Hi,

I've been trying to add Astrumi linux (see http://cyti.latgola.lv/ruuni/index_en.html ) to UBCD (basic version), but have had no luck.

I tried adding the astrumi ISO to /images and then made an entry in custom.scn like so

if ($lastKey == key[f4]); then diskemu \images\astrumi.iso
I also tried
if ($lastKey == key[f5]); then memdisk \images\astrumi.iso

That didn't work so I copied the files from the astrumi.iso boot directory to the root of the UBCD as well and tried that with the two custom.scn options shown.

This will boot astrumi, but it won't go to its GUI and drops down to command line interface. It complains that the environment is not a live CD.

The ISO contains only two directories: boot and isolinux. The root contains one file astrumi.txt that has 0 bytes.

In the boot directory there are only two files:
austrumi.fs (43.4 mb) and austrumi.tgz (1.92 mb)

The isolinux directory contains 7 files
boot.cat (2,048 bytes)
bzImage (2,367,363)
initrd.gz (3,116,574)
isolinux (9,844)
isolinux.cfg (392)
logo (16,190)
message.msg (89)

The isolinux.cfg contains the lines:
default austrumi
prompt 1
timeout 100
display message.msg

label austrumi
kernel bzImage
APPEND initrd=initrd.gz cdcache dolivecd rw init=/linuxrc root=/dev/ram0 devfs=nomount load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 ramdisk_start=0 4

label al
kernel bzImage
APPEND initrd=initrd.gz cdcache dolivecd rw init=/linuxrc root=/dev/ram0 devfs=nomount load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 ramdisk_start=0 4

When my first method did work, I tried method 2 described here
http://sadyc.romus.ro/anyCDintoUBCD.html

But that didn't work either.

What's the best way to add this linux distro to UBCD?

TIA

Try the following:

- Copy all files from the Astrumi boot directory to UBCD's boot dir
- Copy all files from the Astrumi /isolinux dir to an /isolinux dir on UBCD
- Remove your imagesastrumi.iso file from /images
- Change your .scn file to simply read:
if ($lastKey == key[f4]); then isolinux

that's it. It should pick up the isolinux configuration
and behave as expected. Let us know.

-- Charles

Hi, thanks for the quick reply.

If I do the copy to the isolinux directory from astrumi, it's isolinux.cfg and boot.cat files will overwrite the ones that are already there in that directory.

Won't this break other distros that come with UBCD basic?

The isolinux.cfg file that's there now contains the following lines
DEFAULT vmlinuz
APPEND ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=en apm=power-off vga=791 initrd=miniroot.gz nomce quiet BOOT_IMAGE=insert
TIMEOUT 300
PROMPT 1
DISPLAY boot.msg
F1 boot.msg
F2 f2
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 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 fb1280x1024
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=en apm=power-off vga=794 xmodule=fbdev initrd=miniroot.gz nomce quiet BOOT_IMAGE=insert
LABEL fb1024x768
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=en apm=power-off vga=791 xmodule=fbdev initrd=miniroot.gz nomce quiet BOOT_IMAGE=insert
LABEL fb800x600
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=en apm=power-off vga=787 xmodule=fbdev initrd=miniroot.gz nomce quiet BOOT_IMAGE=insert
LABEL failsafe
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=en vga=normal nosound noapic noscsi nodma noapm nousb nopcmcia nofirewire noagp nomce nodhcp xmodule=vesa initrd=miniroot.gz BOOT_IMAGE=insert

Is there a way I can append or add to it?
Also, are the boot.cat files likely to cause conflicts as well? They appear to be exactly the same size. But if I compare them in a hex editor they differ at the last byte (position 0x2809). The astrumi one has hex data 4965, while the UBCD one has 645E. Other than that the two boot.cat files are identical.

Thanks again.

See if you have an /INSERT directory in the root of UBCD.
If you do, you're using the Full version, if not, then
Victor simply forgot to clean it out in the Basic version.

If you don't have an Insert directory, it's find to overwrite
the files in /isolinux. You can skip the copy of boot.cat in
the boot directory, it won't effect what you're doing.

If you DO have an /INSERT directory, then you're best off
following the following post for instructions on what you need
to do next:
viewtopic.php?p=608#608

-- Charles

Thanks again

No there is no Insert directory so I should be safe to use the suggestions from your first reply. I'll let you know how it works out.

Cheers,

Hi Charles,

Your first suggestion worked. I was able to boot astrumi properly even using qemu runing under XP. Unfortunately, the solution breaks all the mini linux distros listed in bootdsk.scn, except for one listed as

[F7] Recovery Is Possible (RIP) V3.1

that distro uses bcdw boot /images/rip.img, all the others use memdisk

I'll try the other solution you mentioned here
viewtopic.php?p=608#608

Ok, I tried the other method and everything works except astrumi boots into console mode. However, all I have to do is issue the command startx and everything loads just fine. It works!!

