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Unable add Linux iso's to ubcd

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2005 4:01 am
by mad_ady
Hello.

I know that there is a 'how-to' by Adrian Stanciu on this subject (Adding various linuxes to ubcd), but it seems that his website has been down for the past month.

I was wondering, does anybody have a copy of that how-to? Or does anybody remember how to do it?

I want to add System Rescue CD (already added, and working), Insert (works), Movix (almost boots, but nothing) and Goblinx (boots, but doesn't get far).

I'd like to consult the docs, to see where I'm doing wrong.

Also, as a sugestion, I'd like to say that there should be a mirror of those documents, in case something else happends to Adrian's website...

Thanks.

Unable add Linux iso's to ubcd

Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2005 6:36 pm
by Victor Chew
If anyone has copies of Adrian's instructions, please pass them to me and I will
mirror them in the tutorial section.

mad_ady wrote:
> Hello.
>
> I know that there is a 'how-to' by Adrian Stanciu on this subject (Adding various linuxes to ubcd), but it seems that his website has been down for the past month.
>
> I was wondering, does anybody have a copy of that how-to? Or does anybody remember how to do it?
>
> I want to add System Rescue CD (already added, and working), Insert (works), Movix (almost boots, but nothing) and Goblinx (boots, but doesn't get far).
>
> I'd like to consult the docs, to see where I'm doing wrong.
>
> Also, as a sugestion, I'd like to say that there should be a mirror of those documents, in case something else happends to Adrian's website...
>
> Thanks.

Posted: Wed Sep 28, 2005 8:55 am
by mad_ady
Thanks Victor!

Please give me a message, or post on this thread if you are able to get the tutorials, so I can get busy with them!

Thank you again.

Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 4:28 am
by mad_ady
Here's what I did, step by step, while trying to integrate Insert, System Rescue CD, Movix, Womp and GoblinX

1. I used an older ubcd (2.21), but I don't think there is a problem with the older cdshell...
2. The isolinux folder was copyed over from System Rescue CD.
3. I added all the vmlinuz-es and initrd's I could find from the other cd's to /isolinux, and I renamed some of them so that there are no conflicts with the names.
4. I customized my isolinux.cfg file with boot options from all the linuxes I want, just by copy and paste-ing...
5. I customized the F1-F5 text displayed.

I compiled the cd, and:

Insert boots, but gets caught up when trying to find the root device, and drops me to a limited shell.
System Rescue CD works flawlesly
Movix boots, but displays an error message - that it can't continue because is unable to find the startup scripts (/etc/rc.d) - possibly it can't find the root device...
Womp works fine (to my amazement)
GoblinX can't mount the root fs on unknown-block(3,6); Kernel panic

I know I must be missing something, but I can't put my finger on it. If anyone remembers what it is, please post your advice.

PS. Should I go with the isolinux from Insert? I'll try and post my results. Thanks for listening.

Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2005 1:19 am
by mad_ady
I've been busy working on my distros, and I've had some success.

I'm listing the contents of my isolinux directory and isolinux.cfg

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mad_ady@einstein:~/work/ub/isolinux$ ls -1R
boot.cat
f1boot-2.4.27.lss
f1boot.lss
f1boot.msg
f1c.txt
f1c.txt~
f2c.txt
f2c.txt~
f2help.lss
f2help.msg
f3c.txt
f3c.txt~
f3kern.lss
f3kern.msg
f4.txt~
f4arun.lss
f4arun.msg
f4c.txt
f5c.txt
f5c.txt~
help.txt
init.gz
initrd1
initrdg
initrdm.gz
iso.sort
isolinux.bin
isolinux.boot
isolinux.cfg
isolinux.cfg.bak
isolinux.cfg~
kernel
keyb.ktl
linuxes.txt
linuxes.txt~
maps
memdisk
miniroot.gz
movix2.lss
movix2.msg
mphelp.txt
mx2help.txt
splashator.sh
srcdmenu.com
trblst.txt
trblst2.txt
trblst3.txt
vmlinuz
vmlinuz1
vmlinuzg
womp.lss
womp.msg
zippeitor.sh

