Integrating UBCD into multiboot DVD using isolinux

Try looking for help here if you are having problems with the Ultimate Boot CD.

Moderators: Icecube, StopSpazzing

Locked
Message
Author
chsch
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2005 7:18 am

Integrating UBCD into multiboot DVD using isolinux

#1 Post by chsch » Sun Aug 21, 2005 7:31 am

Hi!

I tried to integrate UBCD 3.3 into my multiboot DVD for a while without success. My multiboot DVD uses isolinux to boot. I copied the following stuff from the UBCD CD to my multiboot DVD:
/boot, /dosapps, /images, /isolinux.

Then I added "KERNEL /boot/loader.bin" to the isolinux config file. I tried to boot UBCD, but it did not work. (An error occured telling me to press enter to reboot.)

UBCD does not require a special volume ID or something like that to boot, does it?

As far as I remember I was able to integrate UBCD 3.2 into a multiboot DVD using isolinux without any problems.

Do you have any ideas or suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,
chsch

bldrdash
Posts: 101
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2005 10:04 am

Integrating UBCD into multiboot DVD using isolinux

#2 Post by bldrdash » Sun Aug 21, 2005 10:59 am

The UBCD uses CDShell as it's primary boot loader, and
specifically /boot/loader.bin. This is the file you specify
to mkisofs or other utils that generate an ISO. From there,
CDShell can load secondary boot images using isolinux, memdisk,
bcdw, etc.

You didn't specify how you built the ISO, specifically what
you used as the primary boot loader, but I suspect you're
trying to use isolinux to call CDShell (as opposed to the
way we do it which is CDShell calls isolinux).

I don't know if it can be done that way. Check the CDShell
forums. On the other hand, you may instead use CDShell as
the primary boot loader. Not sure if CDShell as any issues
with a DVD image (probably not), but once again, check the
CDShell forums.

http://www.cdshell.org/ and
http://www.911cd.net/forums/index.php?c=5

> UBCD does not require a special volume ID or something like
> that to boot, does it?

No, it doesn't.

> As far as I remember I was able to integrate UBCD 3.2 into a
> multiboot DVD using isolinux without any problems.

Well, there have been changes to CDShell since then, but I'd
be surprised if isolinux could boot CDShell.

-- Charles

chsch
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2005 7:18 am

#3 Post by chsch » Sun Aug 21, 2005 12:22 pm

Hi!

Yes, I try to boot CDShell from isolinux (isolinux is my primary boot loader). I do not know, why it should be a problem. isolinux can boot "no emulation" images (e.g. it can boot BartPE or similar Windows based systems). CDShell boots the same way.

As I did not change the directory or file names, I cannot see any reason why CDShell refuses to boot.

Cheers,
Christian

bldrdash
Posts: 101
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2005 10:04 am

Integrating UBCD into multiboot DVD using isolinux

#4 Post by bldrdash » Sun Aug 21, 2005 12:44 pm

You can try "isolinux /boot/loader.bin" (remove KERNEL).
Don't know if it will work. I did not see any examples in
the CDShell forums where someone attempted to use isolinux
to boot CDShell.

If that fails, post a message to CDShell forums with the
title "Integrating CDshell into multiboot DVD using isolinux"

chsch
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2005 7:18 am

#5 Post by chsch » Mon Aug 22, 2005 2:34 pm

> You can try "isolinux /boot/loader.bin" (remove KERNEL).

Hmm, this is not the syntax used for the isolinux config file!?

I tried to use CD Shell as main boot loader. The same problem again. But I have a new idea, why I have problems: I did not built the DVD with Joliet. The reason:
mkisofs: Joliet tree sort failed.

Is CD Shell (or a part) case sensitive? This could be an explanation why the loader has problems. What about the booted systems of the Ultimate Boot CD, are there case sensitive systems?

I used a patched version of mkisofs which changes letters to uppercase in the ISO9660:1999 (= "ISO9660 level 4") part of the filesystem, but leaves the filenames unchanged in the RockRidge part.

Cheers,
Christian

bldrdash
Posts: 101
Joined: Thu Feb 24, 2005 10:04 am

Integrating UBCD into multiboot DVD using isolinux

#6 Post by bldrdash » Mon Aug 22, 2005 4:48 pm

>
> Hmm, this is not the syntax used for the isolinux config file!?

You're right; I got mixed up with CDShell syntax.

>
> Is CD Shell (or a part) case sensitive? This could be an
> explanation why the loader has problems. What about the
> booted systems of the Ultimate Boot CD, are there case
> sensitive systems?

See http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=11569 post #4
from Mike.

DOS apps in UBCD are not case sensitive, linux ones are (like the
contents of the /scsi directory). Linux images themselves are
not case sensitive.

Like I mentioned before, the CDShell forum is your best bet for
answers; we don't write it, we just use it.

chsch
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2005 7:18 am

#7 Post by chsch » Tue Aug 23, 2005 8:15 am

> See http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=11569 post #4
> from Mike.

Thanks for the link. It pushed me in the right direction. My problem was the "-force-uppercase" parameter of mkisofs. At least a shell is shown now when I boot UBCD from isolinux (but still no menus etc.).

