3 A suite of bootloaders for Linux
5 Copyright 1994-2010 H. Peter Anvin and contributors
7 This program is provided under the terms of the GNU General Public
8 License, version 2 or, at your option, any later version. There is no
9 warranty, neither expressed nor implied, to the function of this
10 program. Please see the included file COPYING for details.
12 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
14 Syslinux now has a home page at http://syslinux.zytor.com/
16 ----------------------------------------------------------------------
18 The Syslinux suite contains the following boot loaders
19 ("derivatives"), for their respective boot media:
21 SYSLINUX - MS-DOS/Windows FAT filesystem
22 PXELINUX - PXE network booting
23 ISOLINUX - ISO9660 CD-ROM
24 EXTLINUX - Linux ext2/ext3 filesystem
26 For historical reasons, some of the sections in this document applies
27 to the FAT loader (SYSLINUX) only; see pxelinux.txt, isolinux.txt and
28 extlinux.txt for what differs in these versions. The all-caps term
29 "SYSLINUX" generally refers to the FAT loader, whereas "Syslinux"
30 refers to the project as a whole.
32 Help with cleaning up the docs would be greatly appreciated.
37 These are the options common to all versions of Syslinux:
39 -s Safe, slow, stupid; uses simpler code that boots better
41 -r Raid mode. If boot fails, tell the BIOS to boot the next
42 device in the boot sequence (usually the next hard disk)
43 instead of stopping with an error message.
44 This is useful for RAID-1 booting.
46 These are only in the Windows version:
48 -m Mbr; install a bootable MBR sector to the beginning of the
50 -a Active; marks the partition used active (=bootable)
53 ++++ CREATING A BOOTABLE LINUX FLOPPY +++
55 In order to create a bootable Linux floppy using SYSLINUX, prepare a
56 normal MS-DOS formatted floppy. Copy one or more Linux kernel files to
57 it, then execute the DOS command:
59 syslinux [-sfrma][-d directory] a: [bootsecfile]
61 (or whichever drive letter is appropriate; the [] meaning optional.)
63 Use "syslinux.com" (in the dos subdirectory of the distribution) for
64 plain DOS (MS-DOS, DR-DOS, PC-DOS, FreeDOS...) or Win9x/ME.
66 Use "syslinux.exe" (in the win32 subdirectory of the distribution) for
69 Under Linux, execute the command:
71 syslinux [-sfr][-d directory][-o offset] /dev/fd0
73 (or, again, whichever device is the correct one.)
75 This will alter the boot sector on the disk and copy a file named
76 LDLINUX.SYS into its root directory (or a subdirectory, if the -d
79 The -s option, if given, will install a "safe, slow and stupid"
80 version of SYSLINUX. This version may work on some very buggy BIOSes
81 on which SYSLINUX would otherwise fail. If you find a machine on
82 which the -s option is required to make it boot reliably, please send
83 as much info about your machine as you can, and include the failure
86 The -o option is used with a disk image file and specifies the byte
87 offset of the filesystem image in the file.
89 For the DOS and Windows installers, the -m and -a options can be used
90 on hard drives to write a Master Boot Record (MBR), and to mark the
91 specific partition active.
93 If the Shift or Alt keys are held down during boot, or the Caps or Scroll
94 locks are set, Syslinux will display a LILO-style "boot:" prompt. The
95 user can then type a kernel file name followed by any kernel parameters.
96 The Syslinux loader does not need to know about the kernel file in
97 advance; all that is required is that it is a file located in the root
98 directory on the disk.
100 There are two versions of the Linux installer; one in the "mtools"
101 directory which requires no special privilege (other than write
102 permission to the device where you are installing) but requires the
103 mtools program suite to be available, and one in the "unix" directory
104 which requires root privilege.
107 ++++ CONFIGURATION FILE ++++
109 All the configurable defaults in SYSLINUX can be changed by putting a
110 file called "syslinux.cfg" in the root directory of the boot disk.
112 This is a text file in either UNIX or DOS format, containing one or
113 more of the following items (case is insensitive for keywords; upper
114 case is used here to indicate that a word should be typed verbatim):
116 Starting with version 3.35, the configuration file can also be in
117 either the /boot/syslinux or /syslinux directories (searched in that
118 order.) If that is the case, then all filenames are assumed to be
119 relative to that same directory, unless preceded with a slash or
122 All options here applies to PXELINUX, ISOLINUX and EXTLINUX as well as
123 SYSLINUX unless otherwise noted. See the respective .txt files.
126 A comment line. The whitespace after the hash mark is mandatory.
129 Inserts the contents of another file at this point in the
130 configuration file. Files can currently be nested up to 16
131 levels deep, but it is not guaranteed that more than 8 levels
132 will be supported in the future.
