/config/release/3rdparty/syslinux/doc/syslinux.txt
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- The Syslinux Project
- A suite of bootloaders for Linux
- Copyright 1994-2010 H. Peter Anvin and contributors
- This program is provided under the terms of the GNU General Public
- License, version 2 or, at your option, any later version. There is no
- warranty, neither expressed nor implied, to the function of this
- program. Please see the included file COPYING for details.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Syslinux now has a home page at http://syslinux.zytor.com/
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- The Syslinux suite contains the following boot loaders
- ("derivatives"), for their respective boot media:
- SYSLINUX - MS-DOS/Windows FAT filesystem
- PXELINUX - PXE network booting
- ISOLINUX - ISO9660 CD-ROM
- EXTLINUX - Linux ext2/ext3 filesystem
- For historical reasons, some of the sections in this document applies
- to the FAT loader (SYSLINUX) only; see pxelinux.txt, isolinux.txt and
- extlinux.txt for what differs in these versions. The all-caps term
- "SYSLINUX" generally refers to the FAT loader, whereas "Syslinux"
- refers to the project as a whole.
- Help with cleaning up the docs would be greatly appreciated.
- ++++ Options ++++
- These are the options common to all versions of Syslinux:
- -s Safe, slow, stupid; uses simpler code that boots better
- -f Force installing
- -r Raid mode. If boot fails, tell the BIOS to boot the next
- device in the boot sequence (usually the next hard disk)
- instead of stopping with an error message.
- This is useful for RAID-1 booting.
- These are only in the Windows version:
- -m Mbr; install a bootable MBR sector to the beginning of the
- drive.
- -a Active; marks the partition used active (=bootable)
- ++++ CREATING A BOOTABLE LINUX FLOPPY +++
- In order to create a bootable Linux floppy using SYSLINUX, prepare a
- normal MS-DOS formatted floppy. Copy one or more Linux kernel files to
- it, then execute the DOS command:
- syslinux [-sfrma][-d directory] a: [bootsecfile]
- (or whichever drive letter is appropriate; the [] meaning optional.)
- Use "syslinux.com" (in the dos subdirectory of the distribution) for
- plain DOS (MS-DOS, DR-DOS, PC-DOS, FreeDOS...) or Win9x/ME.
- Use "syslinux.exe" (in the win32 subdirectory of the distribution) for
- WinNT/2000/XP.
- Under Linux, execute the command:
- syslinux [-sfr][-d directory][-o offset] /dev/fd0
- (or, again, whichever device is the correct one.)
- This will alter the boot sector on the disk and copy a file named
- LDLINUX.SYS into its root directory (or a subdirectory, if the -d
- option is specified.)
- The -s option, if given, will install a "safe, slow and stupid"
- version of SYSLINUX. This version may work on some very buggy BIOSes
- on which SYSLINUX would otherwise fail. If you find a machine on
- which the -s option is required to make it boot reliably, please send
- as much info about your machine as you can, and include the failure
- mode.
- The -o option is used with a disk image file and specifies the byte
- offset of the filesystem image in the file.
- For the DOS and Windows installers, the -m and -a options can be used
- on hard drives to write a Master Boot Record (MBR), and to mark the
- specific partition active.
- If the Shift or Alt keys are held down during boot, or the Caps or Scroll
- locks are set, Syslinux will display a LILO-style "boot:" prompt. The
- user can then type a kernel file name followed by any kernel parameters.
- The Syslinux loader does not need to know about the kernel file in
- advance; all that is required is that it is a file located in the root
- directory on the disk.
- There are two versions of the Linux installer; one in the "mtools"
- directory which requires no special privilege (other than write
- permission to the device where you are installing) but requires the
- mtools program suite to be available, and one in the "unix" directory
- which requires root privilege.
- ++++ CONFIGURATION FILE ++++
- All options here apply to PXELINUX, ISOLINUX and EXTLINUX as well as
- SYSLINUX unless otherwise noted. See the respective .txt files.
- All the configurable defaults in SYSLINUX can be changed by putting a
- file called "syslinux.cfg" in the root directory of the boot disk.
