boot iso with pxe and grub4dos

following this guide [http://diddy.boot-land.net/grub4dos/files/pxe.htm] with small modification

I use tftpd 3.35 [http://tftpd32.jounin.net/tftpd32_download.html]

tftpd32 program to
C:\tftpd32\
and create
C:\tftpd32\root\

copy grldr to c:\tftpd32\root\ , the same as the guide

Don't create C:\tftpd32\root\menu.lst\
it is now /menu/ or grldr can read or search for /menu.lst file


tftpd32 - settings
 - Base Directory set to the root folder we created earlier (C:\tftpd32\root)
 - only need dhcp and tftp server
 - Ensure that Allow '\' As virtual root is enabled - this will allow file/folder paths to treat C:\tftpd32\root\ as / (e.g. entering chainloader /pxelinux.0 from the Grub4dos command line will chainload C:\tftpd32\root\pxelinux.0.)
 - bind tftp dhcp address, I set it to prevent the error "request 2 not processed" (set it to the interface which is directly connected to the pxe client)


dhcp - settings
 - IP pool , the same subnet to the pxe server
 - size of pool , easy
 - boot file , grldr [1][2]
 - mask , set it to the same subnet to the pxe server will be ok

now copy grldr , menu.lst , the iso file to C:\tftpd32\root

I boot geexbox , so , in my menu.lst
#start
title pxe geexbox
#(fd33) is equivalent to (pd) or it can be / , because we enabled virtual root in tftpd
map --mem --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 (pd)/geexbox-r8328.iso (hd32)
map --hook
chainloader (hd32)
boot
# also
title Boot slitaz-3.0.iso

map --mem --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 (fd33)/slitaz-3.0.iso (0xff)
map --hook
chainloader (0xff)
boot
# also
title Boot slitaz-4.0.iso
map --mem --heads=0 --sectors-per-track=0 (pd)/slitaz-4.0.iso (0xff)
map --hook
chainloader (0xff)
boot

#end

and everything is the same as grub / grub4dos then

[1] [http://gna.org/projects/grub4dos/]
[2] [http://code.google.com/p/grub4dos-chenall/]

small linux distribution

like cdlinux, slitaz, damnsmalllinux, tinycore, finnix ... are all compact linux distribution

recently stick to cdlinux, slitaz, finnix

these 3 work with my rt2500usb wifi usb adapter

cdlinux 0.6 is highly fast on my old computer, while 0.9 is a bit slower but come with latest xfce 4.6.1 and firefox 3.5.5

extracted cd linux on my C: , /cdl06 , /cdl09 respectively

ntldr , grldr , menu.lst , using the CDL_DIR= to change the path that the kernel intents to read the compressed loop image

title CDlinux 0.6
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot_cdl06/CDlinux/autoboot/bzImage quiet CDL_LANG=en_US.UTF-8 CDL_DIR=boot_cdl06/CDlinux CDL_LOOP=yes
initrd /boot_cdl06/CDlinux/autoboot/CDlinux

title CDlinux 0.9
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot_cdl09/CDlinux/bzImage quiet CDL_LANG=en_US.UTF-8 CDL_DIR=boot_cdl09/CDlinux CDL_LOOP=yes
initrd /boot_cdl09/CDlinux/initrd

qemu.exe -L . -m 32 -cdrom slitaz-cooking.iso

finnix somes with ssh, enable it in the boot options:

kernel /path/linx ... sshd sshd_password=1234

initrd ...

www.distrowatch.com

http://cdlinux.info/

http://www.slitaz.org/en/

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org

http://www.tinycorelinux.com/

http://www.finnix.org/

I use dd command to write a iso to a unformatted partiton
see if it can boot or not

I use windows and partitionmanager(from unetbootin)
I modified it a bit

so it will look like
c:\partitionmanagerrev120\ubninit
c:\partitionmanagerrev120\ubnkern
c:\grldr
c:\menu.lst

##menu.lst
title UNetbootin-partitionmanagerrev120
find --set-root /unetbtin/ubnkern
kernel /unetbtin/ubnkern root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc ramdisk_size=100000 skip
initrd /unetbtin/ubninit
boot

