Booting DSL from DOS

Forum: Other Help Topics
Topic: Booting DSL from DOS
started by: Patrick

Posted by Patrick on Sep. 14 2004,11:34

Rehi hi,

Can anybody tell me how to boot DSL from DOS? (from my DOS booting USB-stick)...

Posted by Berny on Sep. 14 2004,21:39

The tool of your choice should be < loadlin >.

There is also a howto that describes a way to choose between Windows and Linux with a keypress at bootup: < The Loadlin+Win95/98/ME mini-HOWTO >

Posted by Patrick on Sep. 15 2004,07:52

Hello Berny,

Loadlin seems to need a vmlinuz-file that isn't available in DSL. (or should i use the KNOPPIX-file which is located in the
KNOPPIX-directory)?

Posted by henk1955 on Sep. 15 2004,08:09

vmlinuz is the kernel.
for DSL > 0.8.0 you use linux24 and minirt24.gz

you need a c:\dsl\inux.bat like:

Code Sample

loadlin @c:\dsl\loadlin.par

and a c:\dsl\loadlin.par like

Code Sample

c:\dsl\linux24 initrd=c:\dsl\minirt24.gz fromhd=/dev/sda1 ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=nl apm=power-off max_scsi_luns=6 vga=792 quiet nomce noprompt noeject splash

now make sure you have the KNOPPIX dir on your usb-stick
AND linux24 and minirt24.gz in c:\dsl
you can copy then from /boot/isolinux or extract from boot.img

Posted by Patrick on Sep. 15 2004,08:59

Thanx Henk (of dank je wel),

It works!!!! (i now have a bootable usb-stick with DOS & linux on board!!!!

Posted by jimmyboy on Oct. 02 2004,07:04

Hi Henk,
I'm doing something stupid in trying to implement your method using loadlin. I get a kernel panic: No init found. I have copied the KNOPPIX directory into c:\dsl. Any idea what I'm doing wrong? --jim

Posted by cbagger01 on Oct. 02 2004,14:55

Yes,

First off, the knoppix directory should be

C:\knoppix

and not in C:\dsl\knoppix

So the big knoppix file is at:

c:\knoppix\knoppix

Secondly, you need to copy the linux24 and minirt24.gz files from a DSL USB boot floppy disk.

Search the forums on how to make a USB version of the boot floppy.

You will need a copy of the USB boot floppy image (at the damnsmalllinux.org download site) and a copy of rawrite32 floppy imaging program for windows (search google for a copy).

Good Luck.