134 DEFAULT kernel options...
135 Sets the default command line. If Syslinux boots automatically,
136 it will act just as if the entries after DEFAULT had been typed
137 in at the "boot:" prompt.
139 If no configuration file is present, or no DEFAULT entry is
140 present in the config file, an error message is displayed and
141 the boot: prompt is shown.
144 Selects a specific user interface module (typically menu.c32
145 or vesamenu.c32). The command-line interface treats this as a
146 directive that overrides the DEFAULT and PROMPT directives.
149 Add one or more options to the kernel command line. These are
150 added both for automatic and manual boots. The options are
151 added at the very beginning of the kernel command line,
152 usually permitting explicitly entered kernel options to override
153 them. This is the equivalent of the LILO "append" option.
155 IPAPPEND flag_val [PXELINUX only]
156 The IPAPPEND option is available only on PXELINUX. The
157 flag_val is an OR of the following options:
159 1: indicates that an option of the following format
160 should be generated and added to the kernel command line:
162 ip=<client-ip>:<boot-server-ip>:<gw-ip>:<netmask>
164 ... based on the input from the DHCP/BOOTP or PXE boot server.
166 THE USE OF THIS OPTION IS NOT RECOMMENDED. If you have to use
167 it, it is probably an indication that your network configuration
168 is broken. Using just "ip=dhcp" on the kernel command line
169 is a preferrable option, or, better yet, run dhcpcd/dhclient,
170 from an initrd if necessary.
172 2: indicates that an option of the following format
173 should be generated and added to the kernel command line:
175 BOOTIF=<hardware-address-of-boot-interface>
177 ... in dash-separated hexadecimal with leading hardware type
178 (same as for the configuration file; see pxelinux.txt.)
180 This allows an initrd program to determine from which
181 interface the system booted.
186 IPAPPEND flag_val [PXELINUX only]
187 Indicates that if "label" is entered as the kernel to boot,
188 Syslinux should instead boot "image", and the specified APPEND
189 and IPAPPEND options should be used instead of the ones
190 specified in the global section of the file (before the first
191 LABEL command.) The default for "image" is the same as
192 "label", and if no APPEND is given the default is to use the
193 global entry (if any).
195 Starting with version 3.62, the number of LABEL statements is
198 Note that LILO uses the syntax:
203 ... whereas Syslinux uses the syntax:
208 Note: The "kernel" doesn't have to be a Linux kernel; it can
209 be a boot sector or a COMBOOT file (see below.)
211 Since version 3.32 label names are no longer mangled into DOS
212 format (for SYSLINUX.)
214 The following commands are available after a LABEL statement:
216 LINUX image - Linux kernel image (default)
217 BOOT image - Bootstrap program (.bs, .bin)
218 BSS image - BSS image (.bss)
219 PXE image - PXE Network Bootstrap Program (.0)
220 FDIMAGE image - Floppy disk image (.img)
221 COMBOOT image - COMBOOT program (.com, .cbt)
222 COM32 image - COM32 program (.c32)
223 CONFIG image - New configuration file
224 Using one of these keywords instead of KERNEL forces the
225 filetype, regardless of the filename.
227 CONFIG means restart the boot loader using a different
231 Append nothing. APPEND with a single hyphen as argument in a
232 LABEL section can be used to override a global APPEND.
234 LOCALBOOT type [ISOLINUX, PXELINUX]
235 On PXELINUX, specifying "LOCALBOOT 0" instead of a "KERNEL"
236 option means invoking this particular label will cause a local
237 disk boot instead of booting a kernel.
239 The argument 0 means perform a normal boot. The argument 4
240 will perform a local boot with the Universal Network Driver
241 Interface (UNDI) driver still resident in memory. Finally,
242 the argument 5 will perform a local boot with the entire PXE
243 stack, including the UNDI driver, still resident in memory.
