Syslinux - Apr 2003 - syslinux on Windows to USB compactflash disk

Hi folks,

I'm trying to make a CompactFlash bootable with SYSLINUX.   The hard part is
that I'm trying to run SYSLINUX on Windows 2000 and am attempting to write
to the compactflash that's plugged in via a USB reader/writer.  Its not
working -- Windows complains about the 16-bit subsystem wanting direct
access to the drive.

So then is the problem SYSLINUX fighting with Windows or could it be the USB
drive no allowing direct writes?

Any thoughts appreciated.

Alex Pavloff - apavloff at eason.com
Eason Technology -- www.eason.com

Alex Pavloff wrote:
> Hi folks,
> 
> I'm trying to make a CompactFlash bootable with SYSLINUX.   The hard
part is
> that I'm trying to run SYSLINUX on Windows 2000 and am attempting to
write
> to the compactflash that's plugged in via a USB reader/writer.  Its not
> working -- Windows complains about the 16-bit subsystem wanting direct
> access to the drive.
> 
> So then is the problem SYSLINUX fighting with Windows or could it be the
USB
> drive no allowing direct writes?
> 
It's the former.  I'm pretty much giving up on getting Windows to behave
sanely w.r.t. this :(

I just got mingw32 working as a cross-compilation environment; perhaps I
will try to make a win32 version of the installer.  Better yet, anyone
who would be willing to contribute such a beast?  All it needs to do is
to patch the boot sector and create LDLINUX.SYS.

	-hpa

> Alex Pavloff wrote:
> > Hi folks,
> > 
> > I'm trying to make a CompactFlash bootable with SYSLINUX.    The
hard
part is
> > that I'm trying to run SYSLINUX on Windows 2000 and am  attempting
to
write
> > to the compactflash that's plugged in via a USB  reader/writer. 
Its not
> > working -- Windows complains about the 16-bit subsystem  wanting
direct
> > access to the drive.
> > 
> > So then is the problem SYSLINUX fighting with Windows or could it be
the
USB
> > drive no allowing direct writes?
> > 
> 
> It's the former.  I'm pretty much giving up on getting Windows to
behave
> sanely w.r.t. this :(
> 
> I just got mingw32 working as a cross-compilation environment; perhaps I
> will try to make a win32 version of the installer.  Better yet, anyone
> who would be willing to contribute such a beast?  All it 
> needs to do is to patch the boot sector and create LDLINUX.SYS.
I'm going to have to do this eventually.  Right now I've got FreeDOS on
the
compactflash (which was made bootable by plugging the flash into an
IDE->CompactFlash and booting to a freedos bootdisk and then running sys
c:).  The reason I'm currently using FreeDOS is that I've got to query a
bit
of hardware inside my machine to find the desired framebuffer video mode to
pass to the kernel with vga=.  The query runs as a COM program (that I have
written), returns a value, and then I can play DOS batch file games to call
loadlin with the correct options.

Now, if I can put the hardware query and kernel param set into SYSLINUX
somewhere, I'd rather use it (becuase I don't need all of freedos, I
just
need a simple bootloader).  Can I pull this off with a minimum of fuss?  If
the answer is yes, then in a month or so (depending on my schedules) I would
be willing to do the win32 installer.

	Let me know

Alex Pavloff - apavloff at eason.com
Eason Technology -- www.eason.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: H. Peter Anvin [mailto:hpa at zytor.com]
> Sent: Friday, April 04, 2003 3:18 PM
> To: Alex Pavloff
> Cc: 'syslinux at zytor.com'
> Subject: Re: [syslinux] syslinux on Windows to USB compactflash disk
> > Now, if I can put the hardware query and kernel param set into
SYSLINUX
> > somewhere, I'd rather use it (becuase I don't need all of
freedos, I
just
> > need a simple bootloader).  Can I pull this off with a minimum of
fuss?
If
> > the answer is yes, then in a month or so (depending on my  schedules)
I
would
> > be willing to do the win32 installer.
> > 
> 
> You should be able to run your query program as a COMBOOT (16-bit) or
> COM32 (32-bit) program from SYSLINUX.
How do I get the vga= argument from the COM program into the kernel boot
params?

Alex Pavloff - apavloff at eason.com
Eason Technology -- www.eason.com

Alex Pavloff wrote:
>>
>>You should be able to run your query program as a COMBOOT (16-bit) or
>>COM32 (32-bit) program from SYSLINUX.
> 
> How do I get the vga= argument from the COM program into the kernel boot
> params?
> 
See comboot.doc; in particular, use the "run command" API call (INT
22h,
AX=0003h) to pass a command line to syslinux.

	-hpa

> Alex Pavloff wrote:
> >>
> >>You should be able to run your query program as a COMBOOT 
> (16-bit) or
> >>COM32 (32-bit) program from SYSLINUX.
> > 
> > How do I get the vga= argument from the COM program into 
> the kernel boot
> > params?
> > 
> 
> See comboot.doc; in particular, use the "run command" API call
(INT 22h,
> AX=0003h) to pass a command line to syslinux.
> 
> 	-hpa
Ahh, excellent.  

So, in a few months, if no one has yet, I'll do the win32 installer.  

Alex Pavloff - apavloff at eason.com
Eason Technology -- www.eason.com