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View Full Version : Set "toram" To Default Boot Option? Config File Change on USB install or Remaster?



serra
11-04-2012, 10:02 PM
I'm not sure if remastering is actually required or not, but my question definitely falls under "customizing" so I hope I have the right forum. To give some background... What I am trying to do is repurpose an Intel Atom-based system as a low-power NAS. The thing is it doesn't have a lot of SATA ports - only 2 in fact - and I'd rather leave them both open for drives that I can use purely for storage and move easily. So I pick up my Knoppix CD and install on USB, because USB doesn't require a SATA port. Then I start installing the software I'm going to want for reading my filesystems and giving file transfer access and all is going well, and thanks to persistence (yay USB!) my changes to the base image are saved across reboots. But then I think to myself - what if the USB drive fails? Consumer USB drives aren't exactly made of tough stuff, and even if I only write a scratch file every day, re-writing to the same location might just wear it out in a few months, then I'd lose everything and have to start over. Luckily Knoppix has a solution for that too - I can use the "knoppix toram" cheat and simply load the whole thing to RAM, and should it ever fail (eg. a few bit flip in the RAM disc) all I need to do is restart the box, because the USB won't have been used at all... I can even take it out if I want to. This all lead me to my present question: Once I get my USB image set up with all the packages I want and no longer see a reason to change it, is there a file I can edit somewhere that will ensure that every time that USB drive is used the "knoppix toram" cheat is applied? Do I have to remaster, or can I simply edit a file to achieve what I want? If I must remaster, can someone point me at what I need to remaster exactly? I can't seem to find any documentation on how that "boot" prompt is handled as relates to default. If anyone can help me I would greatly appreciate it.

klaus2008
11-06-2012, 01:50 AM
I think you should edit the configuration file syslinux.cfg on your USB device and add the cheat codes you need. You can read more about this file in the wiki at syslinux.org (http://www.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php/SYSLINUX).

serra
11-06-2012, 02:37 AM
Ah, I see. I had looked at that file but as it did not contain any arguments to commands I (for no good reason) decided that I wouldn't be able to simply add them in under the default. That works great for me, thanks!