Perhaps the version of CD Shell used by UBCD v3.2 did not support ISO9660:1999, but was able to access the neccessary files.

> DOS apps in UBCD are not case sensitive, linux ones are (like the
> contents of the /scsi directory). Linux images themselves are
> not case sensitive.

Linux is not a problem, as it uses RockRidge by default. Windows based systems need uppercase file-/dir-names and a ISO9660:1999 filesystem. I still have to do some tests, but I guess that DOS systems could make trouble when they try to access the files on the ISO in case I use lowercase letters in the ISO part of the image. Most DOS drivers will not support ISO9660:1999 ans thus lowercase letters could lead to problems (but uppercase characters lead to problems with CD Shell).

Thanks for Your help.

Cheers,
Christian

chsch
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2005 7:18 am

#8 Post by chsch » Tue Aug 23, 2005 2:57 pm

Everything works now. I "just" had to change some files to uppercase manually leaving the rest, especially the CD Shell stuff, as it was (lowercase).

Again: Thanks for Your help.

Cheers,
Christian

hpfx
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2005 3:32 am

#9 Post by hpfx » Sat Oct 29, 2005 3:54 am

Hello,

I'm very interrested about this topic also. But I cant really understant what you did to make it working.

maybe there is a tutorial/how-to/guide but I miss it ?
I can customized UBCD to add my own floppy image, also, I successfully add miniknoppix (thank to tutorial) But I'm not skilled enough to create a bootable DVD with UBCD in.

it can be usefull for example to burn a DVD with the following iso of UBCD, windows installation CD...

Please chsch now you successfully create your own DVD, can you leave here a quick walkthrough to other users.

Thank you.

chsch
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2005 7:18 am

#10 Post by chsch » Thu Nov 24, 2005 3:46 pm

Hello!

First of all: sorry for the late reply, but I had little time the last weeks.
I'm very interrested about this topic also. But I cant really understant what you did to make it working.
I use isolinux as primary boot loader. Perhaps this is not exactly what you want, but all in all it works without any problems in my case. But I can try to help you using CDShell for a multiboot DVD.
I can customized UBCD to add my own floppy image, also, I successfully add miniknoppix (thank to tutorial) But I'm not skilled enough to create a bootable DVD with UBCD in.
Hmm, where is the difference between a CD and a DVD (except for the maximum possible size of the iso)? Did I miss something?
it can be usefull for example to burn a DVD with the following iso of UBCD, windows installation CD...
Integrating CDs using the "no emulation" boot method to your multiboot CD (or DVD) should be no problem in case the boot loader of such a CD has the size specified in the boot catalog. This is the case for CDShell, Microsoft's bootable CDs etc., but it is not the case for CDs using isolinux such as KNOPPIX (the isolinux boot loader is larger than the 2048 bytes loaded by the bios on boot and it needs some special care to find the rest of its code).

Be sure not to violate any (copyright) laws when integrating other CDs to your multiboot CD.

1st case ("no emulation"):
- copy the contents of UBCD to a directory on your harddisk (reffered to as "root directory" of the mutliboot CD/DVD)

- use bbie.exe from http://www.nu2.nu/bbie/ to extract the boot image from the original CD or its image. (If you use GNU/Linux - the best OS in the world - I can send you a bash script doing the same.)

- copy all the stuff from the original CD to the root directory of the multiboot CD/DVD including the boot image extracted before. A good place to store the latter may be a directory called /boot/bootsec/ and a good name could be bootimg.bin (be sure to use .bin as extension!).

- add an entry to a CDShell menu to boot /boot/bootsec/bootimg.bin using the isolinux module (maybe someone else can give you a hint with the correct syntax of the CDShell menus).

That's it. Create the CD/DVD and be happy. The exact procedure for this last step should be described somewhere else. One last note: when copying the files from the CDs to your disk be sure not to change upper/lowercase letters and be sure not to overwrite files from one CD with files form another CD! If there are conflicts with filenames from different CDs, have a lot of fun solving the problem... ;-)

2nd case:
It is possible to create a multiboot DVD with KNOPPIX (or another CD using isolinux) _and_ KNOPPIX showing up with its own boot loader when selecting it in the menu of the primary boot loader. But this is another story. Try the 1st case first.

Please let me know if the hints helped you.

Cheers,
Christian

dg
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Jan 07, 2006 1:24 pm

#11 Post by dg » Sun Jan 08, 2006 11:00 am

chsch wrote:
I can customized UBCD to add my own floppy image, also, I successfully add miniknoppix (thank to tutorial) But I'm not skilled enough to create a bootable DVD with UBCD in.
Hmm, where is the difference between a CD and a DVD (except for the maximum possible size of the iso)? Did I miss something?
Nero express refuses to burn the CD ISO onto a DVD -

"sorry, your compilation cannot be written to this kind of disc. Please insert a disc of the correct type or modify the settings of your compilation to make it compatible with the current disc."

Presuambly there's some way to convert the ISO into a DVD image?

Locked