I resize the partition of my windows
so
/sda
/sda1 , ntfs , windows , boot
/sda2 , new , 1G , unformatted

then I use the dd command in console
dd if=/path/winxp.iso of=/dev/sda2
sda2 now becomes a iso9600 partition
I can even use
mount -t iso9660 /dev/sda2 /mnt/winxp
to mount it

use grldr to boot see if it will work
##menu.lst
title boot iso9660
root (hd0,1)
savedefault
chainloader +1

...................of course, it wont work
googled a lot of pages, some crazy people think of it before, hundreds of pages, still no help
still thinking how to make it work

install gOS on ubuntu command line system

grabbed a xubuntu alternate cd, place it in C:\
I use the hd-media method to install it, which is the
"The CD image approach" in https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromWindows

get the hd-media version of vmlinuz, initrd.gz
place it in c:\hd-media\

grabbed grub4dos, extract grldr, menu.lst and place it in c:\
mod the menu.lst
add:

title Install Ubuntu alternate
#original in ubuntu help, which will install X and the X desktop enviornment
#kernel (hd0,0)/hd-media/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk_size=128000
#boot to 'install command-line system'
#my mod here
kernel (hd0,0)/hd-media/vmlinuz append tasks=standard pkgsel/language-pack-patterns= pkgsel/install-language-support=false vga=normal root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk_size=128000
initrd (hd0,0)/hd-media/initrd.gz

I boot it using ntldr redirect grldr, so,
in windows cmd:
attrib -R -S -H boot.ini
echo c:\grldr="start grldr" >> boot.ini

install a ubuntu command line system, no X, no OOo, no shit, clean!
I dont install grub on MBR, but on sda2(so-called Super Block), while using the parition tool, it makes the sda2 as boot/active automatically, I change the boot flag back to sda1
/dev/sda
　/dev/sda1　|　ntfs　|　boot
　/dev/sda2　|　ext3　|　mount as /
　/dev/sda3　|　swap　|　mount as swap
you can use the gui which is slow, or press alt-2 to tty2 with

fdisk /dev/sda
p > a > 1
a > 2 > w


Now I boot my linux like this with modded c:\menu.lst with these line added
or you can copy the code in /boot/grub/menu.lst in /dev/sda2

title find and boot Linux with menu.lst already installed
find --set-root /sbin/init
savedefault --wait=2
configfile /boot/grub/menu.lst


now, install the gOS with these command:


sudo echo '' >> /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo echo 'deb http://packages.thinkgos.com/gos/ reloaded main' >> /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo echo 'deb-src http://packages.thinkgos.com/gos/ reloaded main' >> /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo echo '' >> /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo wget http://www.thinkgos.com/files/gos_repo_key.asc
sudo apt-key add gos_repo_key.asc
sudo rm gos_repo_key.asc
sudo aptitude update
#comment out cdrom in source.list

sudo apt-get install xorg e17 emodule-itask-ng emodule-mixer emodule-tclock emodule-taskbar emodule-deskshow emodule-efm-nav emodule-efm-path idesk gos-keyring greenos-artwork greenos-icon-theme greenos-default-settings greenos-wallpapers ttf-arphic-bkai00mp ttf-arphic-bsmi00lp leafpad firefox synaptic bsh desktop-file-utils gksu hibernate hicolor-icon-theme slocate ttf-freefont
sudo apt-get install bsh desktop-file-utils gksu acpi acpid hibernate hicolor-icon-theme slocate ttf-freefont
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get autoremove
you can strip "ttf-arphic-bkai00mp ttf-arphic-bsmi00lp leafpad firefox synaptic" as you like, ttf fonts are for Chinese, CHT and CHS, leafpad is a notepad, synaptic is a good tool to manage apt packages

then issue a reboot command, you will see a very nice 'entrance' waiting you to logon

it will be ok on most system
now you got a gOS which consumes much fewer hdd space then the gOS 2.0 beta 1
use df -h to see it, it can be as few as 600MB

fancy itask-ng is still very buggy ......