ISO mapping with MEMDISK is possible now External links Options

[Icecube]

ISO mapping with MEMDISK is possible now.

I tried it with Parted Magic 4.2. Rename the pmagic-4.2.iso file to pmagic-4.1.iso, else Parted Magic won't find the iso (Patrick forgot to update the version number).

CODE

UI menu.c32

LABEL pmagic
MENU LABEL Parted Magic V4.2 with MEMDISK ISO emulation
TEXT HELP
Linux distro for manipulating partitions (eg. create, resize).
ENDTEXT
LINUX memdisk
APPEND iso
INITRD /pmagic-4.1.iso

The following code (new preferred syslinux syntax):

CODE

LINUX memdisk
APPEND iso
INITRD /pmagic-4.1.iso

does the same as:

CODE

KERNEL memdisk
APPEND iso initrd=/pmagic-4.1.iso

For the last MEMDISK with iso emulation, get the attached file.
You can compile it yourself if you want (in the master syslinux git branch now): http://git.kernel.org/?p=boot/syslinux/sys...fcb70c806c0f994
SYSLINUX 3.84-pre4 doesn't have all patches. The attached version has them and supports floppy emulation (PloP ISO) or hard disk emulation (Dell Diagnostics ISO) ISO's.

SYSLINUX 3.82 doesn't has this new MEMDISK yet.
You can compile it yourself if you want: http://git.etherboot.org/?p=people/sha0/sy...ads/memdisk-iso


Edit: new MEMDISK attached (without debugging messages and 'press a key' message)
Edit: new MEMDISK attached. It supports booting more iso's than previous versions (the G4U iso boots now).
Edit: new MEMDISK attached. It supports booting more iso's than previous versions (the PloP iso boots now, which uses floppy emulation).
Edit: Syslinux 3.84-pre5 and later has this patches, so the attachment isn't needed anymore.

Test versions of Syslinux (pre versions):
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/Testing/
Stable versions of Syslinux:
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/boot/syslinux/

A big thank you goes to Sha0 for making MEMDISK capable of booting ISO's.

The ISO is mapped to BIOS drive 0xA0 (same drive as drive (hd32) in grub4dos).

Edit: New version of MEMDISK: The ISO is mapped to BIOS drive 0xE0 (same drive as drive (hd96) in grub4dos). If 0xE0 already exists (is your normal CD drive for example, this drive is shifted upwards (becomes 0xE1) and the emulated iso will be available as 0xE0. So if you boot several ISO's after each other (ISO's in ISO's) with MEMDISK the old CD drives will shift one BIOS drive up.

Currently only memory mapping is implemented. Direct mapping might be added in the future.

All iso's that can be booted with grub4dos iso emulation (memory mapped), can probably be booted with memdisk too (if you have enough ram of course).
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=5041
The same limitations as for grub4dos iso emulation are true for memdisk iso booting.
See: http://diddy.boot-land.net/grub4dos/files/map.htm#hd32

WinVBlock driver can be used to detect and use MEMDISK and Grub4DOS memdisks in Windows (you can boot from it): http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=8168

[maanu]

now that is an excellent improvement . thanks a lot icecube for the head up .

im wondering if i can use this MEMDISK with G4D and syslinux at the same time ? well i guess i can .

[Icecube]

For grub4dos, the following should work (not tested):

CODE

title Parted Magic V4.2
kernel /memdisk iso
initrd /pmagic-4.1.iso

[erwan.l]

Hi There,
Tried the attached memdisk with the following code using latest pxelinux

KERNEL memdisk
APPEND iso initrd=/pmagic-4.1.iso

but with no success : pmagic complains that it cant find the squashfs.

Did I miss a step?

Thank,
Erwan.

[Icecube]

For PXE, you need the PXE version of Parted Magic.
The PXE version consists only of a kernel (bzImage) and a large initramfs file. This initramfs contains the pmagic.sqfs file.

In the CD and USB versions of Parted Magic the pmagic.sqfs file is a separate file.

Because Parted Magic booted with PXE, doesn't need to find the iso file, you can use pmagic-4.2.iso as filename. But you need to create this iso yourself for the PXE version:

• Extract the iso you already downloaded, replace the file initramfs with the file from the PXE version and delete the /pmagic/pmodules/pmagic.sqfs file.
• Remaster the iso: http://partedmagic.com/documentation/131-h...e-iso-file.html

[erwan.l]

Thanks icecube, works beautifully
The iso support for memdisk is very nice !

Now, I am going to try the same with http loading instead of tftp.

/Erwan

edit : confirmed, this works with gpxelinux & http as well and this is blasting fast !

label Parted Magic 42 memdisk + http
KERNEL memdisk
APPEND iso initrd=http://192.168.1.100/images/pmagic/pmagic-4.2.iso

[maanu]

ice cube , i was wondering if u have tested ram based live xp iso with syslinux yet ?

i mean with memdisk approach..

[Icecube]

@maanu
I never have had a RAM based liveXP, so I don't know.
But it will probably work, because grub4dos can boot such an iso (according to Lancelot): http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...=5041&st=20

@all
I uploaded a new memdisk build (without debugging messages and 'press a key' message) to my first post.
All iso's that work with grub4dos (if you use memory mapped iso's), should work with memdisk too.

[maanu]

thats cool . i ll for sure try and test it . thanks..

[delicatepc]

I tried it with Parted Magic 4.2. Rename the pmagic-4.2.iso file to pmagic-4.1.iso, else Parted Magic won't find the iso (Patrick forgot to update the version number).

What do you mean Patrick forgot to update the version #? Is Patrick a developer of Parted Magic? And is Parted Magic referencing itself as an iso name pmagic-4.1.iso (doesn't sound right/possible).

Apologies if its a incredibly dense question.

thanks,
dpc