244 All other values are undefined. If you don't know what the
245 UNDI or PXE stacks are, don't worry -- you don't want them,
248 On ISOLINUX, the "type" specifies the local drive number to
249 boot from; 0x00 is the primary floppy drive and 0x80 is the
250 primary hard drive. The special value -1 causes ISOLINUX to
251 report failure to the BIOS, which, on recent BIOSes, should
252 mean that the next boot device in the boot sequence should be
256 Starting with version 3.71, an initrd can be specified in a
257 separate statement (INITRD) instead of as part of the APPEND
258 statement; this functionally appends "initrd=initrd_file" to
259 the kernel command line.
261 It supports multiple filenames separated by commas.
262 This is mostly useful for initramfs, which can be composed of
263 multiple separate cpio or cpio.gz archives.
264 Note: all files except the last one are zero-padded to a
265 4K page boundary. This should not affect initramfs.
268 If flag_val is 0, do not load a kernel image unless it has been
269 explicitly named in a LABEL statement. The default is 1.
271 ALLOWOPTIONS flag_val
272 If flag_val is 0, the user is not allowed to specify any
273 arguments on the kernel command line. The only options
274 recognized are those specified in an APPEND statement. The
278 Indicates how long to wait at the boot: prompt until booting
279 automatically, in units of 1/10 s. The timeout is cancelled as
280 soon as the user types anything on the keyboard, the assumption
281 being that the user will complete the command line already
282 begun. A timeout of zero will disable the timeout completely,
283 this is also the default.
286 Indicates how long to wait until booting automatically, in
287 units of 1/10 s. This timeout is *not* cancelled by user
288 input, and can thus be used to deal with serial port glitches
289 or "the user walked away" type situations. A timeout of zero
290 will disable the timeout completely, this is also the default.
292 Both TIMEOUT and TOTALTIMEOUT can be used together, for
295 # Wait 5 seconds unless the user types something, but
296 # always boot after 15 minutes.
300 ONTIMEOUT kernel options...
301 Sets the command line invoked on a timeout. Normally this is
302 the same thing as invoked by "DEFAULT". If this is specified,
303 then "DEFAULT" is used only if the user presses <Enter> to
306 ONERROR kernel options...
307 If a kernel image is not found (either due to it not existing,
308 or because IMPLICIT is set), run the specified command. The
309 faulty command line is appended to the specified options, so
310 if the ONERROR directive reads as:
314 ... and the command line as entered by the user is:
318 ... Syslinux will execute the following as if entered by the
321 xyzzy plugh foo bar baz
323 SERIAL port [[baudrate] flowcontrol]
324 Enables a serial port to act as the console. "port" is a
325 number (0 = /dev/ttyS0 = COM1, etc.) or an I/O port address
326 (e.g. 0x3F8); if "baudrate" is omitted, the baud rate defaults
327 to 9600 bps. The serial parameters are hardcoded to be 8
328 bits, no parity, 1 stop bit.
330 "flowcontrol" is a combination of the following bits:
333 0x008 - Enable interrupts
334 0x010 - Wait for CTS assertion
335 0x020 - Wait for DSR assertion
336 0x040 - Wait for RI assertion
337 0x080 - Wait for DCD assertion
338 0x100 - Ignore input unless CTS asserted
339 0x200 - Ignore input unless DSR asserted
340 0x400 - Ignore input unless RI asserted
341 0x800 - Ignore input unless DCD asserted
343 All other bits are reserved.
347 0 - No flow control (default)
348 0x303 - Null modem cable detect
349 0x013 - RTS/CTS flow control
350 0x813 - RTS/CTS flow control, modem input
351 0x023 - DTR/DSR flow control
352 0x083 - DTR/DCD flow control
354 For the SERIAL directive to be guaranteed to work properly, it
355 should be the first directive in the configuration file.
357 NOTE: "port" values from 0 to 3 means the first four serial
358 ports detected by the BIOS. They may or may not correspond to
359 the legacy port values 0x3F8, 0x2F8, 0x3E8, 0x2E8.
361 Enabling interrupts (setting the 0x008 bit) may give better
362 responsiveness without setting the NOHALT option, but could
363 potentially cause problems with buggy BIOSes.
366 If flag_val is 1, don't halt the processor while idle.
367 Halting the processor while idle significantly reduces the
368 power consumption, but can cause poor responsiveness to the
369 serial console, especially when using scripts to drive the
370 serial console, as opposed to human interaction.
373 If flag_val is 0, disable output to the normal video console.
374 If flag_val is 1, enable output to the video console (this is
377 Some BIOSes try to forward this to the serial console and
378 sometimes make a total mess thereof, so this option lets you
379 disable the video console on these systems.
