[syslinux] 10 year old question

Jane Todoroski
Thu, 14 May 2020 20:31:22 -0000

Regarding the first 3 points in your last email (since I really don't like
email quoting... tried it for a while, but it got even more confusing after
a while) I have to admit, I did make kind of a mess with the email thread.
But on the other hand, there is no syslinux dedicated forum, so people are
kinda lost when it comes to communicating and solving syslinux related
problems. Let's face it, an email thread is not the same thing as a forum
thread. The last few emails are a perfect example of how things can get
confusing and mixed up after a few exchanged emails... not to mention the
reply thing. On a forum, you reply to a thread, not a person/email address,
which is pretty clean-cut IMO.

Regards,

Jane Todoroski

On Thu, May 14, 2020 at 6:03 PM Ady via Syslinux <syslinux at
syslinux.org>
wrote:

> Several comments...
>
> 1. Readers / Subscribers might note that I am replying to the email
> thread, but
> I'm not quoting any prior text; intentionally. Please carefully read
the
> whole
> email before acting on any particular aspect / topic / step.
>
> 2. When reading something (a book, or source code, or whatever), I tend to
> go
> "forward", usually from the start to the end - call me crazy :o.
I don't
> know
> anyone that reads a sentence from the last word towards the first one. Any
> message board of any kind shows the messages from top to bottom, not the
> other
> way around. In other words, to anyone participating in this mailing list,
> please, _avoid_ top-posting!!! Really.
>
> 3. Generally speaking, replies should be sent to the Syslinux mailing
> list's
> email address (not to private email addresses). Unfortunately, there are
> several reasons and circumstances that make this less intuitive than it
> should.
> Yet, please pay attention.
>
> 4. Regarding Unetbootin, LiLi, or whichever other tool that is being used
> in
> order to initially boot whichever distro's ISO / installer, the version
of
> SYSLINUX and/or ISOLINUX that they use should not be relevant for the
> purpose
> of installing a specific version of SYSLINUX as bootloader on the
> destination
> device. To be clear, I don't mean that these tools have no influence at
> all,
> but rather that I am suggesting to use the official binaries distributed
> by The
> Syslinux Project - see the "Download" wiki page in the official
Syslinux
> wiki.
> In other words, install the OS in whichever way you can, and then replace
> the
> bootloader with the desired version of Syslinux.
>
> 5. After downloading the relevant official upstream distribution archives,
> go
> back to the Syslinux wiki and search for the "Install" wiki page.
>
> 6. The point is that I am suggesting for the OP to replace the version of
> SYSLINUX that is being used as bootloader with whichever version is known
> to
> work in this hardware, independently of the specific package that some
> Linux
> distro is using. Beware: if using c32 modules, they should be from the
> same
> version of the bootloader; e.g. installing version 3.86 by means of the
> official upstream binaries / installers / commands shall imply that also
> the
> corresponding c32 modules need to be copied to the relevant location, such
> as
> "/boot/syslinux/*" for instance, if the c32 modules are in use
(in
> syslinux.cfg). Please be careful not to overwrite ldlinux.c32 when
> manually
> copying c32 files (if it exists).
>
> 7. In order to evaluate whether any specific version of SYSLINUX
> successfully
> boots in this hardware, I would suggest temporarily renaming your
> "syslinux.cfg" to something else. It doesn't matter that the
next step
> (i.e.
> booting your OS) would fail; the goal is still to check whether SYSLINUX
> was
> successfully installed as bootloader and able to boot in this hardware.
> The
> specific "successful" behavior depends on the version of SYSLINUX
(v.3.85+
> should show at least a "boot:" prompt); the "failure"
behavior should be
> some
> kind of hang / freeze, even before attempting to load any kernel. Once
> SYSLINUX
> works correctly, rename back the cfg file, review the configuration and
> reboot.
>
> 8. There are many other / additional / possible troubleshooting steps. If
> the
> above is not enough, please carefully read the wiki. Without having access
> to
> the specific hardware, there are too many variables to troubleshoot in one
> email. Narrowing down the problem would help, and clear info posted in an
> orderly manner would too (if the wiki is not enough).
>
> Regards,
> Ady.
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