Booting from 2GB USB Memory key

[jasonl]

Has anyone managed to create a bootable knoppix 2GB Memory key?

I tried folllowing the wiki document to create bootable USB key but get the following message "syslinux: this doesn't look like a valid FAT filesystem". The message appears when I run the "syslinux -s /dev/sda4" command. I used the following mkdiskimage command to partition and format the key: "mkdiskimage -4 /dev/sda 0 255 63

[AugustQ]

Hi,

add the -F-switch to the commandline.

So your command looks like: mkdiskimage -F -4 /dev/sda 0 255 63

This formats the device with FAT32.

Hope that helps.
AugustQ

[jasonl]

thanks, tried that but it made no difference

[Krellan2]

Weird, I don't know what to say.

What were the exact mkdiskimage and syslinux command lines you tried?

Try "dmesg", are there any errors mentioned at the bottom of all the messages there?

Maybe try this. This should fit comfortably in 2GB. I don't have a 2GB USB key, so haven't tested it:

mkdiskimage -4 /dev/sdz 0 128 32
syslinux -s /dev/sdz4

If that doesn't work, maybe you're hitting the 2GB FAT16 limitation. Try FAT32:

mkdiskimage -F -4 /dev/sdz 0 128 32
syslinux -s /dev/sdz4

There's no change in the "syslinux" command for FAT16 vs. FAT32. It *should* autodetect. It seems that syslinux depends on mtools. I hope the Knoppix mtools is up to date....

[jasonl]

Hi, I tried both those mkdiskimage commands and still get the same message on the syslinux -s command (SYSLINUX: this doesn't look like a valid FAT filesystem).

The exact mkdiskimage command I used first time around is in my original post.

I'm not sure how to check if mtools is up to date, I've only just downloaded 5.0.1 in the last couple of weeks though...

[Krellan2]

Hi, I tried both those mkdiskimage commands and still get the same message on the syslinux -s command (SYSLINUX: this doesn't look like a valid FAT filesystem).

The exact mkdiskimage command I used first time around is in my original post.

I'm not sure how to check if mtools is up to date, I've only just downloaded 5.0.1 in the last couple of weeks though...

Strange.

Maybe try narrowing it down, in order to rule out a size limitation.

Try this:

mkdiskimage -4 /dev/sdz 1023 64 32

This will deliberately waste all but the first 1GB of space on your USB key. It will format the partition to a size of just under 1GB, only.

Then, see if syslinux can recognize this partition.
Hopefully there's not a sizing bug in mkdiskimage or syslinux somewhere.

[jasonl]

Tried that and still getting the same error. Syslinux seems to be completely un-interested in the memory key.

fdisk reports the key is partitioned as follows:

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda4 * 1 1023 4190144 6 FAT16

I'd like to get this working but it looks like I might have to give up and go get a 1GB key which has been proven to work.