- Starting with version 3.35, the configuration file can also be in
- either the /boot/syslinux or /syslinux directories (searched in that
- order.) If that is the case, then all filenames are assumed to be
- relative to that same directory, unless preceded with a slash or
- backslash.
- The configuration file is a text file in either UNIX or DOS format,
- containing one or more of the following items, each on its own line with
- optional leading whitespace. Case is insensitive for keywords; upper
- case is used here to indicate that a word should be typed verbatim.
- #comment
- A comment line.
- INCLUDE filename
- Inserts the contents of another file at this point in the
- configuration file. Files can currently be nested up to 16
- levels deep, but it is not guaranteed that more than 8 levels
- will be supported in the future.
- DEFAULT kernel options...
- Sets the default command line. If Syslinux boots automatically,
- it will act just as if the entries after DEFAULT had been typed
- in at the "boot:" prompt.
- If no configuration file is present, or no DEFAULT entry is
- present in the config file, an error message is displayed and
- the boot: prompt is shown.
- UI module options...
- Selects a specific user interface module (typically menu.c32
- or vesamenu.c32). The command-line interface treats this as a
- directive that overrides the DEFAULT and PROMPT directives.
- APPEND options...
- Add one or more options to the kernel command line. These are
- added both for automatic and manual boots. The options are
- added at the very beginning of the kernel command line,
- usually permitting explicitly entered kernel options to override
- them. This is the equivalent of the LILO "append" option.
- IPAPPEND flag_val [PXELINUX only]
- The IPAPPEND option is available only on PXELINUX. The
- flag_val is an OR of the following options:
- 1: indicates that an option of the following format
- should be generated and added to the kernel command line:
- ip=<client-ip>:<boot-server-ip>:<gw-ip>:<netmask>
- ... based on the input from the DHCP/BOOTP or PXE boot server.
- NOTE: The use of this option is no substitute for running a
- DHCP client in the booted system. Without regular renewals,
- the lease acquired by the PXE BIOS will expire, making the
- IP address available for reuse by the DHCP server.
- 2: indicates that an option of the following format
- should be generated and added to the kernel command line:
- BOOTIF=<hardware-address-of-boot-interface>
- ... in dash-separated hexadecimal with leading hardware type
- (same as for the configuration file; see pxelinux.txt.)
- This allows an initrd program to determine from which
- interface the system booted.
- 4: indicates that an option of the following format
- should be generated and added to the kernel command line:
- SYSUUID=<system uuid>
- ... in lower case hexadecimal in the format normally used for
- UUIDs (same as for the configuration file; see pxelinux.txt.)
- LABEL label
- KERNEL image
- APPEND options...
- IPAPPEND flag_val [PXELINUX only]
- Indicates that if "label" is entered as the kernel to boot,
- Syslinux should instead boot "image", and the specified APPEND
- and IPAPPEND options should be used instead of the ones
- specified in the global section of the file (before the first
- LABEL command.) The default for "image" is the same as
- "label", and if no APPEND is given the default is to use the
- global entry (if any).
- Starting with version 3.62, the number of LABEL statements is
- virtually unlimited.
- Note that LILO uses the syntax:
- image = mykernel
- label = mylabel
- append = "myoptions"
- ... whereas Syslinux uses the syntax:
- label mylabel
- kernel mykernel
- append myoptions
- Note: The "kernel" doesn't have to be a Linux kernel; it can
- be a boot sector or a COMBOOT file (see below.)
- Since version 3.32 label names are no longer mangled into DOS
- format (for SYSLINUX.)
- The following commands are available after a LABEL statement:
- LINUX image - Linux kernel image (default)
- BOOT image - Bootstrap program (.bs, .bin)
- BSS image - BSS image (.bss)
- PXE image - PXE Network Bootstrap Program (.0)
- FDIMAGE image - Floppy disk image (.img)
- COMBOOT image - COMBOOT program (.com, .cbt)
- COM32 image - COM32 program (.c32)
- CONFIG image - New configuration file
- Using one of these keywords instead of KERNEL forces the
- filetype, regardless of the filename.
