ISO boot from FAT/NTFS/USB (GRUB.exe, grldr from boot.ini)

[Capricorny]

Hello,
Please find below the links to the improved minirt init boot for Knoppix 7.0.2
(please do not just left click but use the "save as" right click option to save it)
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/k702/minirt_702a.gz
It includes both the 32 and 64 bits Linux kernel modules and use them accordingly.

I haven't looked into this minirt version, but it seems to work fine with 7.0.2 running in a virtual machine under Knoppix - using workstation 8.0.3. I did an ordinary flash install from the 7.0.2 ISO under vmware (formatting the virtual disk as FAT32), and mounted the disk and edited the minirt references in syslinux.cfg. With the ordinary minirt, it seemed like I could not get the image mounted, it continued to do the loading from the ISO image, and crashed when I removed that. For me, it is very useful to be able to carry the Poor Man's install over to VMs.

I'll report any problems I may run into, none so far, thank you Gilles for the useful work!

[ruymbeke]

... For me, it is very useful to be able to carry the Poor Man's install over to VMs.
I'll report any problems I may run into, none so far, thank you Gilles for the useful work!

Hello Capricorny,
FYI, I am booting Knoppix 7.02 from a USB dongle ntfs formatted (for Windows compatibility) using grub (grldr + menu.lst) and the Knoppix 7.02 ISO (+ Linux kernels and my custom initrd) and a custom VmWare Workstation cloop live patch in order to run a Windows virtual machine on various friends physical machines without having to worry about the hardware changes. (since the great Knoppix hardware auto-detection and the vmWare visualization are providing Windows with a complete hardware abstraction). So no need to travel with a computer anymore: I just need to carry my bootable USB dongle and find a computer I can borrow to run my complete personal environment including both my licensed programs and my private data such as emails, bookmarks ... No need to say that this not intrusive for the other computer since I am not using the local hdd at all (only my USB dongle).
BTW, did you try my Knoppix 7.2 virtual machine (with the VmWare tools already installed) ?
cf: http://knoppix.net/forum/threads/115...l=1#post126964
The tools add a lot of nice features and it was not that easy to get the tools to compile properly with the new Linux kernel... FYI, VmWare just released Workstation 8.04 and player 3.04 which is mainly a security fix and also have new guest tools.
Best Regards,
Gilles

[Capricorny]

Hello Capricorny,
FYI, I am booting Knoppix 7.02 from a USB dongle ntfs formatted (for Windows compatibility) using grub (grldr + menu.lst) and the Knoppix 7.02 ISO (+ Linux kernels and my custom initrd) and a custom VmWare Workstation cloop live patch in order to run a Windows virtual machine on various friends physical machines without having to worry about the hardware changes. (since the great Knoppix hardware auto-detection and the vmWare visualization are providing Windows with a complete hardware abstraction). So no need to travel with a computer anymore: I just need to carry my bootable USB dongle and find a computer I can borrow to run my complete personal environment including both my licensed programs and my private data such as emails, bookmarks ... No need to say that this not intrusive for the other computer since I am not using the local hdd at all (only my USB dongle).
BTW, did you try my Knoppix 7.2 virtual machine (with the VmWare tools already installed) ?
cf: http://knoppix.net/forum/threads/115...l=1#post126964

1. USB installs: I'm doing something similar, and now I will try to expand on it, running a few virtual machines simultaneously, for a development environment - but the usual mode of use will be to copy from the USB to HD partitions and run from them. Still there is a enormous saving of setup/administration work this way. Using a USB3 mounted SSD drive looked promising for USB-only running.
2. I was not able to get your VM past kernel booting on Linux Knoppix 7.0.2 host, it didn't find the knoppix, and I don't know why. Any suggestions?
3. I will try out how it works running cloop Knoppix in a virtual machine for "real life" tasks. I will also try to compare efficiency of VMware and qemu-kvm. While qemu-kvm is about ideal for development and testing, I'm not sure it is good enough for ordinary use yet. But for the occasional task running, like creating USB Knoppix from ISO, it's quite fine IMHO.
4. I'll mention it here, too: It would be useful to have a Knoppix version of the debootstrap tool, to create minimal versions on the fly.

[ruymbeke]

1)

USB installs...

What I use on my USB(3) dongle also works on my main system, effectively providing a very easy to setup multi boot environment.

2)

I was not able to get your VM past kernel booting... Any suggestions?

Did you setup the virtual dvd to use your Knoppix 7.02 ISO image ?
If not located in "c:\boot\k702\KNOPPIX_V7.0.2DVD-2012-05-30-EN.iso"
you may need to update the vm settings to match the location of your iso file.
Why create a vm ? ==> to have the VmWare Tools installed.
(because the official Knoppix iso does not include them and I like the hgfs
folder sharing and the cut/paste between the host and the guest vm)

4)

... debootstrap tool ...

I am not sure about the benefit (for me) of using the debootstrap tool as the setup I am using with Knoppix already allows me to boot Knoppix on a foreign system and only using a minimal amount of compressed files: official Knoppix iso, compressed cloops for my customizations such as VmWare Workstation, 3d acceleration, ARM cross compilation tools, ... and a partition or loop back file for my data persistence. It is very easy and fast to both install then use everyday...
Best Regards,
Gilles

[Capricorny]

2)
Did you setup the virtual dvd to use your Knoppix 7.02 ISO image ?
If not located in "c:\boot\k702\KNOPPIX_V7.0.2DVD-2012-05-30-EN.iso"
you may need to update the vm settings to match the location of your iso file.
Why create a vm ? ==> to have the VmWare Tools installed.
(because the official Knoppix iso does not include them and I like the hgfs
folder sharing and the cut/paste between the host and the guest vm)

After I did, it works. Didn't realize it runs off the ISO image..

