Grub2 question.

[Joste]

I am asking this for a friend so info asked for may be slow to appear.

How do you get Grub2 to see and then boot from a floppy in a usb floppy drive?

They are using Kubuntu, apart from that I know little, I was asked the question on a break at work.

[Joste]

Oh, and he can't get it to see a USB memory stick either.

[viking60]

Grub2 sux Jkerr Rolf

[dedanna1029]

Grub 2 - A guide for users

Grub 2 bootloader - A full tutorial

I have also sent some examples and explanations to Joste on another venue, but they were Grub 1. If anyone can send some on Grub 2, that would be great.

[jkerr82508]

Sorry, but I've never used Grub2. The best place to look for answers may be the Ubuntu forum. Given the size of their user base, it's quite likely that a similar question may have been asked there.

Unless he's trying to boot from a USB stick, then I don't think the boot loader is relevant to the issue of recognising such devices.

Jim

[dedanna1029]

How do you get Grub2 to see and then boot from a floppy in a usb floppy drive?

Curious as to the boot order of the machine in BIOS? I wonder because this may give a clue. Thanks.

Also, remember how a floppy is named in /etc/fstab. This is how you'd want it to appear in menu.lst or in grub.conf, as.

In Arch, I have included in menu.lst:

Code: Select all

:) cat /boot/grub/menu.lst
# Config file for GRUB - The GNU GRand Unified Bootloader
# /boot/grub/menu.lst

# DEVICE NAME CONVERSIONS
#
#  Linux           Grub
# -------------------------
---->#  /dev/fd0        (fd0)
#  /dev/sda        (hd0)
#  /dev/sdb2       (hd1,1)
#  /dev/sda3       (hd0,2)

So, the device to boot with would have to be changed to reflect a boot from floppy, as I understand it, to 0 being as /dev/fd0 (of course the rest of the boot line would need to go with that).
I'm not 100% on this, but I'm thinking in menu.lst, something like changing this to reflect 0 (the primary boot device) and /dev/fd0:

Code: Select all

# (0) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux
root   (fd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-whatever root=/path/to/root ro
initrd /kernel-whatever.img

Then, fd0 itself would boot the usb stick from there. I think I'm off on this somehow though.

I do think your friend's BIOS needs to be set up accordingly to boot correctly, however.

Also, with all this being said, this is *normally* - of course, we're talking Grub 2 here, I'm talking Grub 1 again, and I'm not sure if there would be a "translation process" for it to understand what your friend is trying to do or not. I do not think this useless, however. It is my own assumption and assertion that one would need a good grasp of Grub1, in order to grasp Grub2. There are more things that are "automatic" with Grub2, this much I do know, and your friend may need to over-write some of that with Grub1 knowledge.

[dedanna1029]

Of course, all this could be much simplified and much more stable if your friend would search out grub 0.97 for Kubuntu. lol. Viking and I both have seen Grub2 tork many a system. I've had it happen with Arch, when I tried upgrading to Grub2 in it. I ended up with a reinstall, because it took the heart of the OS itself away (why or how is not the point). It just would be better with 0.97 overall.

Edit: However, if your friend still insists that it must be Grub2, then there is a Grub2 guide for Kubuntu users at their forum.