- CONFIG means restart the boot loader using a different
- configuration file.
- APPEND -
- Append nothing. APPEND with a single hyphen as argument in a
- LABEL section can be used to override a global APPEND.
- LOCALBOOT type [ISOLINUX, PXELINUX]
- On PXELINUX, specifying "LOCALBOOT 0" instead of a "KERNEL"
- option means invoking this particular label will cause a local
- disk boot instead of booting a kernel.
- The argument 0 means perform a normal boot. The argument 4
- will perform a local boot with the Universal Network Driver
- Interface (UNDI) driver still resident in memory. Finally,
- the argument 5 will perform a local boot with the entire PXE
- stack, including the UNDI driver, still resident in memory.
- All other values are undefined. If you don't know what the
- UNDI or PXE stacks are, don't worry -- you don't want them,
- just specify 0.
- On ISOLINUX, the "type" specifies the local drive number to
- boot from; 0x00 is the primary floppy drive and 0x80 is the
- primary hard drive. The special value -1 causes ISOLINUX to
- report failure to the BIOS, which, on recent BIOSes, should
- mean that the next boot device in the boot sequence should be
- activated.
- INITRD initrd_file
- Starting with version 3.71, an initrd can be specified in a
- separate statement (INITRD) instead of as part of the APPEND
- statement; this functionally appends "initrd=initrd_file" to
- the kernel command line.
- It supports multiple filenames separated by commas.
- This is mostly useful for initramfs, which can be composed of
- multiple separate cpio or cpio.gz archives.
- Note: all files except the last one are zero-padded to a
- 4K page boundary. This should not affect initramfs.
- IMPLICIT flag_val
- If flag_val is 0, do not load a kernel image unless it has been
- explicitly named in a LABEL statement. The default is 1.
- ALLOWOPTIONS flag_val
- If flag_val is 0, the user is not allowed to specify any
- arguments on the kernel command line. The only options
- recognized are those specified in an APPEND statement. The
- default is 1.
- TIMEOUT timeout
- Indicates how long to wait at the boot: prompt until booting
- automatically, in units of 1/10 s. The timeout is cancelled as
- soon as the user types anything on the keyboard, the assumption
- being that the user will complete the command line already
- begun. A timeout of zero will disable the timeout completely,
- this is also the default.
- TOTALTIMEOUT timeout
- Indicates how long to wait until booting automatically, in
- units of 1/10 s. This timeout is *not* cancelled by user
- input, and can thus be used to deal with serial port glitches
- or "the user walked away" type situations. A timeout of zero
- will disable the timeout completely, this is also the default.
- Both TIMEOUT and TOTALTIMEOUT can be used together, for
- example:
- # Wait 5 seconds unless the user types something, but
- # always boot after 15 minutes.
- TIMEOUT 50
- TOTALTIMEOUT 9000
- ONTIMEOUT kernel options...
- Sets the command line invoked on a timeout. Normally this is
- the same thing as invoked by "DEFAULT". If this is specified,
- then "DEFAULT" is used only if the user presses <Enter> to
- boot.
- ONERROR kernel options...
- If a kernel image is not found (either due to it not existing,
- or because IMPLICIT is set), run the specified command. The
- faulty command line is appended to the specified options, so
- if the ONERROR directive reads as:
- ONERROR xyzzy plugh
- ... and the command line as entered by the user is:
- foo bar baz
- ... Syslinux will execute the following as if entered by the
- user:
- xyzzy plugh foo bar baz
- SERIAL port [[baudrate] flowcontrol]
- Enables a serial port to act as the console. "port" is a
- number (0 = /dev/ttyS0 = COM1, etc.) or an I/O port address
- (e.g. 0x3F8); if "baudrate" is omitted, the baud rate defaults
- to 9600 bps. The serial parameters are hardcoded to be 8
- bits, no parity, 1 stop bit.
