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From UKBill (thank you UKBill!)

Joined: 15 Jul 2005
Posts: 12

PostPosted: Sat Jun 24, 2006 1:11 am Post subject: Boot from a FAT partition without burning the iso file.

How to run the Live CD without burning a disc∞

This mini HowTo allows you to run Puppy from your HD without burning a CD, you might find it useful if your computer doesn't have a working CD drive or if you want to avoid adding yet another disc to your crowded collection.

However, there are some caveats...
- You DO NEED to be able to transfer files to the HD somehow. (i.e. there already is an OS installed, you connect the HD to another system, etc.)
- This guide assumes that you have a Fat32 partition and that you are able to boot in real DOS mode, either from HD or a floppy, so it is mostly of use for w9X users.

THE GUIDE
1) in your Fat partition, make a folder named "isolinux"

2) download and copy "loadlin.exe" to the "isolinux" folder
( get loadlin.exe∞ )

3) open Puppy's iso file with a program that handles the .iso format, such as Winrar.
In linux you can mount the iso file directly and access its contents.

4) extract from the iso every file except pup_200.sfs (or whatever .sfs is in your iso) and put them into the "isolinux" folder.

5) the .sfs file should be extracted to the root of your Fat partition.

6) create a text file named "options.txt" in "isolinux" and put these lines in it:

vmlinuz
root=/dev/ram
rw
initrd=initrd.gz
vga=normal
ramdisk_size=100000
init=/etc/init
lang=es
apm=power-off
nomce
noapic
noacpi
noscsi
quiet
BOOT_IMAGE=pup_200.sfs

Note that the last line should match the one you extracted from your downloaded iso file.

7) create a file named "go.bat" with this content:
Code:
loadlin @options.txt


8) finally,
reboot to a (real) DOS session,
enter to the "isolinux" folder (typing 'cd\isolinux', without quotes),
then type "go" and the boot sequence should start as if you had boted from a CD.


EXTRA TIP
You can easily have several releases available, you just need to have:

- multiple "isolinux" folders, each one with a unique, descriptive, and 8-characters-long name, such as pup200, p201opera, etc.

- the .sfs file of each release in the root folder

- the files referenced in 'options.txt' must match those of the release, specially the .sfs file.

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