4)
I am not sure about the benefit (for me) of using the debootstrap tool as the setup I am using with Knoppix already allows me to boot Knoppix on a foreign system and only using a minimal amount of compressed files: official Knoppix iso, compressed cloops for my customizations such as VmWare Workstation, 3d acceleration, ARM cross compilation tools, ... and a partition or loop back file for my data persistence. It is very easy and fast to both install then use everyday...

There are a few uses for such a knxbootstrap which may be hard to substitute, for example creating "pure" 64-bits versions, creating minimal installs, creating versions based on alternative sets of libraries.. But none of them may apply to you. For running Knopppix instances as servers, it is enough with minimal cloops (debootstrap results in ca 200MB uncompressed, and judging from latter CD versions, Knoppix wouldn't need that much more?). Maybe it could be considered as DSSL Damned Small Sustainable Linux?

[Capricorny]

I must admit, the Damn Small Sustainable Linux, as a Knoppix derivative, has quite a lot of appeal to me. One of the reasons is the ability for specialized installations: Right now, I need one VM running Oracle XE, one VM running JBoss and possibly one running a mailserver. I would like to keep them as small as possible, and the entire machines might have running from ramdisks as an option.

I have not been able to start from a plain remastered image (yet?), but flash-installing from ISO file in VMware and mounting+copying remastered image over afterwards worked fine, using the modified minirt. What is most useful for my needs, is that virtual 7.0.2, 3.3.7-64 kernel, seems to run with no problems under my 64-bits version of 6.4.4 - which reduces the needs for creating a new 64-bits version now a lot. One might not believe that running Knoppix under Knoppix should be efficient and/or useful, but for some needs, it's both

[ruymbeke]

Hello,
Please find below the link to a zip file which contains everything you need to
patch Knoppix 7.0.2 live at boot time and add both ntfs 3g and 64 bits supports:
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/k702_ntfs_3g_64.zip (59MB)
The 64 patch provides both 64 bits run-ntime support and 64 bits compilation (gcc) support.
As mentioned previously you may need to adjust the menu.lst to match your needs
especially if the Knoppix 7.0.2 dvd iso and the patch files are not located on sda1 partition
(for a usb dongle as an example) but on sda2 (as for the c:\ drive of Windows Vista or 7)
The included "64l" (l for light) cloop file does not include the Debian installation packages
nor the updated Debian repositories list (created by apt-get update) to keep the patch small.
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/k702/64l (40MB)
If you like the full patch (including the Debian install packages and the repository lists)
please download the following "64" (without the l) cloop file (to be locates in the k702 folder)
and replace in the grub menu.lst the string "64l" by "64" (please do not rename the file).
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/k702/64 (110MB)
Hope this helps and please provide some feedback...
Best Regards,
Gilles

PS: The 64[l] cloop patch file only union with the Knoppix file system if a 64 bits kernel is detected.
The grub menu.lst detects if the machine is 64 bits capable and default the boot option accordingly.
The installation has been done following the instructions provided by Klaus (cf: /bin/_64 script):
http://knoppix.net/forum/threads/298...l=1#post126922
You can check the 64 bits setup using the command: "_64 check" from a Linux shell console.
The folder \opt\test64\pi_quick_start.tgz contains a pi benchmark (with the "gmp" high precision
math library) which can be used to test the 64 bits gcc compile and 64 bits run time execution.
Unpack the content, go in the unpacked folder and run ./start.sh

[ruymbeke]

Hello,
Please find below a new version of the 64 bits package using the latest Debian repository changes
(with gcc 4.7.1) using the updated install method from Klaus2008 as described in here:
http://knoppix.net/forum/threads/298...l=1#post127085
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/k702_ntfs_3g_64b.zip (80MB)
You can download the new cloop patch files (light & full versions) below:
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/k702/64l (60MB)
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/k702/64 (150MB)
Hope this helps and please provide some feedback...
Best Regards,
Gilles

[ruymbeke]

Hello,
Please find below the link to the improved minirt init boot for Knoppix 7.0.3:
(It includes both the 32 and 64 bits Linux kernel modules)
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/k703/minirt_703a.gz (10MB)
and the Knoppix 7.0.3 64 bits cloop patches:
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/k703/64l (light version: 69MB)
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/k703/64 (full version: 167MB)
and the link to a Knoppix 7.0.3 minimal virtual machine
(with the "VMware Workstation June Preview" tools installed):
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/vmk703_754035.zip (50MB)
(You still need the Knoppix 7.0.3 official CD or DVD iso image)
Please provide some feedback...
Hope this helps.
Best Regards,
Gilles

PS: please do not left click but use the "save as" right click option to save the content of these links.

[ruymbeke]

Hello,
Please find below the latest minirt init boot for Knoppix 7.0.3 (32 & 64):
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/k703/minirt_703c.gz (10MB)
and the latest Knoppix 7.0.3 minimal virtual machine
http://s94002264.onlinehome.us/grub/vmk703_744019.zip (50MB)
Best Regards,
Gilles