linux usb booting

[arsen]

well basically i attempted to put debian usb image (hd-media/boot.img.gz) on my 1gig usb stick, though im (quite) sure that the stick shouldnt just have a boot.img on it, though on windows ive no idea how i can extract the *.img contents to the stick?

duno if anyone has any experiance they can share? or suggestions?

i have to say the deb manual/documentation wasnt too helpful, and ive not found much help on irc yet :d

cheers

[directhex]

well basically i attempted to put debian usb image (hd-media/boot.img.gz) on my 1gig usb stick, though im (quite) sure that the stick shouldnt just have a boot.img on it, though on windows ive no idea how i can extract the *.img contents to the stick?

duno if anyone has any experiance they can share? or suggestions?

i have to say the deb manual/documentation wasnt too helpful, and ive not found much help on irc yet :d

cheers

the easy way:
boot.img.gz is a compressed disk image, a bit like an iso in a zip file. to write it to the stick, you need to extract it on top of the raw disk device (a bit like burning an iso, rather than burning a CD containing an iso file)

to do so, under linux, you'd use zcat - zcat /path/to/boot.img.gz > /dev/usbdiskpartition1 (e.g. "zcat /tmp/boot.img.gz > /dev/sda1"). you might need to install a DOS MBR to the disk for it to be bootable. use install-mbr - install-mbr /dev/sda

the harder way:
create a fresh FAT partition on the disk. make it bootable using syslinux - syslinux /dev/usbdiskpartition1. rather than using boot.img.gz, copy on a) vmlinuz b) initrd.gz c) a debian installer ISO of some kind, all available from the same place as boot.img.gz

now you need to create a syslinux config file. it should be called syslinux.cfg. try:

default vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.gz ramdisk_size=10240 root=/dev/rd/0 devfs=mount,dall rw DEBCONF_PRIORITY=medium

your disk should contain five files - vmlinuz, initrd.gz, syslinux.cfg, something.iso, and ldlinux.sys

with either method, you probably want to tell your BIOS it's a USB ZIP drive.

[arsen]

um, is this all possible from a knoppix cd?:/

as i currently dont have a debian install, due to kicking my computer. .. kinda dont have an operating system anywhere, until i can get a usb boot stick

complex, but true. xD

[directhex]

um, is this all possible from a knoppix cd?:/

it's all a lot easier from knoppix than it would be under windows

[arsen]

xD

kisses.