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

[Pete Batard]

Hi Bernd.

First of all, a very Happy 2014 to you too, and everyone on this list!

On 2014.01.03 11:07, Bernd Blaauw wrote:
> FreeLDR as multiboot-kernel only looks at freeldr.ini at C:\ , no idea
> if your created USB stick counts as C: or A:.

Should count as C:. Rufus has no provisions to fake an A: drive for USB 
at the moment.

> 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.

My testing showed that freeldr.ini was read when referencing the 
freeldr.sys on the bootcd, as I got the "Setup" selection menu.
But then pressing Enter on Setup didn't do much, though the F8 options 
did seem to work. As I said, I haven't really pressed it further with 
freeldr.sys yet, especially as the current implementation only allows 
one boot entry.

> 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.

memdisk is very small, so I'll probably add support for it in Rufus 
eventually. The part about using compressed images past memdisk or 
mboot.c32 doesn't really concern me, as these files don't need to be 
provided by Rufus, so they can be as large as they want. It's really 
only the parts needed for SYSLINUX -> MEMDISK or SYSLINUX -> MBOOT.C32 
that I'm trying to keep small in terms of space.

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

But then it means less RAM for the system, and losing the ability to 
edit startup scripts, which can come really handy when testing...

But as I said, I'll probably add memdisk support to Rufus at one stage, 
for all the "reluctant" ISOs that are still out there.

There might also be some way to use the sta

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

No, all the ISOs will boot (through setupldr.sys), including the LiveCD 
ones. They just seem to run into an USB issue later on, at least on the 
system I tested, during the ReactOS system init.
For what is worth, the LiveCD ISOs only have setupldr.sys and no 
freeldr.sys, which was one more reason I didn't bother too much with 
freeldr.sys for now.

> Have fun with HaikuOS :)

There's always one more OS to support, isn't there... ;)

Regards,

/Pete