[ros-general] ReactOS ISO support has been added in Rufus

[Bernd Blaauw]

Pete Batard schreef op 3-1-2014 3:59:

> If you want to test, you can pick the latest ALPHA from:
> http://rufus.akeo.ie/downloads/

Awesome, will test using USB2 ports.

> Currently, the way this works is through installing Syslinux (v4.07) and
> mboot.c32 so that setupldr.sys can then be invoked (see the
> /syslinux.cfg created by Rufus on the drive).
>
> Also, for the time being, only setupldr.sys will be referenced (no
> freeldr.sys) on account that:

FreeLDR as multiboot-kernel only looks at freeldr.ini at C:\ , no idea 
if your created USB stick counts as C: or A:.
Also ReactOS might write freeldr.ini in some special way on FAT drives, 
I've never been able to open/modify it using a DOS text editor.

> 1. The Syslinux's menu.c32 file is rather large, and I want to keep
> Rufus small, so I don't want to embed it in the application (which is
> also the mais reason why Rufus doesn't include native GRUB support). But
> this means that user selection from a menu is not available.
>
> 2. When testing, I couldn't get freeldr.sys to do much when booted from
> USB... though that was most likely because I hadn't actually installed
> ReactOS anywhere.

Smallest I've gotten FreeLDR is through using
SYSLINUX -> MEMDISK -> FLOPPY.GZ where floppy.gz is a compressed ReactOS 
startup diskette image. SYSLINUX -> MBOOT.C32 -> FREELDR.GZ might also 
work instead.

> Still, I'm hoping that making the creation of a bootable UFD easier for
> ReactOS will help encourage more people to test it and help the project.

I've always hoped for Syslinux -> Memdisk/GRUB -> ReactOS.ISO/IMG simply 
to overcome lack of mass storage controllers drivers by running from RAM.

> Of course, I'm also open to suggestions to try to improve support for
> ReactOS in Rufus, if you want something specific. For instance, I should
> point out that the syslinux.cfg created by Rufus is written before any
> of the ISO files are copied over. Thus, if the ReactOS ISOs were to
> include their own syslinux.cfg & menu.c32/vesamenu.c32, it would be very
> easy to provide menu selection for the user when booting from USB, even
> as the ISOs are not Syslinux/Isolinux based.

So right now the installer ISO works but not the LiveCD/USB?
[ https://www.reactos.org/getbuilds ] with rev 61493

Thanks for having implemented the support Pete! :)
Have fun with HaikuOS :)

best wishes for 2014,

Bernd