Ronald F. Guilmette
2014-Jan-19 22:46 UTC
[syslinux] Advice/directions to users of Syslinux
In message <70229.1390169666 at server1.tristatelogic.com>, I wrote:>In message <52DC29E3.7080004 at mattiasschlenker.de>, >Mattias Schlenker <ms at mattiasschlenker.de> wrote: > >>To cut a log story short, we probably should write some advices for best >>practices of creating bootable media... >... > http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/SYSLINUXIn addition to any & all other advice and directions given to users of Syslinux, I would like to suggest the following: 1) Make sure that your distribution images and/or install instructions results in the end-user ending up with a USB stick that contains one partition that is explicity flagged as "bootable". (As I have now learned, this isn't absolutely necessary for booting off a USB stick with my... admittedly dated... BIOS, however it does cause the device to show up on the Boot Priority list, and this in turn can eliminate one possible source of confusion for end-users.) 2) In the usage instructions for your Syslinux-assisted bootable product (i.e. the instructions that YOU give to end-users) advise the end-users that if they have trouble booting your product when it is installed onto a USB device that is itself plugged into one of the front USB ports on a traditional "desktop" type system that they should try instead connecting the device to one of the rear USB ports. (I personally don't know if this is even actually an issue, but some have suggeted here that it may sometimes be.) In the usage instructions for your Syslinux-assisted bootable product (i.e. the instructions that YOU give to end-users) advise the end-users that if they have trouble booting your product when it is installed onto a USB device that is itself plugged into some add-on USB controller card (e.g. a USB 3.0 add-on card), then they should try instead connecting the device to one of the built-in USB ports that are a part of the base motherboard. (I can attest now, based on an experiment that I just now ran, that indeed the ports on the USB 3.0 add-on card that I have installed into my Gigabtye GA-M55Plus-S3G are not even seen by the BIOS, and that thus, a stick which is perfectly bootable from the regular mother- board USB 2.0 ports cannot be booted when plugged into the USB 3.0 ports on the add-on card.) Regards, rfg
On Sun, Jan 19, 2014 at 5:46 PM, Ronald F. Guilmette <rfg at tristatelogic.com> wrote:> > In message <70229.1390169666 at server1.tristatelogic.com>, I wrote: > >>In message <52DC29E3.7080004 at mattiasschlenker.de>, >>Mattias Schlenker <ms at mattiasschlenker.de> wrote: >> >>>To cut a log story short, we probably should write some advices for best >>>practices of creating bootable media... >>... >> http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/SYSLINUX > > In addition to any & all other advice and directions given to users > of Syslinux, I would like to suggest the following: > > 1) Make sure that your distribution images and/or install instructions > results in the end-user ending up with a USB stick that contains > one partition that is explicity flagged as "bootable". (As I have > now learned, this isn't absolutely necessary for booting off a USB > stick with my... admittedly dated... BIOS, however it does cause > the device to show up on the Boot Priority list, and this in turn > can eliminate one possible source of confusion for end-users.) > > 2) In the usage instructions for your Syslinux-assisted bootable > product (i.e. the instructions that YOU give to end-users) advise > the end-users that if they have trouble booting your product when > it is installed onto a USB device that is itself plugged into one > of the front USB ports on a traditional "desktop" type system that > they should try instead connecting the device to one of the rear > USB ports. (I personally don't know if this is even actually an > issue, but some have suggeted here that it may sometimes be.) > > In the usage instructions for your Syslinux-assisted bootable > product (i.e. the instructions that YOU give to end-users) advise > the end-users that if they have trouble booting your product when > it is installed onto a USB device that is itself plugged into some > add-on USB controller card (e.g. a USB 3.0 add-on card), then they > should try instead connecting the device to one of the built-in > USB ports that are a part of the base motherboard. (I can attest > now, based on an experiment that I just now ran, that indeed the > ports on the USB 3.0 add-on card that I have installed into my > Gigabtye GA-M55Plus-S3G are not even seen by the BIOS, and that > thus, a stick which is perfectly bootable from the regular mother- > board USB 2.0 ports cannot be booted when plugged into the USB 3.0 > ports on the add-on card.)http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Hardware_Compatibility#USB_related_problems is probably a good place to start documenting some of these tips and troubleshooting hints (which I just started). -- -Gene
On 19.01.2014 23:46 Ronald F. Guilmette wrote: [...]> 2) In the usage instructions for your Syslinux-assisted bootable > product (i.e. the instructions that YOU give to end-users) advise > the end-users that if they have trouble booting your product when > it is installed onto a USB device that is itself plugged into one > of the front USB ports on a traditional "desktop" type system that > they should try instead connecting the device to one of the rear > USB ports. (I personally don't know if this is even actually an > issue, but some have suggeted here that it may sometimes be.)Some additions we have found in the past few years: - for servers: same as for standard PCs : use the USB ports on the back, the USB-ports on the front will often fail - for laptops: if there are USB ports on the back and at the side use the ports on the back; if there are USB ports at both sides try both sides. - for all assets: USB 3.0 ports will frequently fail, use USB 2.0 ports if available bye Christoph
Hi, i now realized that http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Hardware_Compatibility#USB-Geometry http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/Hardware_Compatibility#USB-Miscellaneous are the new wiki sections by Gene Cumm. (Sorry for not reading them when they were announced.) So i ask especially him whether the statement "An examle is a drive of 128,64,32 with a partition ending at 127,63,32 (the last sector of the last whole cylinder)." should be changed and expanded to "An example is a drive of size of 128 MB (or slightly larger) assumed with 64 heads per cylinder and 32 sectors per head, where the partition should end at 127,63,32. Drives larger than 1 GB should be regarded as having 255 heads per cylinder and 63 sectors per head. E.g. an drive of 15794176 blocks (7.5 GB) should have its partition end at 982,254,63. Drives larger than 16434495 blocks should bear as partition end 1023,254,63. Setting the partition end LBA to the full drive size may or may not hamper its bootability." Reasoning: I state "assumed with 64 heads per cylinder and 32 sectors per head" because the values of H/C and S/H are more or less a deliberate decision at partitioning time. I refrain from giving the drive size in CHS, because this is ambigous until the user has chosen H/C and S/H. I do not use digit separators with decimal naumers (15,794,176 versus 15794176) because this could get confused with the CHS commas. I mention the opportunity to set the end LBA higher than the end CHS because else half of a 16 GB drive would be wasted. But maybe one should rather state that if a BIOS is too dumb for uneven partiton endings, then it is probably too dumb for large partitions, too. Any experience around ? Any opinions ? The advise to set large drive ends to 1023,254,63 is taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record#Partition_table_entries --------------------------------------------------------- To the wiki admins: I acquired a SYSLINUX wiki account: "scdbackup" Please enable editing. Have a nice day :) Thomas