GruB Boot USB 1.1 then PLoP boot USB/pcmcia card?

[AEN007]

3Oktober2012
Guten Tag.
Two (2) of my XP laptops have (built-in) USB 1.1 ports.
One of these is a Toshiba PII from 1998.
The other is an IBM T30 and my first-order priority.
I can boot my GrUB-booting multiboot USB sticks from the T30 1.1 port.
I would like to work out how to use PLoP to boot a multiboot USB stick
from a USB 2.0 pcmcia card.

My multiboot USB sticks have Parted Magic (PM) & UBCDOS.
Both include PLoP as a utility.
The PM utilities submenu GrUB boots PLoP with»

Code Select Expand

title PLoP \n
kernel /PMagic/Boot/PLpBT.bin
map --unmap=0:0xffCould someone reply & advise
if I could simply replace the PM plpbt.bin with the plpbt.bin
from the pcmcia directory in PLpBT 5.014? or
reply and tell me exactly what I need to do towards this end?
(I then hope to work out how to use PLoP booting on the PII ...)
Danke.
Grüße ...

[jan4]

Hallo AEN007,

Yes, 
you could simply replace the PM plpbt.bin with the plpbt.bin
from the pcmcia directory in PLpBT 5.014.

The USB stick will then be able to boot another usb stick in the pcmcia.
Direct boot will not work , you must first boot from a device that your bios can boot from (HDD, CD ,internal usb ports , Floppy).

[AEN007]

5Oktober2012

Greetings.

Last night (before seeing this email) I actually tried the 014pcmcia.bin.
The PartedMagic (PM) PlpBT.bin is v012.

When I boot the PM v012 PlpBT.bin, the PLoP menu is»
HDA Part1
HDA Part2
HDB Part1
HDB Part2
Floppy
CDROM
USB
NW

When I boot the v014 pcmcia PlpBT.bin
(without a USB stick in the pcmcia USB card) the PLoP menu is»
HDA Part1
HDA Part2
HDB Part1
Floppy
CDROM
USB
NW

HDA Part1 & HDB Part1 both boot the c:\ drive.
USB boots the USB stick that is already booted.

When I boot the v014 pcmcia PlpBT.bin
(WITH a USB stick in the pcmcia USB card) the PLoP menu is»
exactly the same as when there is NOT a USB stick in the pcmcia USB card.
The v014 pcmcia PlpBT.bin does, however, find/initialize the USB pcmcia card & stick.
I know this because the USB stick is "translucent" and lights up when connected.

Anwyay, so far I cannot boot the USB stick in the pcmcia card.
I hope to find the/a solution ...
Any helpful replies/insights appreciated.
Danke.
Grüße ...

[jan4]

Greetings,

I think you must scip the first usb if used start from usb.
Look in the manual (i think it was ctrl-u or alt-u or shift-u to get a menu for that).
Or make a floppy or cd to boot plop from and only connect the usb you want to boot.

Hope this helps.
Regards Jan.

[AEN007]

6Oktober2012

Greetings.
Thanks for the reply.
I'm not sure what you are telling me to try, but I will check it out.

The CD method is not really an option on the 2 XP USB1.1 laptops in question.
The CD method is (seemingly now) impossible on the 1998 PII and
much more inconvenient than this USB1.1»USB2.0 method on the T30,
so I really want to make this USB»USB method work ...

Next week I should be able to find out if the Floppy method is an option on the PII.
Seeing as how the PII has no BIOS-USB support,
it seems the Floppy method will be my only option/hope on the PII.

[jan4]

Hello,

There are almost always more options.
For example you can start plp from any boot manager on your harddisk (for example grub) or install plp in the master boot record of your harddisk.

[AEN007]

6Oktober2012

... seems these PLoP issues are going to drag on & on ...

I tested Ctrl-W on my Gateway XP laptop.
First PLoP found the USB stick in the 2.0 slot that was already booted.
Then PLoP found the USB stick in the pcmcia card and
then actually booted that stick in the pcmcia card!
But the Gateway has USB 2.0 slots, so I don't need PLoP on it.

I then tested Ctrl-W & Alt-W on the T30.
Both C-W & A-W display»

Loading EHCI Driver
Searching on Hosts
Host 1

& then hang IMMEDIATELY.

The PLoPpcmcia boot message is»

plop boot manager:
pcmcia start

found PCI to CardBus Bridge
searching pccard
pccard found, searching for usb controllers...
USB controller initialized
USB controller initialized
CardBus Bridge end

found PCI to CardBus Bridge
searching pccard......
no pccard found
CardBus Bridge end

pcmcia end

Does it say "found PCI to CardBus Bridge" twice
because the T30 has 2 pcmcia slots?
Should I put the pcmcia card in the second slot instead of the first?
Is there some problem because the T30 boots PLoP from a 1.1 slot?

It seems the PLoP readme is not current.
There is nothing about the "Ignore USB devices?" setting.
Are the
"Use Mass Stor Dev?" &
"usbmdev      use usb massdev 1-99 (obsolete)?"
totally obsolete?

[slbgz]

AEN007,

see

1. I boot my IBM Thinkpad x24 (p-III) using Plop Boot manager usb1.1 forced mode 1,
I can't boot IBM from pcmcia to usb 2.0 adapter because IBM Bios "is not supported" by PLOP boot manager.

2. I boot my Compaq m300 (p-III) using pcmcia to usb 2.0 adapter (based on NEC chipset only!) without any problem because Compaq Bios "is supported" by Plop Boot manager.

3. I start the Boot Manager using the "9. Native from a FAT file system" method in both case: general plpbt.bin for usb1.1 forced mode1, and pcmcia plpbt.bin for pcmcia usb2.0 adapter. (v.5.014)