Hello, My challenge is to run Linux on a computer where I don't dare to touch the Microsoft Windows harddisk. Fifthteen years ago would be trick to attach a second harddisk to the computer and boot from floppy disk. In 2011 is the idea to attach a second disk and netboot it. One approach is to TFTP the kernel and append 'root=/dev/sdb1' This E-mail is however to seek advice for another approach. In this approach is the kernel also on the second harddisk. I see two possible roads, both with dragons on it. The PXELINUX only road: Will PXELINUX load a kernel from disk? The PXELINUX with EXTLINUX road: When PXELINUX loads and starts EXTLINUX will EXTLINUX load a config file from the network? Which way should I go? Groeten Stappers --> And is there a policy on top-posting vs. bottom-posting?Yes.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 As much as I like network booting unless you are going to run Linux from the network then don't bother netbooting just the kernel. It is more trouble than it is worth. Just swap the disks (usually you can do that from the BIOS) so that the Linux disk is the one the BIOS is booting from. Then you can make a grub choice to boot the Windows disk. Nothing will have to be modified on the Windows disk. Windows will have no idea other than it will detect a new disk that contains filesystems it doesn't understand. On 06/02/11 18:16, Geert Stappers wrote:> > Hello, > > My challenge is to run Linux on a computer > where I don't dare to touch the Microsoft Windows harddisk. > > Fifthteen years ago would be trick to attach a second harddisk to the > computer and boot from floppy disk. In 2011 is the idea to attach a > second disk and netboot it. > > One approach is to TFTP the kernel and append 'root=/dev/sdb1' > > This E-mail is however to seek advice for another approach. > In this approach is the kernel also on the second harddisk. > > I see two possible roads, both with dragons on it. > > The PXELINUX only road: Will PXELINUX load a kernel from disk? > > The PXELINUX with EXTLINUX road: When PXELINUX loads and starts EXTLINUX > will EXTLINUX load a config file from the network? > > > Which way should I go? > > > Groeten Stappers- -- ~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~ Kevin Korb Phone: (407) 252-6853 Systems Administrator Internet: FutureQuest, Inc. Kevin at FutureQuest.net (work) Orlando, Florida kmk at sanitarium.net (personal) Web page: http://www.sanitarium.net/ PGP public key available on web site. ~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.17 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAk3oFNwACgkQVKC1jlbQAQerSQCgoUIwp9gTkuCKg0ok0P1jnZwR V4oAnj8/cZg/FjGKkB8hWNIaWbPVNYku =yznT -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
can you use syslinux + usb? <snip>> > Fifthteen years ago would be trick to attach a second > harddisk to the > > computer and boot from floppy disk. In 2011 is the > idea to attach a > > second disk and netboot it.
On Fri, 2011-06-03 at 00:16 +0200, Geert Stappers wrote:> Hello, > > My challenge is to run Linux on a computer > where I don't dare to touch the Microsoft Windows harddisk. > > Fifthteen years ago would be trick to attach a second harddisk to the > computer and boot from floppy disk. In 2011 is the idea to attach a > second disk and netboot it. > > One approach is to TFTP the kernel and append 'root=/dev/sdb1'Or perhaps something less device-specific, like a reference to a UUID or an LVM volume.> This E-mail is however to seek advice for another approach. > In this approach is the kernel also on the second harddisk. > > I see two possible roads, both with dragons on it. > > The PXELINUX only road: Will PXELINUX load a kernel from disk? > > The PXELINUX with EXTLINUX road: When PXELINUX loads and starts EXTLINUX > will EXTLINUX load a config file from the network?No and no. Syslinux of any flavor can read only from its configuration filesystem. PXELINUX reads configuration and boot files only from TFTP (or some other URL, if using gpxelinux); EXTLINUX reads only from an EXT2/3/4 filesystem (and only the device/partition it was loaded from). You may be able to accomplish your goal with a slightly more hideous alternative. In ISOLINUX only, the 'localboot' command supports an option to boot from a particular local disk, by providing a BIOS drive number. So, try using PXELINUX to load MEMDISK and a CD-ROM image containing ISOLINUX and a config file that chains to your second disk. Of course, it may be simpler to do as others have suggested, and simply boot from USB or by configuring the BIOS to boot from the second disk (in fact, on some machines, if you hit the right key during POST, you can select which disk to boot from). -- Jeff