- "flowcontrol" is a combination of the following bits:
- 0x001 - Assert DTR
- 0x002 - Assert RTS
- 0x008 - Enable interrupts
- 0x010 - Wait for CTS assertion
- 0x020 - Wait for DSR assertion
- 0x040 - Wait for RI assertion
- 0x080 - Wait for DCD assertion
- 0x100 - Ignore input unless CTS asserted
- 0x200 - Ignore input unless DSR asserted
- 0x400 - Ignore input unless RI asserted
- 0x800 - Ignore input unless DCD asserted
- All other bits are reserved.
- Typical values are:
- 0 - No flow control (default)
- 0x303 - Null modem cable detect
- 0x013 - RTS/CTS flow control
- 0x813 - RTS/CTS flow control, modem input
- 0x023 - DTR/DSR flow control
- 0x083 - DTR/DCD flow control
- For the SERIAL directive to be guaranteed to work properly, it
- should be the first directive in the configuration file.
- NOTE: "port" values from 0 to 3 means the first four serial
- ports detected by the BIOS. They may or may not correspond to
- the legacy port values 0x3F8, 0x2F8, 0x3E8, 0x2E8.
- Enabling interrupts (setting the 0x008 bit) may give better
- responsiveness without setting the NOHALT option, but could
- potentially cause problems with buggy BIOSes.
- NOHALT flag_val
- If flag_val is 1, don't halt the processor while idle.
- Halting the processor while idle significantly reduces the
- power consumption, but can cause poor responsiveness to the
- serial console, especially when using scripts to drive the
- serial console, as opposed to human interaction.
- CONSOLE flag_val
- If flag_val is 0, disable output to the normal video console.
- If flag_val is 1, enable output to the video console (this is
- the default.)
- Some BIOSes try to forward this to the serial console and
- sometimes make a total mess thereof, so this option lets you
- disable the video console on these systems.
- FONT filename
- Load a font in .psf format before displaying any output
- (except the copyright line, which is output as ldlinux.sys
- itself is loaded.) Syslinux only loads the font onto the
- video card; if the .psf file contains a Unicode table it is
- ignored. This only works on EGA and VGA cards; hopefully it
- should do nothing on others.
- KBDMAP keymap
- Install a simple keyboard map. The keyboard remapper used is
- *very* simplistic (it simply remaps the keycodes received from
- the BIOS, which means that only the key combinations relevant
- in the default layout -- usually U.S. English -- can be
- mapped) but should at least help people with AZERTY keyboard
- layout and the locations of = and , (two special characters
- used heavily on the Linux kernel command line.)
- The included program keytab-lilo.pl from the LILO distribution
- can be used to create such keymaps. The file keytab-lilo.txt
- contains the documentation for this program.
- DISPLAY filename
- Displays the indicated file on the screen at boot time (before
- the boot: prompt, if displayed). Please see the section below
- on DISPLAY files.
- NOTE: If the file is missing, this option is simply ignored.
- SAY message
- Prints the message on the screen.
- PROMPT flag_val
- If flag_val is 0, display the boot: prompt only if the Shift or Alt
- key is pressed, or Caps Lock or Scroll lock is set (this is the
- default). If flag_val is 1, always display the boot: prompt.
- NOESCAPE flag_val
- If flag_val is set to 1, ignore the Shift/Alt/Caps Lock/Scroll
- Lock escapes. Use this (together with PROMPT 0) to force the
- default boot alternative.
- NOCOMPLETE flag_val
- If flag_val is set to 1, the Tab key does not display labels
- at the boot: prompt.
- F1 filename
- F2 filename
- ...etc...
- F9 filename
- F10 filename
- F11 filename
- F12 filename
- Displays the indicated file on the screen when a function key is
- pressed at the boot: prompt. This can be used to implement
- pre-boot online help (presumably for the kernel command line
- options.) Please see the section below on DISPLAY files.
- When using the serial console, press <Ctrl-F><digit> to get to
- the help screens, e.g. <Ctrl-F><2> to get to the F2 screen.
- For F10-F12, hit <Ctrl-F><A>, <Ctrl-F>B, <Ctrl-F>C. For
- compatibility with earlier versions, F10 can also be entered as
- <Ctrl-F>0.
