proposal: using isolinux to boot CDs...
I was playing around earlier this week with making bootable CDs and discovered
something I think will make the boot-floppies a lot easier for x86, perhaps
allowing us to avoid building all the different kernel floppies we currently
build for x86.
I propose we usr the isolinux bootloader for the Debian x86 CD-ROMs.
http://syslinux.zytor.com/iso.php
Isolinux is a new bootloader written by hpa and included in the latest syslinux
package (sharing much of the syslinux code). It is designed for use on
ISO9660/El Torito CD-ROMs operating in "no emulation" mode, bypassing the need
for limited space "floppy emulation" mode images... Instead, of going through
the pain of forcing the various kernels to the kernels fit onto a single
floppy, we would just create a /isolinux directory on the CD-ROM and populate
it with an initrd file (however big that needs to be) and as many kernels as we
want of whatever size the kernels need to be. Then we provide a isolinux.cfg
file (exactly the same syntax as the existing syslinux.cfg file) that allows
people to select the kernel to boot with (with a timeout for a sane default).
And if we want to be fancy, isolinux can even display a graphical spash
screen...
Slackware 8.0 is already using isolinux to allow people to select on boot
whether they want ATA100 or the scsi kernel, or any of about 6 choices.
I think this is something to seriously consider... Granted, those needing to
install exclusively from floppy (as opposed to CD-ROM) could not benefit.
However, for the vast majority of x86 systems, this would be a big win since it
would greatly ease the pain of finding the right kernel image needed to boot
and install Debian,
-Erik
--
Erik B. Andersen email: andersee@debian.org, andersen@lineo.com
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