plpbt-5.0.10 boots on Virtualbox 3.20beta usb1.1! "loading kernel takes long"

[walterav]

Virtualbox 3.20beta on a ubuntu 10.04 i386 host system, boots from usb-stick if the virtualmachine settings has "Enable USB 2.0 (EHCI) Controller" disabled!.

It boots directly to the isolinux bootloader, but as soon as booting the kernel, the screen freezes for 7 minutes and after it, it will just boot in 60 seconds to a single usermode shell. I choose bootparamater: single 1, without "splash quiet" to see what is happening. The client/guest OS on the usb-stick is ubuntu 10.04 i386 desktop with a "startup disc creator" created usb stick.

Booting plpbt-5.0.10 with a virtualmachine configured with "Enable USB 2.0 (EHCI) Controller" enabled!, just makes the bootloader hang at scanning the ehci-bus. Also selecting from the plpbt bootmanager setup "force usb mode 1.1, mode 1 or 2" makes plpbt bootmanager scan the ohci/uhci bus but it won't find any usb devices.

Its still a beta version of virtualbox, and I have not tried other Operating systems yet, but I wanted everyone to know.

[Elmar]

hi,
thanks for the info

best regards
elmar

[a_pirard]

With plpbt.img in a (virtual) floppy drive as a second-level multi-boot, VirtualBox is an EXTREMELY useful tool.
It can access or boot a CD/DVD (real or virtual ISO) such as SysRescueCD, any system on a virtual disk in a host file, and NOW, OWING TO PLOPBOOT, also on a USB drive.

So, with a single computer running a Linux system such as Ubuntu, any disk drive can be put in an external case to be rescued with the many tools that can be started that way, including Windows.

Best of all, a complex multi-system disk can be built and tested on an external disk without any disk or CD swapping except for a Plug & Play swap of that disk with the disk inside the computer that built it. You can even take screenshots of the installation without buying a camera!!!

PLOPBOOT is much safer that the VBox disk mapping method which can mount a partition twice and destroy it.

Hence, a solution for this problem is EXTREMELY WELCOME too.

The full version of VirtualBox is free and very easy to use for testing this issue.

THANK YOU.

[a_pirard]

http://www.papou.byethost7.com/notes/VirtualBox_USB_boot.html
I wrote this page to show how EASY and USEFUL it is to marry & use Pop Boot and VirtualBox.
I hope that the slow USB 1.1 inconvenience will be considered and that a fix will be issued.
Especially since the VirtualBox environment makes debugging easy (VB implements debugging).

In summary: when VirtualBox USB devices are 2.0, Plop Boot does not find them.
If VirtualBox if configured with USB 1.1, Plop Boot works, but incredibly slow.

TIA.

[a_pirard]

Please notice.

VirtualBox is a MARVELOUS tool to configure/repair external USB disks without additional hardware, see above.
And hence Plop Boot MARVELOUSLY helps VB booting USB devices, but alas restricted to USB 1.1.

The reason why plpbt doesn't work with VirtualBox USB 2.0 is in the USB detection phase only and probably easier to debug and fix than a nasty problem during data transfer.

Linux has no problem with VirtualBox USB 2.0 and the source code is available.

People may be willing to help fix that piece of code.

Thank you.