CDlinux 0.4.7 - A CD-based mini Linux distribution.

[Gordon Darling]

CDlinux 0.4.7 - A CD-based mini Linux distribution.

About:
CDlinux is a CD based mini Linux distribution. It aims to be a handy
administration and rescue tool for system administrators as well as
general users. It is highly configurable, supports a wide range of
hardware (PCMCIA, SCSI, USB, etc.), and many network protocols (FTP, SSH,
NFS, SMB, DHCP, etc.). It also has good support for CJK, especially
Simplified Chinese.

Changes:
This version incorporates SysV-like init scripts, NIC autoprobing,
netfilter, better CJK support, and many other features.

Release focus: Major feature enhancements
License: GNU General Public License (GPL)
Project URL: http://freshmeat.net/projects/cdlinux/
Homepage: http://cdlinux.berlios.de
Tar/GZ: http://freshmeat.net/redir/cdlinux/40835/url_tgz/CDlinux-0.4.7.iso.gz

Regards
Gordon

 

[Rob]

CDlinux 0.4.7 - A CD-based mini Linux distribution.

About:
CDlinux is a CD based mini Linux distribution. It aims to be a handy
administration and rescue tool for system administrators as well as
general users. It is highly configurable, supports a wide range of
hardware (PCMCIA, SCSI, USB, etc.), and many network protocols (FTP,
SSH, NFS, SMB, DHCP, etc.). It also has good support for CJK,
especially Simplified Chinese.

Changes:
This version incorporates SysV-like init scripts, NIC autoprobing,
netfilter, better CJK support, and many other features.

Release focus: Major feature enhancements
License: GNU General Public License (GPL)
Project URL: http://freshmeat.net/projects/cdlinux/
Homepage: http://cdlinux.berlios.de
Tar/GZ:
http://freshmeat.net/redir/cdlinux/40835/url_tgz/CDlinux-0.4.7.iso.gz

Regards
Gordon

Please note that CDLinux requires an existing Linux system to be able to
properly burn the ISO into a bootable CD-ROM. If you try to burn the .iso
file using a Windows burning program like Roxio EasyCD, it will create a
nice CD-ROM with all the directories and files but it won't be bootable.
Pity!

Rob

 

[Gordon Darling]

Please note that CDLinux requires an existing Linux system to be able to
properly burn the ISO into a bootable CD-ROM. If you try to burn the .iso
file using a Windows burning program like Roxio EasyCD, it will create a
nice CD-ROM with all the directories and files but it won't be bootable.
Pity!

Rob

Curious. A *.iso file is an image full stop. There is nothing special
about it. It should be burnable, as an image, on ANY operating system.
Assuming of course that the burner program is configured properly. It (the
program) should burn a bitwise exact copy (including the 2.88Mb El Torito
boot sector) without needing to know the structure of the data on the CD.

The same is true of a *.img floppy disk image. Different programs (rawrite
under Windows, dd on a Unix derivative) but same principle. A direct
bitwise copy with no need for the program to know the data structure.

Regards
Gordon

 

[Gary R. Schmidt]

Please note that CDLinux requires an existing Linux system to be able to
properly burn the ISO into a bootable CD-ROM. If you try to burn the .iso
file using a Windows burning program like Roxio EasyCD, it will create a
nice CD-ROM with all the directories and files but it won't be bootable.
Pity!

This is just wrong. An ISO _is_ an image of a CD, if you do a bitwise
examination of it it is just the bits on a CD.

Perhaps the product you used didn't burn it as an ISO?

Cheers,
Gary B-)

 

[Rob]

This is just wrong. An ISO _is_ an image of a CD, if you do a bitwise
examination of it it is just the bits on a CD.

Perhaps the product you used didn't burn it as an ISO?

Cheers,
Gary B-)

Initially I thought the same way you did. You should be able to burn a
bootable ISO image using almost any WIndows burning program. But the
problem lies with the fact that the ISO image for CDLinux is NOT bootable
out of the box. You must use the Linux CDRecord program using some special
options. Here is what is in the README file on my burnt NON-Bootable
CD ---

" If you would like to create the ISO image under Linux, then follow this:
First, you should put the software/files you want to burn into a
directory,
for example "/cd". Then put CDlinux.img together with the whole CDlinux
folder
to "/cd" or "/cd/boot", and then (assume you put them into "/cd/boot"):

$ cd /cd
$ mkisofs -v -R -J -V "Disk Label You Want" \
-b boot/CDlinux/CDlinux.img \
-c boot/boot.catalog \
-o /where/you/want/to/put/the/ISO/name.iso .
Note: 1) Don't forget the trailing dot ---------------^
2) The hole CDlinux folder must be under / or /boot of the CDROM,
see below for details.

