put CD/boot-options run automaticly/ready

[your_breakfast]

Hey I want to make a special knoppix CD for a laptop some teachers are using in my school. The problem is: They don't want to enter the boot options each time they start. So I have to make an CD, that starts automaticly without having to enter the options and pressing return. I mean you just put the CD in, enable the computer and wait. HOW?

[Harry Kuhman]

Hey I want to make a special knoppix CD for a laptop some teachers are using in my school. The problem is: They don't want to enter the boot options each time they start. So I have to make an CD, that starts automaticly without having to enter the options and pressing return. I mean you just put the CD in, enable the computer and wait. HOW?

I kind of would like to do this too, since it gets old typing in the same cheat codes each time I boot the CD. Of course you can remaster. But I'm not ready to do that myself yet. A simpler approach would seem to be targeted at the isolinux.cfg file burried in the original iso (in the directory isolinux under directory boot). This file controls the options when Knoppix starts. I was looking into hex editing it, but Fabian modifies another tool to let a user replace one file with another, as long as they were the same length. I'm busy with several other things at the moment, but it looks very much liike it should do the job and let us extract, modify and replace the isolinux.cfg file (and perhaps other files too). You might want to read this thread and get a copy and try it. There is a lot of extra stuff in the isolinux.cfg file that can be discarded to make room for the cheat codes you want, just make sure the file you will replace isolinux with is the same size. And if you do, please post back your results.

[arkaine23]

Editing /boot/isolinux/isolinux.cfg is the easiest way. It's not inside the cloop so you'd sort of only need to do a very abbreviated version of remastering. Should take under 10 minutes.

Extract CD contents to linux partition.
chmod +w the file to be edited (its not writeable by default)
edit the entry for default and append your cheatcodes
save the file
rebuild the iso with mkisofs

[your_breakfast]

OK, I'll try. What about pressing return? Have to cange isolinux.cfg, too, huh?

[nvgringo]

I use isomagic from windows. I edit isolinux.cfg with word (notepad might work). you don't have to press enter, after a while Knoppix will boot with the default startup.

[arkaine23]

Yeah, you'd just shorten the timeout value in that file. Its set at 300 which is 30 seconds.

[Harry Kuhman]

I use isomagic from windows. .......

Isomagic looks interesting and handy, but apparently from what I read on the website I have to pay around $30 to register it before I can try editing something as large as the knoppix.iso file. Guess I could play with it in demo mode on the DSL iso or something like that, but my real interest is in editing the knoppix isolinux.cfg file, not just randomly proving I can edit an iso. Think I'll have to focus on Fabian's hacked tool.

[your_breakfast]

Nice... so i just have to put the options in the first line after "DEFAULT linux24" right?

[Harry Kuhman]

Nice... so i just have to put the options in the first line after "DEFAULT linux24" right?

I don't believe so. Isolinux is pretty well documented, you can find the instructions for what's what in the isolinux.cfg file on the web (Google is your friend). But just looking at the isolinux.cfg file, I think the default linux24 line you are looking at just gives it a label of where to jump if you let it default. I suspect you need to add your cheat codes to one or more of the APPEND lines in the file. And if you are using Fabian's tool, be sure to take some bytes of at the end to keep the file size the same (that line with allthe #'s in it would be a good start, if you need more space I think all 3 lines that deal with m23 - the label m23, the kernel m23 and the line just below that - are meaningless on this CD and can all be dropped as well). If you're using isomagic or magic iso whatever or any other iso editor than what Fabian hacked together, please send me a private message about it.

[UnderScore]

Perhaps somone has already done this., but I was able to hexedit the Knoppix.iso. I boot with Knoppix 3.6 and in particular with PC does not like DMA nor does it like the hires console since the monitor gets all blurry.

knoppix 2 nodma vga=normal

# mount -t ext3 /dev/hda6 /mnt/hda6
# cd /mnt/hda6/mnt/test
# hexedit Knoppix.iso
<Tab> to switch to ascii mode
<ctrl-s> to search
DEFAULT linux24
<Enter>

navigate to vga=791 and type nodma plus 2 spaces -> 'nodma '
<ctrl-x> to save and exit
Burn modified Knoppix.iso & boot off it. IT WORKED! The PC will now boot by default with nodma and will boot in a normal vga console & not a hight res console.

I hope this helps.
James