382 Load a font in .psf format before displaying any output
383 (except the copyright line, which is output as ldlinux.sys
384 itself is loaded.) Syslinux only loads the font onto the
385 video card; if the .psf file contains a Unicode table it is
386 ignored. This only works on EGA and VGA cards; hopefully it
387 should do nothing on others.
390 Install a simple keyboard map. The keyboard remapper used is
391 *very* simplistic (it simply remaps the keycodes received from
392 the BIOS, which means that only the key combinations relevant
393 in the default layout -- usually U.S. English -- can be
394 mapped) but should at least help people with AZERTY keyboard
395 layout and the locations of = and , (two special characters
396 used heavily on the Linux kernel command line.)
398 The included program keytab-lilo.pl from the LILO distribution
399 can be used to create such keymaps. The file keytab-lilo.txt
400 contains the documentation for this program.
403 Displays the indicated file on the screen at boot time (before
404 the boot: prompt, if displayed). Please see the section below
407 NOTE: If the file is missing, this option is simply ignored.
410 Prints the message on the screen.
413 If flag_val is 0, display the boot: prompt only if the Shift or Alt
414 key is pressed, or Caps Lock or Scroll lock is set (this is the
415 default). If flag_val is 1, always display the boot: prompt.
418 If flag_val is set to 1, ignore the Shift/Alt/Caps Lock/Scroll
419 Lock escapes. Use this (together with PROMPT 0) to force the
420 default boot alternative.
423 If flag_val is set to 1, the Tab key does not display labels
433 Displays the indicated file on the screen when a function key is
434 pressed at the boot: prompt. This can be used to implement
435 pre-boot online help (presumably for the kernel command line
436 options.) Please see the section below on DISPLAY files.
438 When using the serial console, press <Ctrl-F><digit> to get to
439 the help screens, e.g. <Ctrl-F><2> to get to the F2 screen.
440 For F10-F12, hit <Ctrl-F><A>, <Ctrl-F>B, <Ctrl-F>C. For
441 compatibility with earlier versions, F10 can also be entered as
444 Blank lines are ignored.
446 Note that the configuration file is not completely decoded. Syntax
447 different from the one described above may still work correctly in this
448 version of Syslinux, but may break in a future one.
451 ++++ DISPLAY FILE FORMAT ++++
453 DISPLAY and function-key help files are text files in either DOS or UNIX
454 format (with or without <CR>). In addition, the following special codes
457 <FF> <FF> = <Ctrl-L> = ASCII 12
458 Clear the screen, home the cursor. Note that the screen is
459 filled with the current display color.
461 <SI><bg><fg> <SI> = <Ctrl-O> = ASCII 15
462 Set the display colors to the specified background and
463 foreground colors, where <bg> and <fg> are hex digits,
464 corresponding to the standard PC display attributes:
466 0 = black 8 = dark grey
467 1 = dark blue 9 = bright blue
468 2 = dark green a = bright green
469 3 = dark cyan b = bright cyan
470 4 = dark red c = bright red
471 5 = dark purple d = bright purple
473 7 = light grey f = white
475 Picking a bright color (8-f) for the background results in the
476 corresponding dark color (0-7), with the foreground flashing.
478 Colors are not visible over the serial console.
480 <CAN>filename<newline> <CAN> = <Ctrl-X> = ASCII 24
481 If a VGA display is present, enter graphics mode and display
482 the graphic included in the specified file. The file format
483 is an ad hoc format called LSS16; the included Perl program
484 "ppmtolss16" can be used to produce these images. This Perl
485 program also includes the file format specification.
487 The image is displayed in 640x480 16-color mode. Once in
488 graphics mode, the display attributes (set by <SI> code
489 sequences) work slightly differently: the background color is
490 ignored, and the foreground colors are the 16 colors specified
491 in the image file. For that reason, ppmtolss16 allows you to
492 specify that certain colors should be assigned to specific
495 Color indicies 0 and 7, in particular, should be chosen with
496 care: 0 is the background color, and 7 is the color used for
497 the text printed by Syslinux itself.