- Blank lines are ignored.
- Note that the configuration file is not completely decoded. Syntax
- different from the one described above may still work correctly in this
- version of Syslinux, but may break in a future one.
- ++++ DISPLAY FILE FORMAT ++++
- DISPLAY and function-key help files are text files in either DOS or UNIX
- format (with or without <CR>). In addition, the following special codes
- are interpreted:
- <FF> <FF> = <Ctrl-L> = ASCII 12
- Clear the screen, home the cursor. Note that the screen is
- filled with the current display color.
- <SI><bg><fg> <SI> = <Ctrl-O> = ASCII 15
- Set the display colors to the specified background and
- foreground colors, where <bg> and <fg> are hex digits,
- corresponding to the standard PC display attributes:
- 0 = black 8 = dark grey
- 1 = dark blue 9 = bright blue
- 2 = dark green a = bright green
- 3 = dark cyan b = bright cyan
- 4 = dark red c = bright red
- 5 = dark purple d = bright purple
- 6 = brown e = yellow
- 7 = light grey f = white
- Picking a bright color (8-f) for the background results in the
- corresponding dark color (0-7), with the foreground flashing.
- Colors are not visible over the serial console.
- <CAN>filename<newline> <CAN> = <Ctrl-X> = ASCII 24
- If a VGA display is present, enter graphics mode and display
- the graphic included in the specified file. The file format
- is an ad hoc format called LSS16; the included Perl program
- "ppmtolss16" can be used to produce these images. This Perl
- program also includes the file format specification.
- The image is displayed in 640x480 16-color mode. Once in
- graphics mode, the display attributes (set by <SI> code
- sequences) work slightly differently: the background color is
- ignored, and the foreground colors are the 16 colors specified
- in the image file. For that reason, ppmtolss16 allows you to
- specify that certain colors should be assigned to specific
- color indicies.
- Color indicies 0 and 7, in particular, should be chosen with
- care: 0 is the background color, and 7 is the color used for
- the text printed by Syslinux itself.
- <EM> <EM> = <Ctrl-Y> = ASCII 25
- If we are currently in graphics mode, return to text mode.
- <DLE>..<ETB> <Ctrl-P>..<Ctrl-W> = ASCII 16-23
- These codes can be used to select which modes to print a
- certain part of the message file in. Each of these control
- characters select a specific set of modes (text screen,
- graphics screen, serial port) for which the output is actually
- displayed:
- Character Text Graph Serial
- ------------------------------------------------------
- <DLE> = <Ctrl-P> = ASCII 16 No No No
- <DC1> = <Ctrl-Q> = ASCII 17 Yes No No
- <DC2> = <Ctrl-R> = ASCII 18 No Yes No
- <DC3> = <Ctrl-S> = ASCII 19 Yes Yes No
- <DC4> = <Ctrl-T> = ASCII 20 No No Yes
- <NAK> = <Ctrl-U> = ASCII 21 Yes No Yes
- <SYN> = <Ctrl-V> = ASCII 22 No Yes Yes
- <ETB> = <Ctrl-W> = ASCII 23 Yes Yes Yes
- For example:
- <DC1>Text mode<DC2>Graphics mode<DC4>Serial port<ETB>
- ... will actually print out which mode the console is in!
- <SUB> <SUB> = <Ctrl-Z> = ASCII 26
- End of file (DOS convention).
- <BEL> <BEL> = <Ctrl-G> = ASCII 7
- Beep the speaker.
- ++++ COMMAND LINE KEYSTROKES ++++
- The command line prompt supports the following keystrokes:
- <Enter> boot specified command line
- <BackSpace> erase one character
- <Ctrl-U> erase the whole line
- <Ctrl-V> display the current Syslinux version
- <Ctrl-W> erase one word
- <Ctrl-X> force text mode
- <Tab> list matching labels
- <F1>..<F12> help screens (if configured)
- <Ctrl-F><digit> equivalent to F1..F10
- <Ctrl-C> interrupt boot in progress
- <Esc> interrupt boot in progress
- <Ctrl-N> display network information (PXELINUX only)
- ++++ COMBOOT IMAGES AND OTHER OPERATING SYSTEMS ++++
- This version of Syslinux supports chain loading of other operating
- systems (such as MS-DOS and its derivatives, including Windows 95/98),
- as well as COMBOOT-style standalone executables (a subset of DOS .COM
- files; see separate section below.)
