HOWTO Boot from any .iso file without needing a working CD-ROM - REALLY USEFUL!

[glenboarder99]

This Is really useful

[john_spiral]

This is an interesting and simple way to test and try different linux distro and I will try this on my laptop.

But one thing is my laptop don't have floppy drive and I hope to not mess up my current used HDD by install new bootloader for try new system. So I think install Gujin bootloader onto USB flash jump drive is a good choice, I hope to know if it is possible to have Gujin and linux iso file both on USB drive or just Gujin bootloader on USB drive and linux iso file on internal HDD to achieve same boot.

thanx in advance!

did you get this to work?

[john_spiral]

@ john_spiral

Does this mean I can with this method use other distros not just for tryin.What I realy want to ask is:Using this method can I use other distros like I install them with CD(updates,upgrades.installing packages)?Thanks and sorry for my ignorance.

I'm currently running off a Kubuntu 7.1 system I installed using this method.

I'm sure it's a good way to test 8.04 / 8.10 or any other LiveCD.

admittedly I can't seem to get the latest eLive CD working with this method.

[Yes]

I keep getting a "checksum error" when I boot from it. I've tried two different floppies at least two times each. Any idea why?

[john_spiral]

I keep getting a "checksum error" when I boot from it. I've tried two different floppies at least two times each. Any idea why?

Hi Yes,

what .iso are you trying to boot from?

did you check the floppy?

cmp boot.144 /dev/fd0

come back to us.

thanks John

[john_spiral]

I keep getting a "checksum error" when I boot from it. I've tried two different floppies at least two times each. Any idea why?

to test ubuntu-8.04-beta-desktop-i386.iso choose the

IDE/lba master@..... El Torito....

option, it worked a treat!

[Yes]

Well, I haven't actually gotten to the point where I boot from an iso. I put the floppy in and turn the laptop on and it gives me the chesum error.

I totally forgot to check the floppy, and lo and behold it was different. Unfortunately, it writes differently to all the floppies I've tried, all at the same line and same character. Does this mean the boot.144 file is somehow corrupted?

[john_spiral]

...Does this mean the boot.144 file is somehow corrupted?

sounds like you need to download it again.

[Yes]

It keeps "differing" on different characters but always on the same line. Three different floppies, and I've downloaded the file twice.

Any ideas?

[john_spiral]

It keeps "differing" on different characters but always on the same line. Three different floppies, and I've downloaded the file twice.

Any ideas?

From a terminal cd (change directory) into the directory where the boot.144 file is located (extracted from install-2.4.tar.gz).

Then run the below command:

md5sum boot.144

it should give us:

d56a12e4bdcec03b4c59fc15f3eb7c3d

*the above line is the unique md5 signature for the file

If the boot.144 file gives the same md5sum then it's your floppy drive that's the problem. Clean the drive or try another drive or even an external usb floppy drive.