Hi folks,
I want to run linux on an embedded system that does
not have a CDROM or FLOPPY, so the only possibility
is to go over the network.
The machine is running WinXP, and I would prefer not
to install a boot manager, or destroy the filesystem,
which is NTFS.
Is there a possibility to do the following:
1) put the following files on the NTFS partition:
bootsector (<- don't know how to create this one)
bootmanager (<- don't know what to put here)
kernel image
ramdisk image
disk image
2) call the bootsector from NTLDR
3) call the bootmanager from the bootsector
4) load the kernel and ramdisk image from the bootmanager
5) mount the NTFS partition READ-WRITE
6) mount the disk image READ-WRITE over the loopback device
7) if possible, disable NTFS/WRITE for anything but the disk image.
Can anyone advise me on which bootmanager to use?
Can anyone tell me if this is possible?
-- lode
ps: please CC me directly
_________________________________________________________________
MSN Search, for relevant search results! http://search.msn.be
Have a look at http://www.phatlinux.com/ as they install Linux in a file
on windows (I don't know how they sort out the boot but you can find out
yourself).
Hope this helps,
Anton
--
Anton Altaparmakov <aia21 at cam.ac.uk> (replace at with @)
Unix Support, Computing Service, University of Cambridge, CB2 3QH, UK
Linux NTFS maintainer / IRC: #ntfs on irc.freenode.net
WWW: http://linux-ntfs.sf.net/ & http://www-stu.christs.cam.ac.uk/~aia21/
On Thu, 12 Jun 2003, lode leroy wrote:
> I want to run linux on an embedded system that does
> not have a CDROM or FLOPPY, so the only possibility
> is to go over the network.
>
> The machine is running WinXP, and I would prefer not
> to install a boot manager, or destroy the filesystem,
> which is NTFS.
>
> Is there a possibility to do the following:
>
> 1) put the following files on the NTFS partition:
> bootsector (<- don't know how to create this one)
> bootmanager (<- don't know what to put here)
> kernel image
> ramdisk image
> disk image
> 2) call the bootsector from NTLDR
> 3) call the bootmanager from the bootsector
> 4) load the kernel and ramdisk image from the bootmanager
> 5) mount the NTFS partition READ-WRITE
> 6) mount the disk image READ-WRITE over the loopback device
>
> 7) if possible, disable NTFS/WRITE for anything but the disk image.
>
>
> Can anyone advise me on which bootmanager to use?
> Can anyone tell me if this is possible?
>
> -- lode
>
> ps: please CC me directly
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> MSN Search, for relevant search results! http://search.msn.be
>
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> I want to run linux on an embedded system that does
> not have a CDROM or FLOPPY, so the only possibility
> is to go over the network.
Why not use a boot rom in a network card, and have the kernel
image retrieved over the network, then put the root FS on NFS?
John.