A Sample of Extlinux Instalation for Slitaz Distro

Tulisan blog kali ini dalam bahasa Inggris.

Here, I try to install some iso files along with Extlinux, to make multiboot OS from Slitaz distro.

Before start installation process, I had to prepared some stuffs that needed during installation. Those stuffs are:

• Slitaz 4.0 LiveUSB (or LiveCD)
• iso files from different version of Slitaz Distro
• 2GB USB Flash as target of installation
• Desktop PC 1GB RAM (borrowed PC from company)
• A dozen and more glass of Coffee and long time sleep (serious mode)

OK, First step is to activate and running Slitaz 4.0 LiveUSB, and then plug the USBflash-target at USB port. After that continue to the next processes.

gparted

• USBflash-target must be in unmount condition.
• Run gparted application, to delete and make partition at USBflash-target.
• My USBflash-target recognized by gparted as /dev/sdc.
• Delete all partitions at USBflash-target
• Make two partition at USBflash-target with configuration is

Partition No.	Label	Size	Format	Flag
#1	MYREPO	1024MB	FAT32
#2	BOOT	882MB	EXT3	boot

• Exit from gparted

Terminal

• Open Sakura terminal,
• and type su, to become superuser mode
• mounting boot partition /dev/sdc2 in a folder by type

# mkdir /tmp/disk
# mount -o loop /dev/sdc2 /tmp/disk

• make boot and iso folder

# mkdir /tmp/disk/boot
# mkdir /tmp/disk/boot/iso

• install extlinux in that folder

# extlinux -i /tmp/disk/boot
/tmp/disk/boot is device /dev/sdc2

• Unmounting /dev/sdc2

# umount /tmp/disk
# rmdir /tmp/disk

• Inject mbr.bin file to /dev/sdc Master Boot Record

# find / -name mbr.bin
/usr/share/boot/mbr.bin
# dd if=/usr/share/boot/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdc
0+1 records in
0+1 records out

• Exit from terminal

Pcmanfm

• Open Pcmanfm File manager
• From Tool menu > Open Current folder as root
• copy and paste iso files to iso folder at BOOT drive
• copy following files from /home/boot/extlinux folder to boot folder at BOOT drive:

chain.c32      ifmem.c32      md5sum.c32     splash.jpg
extlinux.conf  memdisk        vesamenu.c32   reboot.c32

• for file chain.c32 and memdisk, you can get those files from source code that you can download them at syslinux HQ and extract it.

chain.32

from folder com32/modules

memdisk

from folder memdisk

extlinux.conf editing

Still in Pcmanfm File manager as root, right-click extlinux.conf file at boot folder and open it with Leafpad Text Editor

I made some delete and change in extlinux.conf file and below is the content of the file

UI vesamenu.c32
DEFAULT slitaz40
PROMPT 0
TIMEOUT 120

# Labels
LABEL slitaz30vesa
 MENU LABEL ^SliTaz 3.0-iso
 LINUX memdisk
 append initrd=/boot/iso/slitaz-3.0-xvesa.iso iso

LABEL slitaz40
 MENU LABEL ^SliTaz 4.0-iso
 LINUX memdisk
 append initrd=/boot/iso/slitaz-4.0.iso iso

LABEL slitaz50rc2
 MENU LABEL Slitaz ^5.0-rc2-iso
 LINUX memdisk
 append initrd=/boot/iso/slitaz-5.0-rc2.iso iso

LABEL slitaz_aircrack
 MENU LABEL SliTaz ^Aircrack-ng-iso
 LINUX memdisk
 append initrd=/boot/iso/slitaz-aircrack-ng-20091124.iso iso

MENU SEPARATOR

LABEL windxp
 MENU LABEL ^Wind@ws Eks-Pee
 COM32 chain.c32
 append hd1 1
 MENU HIDE

LABEL dos
 MENU LABEL ^D0S 6.2.2
 LINUX memdisk
 append initrd=/boot/iso/D0s622.img ramdisk_size=65536 root=/dev/ram0 vga=0

LABEL freedosbase
 MENU LABEL ^FreeD0Sbase
 LINUX memdisk
 append initrd=/boot/iso/fdbasecd.iso iso

LABEL reboot
 MENU LABEL ^Reboot System
 COM32 reboot.c32

Result

After several times of rebooting, browsing, and resetting, I'd found:

• Wind@ws Eks-Pee which located in separated HDD drive cannot boot by chain.c32 kernel modules (ntldr missing message - too bad, may be I should try grub4dos for this)
• D0S floppy image can be boot nicely.
• Not all iso files even from Slitaz distro can be boot by memdisk.

---

"Berdasarkan pengalaman pribadi"

UPDATE:

For WindXP on other drive (not in USB flash of course)
Modify extlinux.conf with:

LABEL windxp
 MENU LABEL ^Wind@ws Eks-Pee
 COM32 chain.c32
 append hd1 swap

It will swap boot control from sdb to hd1, and finally Windxp can boot automagically.

Storage Media	BIOS Order	Extlinux View	Linux OS View
USB Disk	0	sdb	/dev/sdb
Hard Disk	1	hd1	/dev/sda

Other method that worked too (tested by myself):

• Get device name of windxp HD Drive by type at terminal (/dev/sd?):

# fdisk -l

• Get mbr identifier with command:

# hexdump -s 440 -n 4 -e '"0x%08x\n"' /dev/sdX
0xf99bf99b

• Modify extlinux.conf again with:

LABEL windxp
 MENU LABEL ^Wind@ws Eks-Pee
 COM32 chain.c32
 append mbr:0xf99bf99b swap

• It's worked at last...

Additional Note:

• On some Linux distro sometimes get "kernel panic" at start of cold boot when running on Built-in/Branded PC.
• All Wind@w setup iso worked perfectly by memdisk method.
• Don't blame the hardware and the software, it just a matter of compatibility.
• Case [SOLVED] - Thank Lord for your guidance.