./kernel:
vmlinuz
vmlinuzm

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mad_ady@einstein:~/work/ub/isolinux$ cat isolinux.cfg
default sys800
timeout 300
prompt 1

display linuxes.txt

F1 f1c.txt
F2 f2c.txt
F3 f3c.txt
F4 f4c.txt
F5 f5c.txt

label sys640
        kernel vmlinuz1
        append initrd=initrd1 acpi=off root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc dokeymap vga=785

label sys800
        kernel vmlinuz1
        append initrd=initrd1 acpi=off root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc vga=788

label sys1024
        kernel vmlinuz1
        append initrd=initrd1 acpi=off root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc dokeymap vga=791

label sysnofb
        kernel vmlinuz1
        append initrd=initrd1 acpi=off root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc dokeymap

label sysnokeymap
        kernel vmlinuz1
        append initrd=initrd1 acpi=off root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc

label sysi810fb800
        kernel vmlinuz1
        append initrd=initrd1 video=i810fb:xres=800 acpi=off root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc dokeymap

label insert
        kernel vmlinuz
        append ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=en apm=power-off vga=791 initrd=miniroot.gz nomce quiet BOOT_IMAGE=insert

label insert-txt
        kernel vmlinuz
        append ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=en apm=power-off vga=normal initrd=miniroot.gz nomce quiet BOOT_IMAGE=insert

label insert-expert
        kernel vmlinuz
        append ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=en apm=power-off vga=791 initrd=miniroot.gz nomce BOOT_IMAGE=expert

label movix
  kernel kernel/vmlinuzm
  append initrd=initrdm.gz ramdisk_size=13000 rw root=/dev/ram0 max_loop=16 LABEL=movix video=vesa:mtrr vga=0x317

label TV
  kernel kernel/vmlinuzm
  append initrd=initrdm.gz ramdisk_size=13000 rw root=/dev/ram0 max_loop=16 LABEL=TV video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=0x311

label NVidia
  kernel kernel/vmlinuzm
  append initrd=initrdm.gz ramdisk_size=13000 rw root=/dev/ram0 max_loop=16 LABEL=NVidia video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=0x311

label ATI
  kernel kernel/vmlinuzm
  append initrd=initrdm.gz ramdisk_size=13000 rw root=/dev/ram0 max_loop=16 LABEL=ATI video=vesa:off

label NVidiaTV
  kernel kernel/vmlinuzm
  append initrd=initrdm.gz ramdisk_size=13000 rw root=/dev/ram0 max_loop=16 LABEL=NVidiaTV video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=0x311

label vesa
  kernel kernel/vmlinuzm
  append initrd=initrdm.gz ramdisk_size=13000 rw root=/dev/ram0 max_loop=16 LABEL=vesa video=vesa:off

label vesaFB640
  kernel kernel/vmlinuzm
  append initrd=initrdm.gz ramdisk_size=13000 rw root=/dev/ram0 max_loop=16 LABEL=FB video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=0x311

label vesaFB800
  kernel kernel/vmlinuzm
  append initrd=initrdm.gz ramdisk_size=13000 rw root=/dev/ram0 max_loop=16 LABEL=FB video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=0x314

label FB
  kernel kernel/vmlinuzm
  append initrd=initrdm.gz ramdisk_size=13000 rw root=/dev/ram0 max_loop=16 LABEL=FB video=vesa:off

label womp800
  kernel kernel/vmlinuz
  append initrd=init.gz rw root=tmpfs video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=788

label womp800x32
  kernel kernel/vmlinuz
  append initrd=init.gz rw root=tmpfs video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=789

label womp1024
  kernel kernel/vmlinuz
  append initrd=init.gz rw root=tmpfs video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=791

label womp1024x32
  kernel kernel/vmlinuz
  append initrd=init.gz rw root=tmpfs video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=792

label goblinx
kernel vmlinuzg
append max_loop=255 initrd=initrdg init=linuxrc livecd_subdir=/ load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 ramdisk_size=4700 root=/dev/ram0 rw vga=791 splash=silent

A lot of files in the isolinux directory are not used, but have been copyed from the original distros. I've made corrections to isolinux.cfg because I noticed newlines that were messing things up. Now I don't get any errors when I load isolinux.bin.

