[TriLUG] Multisystem [ Was Re: multibooting with syslinux not working ]

[Joseph Mack NA3T]

On Sat, 25 Feb 2012, Joseph Mack NA3T wrote:

> Anyone know how to get around the usb stick not finding 
> the root partition when booted from grub (but boots OK 
> with syslinux)?

I was at the Durham Intrex yesterday, which is my main 
resource for hardware, thanks mainly to the helpful and 
knowledgable staff.

I was testing out a Thinkpad x102e. I'd brought a Linux Mint 
liveUSB key to see if the x102e worked with Linux. (It did, 
but not initially. the x102e boots UEFI by default and has 
to be put into "legacy only" mode before it will recognise a 
syslinux bootable usbkey. I had no idea what the problem was 
- my usb key just flashed madly and the x102e wouldn't POST, 
but the Intrex people recognised the problem and fixed it.)

On seeing my liveUSB key, one of the Intrex people whipped 
out his usb key that had perhaps a dozen or so different 
bootable CDs on it. He'd made his with yumiboot

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/

showing me that you could boot multiple liveCDs on a usb 
stick (the reason for my original posting here).

On returning home, I found that yumiboot is a gpl windows 
program that makes a multiboot usb key from syslinux 
bootable cds.

On the same website, there is a linux program multisystem, 
which does the same thing using grub2 to boot the syslinux 
cds

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/multiboot-create-a-multiboot-usb-from-linux/

Multisystem only works on ubuntu, for which I booted off a 
ubuntu liveCD. This was my first time with ubuntu and it 
took a while to find an xterm and get a handle on the ubuntu 
philosophy.

I found

o not all syslinux liveCDs, that install just fine with 
multisystem, will boot when you have your final usb key 
(slax, and chntpw didn't)

o you have to install all the liveCDs in one go - you can't 
reinvoke the program later and update your usbkey (or at 
least I couldn't; maybe I don't understand ubuntu)

o all cds are installed in the same partition.

o some livecds can be setup with persistent memory (eg 
linux_mint_12, but not systemrescuecd). So now mint 
remembers my wifi passwd between reboots. Mint in persistent 
mode writes to the usb key when it runs (the usbkey's light 
flashes a lot), while mint in regular mode does not.

So now I have a usb key that grub2 boots mint, 
systemrescuecd and kaspersky antivirus v10.

Thanks to the people at Intrex for their help yesterday.

Joe
-- 
Joseph Mack NA3T EME(B,D), FM05lw North Carolina
jmack (at) wm7d (dot) net - azimuthal equidistant map
generator at http://www.wm7d.net/azproj.shtml
Homepage http://www.austintek.com/ It's GNU/Linux!