Arch Linux

MisterAnderson

Member

Registered: 2011-09-04

Posts: 285

Need syslinux.cfg help to dual boot backtrack

Hey guys, the syslinux wiki is down so I'm just gonna post here.

I've got Arch installed with /boot / and /home partitions, and I decided to put Backtrack on another partition for some fun. I can't get it to boot using syslinux, currently the menu just refreshes when I select it (so obviously something is wrong).

Disk /dev/sda: 976773168 sectors, 465.8 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): DFD5FB34-E647-4867-B5C7-1CA5705BECDF
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 976773134
Partitions will be aligned on 8-sector boundaries
Total free space is 13291 sectors (6.5 MiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            2048        33556479   16.0 GiB    2700  Windows RE
   2        33556480        33761279   100.0 MiB   0700  Microsoft basic data
   3        33761280       139378687   50.4 GiB    0700  Microsoft basic data
   4       139378688       149622783   4.9 GiB     8200  
   6       149622784       150646783   500.0 MiB   8300  Linux filesystem
   7       150648832       223348735   34.7 GiB    8300  Linux filesystem
   8       223350784       328830975   50.3 GiB    8300  Linux filesystem
   9       328833024       935304299   289.2 GiB   0700  Microsoft basic data
  10       935304363       976768064   19.8 GiB    8300  Linux filesystem

Partition 4 is swap, 6 is /boot (arch), 7 is / (arch), 8 is /home (arch) and 10 is / (backtrack).

# Config file for Syslinux -
# /boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg
#
# Comboot modules:
#   * menu.c32 - provides a text menu
#   * vesamenu.c32 - provides a graphical menu
#   * chain.c32 - chainload MBRs, partition boot sectors, Windows bootloaders
#   * hdt.c32 - hardware detection tool
#   * reboot.c32 - reboots the system
#   * poweroff.com - shutdown the system
#
# To Use: Copy the respective files from /usr/lib/syslinux to /boot/syslinux.
# If /usr and /boot are on the same file system, symlink the files instead
# of copying them.
#
# If you do not use a menu, a 'boot:' prompt will be shown and the system
# will boot automatically after 5 seconds.
#
# Please review the wiki: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Syslinux
# The wiki provides further configuration examples

DEFAULT arch
PROMPT 0        # Change to 1 if you do not want to use a menu
TIMEOUT 50
# You can create syslinux keymaps with the keytab-lilo tool
#KBDMAP de.ktl

# Menu Configuration
# Either menu.c32 or vesamenu32.c32 must be copied to /boot/syslinux 
UI menu.c32
#UI vesamenu.c32

# Refer to http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/Doc/menu
MENU TITLE Arch Linux
#MENU BACKGROUND splash.png
MENU COLOR border       30;44   #40ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR title        1;36;44 #9033ccff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR sel          7;37;40 #e0ffffff #20ffffff all
MENU COLOR unsel        37;44   #50ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR help         37;40   #c0ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR timeout_msg  37;40   #80ffffff #00000000 std
MENU COLOR timeout      1;37;40 #c0ffffff #00000000 std
MENU COLOR msg07        37;40   #90ffffff #a0000000 std
MENU COLOR tabmsg       31;40   #30ffffff #00000000 std

# boot sections follow
#
# TIP: If you want a 1024x768 framebuffer, add "vga=773" to your kernel line.
#
#-*

# (0) Arch Linux
LABEL arch
    MENU LABEL Arch Linux
    LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
    APPEND root=/dev/sda7 resume=/dev/sda5 roi logo.nologo quiet 
    INITRD ../initramfs-linux.img

# (1) Arch Linux Fallback
LABEL archfallback
    MENU LABEL Arch Linux Fallback
    LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
    APPEND root=/dev/sda7 ro
    INITRD ../initramfs-linux-fallback.img

# (2) Backtrack
LABEL backtrack
    MENU LABEL Backtrack
    KERNEL /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.39.4
    APPEND root=/dev/sda10 ro text splash vga=791
    INITRD /boot/initrd.img-2.6.39.4

# (3) Windows
LABEL windows
COM32 chain.c32
APPEND hd0 2

LABEL hdt
    MENU LABEL HDT (Hardware Detection Tool)
    COM32 hdt.c32

LABEL reboot
    MENU LABEL Reboot
    COM32 reboot.c32

LABEL off
    MENU LABEL Power Off
    COMBOOT poweroff.com

Do I need to place Backtrack's kernel and initrd image in arch's /boot? I wouldn't have thought so but yeah. Maybe I'm specifying the directory wrong?

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Gusar

Member

Registered: 2009-08-25

Posts: 3,605

Re: Need syslinux.cfg help to dual boot backtrack

Do I need to place Backtrack's kernel and initrd image in arch's /boot?

That's one solution, yeah.

The other is something I once used on an usb stick, but I can't remember what it was (and can't check because as you say, the wiki is down), and it's possible it only worked with fat filesystems.

MisterAnderson

Member

Registered: 2011-09-04

Posts: 285

Re: Need syslinux.cfg help to dual boot backtrack

Kk thx, I'll stick them in arch's /boot and try. I feel like I'm missing some command or line put before the kernel line to tell syslinux which partition to look at for the kernel and initrd (like root (hd0,9) for grub), but I can't find info anywhere with the wiki down.

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ignotus

Member

Registered: 2011-08-09

Posts: 15

Re: Need syslinux.cfg help to dual boot backtrack

I do the exact same thing and that's how I did it. I copied BT's initrd, system.map, and vmlinuz in it's own directory in Arch's /boot (I don't think you have to do this it's just better for organziation).

Here's the relevant bit of my syslinux.cfg

# (0) Arch Linux
LABEL Arch
    MENU LABEL Arch
    LINUX ../vmlinuz-linux
    APPEND cryptdevice=/dev/sda3:vg-arch root=/dev/mapper/vg--arch-root ro
    INITRD ../initramfs-linux.img

# (2) BT
LABEL BT
    MENU LABEL BT
    LINUX ../BT/vmlinuz-2.6.38
    APPEND cryptdevice=/dev/sda2:vgroup root=/dev/mapper/vgroup-root ro
    INITRD ../BT/initrd.img-2.6.38

Last edited by ignotus (2011-12-01 20:05:30)

Gusar

Member

Registered: 2009-08-25

Posts: 3,605

Re: Need syslinux.cfg help to dual boot backtrack

Kk thx, I'll stick them in arch's /boot and try. I feel like I'm missing some command or line put before the kernel line to tell syslinux which partition to look at for the kernel and initrd (like root (hd0,9) for grub), but I can't find info anywhere with the wiki down.

Syslinux can't actually do that. It can only boot stuff from the same partition it's on. I found the wiki in archive.org, which helped me remember what I did on my usb stick - chainloading using the boot parameter:

LABEL something
    com32 chain.c32
    append boot 2

LABEL something else
    com32 chain.c32
    append boot 3

Syslinux then needs to be installed on all these partitions and have a config file there.

Loading kernels from other partitions, this is the one thing syslinux is missing. But if you have a separate /boot partition, you can just put all stuff there, using subfolders for organization, as ignotus suggests.

Last edited by Gusar (2011-12-01 20:14:23)

MisterAnderson

Member

Registered: 2011-09-04

Posts: 285

Re: Need syslinux.cfg help to dual boot backtrack

Thanks for the info. I'll just leave it how I have it for now, unless I REALLY wanna install grub2 (backtrack's default) to /dev/sda10 and chainload it. I don't see much problem in either method since it's not a commonly used OS, but I'll keep it in mind if I ever set up a computer likely to use more than one distro.

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