Help! Multi-Boot DVD, how to create CD images?

[KanotixUSR]

Hi, I don't have a broadband connection and so rely upon magazines in order to get linux. I recently purchased linux magazine (UK) with a multi-boot knoppix collection on DVD, I woulc like to create cd images to create cds in order to use in a laptop without a DVD drive (I have a desktop pc which I use for linux which has a DVD drive). The DVD boots to a menu from which you select which knoppix clone to boot. There are two main directories
_DIST_
containing various directories, eg kanotix, knoppix, knoppix-std each containing a KNOPPIX subdirectory with the KNOPPIX file in and a BOOT directory
ISOLINUX
which contains isolinux.bin, isolinux.cfg, boot.cat, boot.msg, memtest, welcome.16 and which also contains various directories, eg kanotix, knoppix, etc., inside which resides files vmlinuz, miniroot.gz and (eg) kanotix.msg

I assume that the ISOLINUX directory is soley for the DVD and its menu, and that I need to copy folders from the _DIST_ directory and make a cd image using mkisofs.

Anyone know how to do this? I have really used linux for a long time, and am getting back into using it. If someone can help please can you print the commands like a step by step guide. I'll probably create the images on a FAT HDD and burn them in Windows (please don't shout!).

Thank you for any help!

BTW, I need to used Kanotix as it still has teTeX included. And I've missed Knoppix 3.3 or earlier (I have 3.4 and it works well).

[bfree]

It won't be quite as simple as you make out. You probably need to mimic the DVD layout on the cd but without the extra info.

So make a folder, copy in the isolinux folder and then strip out the extra folders for the other knoppix clones. Then make a _DIST_ subfolder in the new folder you created and copy in the subfolder of _DIST_ you want from the DVD. Finally edit the isolinux.cfg to get rid of the extra entires and make an iso image of the whole lot using the isolinux/isolinux.bin as the boot image.

Now I don't have the DVD and haven't tried any of this so don't blame me if you burn a coaster! Are there no instructions in the magazine/on the disc?

[KanotixUSR]

Ok. I took the files from the DVD, extracted the DVD boot info (ie the boot sector of the DVD) and made a cdimage with these files and the boot info. The directory structure is as below:

Volume in drive D is Kanotix
Volume Serial Number is F16E-16DA

Directory of D:\

CDROM ICO 3,262 06/08/04 11:46 CDROM.ICO
ISOLINUX <DIR> 12/08/04 9:40 ISOLINUX
TRANS TBL 659 12/08/04 9:40 TRANS.TBL
_DIST_ <DIR> 10/08/04 10:41 _DIST_
2 file(s) 3,921 bytes

Directory of D:\ISOLINUX

. <DIR> 12/08/04 9:40 .
.. <DIR> ..
BOOT CAT 2,048 12/08/04 9:40 BOOT.CAT
BOOT MSG 14 11/08/04 17:50 BOOT.MSG
ISOLINUX BIN 9,844 12/08/04 8:48 ISOLINUX.BIN
ISOLINUX CFG 15,132 12/08/04 9:04 ISOLINUX.CFG
KANOTIX <DIR> 12/08/04 9:40 KANOTIX
MEMTEST 84,420 06/08/04 11:46 MEMTEST
TRANS TBL 2,856 12/08/04 9:40 TRANS.TBL
WELCOME 16 48,202 10/08/04 16:45 WELCOME.16
7 file(s) 162,516 bytes

Directory of D:\ISOLINUX\KANOTIX

. <DIR> 12/08/04 9:40 .
.. <DIR> 12/08/04 9:40 ..
KANOTIX MSG 681 12/08/04 9:00 KANOTIX.MSG
MINIROOT GZ 952,101 06/08/04 11:46 MINIROOT.GZ
TRANS TBL 665 12/08/04 9:40 TRANS.TBL
VMLINUZ 2,014,112 06/08/04 11:46 VMLINUZ
4 file(s) 2,967,559 bytes

Directory of D:\_DIST_

. <DIR> 10/08/04 10:41 .
.. <DIR> ..
KANOTIX <DIR> 06/08/04 17:27 KANOTIX
TRANS TBL 1,527 12/08/04 9:40 TRANS.TBL
1 file(s) 1,527 bytes

