BOOT ANY OS USING THE Gujin BOOTLOADER
Below is a faster method for installing/running any OS / LIVE-CD directly from a separate hard disc partition.
I was spurred into discovering the below method while trying to install various distros on an old Sony Vaio that didn't have a CD-ROM drive.
I currently use the below method to test various Distro's I find on DistroWatch.com.
Advantages of the below method
- Runs quicker than booting from a physical CD
- Reduces the number of dead CD's thrown into our landfills.
- No need to find the correct vmlinuz & initrd.gz files to boot the .iso file.
Disadvantages
- You will need a floppy drive (get a USB drive on eBay) and a floppy disk (ask your gran
Method
- Download the operating system .iso file - check with md5sum if there is a signature available.
- Set aside a partition for the .iso file.*
* Before booting from the .iso file you will need to partition your drive. In essence you will need to boot from another media either a floppy, 2nd drive or USB key and run some type of partition software e.g GPARTED, QTPARTED...
There are some older partition floppies hidden on the net I would appreciate some recommendations that support most file systems.
- Use the below commands to copy the OS/LIVECD .iso file to a spare partition:
WARNING THE BELOW COMMAND WILL OVERWRITE THE SELECTED PARTITION, MAKE SURE IT'S CORRECT!
Code:
cat filename.iso > /dev/sda3
In the above example I'm copying the .iso file filename.iso
to the partition called sda3 (3rd partition on the first hard disk).
Tip: use the command from a prompt to discover the partitions in your computer.[/COLOR]
- Next boot from either a Gujin * floppy bootloader or install Gujin to your hard disk.
Quick method to install Gujin to a floppy
Download the install-x.x.tar.gz file from sourceforge.
Extract the boot.144 file.
Copy the above file to a floppy disc via the below command:
Code:
cat boot.144 > /dev/fd0
Floppy disks are one of the least reliable media around, so be prepared for multiple bad disks. It's a good idea to compare (with cmp) the written floppy disk with the image file. If cmp finds a difference, throw that floppy away and try another one.
Code:
cmp boot.144 /dev/fd0
- At the Gujin prompt select the required OS / LIVECD.
- You should now be booting from the .iso file directly off your hard disk.
POST INSTALL (if you install ubuntu using this method)
Use the below commands to get Synaptic working (thanks to mlind for the workaround):
sudo mount -o loop cd.iso /mnt/image
sudo rm /cdrom
sudo ln -s /mnt/image /cdrom
sudo apt-cdrom -m add
Links
Boot from a MacOSX .iso file:
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.p...f=136&t=103507
I would appreciate your help in refining/correcting this HOWTO and answering questions.
Thanks John
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