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SYSLINUX !!!SYSLINUX NAME SYNOPSIS DESCRIPTION OPTIONS FILES BUGS SEE ALSO AUTHOR ---- !!NAME syslinux - bootloader for Linux using MS-DOS floppies !!SYNOPSIS __syslinux__ [[ __-s__ ] [[ __-f__ ] [[ __-o__ ''offset'' __]__ ''device'' !!DESCRIPTION __Syslinux__ is a boot loader for the Linux operating system which operates off an MS-DOS/Windows FAT filesystem. It is intended to simplify first-time installation of Linux, and for creation of rescue and other special-purpose boot disks. In order to create a bootable Linux floppy using __Syslinux__, prepare a normal MS-DOS formatted floppy. Copy one or more Linux kernel files to it, then execute the command: __syslinux /dev/fd0__ This will alter the boot sector on the disk and copy a file named LDLINUX.SYS into its root directory. On boot time, by default, the kernel will be loaded from the image named LINUX on the boot floppy. This default can be changed, see the section on the __syslinux__ configuration file. If the Shift or Alt keys are held down during boot, or the Caps or Scroll locks are set, __syslinux__ will display a lilo(8) -style __syslinux__ loader does not need to know about the kernel file in advance; all that is required is that it is a file located in the root directory on the disk. __Syslinux__ supports the loading of initial ramdisks (initrd) and the bzImage kernel format. !!OPTIONS __-s__ Install a syslinux__. This version may work on some very buggy BIOSes on which __syslinux__ would otherwise fail. If you find a machine on which the -s option is required to make it boot reliably, please send as much info about your machine as you can, and include the failure mode. !!FILES __Configuration file__ All the configurable defaults in __syslinux__ can be changed by putting a file called SYSLINUX.CFG in the root directory of the boot floppy. This is a text file in either UNIX or DOS format, containing one or more of the following items (case is insensitive for keywords). In the configuration file blank lines and comment lines beginning with a hash mark (#) are ignored. __default__ ''kernel'' [[ ''options ...'' ] Sets the default command line. If __syslinux__ boots automatically, it will act just as if the entries after __ If no configuration file is present, or no NOTE: Earlier versions of SYSLINUX used to automatically append the string __append__ ''options ...'' Add one or more ''options'' to the kernel command line. These are added both for automatic and manual boots. The options are added at the very beginning of the kernel command line, usually permitting explicitly entered kernel options to override them. This is the equivalent of the lilo(8) __ __label__ ''label ''__ kernel__ ''image ''__ append__ ''options ... '' Indicates that if ''label'' is entered as the kernel to boot, __syslinux__ should instead boot ''image'', and the specified ''image'' is the same as ''label'', and if no '' __Notes:__ Labels are mangled as if they were DOS filenames, and must be unique after mangling. For example, two labels The __implicit__ ''flag_val'' If ''flag_val'' is 0, do not load a kernel image unless it has been explicitly named in a '' __timeout__ ''timeout'' Indicates how long to wait at the __serial__ ''port'' [[ ''baudrate'' ] Enables a serial port to act as the console. For this directive to be guaranteed to work properly, it should be the first directive in the configuration file. __font__ ''filename'' Load a font in .psf format before displaying any output (except the copyright line, which is output as ldlinux.sys itself is loaded.) __syslinux__ only loads the font onto the video card; if the .psf file contains a Unicode table it is ignored. This only works on EGA and VGA cards; hopefully it should do nothing on others. __kbdmap__ ''keymap'' Install a simple keyboard map. The keyboard remapper used is ''very'' simplistic (it simply remaps the keycodes received from the BIOS, which means that only the key combinations relevant in the default layout - usually U.S. English - can be mapped) but should at least help people with AZERTY keyboard layout and the locations of = and , (two special characters used heavily on the Linux kernel command line.) The included program keytab-lilo.pl(8) from the lilo(8) distribution can be used to create such keymaps. __display__ ''filename'' Displays the indicated file on the screen at boot time (before the boot: prompt, if displayed). Please see the section below on DISPLAY files. If the file is missing, this option is simply ignored. __prompt__ ''flag_val'' If ''flag_val'' is 0, display the ''flag_val'' is 1, always display the '' __f1__ ''filename ''__f2__ ''filename ... ''__f9__ ''filename ''__f0__ ''filename '' Displays the indicated file on the screen when a function key is pressed at the When using the serial console, press '''' to get to the help screens, e.g. '''' to get to the f2 screen, and '''' for the f10 one. __Display file format__ DISPLAY and function-key help files are text files in either DOS or UNIX format (with or without ''''). In addition, the following special codes are interpreted: '''' = '''' = ASCII 12 Clear the screen, home the cursor. Note that the screen is filled with the current display color. '''', '''' = '''' = ASCII 15 Set the display colors to the specified background and foreground colors, where '''' and '''' are hex digits, corresponding to the standard PC display attributes: 0 = black 8 = dark grey 1 = dark blue 9 = bright blue 2 = dark green a = bright green 3 = dark cyan b = bright cyan 4 = dark red c = bright red 5 = dark purple d = bright purple 6 = brown e = yellow 7 = light grey f = white Picking a bright color (8-f) for the background results in the corresponding dark color (0-7), with the foreground flashing. colors are not visible over the serial console. ''''filename'''', '''' = '''' = ASCII 24 If a VGA display is present, enter graphics mode and display the graphic included in the specified file. The file format is an ad hoc format called LSS16; the included Perl program The image is displayed in 640x480 16-color mode. Once in graphics mode, the display attributes (set by '''' code sequences) work slightly differently: the background color is ignored, and the foreground colors are the 16 colors specified in the image file. For that reason, ppmtolss16 allows you to specify that certain colors should be assigned to specific color indicies. Color indicies 0 and 7, in particular, should be chosen with care: 0 is the background color, and 7 is the color used for the text printed by SYSLINUX itself. '''', '''' = '''' = ASCII 25 If we are currently in graphics mode, return to text mode. ''''..''''