All I did to get it to work was copy everything from asturmi.iso to the appropriate directories in UBCD except for isolinux.cfg. I replaced the original boot.cat from UBCD with the one from astrumi and all the other linux distros still work.

I edited my custom.scn and added the line from the astrumi isolinux.cfg. That entry is

if ($lastKey == key[f5]); then isolinux bzImage initrd=initrd.gz cdcache dolivecd rw init=/linuxrc root=/dev/ram0 devfs=nomount load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 ramdisk_start=0 4

Not sure why it doesn't auto startX, but I'll live with that for now.

Thanks again for the help

>
> if ($lastKey == key[f5]); then isolinux bzImage
> initrd=initrd.gz cdcache dolivecd rw init=/linuxrc
> root=/dev/ram0 devfs=nomount load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0
> ramdisk_start=0 4

"...ramdisk_start=0 4"
Change the 4 to a 5 and it should run xwindows.

At first I thought it worked, but was using the wrong iso image. I tried the change, but I get the same result. It might work with a real CD, but not with the emulator. I'll let you know.

>
> "...ramdisk_start=0 4"
> Change the 4 to a 5 and it should run xwindows.
> (end of quote)
> At first I thought it worked, but was using the wrong iso
> image. I tried the change, but I get the same result. It
> might work with a real CD, but not with the emulator. I'll
> let you know.

OK, then I don't know what that 4 is for. Try changing it back
to "...ramdisk_start=0 4"
and changing ".. init /etc/linuxrc .."
to "... init=/etc/linuxrc 5 ..."

Bottom line it you want to get it to boot in runlevel 5.

I tried that, but it still won't start X. Near the end of the boot process it states

"Init: Entering runlevel: 3"
and leaves me at the root prompt.

Thanks for the suggestion. I really appreciate your help.

Cheers

I'm not familiar with Astrumi so am not familiar with
it's boot files or configuration. Clearly it's linux,
but there's more than one way to startup a linux system.

I might suggest you leave a message on the CDShell forums
inquiring about how to set the runlevel using the isolinux
command. Note that what you're currently experiencing has
nothing to do with UBCD, but simply the command options of
isolinux in CDShell. If I were to post I'd say something
like:

------------------------------------------
I've got this line in my cdshell.ini:
"... then isolinux .. your parms"
and Astrumi is booting in to runlevel 3. I'd like to change
it to boot to runlevel 5. Can I get some assistance on
options I might change in my cdshell.ini? Here is the
original isolinux.cfg that I'm trying to duplicate:
"
label austrumi
kernel bzImage
APPEND initrd=initrd.gz cdcache dolivecd rw init=/linuxrc
root=/dev/ram0 devfs=nomount load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 ramdisk_start=0
4
"
----------------------------------------

The reason I say cdshell.ini as opposed to custom.scn (or whatever
file you're using is that it's the same thing. UBCD starts with
cdshell.ini then includes various .scn files which are cdshell.ini
compliant. We could have named the files anything.

-- Charles

OK, I posted a question there (http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=12479 ) and we'll let you know how it worked out. Thanks again.

Cheers,

Charles,

I found the solution; it seems I was all around it. In summary, there are two methods that will work.

1) copy the austrumi iso to UBCD images directory and rename it to a simple, standard name like austrumi.iso. The mkisofs options I was using were changing the multiple periods in the original name to underscore characters. Then extract the two, large files from the iso's boot directory to the boot directory of the UBCD build. Next, add a line to one of the menu scripts (e.g., custom.scn) such as

This method won't work in qemu emulator because it attempts to cache the entire CD and unless you have huge amounts of ram, it will fail and send you to boot prompt at runlevel 3.

I tried this method before, but it didn't work because of the filename problem and the limitations of the emulator. Also, at one point I had the boot files in the UBCD root directory, instead of the boot directory.

2) the second method is to extract all the files from the austrumi iso, except for isolinux.cfg and place them in the identical directories of the UBCD. Then add the following line to one of the menu scripts.

the string of parameters after the isolinux command are identical to those found in austumi's isolinux.cfg file except the statement cdcache is removed. As before, telling the kernel to cache the cd will take too much ram and the boot will drop to runlevel 3. Remove cdcache from the command line and the distro will boot normally even in the qemu emulator (normally I only run qemu with the parameter -m set to 192).

Of the two, the second method is the best option because it saves CD space (i.e., no need to have both a copy of the iso and it's large boot files) and it allows you to control how the kernel is started. With this method you essentially gain control of the isolinux.cfg file. Also, in the case of austrumi at least, it doesn't break other isolinux distros because the isolinux.cfg is bypassed.

Thanks again for all your help.

Thanks for the update. Glad it's all working.