Installing grub2 bootloader in fd0

[Rumpty]

I wanted to install grub2 bootloader in fd0 during the installation, but that wasn't allowed, so didn't install it anywhere. No problem, I have now booted into Karmic by other means.

Created grub.cfg by running sudo update-grub2, and now I would like to install the bootloader in fd0. Is the command the same as grub1, <setup fd0> or is it different? Just wanted to play safe by checking about this command.

[drs305]

The normal command is:

sudo grub-install /dev/sda

I haven't played with fd0

There is also the switch "--root-directory=DIR" which you might be able to use should G2 not be happy with fd0.

[Rumpty]

Thanks drs305.

The "normal" command didn't work. I tried adding the fd0 to the device.map (not exactly sure of the format of this with a floppy drive) but still no joy.

I'll have to research that switch you mentioned.

[JBAlaska]

Try this HowTo

[Rumpty]

I think that HowTo is strictly for the old (I'll always remember you. Sniff) grub, not for grub2.

[Herman]

There's a really cool new command that comes with GRUB 2 which replaces about a dozen or so other commands and it's designed specifically for automatically making an .iso file with GRUB 2 in it or a GRUB 2 floppy disc image!

I haven't tried the floppy disc option yet as I don't use floppy discs so much anymore, I'm getting too many 'dud' disks, I think the quality has gone down or I'm not able to source a decent brand.

I can say that the grub-mkconfig command is great for making an .iso image for burning to a CD though! If we use the --overlay=/boot/grub option it'll give us our own GRUB Menu complete with splashimage if we have one too.

grub-mkrescue --overlay=/boot/grub GRUB2CD.iso

Maybe we can get together and figure our how to use the same command with the right options for creating a floppy disc image.
Is anyone interested?

I'm not sure but I think we need to include the --image-type=TYPE option and --emulation=TYPE option if we want to make a floppy disc image.
Maybe like:

grub-mkrescue --overlay=/boot/grub --image-type=floppy --emulation=eltorito GRUB2.img

That was only a guess, maybe I'm wrong but I'll start playing with that and see if I can get it to work ...

... anyone else wanna join in and help?

EDIT, Silly me, emulation type is for CD-ROM only, we don't need that for making a floppy, this seems to do something good judging by the terminal feedback,

grub-mkrescue --overlay=/boot/grub --image-type=floppy GRUB2.img

Can anyone make a floppy disc and try it out to confirm that it really works?

To make the copy the image file to the floppy disc one would use a command like the following,

dd if=GRUB2.img of=/dev/fd0

[JBAlaska]

I think that HowTo is strictly for the old (I'll always remember you. Sniff) grub, not for grub2.

Well Yea, but since your booting off a FD why would it matter if your using grub or grub2..I mean like all the config stuff is on the FD and it will still point to the same drive/partition..or am I wrong, since I haven't booted from a FD since Win95 CD install lol.

[Rumpty]

There's a really cool new command that comes with GRUB 2 which replaces about a dozen or so other commands and it's designed specifically for automatically making an .iso file with GRUB 2 in it or a GRUB 2 floppy disc image!

EDIT, Silly me, emulation type is for CD-ROM only, we don't need that for making a floppy, this seems to do something good judging by the terminal feedback,

grub-mkrescue --overlay=/boot/grub --image-type=floppy GRUB2.img

Can anyone make a floppy disc and try it out to confirm that it really works?

To make the copy the image file to the floppy disc one would use a command like the following,

dd if=GRUB2.img of=/dev/fd0

That procedure worked fine Herman, made the Grub2 floppy disc.

Must try to bring myself up to speed regarding what can be done from the grub prompt!

[Herman]

That procedure worked fine Herman, made the Grub2 floppy disc.
Must try to bring myself up to speed regarding what can be done from the grub prompt!

Alright! Thanks for letting me know.
Yes, it's mainly just a matter of knowing what commands to type.

It's certainly a lot easier to make your GRUBII CD or floppy disk than it used to be with GRUB Legacy. Just one or two commands replace quite a series of commands that were needed to do the same thing with GRUB Legacy.

Some useful links on GRUBII are here, (just in case you're interested),

GRUB2 Pages

GNU GRUB 2 Manual - (under construction)

Grub 2 - Ubuntu Wiki

Grub 2 Basics - drs305 - Ubuntu Web Forums

GRUB 2 Introduction - ranch hand - Ubuntu Web Forums

[agrimstad]

This item (http://members.iinet.net/~herman546/...B2_Floppy_Disc) worked for me.

The result, however, is a bit more primitive than dropping into the command shell when you boot from your hard drive(s). I use lvm over raid for my various partitions, except that I have a separate raid partition not using lvm for /boot. The command shell sees all this and so booting from it is fairly straightforward. Here's what I do:

grub> set root=(md0)
grub> insmod /grub/linux.mod
grub> linux /vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=/dev/mapper/vg0-root
grub> initrd /initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
grub> boot

When booting from the floppy, the raid, mdraid, and lvm modules are not automatically loaded, so the first job--to avoid extra typing--is to load them.

This amounts to something like this:

grub> insmod (hd0,1)/grub/raid.mod
grub> insmod (hd0,1)/grub/mdraid.mod
grub> insmod (hd0,1)/grub/lvm.mod

and then proceeding as above.

What I haven't been able to get working is a command something like this:

grub-mkrescue --modules=raid,mdraid,lvm --overlay=/boot/grub --image-type=floppy /tmp/grub_two.dsk

grub-mkrescue doesn't report errors very well and, for whatever reason, ignored my --modules argument.

I wonder if anyone has yet worked this problem out.