__,__ ''''__..__'''' __= ASCII 16-23__ These codes can be used to select which modes to print a certain part of the message file in. Each of these control characters select a specific set of modes (text screen, graphics screen, serial port) for which the output is actually displayed: Character Text Graph Serial ------------------------------------------------------ For example: ... will actually print out which mode the console is in! '''' = '''' = ASCII 26 End of file (DOS convention). __Comboot Images and other operating systems__ This version of __syslinux__ supports chain loading of other operating systems (such as MS-DOS and its derivatives, including Windows 95/98), as well as COMBOOT-style standalone executables (a subset of DOS .COM files; see separate section below.) Chain loading requires the boot sector of the foreign operating system to be stored in a file in the root directory of the filesystem. Because neither Linux kernels, boot sector images, nor COMBOOT files have reliable magic numbers, __syslinux__ will look at the file extension. The following extensions are recognised: none or other Linux kernel image CBT COMBOOT image (not runnable from DOS) BSS Boot sector (DOS superblock will be patched in) BS Boot sector COM COMBOOT image (runnable from DOS) For filenames given on the command line, __syslinux__ will search for the file by adding extensions in the order listed above if the plain filename is not found. Filenames in KERNEL statements must be fully qualified. A COMBOOT file is a standalone executable in DOS .COM format. They can, among other things, be produced by the Etherboot package by Markus Gutschke and Ken Yap. The following requirements apply for these files to be sufficiently syslinux__ to be able to load and run them: The program must not execute any DOS calls (since there is no DOS), although it may call the BIOS. The only exception is that the program may execute INT 20h (Terminate Program) to return to the __syslinux__ prompt. Note especially that INT 21h AH=4Ch, INT 21h AH=31h or INT 27h are not supported. Only the fields pspInt20 at offset 00h, pspNextParagraph at offset 02h and pspCommandTail at offset 80h (contains the arguments from the __syslinux__ command line) in the PSP are supported. All other fields will contain zero. The program must not modify any main memory outside its 64K segment if it returns to __syslinux__ via INT 20h. __Syslinux__ currently doesn't provide any form of API for the use of COMBOOT files. If there is need, a future version may contain an INT interface to some __syslinux__ functions; please contact me if you have a need or ideas for such an API. __Novice protection__ __Syslinux__ will attempt to detect if the user is trying to boot on a 286 or lower class machine, or a machine with less than 608K of low ( __ The compile time and date of a specific __syslinux__ version can be obtained by the DOS command __ Any file that __syslinux__ uses can be marked hidden, system or readonly if so is convenient; __syslinux__ ignores all file attributes. The SYSLINUX installed automatically sets the readonly attribute on LDLINUX.SYS. __Bootable CD-ROMs__ SYSLINUX can be used to create bootdisk images for El Torito-compatible bootable CD-ROMs. However, it appears that many BIOSes are very buggy when it comes to booting CD-ROMs. Some users have reported that the following steps are helpful in making a CD-ROM that is bootable on the largest possible number of machines: Use the -s (safe, slow and stupid) option to SYSLINUX Put the boot image as close to the beginning of the ISO 9660 filesystem as possible. A CD-ROM is so much faster than a floppy that the -s option shouldn't matter from a speed perspective. __Booting from a FAT partition on a hard disk__ SYSLINUX can boot from a FAT12 or FAT16 filesystem partition on a hard disk (FAT32, introduced in Windows 95 OSR-2, is not supported, however.) The installation procedure is identical to the procedure for installing it on a floppy, and should work under either DOS or Linux. To boot from a partition, SYSLINUX needs to be launched from a Master Boot Record or another boot loader, just like DOS itself would. !!BUGS SYSLINUX is unsafe to use on any filesystem that extends past cylinder 1024. This is a fundamental limitation of the standard BIOS API. SYSLINUX will not work (and will refuse to install) on filesystems with a cluster size of more than 16K (typically means a filesystem of more than 1 GB.) __Bug reports__ I would appreciate hearing of any problems you have with SYSLINUX. I would also like to hear from you if you have successfully used SYSLINUX, especially if you are using it for a distribution. If you are reporting problems, please include all possible information about your system and your BIOS; the vast majority of all problems reported turn out to be BIOS or hardware bugs, and I need as much information as possible in order to diagnose the problems. There is a mailing list for discussion among SYSLINUX users and for announcements of new and test versions. To join, send a message to majordomo@linux.kernel.org with the line: __subscribe syslinux__ in the body of the message. The submission address is syslinux@linux.kernel.org. !!SEE ALSO lilo(8), keytab-lilo.pl(8), fdisk(8), mkfs(8), superformat(1). !!AUTHOR This manual page is a modified version of the original __syslinux__ documentation by H. Peter Anvin __ ----
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