499 <EM> <EM> = <Ctrl-Y> = ASCII 25
500 If we are currently in graphics mode, return to text mode.
502 <DLE>..<ETB> <Ctrl-P>..<Ctrl-W> = ASCII 16-23
503 These codes can be used to select which modes to print a
504 certain part of the message file in. Each of these control
505 characters select a specific set of modes (text screen,
506 graphics screen, serial port) for which the output is actually
509 Character Text Graph Serial
510 ------------------------------------------------------
511 <DLE> = <Ctrl-P> = ASCII 16 No No No
512 <DC1> = <Ctrl-Q> = ASCII 17 Yes No No
513 <DC2> = <Ctrl-R> = ASCII 18 No Yes No
514 <DC3> = <Ctrl-S> = ASCII 19 Yes Yes No
515 <DC4> = <Ctrl-T> = ASCII 20 No No Yes
516 <NAK> = <Ctrl-U> = ASCII 21 Yes No Yes
517 <SYN> = <Ctrl-V> = ASCII 22 No Yes Yes
518 <ETB> = <Ctrl-W> = ASCII 23 Yes Yes Yes
522 <DC1>Text mode<DC2>Graphics mode<DC4>Serial port<ETB>
524 ... will actually print out which mode the console is in!
526 <SUB> <SUB> = <Ctrl-Z> = ASCII 26
527 End of file (DOS convention).
529 <BEL> <BEL> = <Ctrl-G> = ASCII 7
533 ++++ COMMAND LINE KEYSTROKES ++++
535 The command line prompt supports the following keystrokes:
537 <Enter> boot specified command line
538 <BackSpace> erase one character
539 <Ctrl-U> erase the whole line
540 <Ctrl-V> display the current Syslinux version
541 <Ctrl-W> erase one word
542 <Ctrl-X> force text mode
543 <Tab> list matching labels
544 <F1>..<F12> help screens (if configured)
545 <Ctrl-F><digit> equivalent to F1..F10
546 <Ctrl-C> interrupt boot in progress
547 <Esc> interrupt boot in progress
548 <Ctrl-N> display network information (PXELINUX only)
551 ++++ COMBOOT IMAGES AND OTHER OPERATING SYSTEMS ++++
553 This version of Syslinux supports chain loading of other operating
554 systems (such as MS-DOS and its derivatives, including Windows 95/98),
555 as well as COMBOOT-style standalone executables (a subset of DOS .COM
556 files; see separate section below.)
558 Chain loading requires the boot sector of the foreign operating system
559 to be stored in a file in the root directory of the filesystem.
560 Because neither Linux kernels, boot sector images, nor COMBOOT files
561 have reliable magic numbers, Syslinux will look at the file extension.
562 The following extensions are recognized (case insensitive):
564 none or other Linux kernel image
565 .0 PXE bootstrap program (NBP) [PXELINUX only]
566 .bin "CD boot sector" [ISOLINUX only]
567 .bs Boot sector [SYSLINUX only]
568 .bss Boot sector, DOS superblock will be patched in [SYSLINUX only]
569 .c32 COM32 image (32-bit COMBOOT)
570 .cbt COMBOOT image (not runnable from DOS)
571 .com COMBOOT image (runnable from DOS)
572 .img Disk image [ISOLINUX only]
574 For filenames given on the command line, Syslinux will search for the
575 file by adding extensions in the order listed above if the plain
576 filename is not found. Filenames in KERNEL statements must be fully
579 If this is specified with one of the keywords LINUX, BOOT, BSS,
580 FDIMAGE, COMBOOT, COM32, or CONFIG instead of KERNEL, the filetype is
581 considered to be the one specified regardless of the filename.
584 ++++ BOOTING DOS (OR OTHER SIMILAR OPERATING SYSTEMS) ++++
586 This section applies to SYSLINUX only, not to PXELINUX or ISOLINUX.
587 See isolinux.txt for an equivalent procedure for ISOLINUX.
589 This is the recommended procedure for creating a SYSLINUX disk that
590 can boot either DOS or Linux. This example assumes the drive is A: in
591 DOS and /dev/fd0 in Linux; for other drives, substitute the
592 appropriate drive designator.
594 ---- Linux procedure ----
596 1. Make a DOS bootable disk. This can be done either by specifying
597 the /s option when formatting the disk in DOS, or by running the
598 DOS command SYS (this can be done under DOSEMU if DOSEMU has
599 direct device access to the relevant drive):
605 2. Boot Linux. Copy the DOS boot sector from the disk into a file:
607 dd if=/dev/fd0 of=dos.bss bs=512 count=1
609 3. Run SYSLINUX on the disk:
613 4. Mount the disk and copy the DOS boot sector file to it. The file
614 *must* have extension .bss:
616 mount -t msdos /dev/fd0 /mnt
619 5. Copy the Linux kernel image(s), initrd(s), etc to the disk, and
620 create/edit syslinux.cfg and help files if desired:
625 6. Unmount the disk (if applicable.)
