer , dsl is less "greedy" (?)

I run MCNLive under P300Mhz/64Mo Ram with icewm
But dsl run better in this case

For isolinux file , how could I be so much idiot ?? I correct this w-e and upload ..
I don't want people test madx and think that MCNLive is 'buggy' because I made mistake in a config file !!

I found diskdrake easier too , but GParted is very good for old computer

ps : I often work on old computer .. here is reason of “gparted” and “dsl”

thank you for test and feedback

David

[azenz]

This boot menu is a great idea! I just cannot get it to work on my usb stick. After creating the new iso file I burned it to a CD, and booting from that CD shows the new boot menu. Then I run the MCNLive remaster script to the usb stick, boot from that, and all I get is the good old splash.msg screen.

The files on my usb stick are as follows:

-r-xr-xr-x 1 guest guest 2048 Mar 30 16:04 boot.cat*
-r-xr-xr-x 1 guest guest 2376124 Mar 30 16:04 initrd.gz*
-rwxrwxrwx 1 guest guest 9660 Mar 30 14:49 isolinux.bin*
-r-xr-xr-x 1 guest guest 12524 Mar 30 16:04 ldlinux.sys*
-r-xr-xr-x 1 guest guest 680 Mar 30 16:08 livecd.msg*
-rwxrwxrwx 1 guest guest 882032640 Mar 30 16:09 livecd.sqfs*
-rwxrwxrwx 1 guest guest 1002 Mar 30 16:04 splash.msg*
-rwxrwxrwx 1 guest guest 465 Mar 30 16:04 syslinux.cfg*
-r-xr-xr-x 1 guest guest 1706269 Mar 30 16:04 vmlinuz*

[kris]

On the usb stick you need to edit the files: syslinux.cfg and splash.msg

Or before you do a remaster, edit them here on the running live-system: /usr/local/bin

The bootloader on a CD is isolinux, the bootloader on a usb stick (with a FAT partition) is syslinux.
Their config files are named different.