This is the current status:
INSERT can't find the root drive. I'm thinking of switching to a newer isolinux
System Rescue CD works fine
Movix can't load its scripst (probably can't find root device)
Womp works
GoblinX works (to my surprise) - after doing some cleanup on isolinux.cfg

I need to get Insert and Movix working, and I'm in business.

Wish me luck.
I hope isolinux.cfg will help others who want to remaster their ubcd. I'm only sorry I have to reinvent the wheel to get to my goal. But maybe there's still hope to get those tutorials from Adrian Stanciu.

Here are the contents of linuxes.txt, f1c.txt, ... so there's no secret.

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cat linuxes.txt
                    Welcome to UBCD - linux selection

=========================================================================
| Available linuxes     |  Boot options |  Quick boot   |  Default      |
+=======================================================================+
| INSERT                |       [F1]    |    insert     |       no      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| System Rescue CD      |       [F2]    |    sys800     |       yes     |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Movix                 |       [F3]    |    movix      |       no      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Womp                  |       [F4]    |    womp800    |       no      |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| GoblinX               |       [F5]    |    goblinx    |       no      |
+=======================================================================+

Enjoy.

Code: Select all

 cat f1c.txt
                               INSERT options

The INSERT boot manager accepts the following, combinable boot options:

insert lang=be|ch|da|de|dk|en|es|uk|us     set keyboard/language
insert screen=1280x1024 depth=24           use given XFree screen format
insert xserver=XFree86 xmodule=fbdev       different X-server module
insert wheelmouse                          use IMPS/2-compatible wheelmouse
insert xvrefresh=50                        use 50 Hz refresh rate
insert 2                                   runlevel 2, text mode only
insert toram                               run from RAM
insert no{scsi|pcmcia|usb|agp|swap|apm|apic|mce|ddc}     turn off..
insert-txt                                 use frame buffer (for notebooks)
insert-expert                              use interactive configuration

Code: Select all

 cat f2c.txt
                      System Rescue CD options
sys640      FrameBuffer 640x480 (default, should work)
sys800      FrameBuffer 800x600
sys1024     FrameBuffer 1024x768
sysnofb     No FrameBuffer (QtParted and FB utils won't work)
sysnokeymap   Does not ask for keymap at startup
sysi810fb800 FrameBuffer 800x600 for i810 chipsets

Kernel parameters:

cdcache     Copies cd to RAM (100Mb) so you can eject the cd.
noapic      Disables APIC support (if it hangs)
ide=nodma   Disable DMA for faulty IDE
nonet       Prevents network autodetection
noscsi      Prevents SCSI detection
nodetect    Prevents generic autodetection
dopcmcia    Detects pcmcia hardware

Example:
  sys800 cdcache ide=nodma
            will start SystemRescueCD to ram without dma support

Code: Select all

cat f3c.txt
                               Movix options
  movix - default label: automagically select best options
  NVidia - use the NVidia proprietary X-windows drivers
  NVidiaTV - as above but use TV-out as display
  TV     - use TV-out (experimental)
  FB     - use your card FrameBuffer (if any)
  vesaFB - use the generic FrameBuffer (800x600)
  vesaFB640,vesaFB800
          -  vesaFB labels for the following resolutions:
             640x480 800x600
  vesa   - use the generic non accelerated vesa driver
                      X-window-related boot parameters:

  DRIVER   <driver>   Force the use of a specific mplayer vo driver
                      (xvidix, xv, x11, gl, gl2, xmga, dga, vesa)
  MONITOR    std      Use "standard" monitor freqs if X refuses to start
  MOUSE <serial,ps2,usb> Use this to force mouse detection by hand
  ACCEL       n       Don't use sw acceleration with vesa driver
  HF        <freq>    Set the range of horizontal freq. for yr monitor
  VF        <freq>    Set the range of vertical freq. for yr monitor
  CD       16,24,32   Force the default color depth to 16, 24 or 32 bpp
  OSS         y       Use OSS instead of ALSA for sound detection
  REGION    <region>  Either one of NTSC, NTSC-J, PAL, PAL-B,
                        PAL-M, PAL-NC, PAL-60, PAL-M60 or SECAM.

Code: Select all

 cat f4c.txt
                            Womp options

WOMP! is a micro linux distribution focused on Multimedia.

Main features are: Play Videos mpg, avi, divx, Play music mp3 and ogg,
Show pictures jpg, gif etc, Browse the web and listen to internet radio.
Additionally a CD can be built to automagically start the CD's content.

WOMP! will NOT install any software on the computer, It will try to mount
all local partition in Read-Only mode to be able to play its content.

At the boot prompt :
womp800     -> start in 800x600 16 bits (65536 colors)
womp800x32  -> start in 800x600 32 bits (16M colors)
womp1024    -> start in 1024x768 16 bits
womp1024x32 -> start in 1024x768 32 bits

For video playing , 800x600 will usually be the good choice.

You can also add special parameters
go = y : skip the setup menu for keyboard and sound driver, in that case, you
can also force these parameters with oss=y and kb=fr/de .The default values
are alsa for sound and a qwerty us keyboard. Add mouse=serial if using a
serial mouse.

Exemple boot: b2 go=y kb=de
will autostart with alsa sound driver and a german keyboard

Code: Select all


cat f5c.txt
                             GoblinX options
You can affect the system by passing some special parameters to the Linux
kernel. Type "goblinx" followed by one or more parameters as shown below

goblinx nohotplug ..........  to disable HW detection (+try nopcmcia noagp)
goblinx passwd=ask .........  to ask for new root's password before starting
goblinx copy2ram ...........  to copy all modules to RAM (350 MB free)
goblinx eject ..............  to force cdrom ejecting (only with copy2ram)
goblinx nofirewall .........  to disable firewall
goblinx alsa ...............  to enable alsa.conf
goblinx usmap ..............  to enable US default keyboard
goblinx gdm ................  to start X using GDM
goblinx mousedev=/dev/psaux.  specify mouse device
goblinx mouseproto=ps/2 ....  specify mouse protocol

Examples:
boot: goblinx copy2ram eject ... copy CD to RAM and eject medium

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2005 1:55 am
by mad_ady
It seems nobody found the old how-tos...

Fortunatelly, after a lot of hard work and google-ing I managed to get everything working together. It seems that INSERT and MOVIX need RockRidge support (I hadn't enabled it).

now, I build my cd with:

Code: Select all

mkisofs -J -R -l -r -o ~/ubcd.iso -b boot/loader.bin -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 .
I was building it with:

Code: Select all

mkisofs -o ~/ubcd.iso -b boot/loader.bin -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 .
My final /isolinux/isolinux.cfg looks like this:

Code: Select all

default sys800
timeout 300
prompt 1

display linuxes.txt

F1 f1c.txt
F2 f2c.txt
F3 f3c.txt
F4 f4c.txt
F5 f5c.txt

label sys640
        kernel vmlinuz1
        append initrd=initrd1 acpi=off root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc dokeymap vga=785

label sys800
        kernel vmlinuz1
        append initrd=initrd1 acpi=off root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc vga=788

label sys1024
        kernel vmlinuz1
        append initrd=initrd1 acpi=off root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc dokeymap vga=791

label sysnofb
        kernel vmlinuz1
        append initrd=initrd1 acpi=off root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc dokeymap

label sysnokeymap
        kernel vmlinuz1
        append initrd=initrd1 acpi=off root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc

label sysi810fb800
        kernel vmlinuz1
        append initrd=initrd1 video=i810fb:xres=800 acpi=off root=/dev/ram0 init=/linuxrc dokeymap

label insert
        kernel vmlinuz
        append ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=en apm=power-off vga=791 initrd=miniroot.gz nomce quiet BOOT_IMAGE=insert

label insert-txt
        kernel vmlinuz
        append ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=en apm=power-off vga=normal initrd=miniroot.gz nomce quiet BOOT_IMAGE=insert

label insert-expert
        kernel vmlinuz
        append ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=en apm=power-off vga=791 initrd=miniroot.gz nomce BOOT_IMAGE=expert

label movix
  kernel kernel/vmlinuzm
  append initrd=initrdm.gz ramdisk_size=13000 rw root=/dev/ram0 max_loop=16 LABEL=movix video=vesa:mtrr vga=0x317

label TV
  kernel kernel/vmlinuzm
  append initrd=initrdm.gz ramdisk_size=13000 rw root=/dev/ram0 max_loop=16 LABEL=TV video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=0x311

label NVidia
  kernel kernel/vmlinuzm
  append initrd=initrdm.gz ramdisk_size=13000 rw root=/dev/ram0 max_loop=16 LABEL=NVidia video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=0x311

label ATI
  kernel kernel/vmlinuzm
  append initrd=initrdm.gz ramdisk_size=13000 rw root=/dev/ram0 max_loop=16 LABEL=ATI video=vesa:off

label NVidiaTV
  kernel kernel/vmlinuzm
  append initrd=initrdm.gz ramdisk_size=13000 rw root=/dev/ram0 max_loop=16 LABEL=NVidiaTV video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=0x311

label vesa
  kernel kernel/vmlinuzm
  append initrd=initrdm.gz ramdisk_size=13000 rw root=/dev/ram0 max_loop=16 LABEL=vesa video=vesa:off

label vesaFB640
  kernel kernel/vmlinuzm
  append initrd=initrdm.gz ramdisk_size=13000 rw root=/dev/ram0 max_loop=16 LABEL=FB video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=0x311

label vesaFB800
  kernel kernel/vmlinuzm
  append initrd=initrdm.gz ramdisk_size=13000 rw root=/dev/ram0 max_loop=16 LABEL=FB video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=0x314

label FB
  kernel kernel/vmlinuzm
  append initrd=initrdm.gz ramdisk_size=13000 rw root=/dev/ram0 max_loop=16 LABEL=FB video=vesa:off

label womp800
  kernel kernel/vmlinuz
  append initrd=init.gz rw root=tmpfs video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=788

label womp800x32
  kernel kernel/vmlinuz
  append initrd=init.gz rw root=tmpfs video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=789

label womp1024
  kernel kernel/vmlinuz
  append initrd=init.gz rw root=tmpfs video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=791

label womp1024x32
  kernel kernel/vmlinuz
  append initrd=init.gz rw root=tmpfs video=vesa:ywrap,mtrr vga=792

label goblinx
kernel vmlinuzg
append max_loop=255 initrd=initrdg init=linuxrc livecd_subdir=/ load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 ramdisk_size=4700 root=/dev/ram0 rw vga=791 splash=silent
Next I'll try to add a menu entry or to tweak my cdshell.ini

I'm sorry that nobody could help me, but I hope that this post will help somebody! :) If you have any questions, post them in this thread and I'll answer if I can

Posted: Thu Nov 03, 2005 9:13 am
by deque
Thanks for posting this, it will definitely help me out as I continue my work on customizing UBCD.