Re: [Trinux-talk] [OT] - Multiple boot CDROM from ISO's - Possible?

[reply <tb...@ti...>]

Bootable CD-Roms use a trick to get the ancient ROM-BIOS on PC class 
motherboards to boot from CD-Rom.

Named El-Torito (and I don't recall why), the trick is to place a floppy 
image onto the CDrom and boot the (virtual) floppy.  You can find more 
info in the howto docs that come with most distros.  Or search the web for 
"El-Torito".

So, your challange actually originates with a boot floppy.  You can have a 
look at the boot floppy used by RedHat for example.  Redhat includes a 
boot manager (lilo, if I recall) that will allow the boot from selected 
partitions.  I don't recall if Trinux uses a similar boot manager.

Once you have mastered the configuration of the boot manager, then you can 
address the "how do I address the multiple tracks on a cdrom" issue.  I 
cannot help you there, sorry.  Can anybody help here?

Setup the boot manager on the floppy to offer to boot one of the multiple
tracks on the CDrom and then include the floppy image in the new CDrom.

Before you start, you need to know that the floppy boot image is extremely 
tight, so adding any code is usually accompanied by removing some other 
component that is less needed.  Usually, this means removing kernel 
drivers, since the kernel takes up the majority of the floppy.

Modifying the boot floppy image and creating a bootable cdrom is not for
the faint at heart, and it is unlikely you will master the entire process
easily.  I made several posts last year (nov-dec 2001) that help to 
explain how to modify the linuxrc file, which is included in the boot 
floppy image.  I also burned up a stack of blank CD's to debug my custom 
bootable CD-rom iso.  It took me several days.

Good luck, and if you get it working, please let us know.

On Tue, 14 May 2002, Mark (fat) wrote:

> First off appolgies for the off topic question but I thought someone on
> this list may be able to help.
> 
> I have been having trouble with CDROM support of credit card CD's (i.e.
> the big slice in the cdrom drawer makes reading unreliable or
> impossible). Since then I have discovered mini-cdr's with a capcity of
> 180Mb and a nice hard case that can fit in my wallet.
> 
> I usually carry 2-3 different bootable cdroms for slightly different
> purposes and the total size of all these distros is less than the
> capacity of the the mini-CDR. Is it possible to boot into different
> "partitions" for lack of a better word contained on the same ISO?
> 
> Appreciated for amy advice you can offer
> 
> 
> Mark (fat) 
> 
> 
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-- 
--------------------
Timothy Burt
Internet Specialist