Now, your ISO image is ready, and you can burn it with your favorite
BS."

With Roxio EasyCD you cannot specify which file will be the bootable file.
SO you can burn the CD and see all the directories and files but the CDLinux
CD will NOT be bootable. To be fair to the author, the author warns that
he is NOT familiar with burning under Windows. He hints that it may not
work!

P.S. I have burned many ISO images using Roxio EasyCD. (e.g. Knoppix,
Rescue System CD, etc) All boot fine. I guess I will have to use Linux to
burn a BOOTABLE Cd for CDLinux. And before anyone asks -- yes I did check
the MD5 sum of the ISO image..

Rob

CHALLENGE -- I challenge any Windows user to burn a bootable CD of CDLinux
using the supplied ISO file!

 

[Rob]

The key line is the first sentence below. -- "just use CDlinux.img as your
boot image when burning". To my knowledge that is not very easy to do with
most Windows burning programs.

Rob

-----------------------------


INSTALL:
The simplest way: just use CDlinux.img as your boot image when burning.

The detailed procedure depends on the burning software(BS). You should
at
least know how to create bootable CDs with your favorite BS. I'm not
familiar
with the dos/win based BSes, but I guess it won't be too complicated.

If you would like to create the ISO image under Linux, then follow this:
First, you should put the software/files you want to burn into a
directory,
for example "/cd". Then put CDlinux.img together with the whole CDlinux
folder
to "/cd" or "/cd/boot", and then (assume you put them into "/cd/boot"):

$ cd /cd
$ mkisofs -v -R -J -V "Disk Label You Want" \
-b boot/CDlinux/CDlinux.img \
-c boot/boot.catalog \
-o /where/you/want/to/put/the/ISO/name.iso .
Note: 1) Don't forget the trailing dot ---------------^
2) The hole CDlinux folder must be under / or /boot of the CDROM,
see below for details.

Now, your ISO image is ready, and you can burn it with your favorite BS.

 

[Kevin Davis³]

But the
problem lies with the fact that the ISO image for CDLinux is NOT bootable
out of the box.

Yes, and that *is* the problem. The person responsible for creating
the ISO image screwed up, plain and simple. ISO images should not
require any special preparations to be burned to the CD. The problem
is not with a supposed limitation in Windows applications, but rather
the person who created the ISO who decided to diverge from the
universal understanding (or otherwise known as standard) of what an
ISO image is.

 

[Richard Steven Hack]

CHALLENGE -- I challenge any Windows user to burn a bootable CD of CDLinux
using the supplied ISO file!

So the ISO is not a bootable image. That means the ISO is screwed,
not that you can't burn bootable Linux images under Windows as others
have pointed out.

Good of you to point this problem out, however.

 

[Gordon Darling]

Yes, and that *is* the problem. The person responsible for creating
the ISO image screwed up, plain and simple. ISO images should not
require any special preparations to be burned to the CD. The problem
is not with a supposed limitation in Windows applications, but rather
the person who created the ISO who decided to diverge from the
universal understanding (or otherwise known as standard) of what an
ISO image is.

Err, not quite.

An iso image is just that. It's a bitwise copy of the original mastered CD
whether bootable or not.

The PC BIOS can't boot a CD, it has to be tricked into thinking it's
booting a floppy disk.

In order that the CD can be booted the first part of the iso image must be
an "El Torito" image which is effectively a 2.88Mb floppy disk image which
the PC BIOS understands.

I haven't personally tried the CDlinux so can't comment on this particular
case but

either:

The creator of the image forgot the "El Torito" stage when mastering the
image.

or

As is the case with some distributions there will be a copy of the Win or
DOS program "rawrite" on the CD and instructions for creating a boot
floppy from an *.img file supplied on the CD.

Regards
Gordon

 

[WhItE RaBBiT]

The PC BIOS can't boot a CD

Some can. ;-)

 

[Gordon Darling]

Some can. ;-)

You can set the BIOS to look at the CD (rather than say the C Drive or D
Drive or whatever) but it still needs a floppy disk image to boot.

Do a google on "El Torito +specification"

Regards
Gordon