- Chain loading requires the boot sector of the foreign operating system
- to be stored in a file in the root directory of the filesystem.
- Because neither Linux kernels, boot sector images, nor COMBOOT files
- have reliable magic numbers, Syslinux will look at the file extension.
- The following extensions are recognized (case insensitive):
- none or other Linux kernel image
- .0 PXE bootstrap program (NBP) [PXELINUX only]
- .bin "CD boot sector" [ISOLINUX only]
- .bs Boot sector [SYSLINUX only]
- .bss Boot sector, DOS superblock will be patched in [SYSLINUX only]
- .c32 COM32 image (32-bit COMBOOT)
- .cbt COMBOOT image (not runnable from DOS)
- .com COMBOOT image (runnable from DOS)
- .img Disk image [ISOLINUX only]
- For filenames given on the command line, Syslinux will search for the
- file by adding extensions in the order listed above if the plain
- filename is not found. Filenames in KERNEL statements must be fully
- qualified.
- If this is specified with one of the keywords LINUX, BOOT, BSS,
- FDIMAGE, COMBOOT, COM32, or CONFIG instead of KERNEL, the filetype is
- considered to be the one specified regardless of the filename.
- ++++ BOOTING DOS (OR OTHER SIMILAR OPERATING SYSTEMS) ++++
- This section applies to SYSLINUX only, not to PXELINUX or ISOLINUX.
- See isolinux.txt for an equivalent procedure for ISOLINUX.
- This is the recommended procedure for creating a SYSLINUX disk that
- can boot either DOS or Linux. This example assumes the drive is A: in
- DOS and /dev/fd0 in Linux; for other drives, substitute the
- appropriate drive designator.
- ---- Linux procedure ----
- 1. Make a DOS bootable disk. This can be done either by specifying
- the /s option when formatting the disk in DOS, or by running the
- DOS command SYS (this can be done under DOSEMU if DOSEMU has
- direct device access to the relevant drive):
- format a: /s
- or
- sys a:
- 2. Boot Linux. Copy the DOS boot sector from the disk into a file:
- dd if=/dev/fd0 of=dos.bss bs=512 count=1
- 3. Run SYSLINUX on the disk:
- syslinux /dev/fd0
- 4. Mount the disk and copy the DOS boot sector file to it. The file
- *must* have extension .bss:
- mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt
- cp dos.bss /mnt
- 5. Copy the Linux kernel image(s), initrd(s), etc to the disk, and
- create/edit syslinux.cfg and help files if desired:
- cp vmlinux /mnt
- cp initrd.gz /mnt
- 6. Unmount the disk (if applicable.)
- umount /mnt
- ---- DOS/Windows procedure ----
- To make this installation in DOS only, you need the utility copybs.com
- (included with Syslinux) as well as the syslinux.com installer. If
- you are on an WinNT-based system (WinNT, Win2k, WinXP or later), use
- syslinux.exe instead.
- 1. Make a DOS bootable disk. This can be done either by specifying
- the /s option when formatting the disk in DOS, or by running the
- DOS command SYS:
- format a: /s
- or
- sys a:
- 2. Copy the DOS boot sector from the disk into a file. The file
- *must* have extension .bss:
- copybs a: a:dos.bss
- 3. Run SYSLINUX on the disk:
- syslinux a:
- 4. Copy the Linux kernel image(s), initrd(s), etc to the disk, and
- create/edit syslinux.cfg and help files if desired:
- copy vmlinux a:
- copy initrd.gz a:
- ++++ COMBOOT EXECUTABLES ++++
- Syslinux supports simple standalone programs, using a file format
- similar to DOS ".com" files. A 32-bit version, called COM32, is also
- provided. A simple API provides access to a limited set of filesystem
- and console functions.