Directory of D:\_DIST_\KANOTIX

. <DIR> 06/08/04 17:27 .
.. <DIR> 10/08/04 10:41 ..
AUTORUN BAT 54 17/06/01 9:50 AUTORUN.BAT
AUTORUN INF 45 23/02/03 4:23 AUTORUN.INF
BOOT <DIR> 23/07/04 1:16 BOOT
CDROM ICO 8,478 23/07/04 1:38 CDROM.ICO
INDEX HTM 5,623 23/07/04 9:34 INDEX.HTML
KNOPPIX <DIR> 28/07/04 10:15 KNOPPIX
STANDARD CSS 522 22/12/03 13:33 STANDARD.CSS
TRANS TBL 1,548 12/08/04 9:40 TRANS.TBL
6 file(s) 16,270 bytes

Directory of D:\_DIST_\KANOTIX\BOOT

. <DIR> 23/07/04 1:16 .
.. <DIR> 06/08/04 17:27 ..
GRUB <DIR> 22/07/04 23:07 GRUB
HELP TXT 1,034 23/07/04 1:16 HELP.TXT
MEMTEST BIN 82,724 16/05/04 23:44 MEMTEST.BIN
MINIROOT GZ 942,687 22/07/04 23:06 MINIROOT.GZ
TRANS TBL 1,101 12/08/04 9:40 TRANS.TBL
VMLINUZ 2,014,112 22/07/04 22:54 VMLINUZ
5 file(s) 3,041,658 bytes

Directory of D:\_DIST_\KANOTIX\BOOT\GRUB

. <DIR> 22/07/04 23:07 .
.. <DIR> 23/07/04 1:16 ..
BOOT CAT 2,048 28/07/04 10:16 BOOT.CAT
EXTRA_D LST 3,205 09/06/04 16:25 EXTRA_D.LST
EXTRA_E LST 3,169 10/06/04 18:33 EXTRA_E.LST
ISO9660_ 7,616 28/07/04 0:44 ISO9660_STAGE1_5
KANOTIXX GZ 15,346 14/05/04 13:17 KANOTIX.XPM.GZ
MENU LST 3,252 10/06/04 18:33 MENU.LST
MESSAGE 121,856 28/07/04 7:45 MESSAGE
STAGE2 117,330 15/07/04 19:24 STAGE2
TRANS TBL 1,777 12/08/04 9:40 TRANS.TBL
9 file(s) 275,599 bytes

Directory of D:\_DIST_\KANOTIX\KNOPPIX

. <DIR> 28/07/04 10:15 .
.. <DIR> 06/08/04 17:27 ..
KNOPPIX 733,111,476 28/07/04 10:15 KNOPPIX
MD5SUMS 802 28/07/04 10:16 MD5SUMS
TRANS TBL 438 12/08/04 9:40 TRANS.TBL
3 file(s) 733,112,716 bytes

Total files listed:
37 file(s) 739,581,766 bytes
21 dir(s) 0 bytes free


However, when the cd starts to boot, I get and error:

ISOLINUX 2.10 2004-06-18 isolinux: Image checksum error, sorry...

Boot failed: press a key to retry...


So I cannot use the boot info from the DVD, however there is the file ISOLINUX.BIN in the ISOLINUX directory which will be my next try, as suggested above.


If I recreate the directory structure of the KANOTIX cd

root
-boot
--grub
-kanotix

how would I get this to boot? would I be able to use the kanotix boot floppy as the boot image for the cd? I know that with window systems this would work. I don't think I can use ISOLINUX.BIN, and modify the isolinux.cfg can I?

[bfree]

Without knowing exactly what they did to the DVD I can't give concrete answers, but I'll guess away anyway and it's up to you if you want to try!

If you recreate the structure of the kanotix cd, then it may well work also, you'll just have a lot more editing to do in isolinux.cfg to make everything point to the right places, but it's possible they have edited other files to make it look for the large KANOTIX file in _DIST_\KANOTIX\KNOPPIX for example hence I suggested trying mimicing the dvd first.

[KanotixUSR]

I asked at the Linux Magazine forum and the reply I got can be found at http://www.linux-magazine.com/Readers/Forum/00000680?expand_all=1
I will try this after the weekend. Thank you for your replies, I will let you know if it works. Information such as this may be useful to others who obtain linux from DVDs with mulitple distros on.