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#61

Boot Managers / Re: How to install Plop Boot M...

Last post by Elmar - December 20, 2021, 09:00:01 AM

I did this with the livecd successfully:

At first I cleared the boot sector of sda5 to make it impossible to boot and getting "No valid bootsector signature".
The syslinux.cfg stayed unchanged in the root of sda5.

Then booting the livecd of Lubuntu
In the terminal:
sudo bash    <- to not always have to write sudo
mount /dev/sda5 /mnt
apt install extlinux
extlinux --install /mnt --device /dev/sda5
reboot

-> Lubuntu booted from the Plop Boot Manager and sda5 without problems.

#62

Boot Managers / Re: How to install Plop Boot M...

Last post by Elmar - December 19, 2021, 20:53:21 PM

I have no time at the moment to test whats wrong with the chroot, which should work fine.

The easiest is to just reinstall Lubuntu, then do the extlinux stuff, then reinstall the Plop Boot Manager with option 2 (Rewrite loader only) in the Plop Boot manager Installer.

#63

Boot Managers / Re: How to install Plop Boot M...

Last post by Grunchy - December 19, 2021, 20:38:07 PM

So I discovered another environment known as "chroot": https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Chroot

Changing root is commonly done for performing system maintenance on systems where booting and/or logging in is no longer possible. Common examples are:

• Reinstalling the bootloader.

Using chroot
First, mount the temporary API filesystems:

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# sudo mount /dev/sda5 /mnt
# cd /mnt
# mount -t proc /proc proc/
# mount -t sysfs /sys sys/
# mount --rbind /dev dev/
# mount --rbind /run run/

Finally, to change root into /location/of/new/root using a bash shell:

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# chroot /mnt /bin/bash

Once I was in this Lubuntu 16.04 environment that had been installed on /dev/sda5, I was able to execute:

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apt install extlinux
extlinux --install / --device /dev/sda5
vi /syslinux.cfg


Where I typed in:

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prompt 0
timeout 1
default a

label a
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-45-generic
append initrd=/boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-45-generic root=/dev/sda5

Yet I still get this error:
Warning:
No valid bootsector signature
Continue boot? [y/n]

Then I fired up Gparted and changed /dev/sda5 to have the "boot" flag. No change.

I'm beginning to suspect there is more complexity at play here than was first appreciated...

#64

Boot Managers / Re: How to install Plop Boot M...

Last post by Grunchy - December 17, 2021, 18:17:21 PM

Elmar, hey that looks like really good information.

I had installed Lubuntu "/" on /dev/sda5 and "swap" on /dev/sda6.

However I cannot boot into the Lubuntu to try the commands you gave me.

So I booted into the Lubuntu installer CD and called up LXTerminal, did the "sudo apt install extlinux" and then "extlinux --install / --device /dev/sda5"

It came back with:
extlinux: not a fat, ntfs, ext2/3/4, btrfs, xfs orufs1/2 filesystem: /

So then I tried something like this, I dunno:

sudo mkdir /mnt/hdd
sudo mount /dev/sda5 /mnt/hdd
extlinux --install /mnt/hdd --device /dev/sda5

It came back:

/mnt/hdd is device /dev/sda5
extlinux: cannot open device /dev/sda5

So...?

#65

Boot Managers / Re: How to install Plop Boot M...

Last post by Elmar - December 09, 2021, 17:08:09 PM

Hello Grunchy,

I tried your setup. I know what the problem is and I have a solutions for you.

Lubuntu comes with Grub2 and the problem is that Grub2 can not be installed to a boot sector. Maybe its possible and I don't know how.

Instead of Grub2 you can use extlinux (part of syslinux) as Linux loader. The simplest configuration is to create the file /syslinux.cfg

Code Select Expand


prompt 0
timeout 1
default a

label a
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-4.15.0-45-generic
append initrd=/boot/initrd.img-4.15.0-45-generic root=/dev/sda5


Install extlinux to the boot sector of sda5 with "extlinux --install / --device /dev/sda5"

Now, Linux will boot from the Plop Boot Manager with *80h hda4 L1.

Note: You have to do a "sudo apt install extlinux".

#66

Boot Managers / Re: How to install Plop Boot M...

Last post by Grunchy - December 07, 2021, 01:28:16 AM

Elmar, hey. I have successfully set up PLoP to boot MS-DOS from primary hda1, Windows 98 from primary hda2, Windows XP from primary hda3... but have not had success getting PLoP to boot Lubuntu from hda4 L1 (hda4 = first extended partition, hda4 L1 is the first logical partition formatted ext4 mount point "/", hda4 L2 is the second logical partition which is used for Linux Swap).

I have installed Lubuntu 16.04 over and over into the extended partition hda4 L1, and made sure the partition definition for hda4 in PLoP is 100% correct, but every single time it comes back with:

Warning:
No valid bootsector signature
Continue boot? [y/n]

Of course y does nothing except put a flashing cursor, n just goes back to PLoP.

My Linux boot profile is

HDA
hda1
hda2
hda3
*80h hda4 L1 (boot to first logical partition of hda4)

HDB, HDC, HDD are all set to "don't touch" because my laptop doesn't have more than 1 hard drive (Toshiba Satellite 2400 circa 2002, 1.6 GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB DDR Ram, 3 x USB1, 160GB Hard Drive at HDA).

If I boot to the Lubuntu live CD and check what's at hda4 L1 there's definitely "boot" flag set and there's /boot/grub stuff there.

#67

Boot Managers / Re: There is Zero documentatio...

Last post by Elmar - December 04, 2021, 18:53:41 PM

... and why the H can't anybody take 5 minutes to explain what it means to set up a boot profile??

Because it is not easy to write a documentation for every knowledge level.

Have you seen this? https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/examples.html

#68

Boot Managers / There is Zero documentation

Last post by Grunchy - December 03, 2021, 15:16:51 PM

So there can be HDA through HDD, which corresponds to four hard disks.
For each there are up to four partitions eg. HDA1, HDA2, HDA3, and HDA4.
Each partition can be: Don't Touch, Clear, Logical, some specific other partition, and up to one can be marked "Boot."
I've been trying to make heads or tails of what this all means, it kind of depresses me that nobody ever thought to take a moment to explain what that all means or how you can use it to set up a multi boot.

Let's take this simple scenario: suppose I create a profile and for HDA I assign the partitions HDA2, HDA1, Don't Touch, and Don't Touch. What does Plop do when I boot this profile? I can't get anything except for a flashing cursor, or "no boot disk" error, or some other error. For example if I set up a profile HDA1 boot, Clear, Clear, and Clear, it's liable to boot Windows XP in the second partition. What about Windows 98 in the first partition?

And does any of this have anything to do with "active" partition?

I feel like I'm taking stabs in the dark to try to figure out what any of this could possibly mean, except each 'stab' is another hour installing another OS off CD-rom just to try to find another clue, and why the H can't anybody take 5 minutes to explain what it means to set up a boot profile??

#69

Boot Managers / Re: How to install Plop Boot M...

Last post by Elmar - November 04, 2021, 18:09:58 PM

Your Linux is started by a boot manager. Mostly its Grub. You can add the Plop Boot Manager as additional boot option to the boot menu.

https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/plpbt.bin.html#rungrub

Note: There is a difference betwee Grub and Grub2.

#70

Boot Managers / How to install Plop Boot Manag...

Last post by jcalbinana - November 03, 2021, 18:03:45 PM

I would like to install the Plop Boot Manager 5 on a very old computer  without USB BIOS compatibility.

The computer has a linux installed but I do not understandt how to install it