- See the file comboot.txt for more information on COMBOOT and COM32
- programs.
- ++++ NOVICE PROTECTION ++++
- Syslinux will attempt to detect booting on a machine with too little
- memory, which means the Linux boot sequence cannot complete. If so, a
- message is displayed and the boot sequence aborted. Holding down the
- Ctrl key while booting disables this feature.
- Any file that SYSLINUX uses can be marked hidden, system or readonly
- if so is convenient; SYSLINUX ignores all file attributes. The
- SYSLINUX installed automatically sets the readonly/hidden/system
- attributes on LDLINUX.SYS.
- ++++ NOTES ON BOOTABLE CD-ROMS ++++
- SYSLINUX can be used to create bootdisk images for El
- Torito-compatible bootable CD-ROMs. However, it appears that many
- BIOSes are very buggy when it comes to booting CD-ROMs. Some users
- have reported that the following steps are helpful in making a CD-ROM
- that is bootable on the largest possible number of machines:
- a) Use the -s (safe, slow and stupid) option to SYSLINUX;
- b) Put the boot image as close to the beginning of the
- ISO 9660 filesystem as possible.
- A CD-ROM is so much faster than a floppy that the -s option shouldn't
- matter from a speed perspective.
- Of course, you probably want to use ISOLINUX instead. See isolinux.txt.
- ++++ BOOTING FROM A FAT FILESYSTEM PARTITION ON A HARD DISK ++++
- SYSLINUX can boot from a FAT filesystem partition on a hard disk
- (including FAT32). The installation procedure is identical to the
- procedure for installing it on a floppy, and should work under either
- DOS or Linux. To boot from a partition, SYSLINUX needs to be launched
- from a Master Boot Record or another boot loader, just like DOS itself
- would.
- Under DOS, you can install a standard simple MBR on the primary hard
- disk by running the command:
- FDISK /MBR
- Then use the FDISK command to mark the appropriate partition active.
- A simple MBR, roughly on par with the one installed by DOS (but
- unencumbered), is included in the SYSLINUX distribution. To install
- it under Linux, simply type:
- cat mbr.bin > /dev/XXX
- ... where /dev/XXX is the device you wish to install it on.
- Under DOS or Win32, you can install the SYSLINUX MBR with the -m
- option to the SYSLINUX installer, and use the -a option to mark the
- current partition active:
- syslinux -ma c:
- Note that this will also install SYSLINUX on the specified partition.
- ++++ HARDWARE INFORMATION +++
- I have started to maintain a web page of hardware with known
- problems. There are, unfortunately, lots of broken hardware out
- there; especially early PXE stacks (for PXELINUX) have lots of
- problems.
- A list of problems, and workarounds (if known), is maintained at:
- http://syslinux.zytor.com/hardware.php
- ++++ BOOT LOADER IDS USED ++++
- The Linux boot protocol supports a "boot loader ID", a single byte
- where the upper nybble specifies a boot loader family (3 = Syslinux)
- and the lower nybble is version or, in the case of Syslinux, media:
- 0x31 (49) = SYSLINUX
- 0x32 (50) = PXELINUX
- 0x33 (51) = ISOLINUX
- 0x34 (52) = EXTLINUX
- In recent versions of Linux, this ID is available as
- /proc/sys/kernel/bootloader_type.
- ++++ BUG REPORTS ++++
- I would appreciate hearing of any problems you have with Syslinux. I
- would also like to hear from you if you have successfully used Syslinux,
- *especially* if you are using it for a distribution.
- If you are reporting problems, please include all possible information
- about your system and your BIOS; the vast majority of all problems
- reported turn out to be BIOS or hardware bugs, and I need as much
- information as possible in order to diagnose the problems.
- There is a mailing list for discussion among Syslinux users and for
- announcements of new and test versions. To join, or to browse the
- archive, go to:
- http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux
- Please DO NOT send HTML messages or attachments to the mailing list
- (including multipart/alternative or similar.) All such messages will
- be bounced.