In Knoppix 7.0.5, I like reiserfs, but I'm not keen on grub

[utu]

.
I like the new reiserfs option in Knoppix 7.0.5 LiveUSBs.
However, I don't look forward to tangling with grub.
I'd just as soon stick with syslinux.

According to Fabianx at
http://knoppix.net/forum/threads/1457-boot-on-reiserfs-any-idea
we might be able to continue with syslinux in 7.0.5
if its minirt.gz were further revised to also understand reiserfs.

What are the pros & cons here?

[utu]

.
Getting minirt.gz to handle reiserfs by itself is a (new) complication for
minirt.gz, whereas handling reiserfs is one of the things that grub does,
and grub is programming work already (well) done.

Furthermore, bringing-in grub offers additional advantages in providing a large
range of additional new multi-boot possibilities at no extra (programming) cost.

One disadvantage is it forces some folks to adapt-to and learn how to use new
processes.

If these imaginings are true, then I'm motivated to learn this new thing, since
the complexity grub introduces (relative to syslinux) seems it pays for itself
handsomely in not only allowing reiserfs in the current Knoppix upgrade, but
also providing-for some flexible new future opportunities.

---

I'd like some expert(s) to confirm something along these lines, or better yet
give us 'their own take' on adding grub to the Knoppix LiveUSB configuration.

[itman007]

I have moved to grub2. Try it for yourself and see what you think.

[utu]

Greetings, itman007.

I've asked KK (via email) why legacy grub and not grub2, but not gotten an answer.
Can you enlighten us on the differences and why you chose to change to grub2?
Thanks.

[Capricorny]

I think everything that the kernel handles is handled out of the box in recent minirt.gz's. So any problem running from a standard file system type doesn't originate there. Problems with media are IMHO more likely to originate in media/filesystem complications, of which there may be any number.

General problem with grub2: I haven't tried the last releases of grub2, but one major weakness when I tried, was the necessity to run updates from within an installation. That defeats the whole premise of a unified bootloader. With legacy grub, I just mount the booting partition, add a new subdirectory under /boot with the necessary kernel images etc, and edit /boot/grub/menu.lst to add the new boot options. Very clean and simple. And the booting partition is never mounted during ordinary use.


title Knoppix 7.0.5 64 bits sda1 cloop
kernel (hd0,5)/boot/knx705/linux64 fromhd=/dev/sda1 knoppix_dir=KNOPPIX705 nosound keyboard=no ramdisk_size=100000 lang=no apm=power-off initrd=minirt_sq_1.gz nomce libata.force=noncq hpsa.hpsa_allow_any=1 loglevel=1 tz=localtime
initrd (hd0,5)/boot/knx705/minirt.gz

For example, I just added a KNOPPIX705 subdirectory on a NTFS partition (alongside an earlier KNOPPIX directory containing Knoppix 7.0.3), copied KNOPPIX from a 7.0.5 stick in there, copied the files in /boot/syslinux to a new subdirectory /boot/knx705, and referred to that. I think the problems with legacy grub mostly arise with mappings of system (system.map etc). My impression is that legacy grub tends to believe stubbornly that it resides on the main harddisk.

For such reasons, grub4dos has been suggested as the best alternative, but I haven't tried it so far.

The simplest way to use Linux file systems on sticks etc is probably to set up a smaller FAT32 partition with syslinux, and have the KNOPPIX directory on a Linux partition, using the fromhd cheat code in necessary.

[utu]

The simplest way to use Linux file systems on sticks etc is probably to set up a smaller FAT32 partition with syslinux, and have the KNOPPIX directory on a Linux partition, using the fromhd cheat code in necessary.

Why doesn't 705 do this for LiveUSBs having a reiserfs partition?
Why do we have a new grub-legacy to contend-with?
It seems KK has gone out of his way in 705 to bring in grub-legacy for some reason.

[Capricorny]

I think you have got it quite wrong with KK and grub: Legacy grub always was there and in use with Knoppix, it's grub2 that runs against basic philosophies of a strict division between booting and running. Also, grub2 brings in loads of driver stuff into booting, which Knoppix has always demonstrated that doesn't need to be there. For me, the only significant booting capability of grub2 relative to legacy grub is the ability to boot ISO images. But - I don't want to use an ISO image for ordinary tasks, and for me, it's much more practical to use qemu/kvm to run an ISO image.

I think you know why 705 doesn't repartition a reiserfs USB drive by itself in order to install FAT32 booting.

[utu]

I think you have got it quite wrong with KK and grub: Legacy grub always was there and in use with Knoppix

I've used cd-size LiveUSBs for some time. If grub had appeared earlier, I would have complained earlier. ;D




I think you know why 705 doesn't repartition a reiserfs USB drive by itself in order to install FAT32 booting.I have no idea what this means.

--

My question is very simple: Why grub-anything on cd-size Knoppix LiveUSB, or ... why now?

[utu]

I think you have got it quite wrong with KK and grub: Legacy grub always was there and in use with Knoppix

You are quite right.
I now see that syslinux is still in there doing its thing even in 705
cd-size LiveUSBs after all. It has been mediating with grub all along.

[Capricorny]

You are quite right.
I now see that syslinux is still in there doing its thing even in 705
cd-size LiveUSBs after all. It has been mediating with grub all along.

Sure :) I just crashed the experimental flash-install. Why? Because I run 705 off a FAT32 partition, and hadn't bothered to copy the syslinux boot over, doing it all by legacy grub already installed on another partition on the drive. I thought it would use grub, but still it is syslinux all the way.

[Capricorny]

I have posted a bit here about using legacy grub over time, for example http://knoppix.net/forum/threads/28466-Unmodified-Knoppix-6.2.1-on-GRUB-booted-external-Unix-USB-device-from-scratch?highlight=grub+install

This works also with Knoppix 7.0.5 DVD version, and legacy grub is complete with the old glitches. For example, when installed on what would normally be called /dev/sdb2, we must still call the boot partition (hd0,1), not (hd1,1) which wold be correct. But when the kernel is up, things are set straight, so with the same KNOPPIX on the first partition of an external disk and the first partition of the main internal disk, grub entries in the boot/grub/menu.lst file of the external disk could be:


title Knoppix 6.4.4 64 bits External disk
kernel (hd0,1)/boot/knx644/linux64 ramdisk_size=100000 lang=en keyboard=no fromhd=/dev/sdb1 nosound vt.default_utf8=0 apm=power-off initrd=minirt.gz nomce libata.force=noncq loglevel=1 tz=localtime
initrd (hd0,1)/boot/knx644/minirt.gz

title Knoppix 6.4.4 64 bits Internal disk
kernel (hd0,1)/boot/knx644/linux64 ramdisk_size=100000 lang=en keyboard=no fromhd=/dev/sda1 nosound vt.default_utf8=0 apm=power-off initrd=minirt.gz nomce libata.force=noncq loglevel=1 tz=localtime
initrd (hd0,1)/boot/knx644/minirt.gz