Re: [ros-general] ReactOS ISO support has been added in Rufus

[Bernd Blaauw]

Pete Batard schreef op 3-1-2014 3:59:

>   If you want to test, you can pick the latest ALPHA
> from:
>  http://rufus.akeo.ie/downloads/ 
Awesome, will test using USB2 ports.

>   Currently, the way this works is through installing
> Syslinux (v4.07) and
>  mboot.c32 so that setupldr.sys can then be invoked (see the
>  /syslinux.cfg created by Rufus on the drive).
>
>  Also, for the time being, only setupldr.sys will be referenced (no
>  freeldr.sys) on account that: 
FreeLDR as multiboot-kernel only looks at freeldr.ini at C:\ , no idea 
if your created USB stick counts as C: or A:.
Also ReactOS might write freeldr.ini in some special way on FAT drives, 
I've never been able to open/modify it using a DOS text editor.

>   1. The Syslinux's menu.c32 file is rather large,
> and I want to keep
>  Rufus small, so I don't want to embed it in the application (which is
>  also the mais reason why Rufus doesn't include native GRUB support). But
>  this means that user selection from a menu is not available.
>
>  2. When testing, I couldn't get freeldr.sys to do much when booted from
>  USB... though that was most likely because I hadn't actually installed
>  ReactOS anywhere. 
Smallest I've gotten FreeLDR is through using
SYSLINUX -> MEMDISK -> FLOPPY.GZ where floppy.gz is a compressed ReactOS 
startup diskette image. SYSLINUX -> MBOOT.C32 -> FREELDR.GZ might also 
work instead.

>   Still, I'm hoping that making the creation of a
> bootable UFD easier for
>  ReactOS will help encourage more people to test it and help the project. 
I've always hoped for Syslinux -> Memdisk/GRUB -> ReactOS.ISO/IMG simply 
to overcome lack of mass storage controllers drivers by running from RAM.

>   Of course, I'm also open to suggestions to try to
> improve support for
>  ReactOS in Rufus, if you want something specific. For instance, I should
>  point out that the syslinux.cfg created by Rufus is written before any
>  of the ISO files are copied over. Thus, if the ReactOS ISOs were to
>  include their own syslinux.cfg & menu.c32/vesamenu.c32, it would be very
>  easy to provide menu selection for the user when booting from USB, even
>  as the ISOs are not Syslinux/Isolinux based. 
So right now the installer ISO works but not the LiveCD/USB?
[ https://www.reactos.org/getbuilds ] with rev 61493

Thanks for having implemented the support Pete! :)
Have fun with HaikuOS :)

best wishes for 2014,

Bernd