DSL Tips and Tricks :: Booting DSL from HD without floppy and CDROM

Hi ya all. I've been looking all over the net for a tutorial on how to boot linux from an iso image. I didn't find any solution to it, so I decided to write it myself. So what you need for this is:
1. Existing linux install, or lilo installed in the MBR
2. Downloaded iso of DSL (I used the syslinux version).
3. root priveleges (mounting iso images and editing lilo config)
First you have to extract the iso you downloaded. To do that you open your favourite terminal and type:

Code Sample

mkdir /mnt/image
mount dsl.iso /mnt/image -o loop

Now you copy the whole KNOPPIX directory from /mnt/image to the root directory of any of your partitions. In my case it was /mnt/hda6. The iso image is not necessary any more. You can remove it,if you like. All you have to do now is mount the boot.img file,which is in the KNOPPIX directory you copied. So you type:

Code Sample

umount /mnt/image
mount /mnt/hda6/KNOPPIX/boot.img /mnt/image -o loop

You have to copy the linux24 and minirt24.gz files to /boot directory of your linux system. We are almost finished. All you have to do now is edit your lilo configuration file. It should be in /etc/lilo.conf. I added the following lines:

Code Sample

image=/boot/linux24
initrd=/boot/minirt24.gz
label=DSL
root=/dev/hda6
read-only
append=" ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lowram lang=pl initrd=minirt24.gz BOOT_IMAGE=/KNOPPIX/knoppix"

After saving your new lilo.conf you just have to type lilo, to force lilo to apply your settings. If you're lucky enough DSL should boot after you choose DSL from your boot menu. I have to point out that I am not sure if the cheatcodes I entered in the "append=" line were noticed by DSL. But anyway I managed to start it. As for WinNT and XP users I read on some Knoppix forum about making a poorman's install of linux with a win32 version of GRUB. I think you may find it useful in your cases. Hope you make use of my description. Bye.

original here.