629 ---- DOS/Windows procedure ----
631 To make this installation in DOS only, you need the utility copybs.com
632 (included with Syslinux) as well as the syslinux.com installer. If
633 you are on an WinNT-based system (WinNT, Win2k, WinXP or later), use
634 syslinux.exe instead.
636 1. Make a DOS bootable disk. This can be done either by specifying
637 the /s option when formatting the disk in DOS, or by running the
644 2. Copy the DOS boot sector from the disk into a file. The file
645 *must* have extension .bss:
649 3. Run SYSLINUX on the disk:
653 4. Copy the Linux kernel image(s), initrd(s), etc to the disk, and
654 create/edit syslinux.cfg and help files if desired:
660 ++++ COMBOOT EXECUTABLES ++++
662 Syslinux supports simple standalone programs, using a file format
663 similar to DOS ".com" files. A 32-bit version, called COM32, is also
664 provided. A simple API provides access to a limited set of filesystem
665 and console functions.
667 See the file comboot.txt for more information on COMBOOT and COM32
671 ++++ NOVICE PROTECTION ++++
673 Syslinux will attempt to detect booting on a machine with too little
674 memory, which means the Linux boot sequence cannot complete. If so, a
675 message is displayed and the boot sequence aborted. Holding down the
676 Ctrl key while booting disables this feature.
678 Any file that SYSLINUX uses can be marked hidden, system or readonly
679 if so is convenient; SYSLINUX ignores all file attributes. The
680 SYSLINUX installed automatically sets the readonly/hidden/system
681 attributes on LDLINUX.SYS.
684 ++++ NOTES ON BOOTABLE CD-ROMS ++++
686 SYSLINUX can be used to create bootdisk images for El
687 Torito-compatible bootable CD-ROMs. However, it appears that many
688 BIOSes are very buggy when it comes to booting CD-ROMs. Some users
689 have reported that the following steps are helpful in making a CD-ROM
690 that is bootable on the largest possible number of machines:
692 a) Use the -s (safe, slow and stupid) option to SYSLINUX;
693 b) Put the boot image as close to the beginning of the
694 ISO 9660 filesystem as possible.
696 A CD-ROM is so much faster than a floppy that the -s option shouldn't
697 matter from a speed perspective.
699 Of course, you probably want to use ISOLINUX instead. See isolinux.txt.
702 ++++ BOOTING FROM A FAT FILESYSTEM PARTITION ON A HARD DISK ++++
704 SYSLINUX can boot from a FAT filesystem partition on a hard disk
705 (including FAT32). The installation procedure is identical to the
706 procedure for installing it on a floppy, and should work under either
707 DOS or Linux. To boot from a partition, SYSLINUX needs to be launched
708 from a Master Boot Record or another boot loader, just like DOS itself
711 Under DOS, you can install a standard simple MBR on the primary hard
712 disk by running the command:
716 Then use the FDISK command to mark the appropriate partition active.
718 A simple MBR, roughly on par with the one installed by DOS (but
719 unencumbered), is included in the SYSLINUX distribution. To install
720 it under Linux, simply type:
722 cat mbr.bin > /dev/XXX
724 ... where /dev/XXX is the device you wish to install it on.
726 Under DOS or Win32, you can install the SYSLINUX MBR with the -m
727 option to the SYSLINUX installer, and use the -a option to mark the
728 current partition active:
732 Note that this will also install SYSLINUX on the specified partition.
735 ++++ HARDWARE INFORMATION +++
737 I have started to maintain a web page of hardware with known
738 problems. There are, unfortunately, lots of broken hardware out
739 there; especially early PXE stacks (for PXELINUX) have lots of
742 A list of problems, and workarounds (if known), is maintained at:
744 http://syslinux.zytor.com/hardware.php
747 ++++ BOOT LOADER IDS USED ++++
749 The Linux boot protocol supports a "boot loader ID", a single byte
750 where the upper nybble specifies a boot loader family (3 = Syslinux)
751 and the lower nybble is version or, in the case of Syslinux, media:
758 In recent versions of Linux, this ID is available as
759 /proc/sys/kernel/bootloader_type.
762 ++++ BUG REPORTS ++++
764 I would appreciate hearing of any problems you have with Syslinux. I
765 would also like to hear from you if you have successfully used Syslinux,
766 *especially* if you are using it for a distribution.
768 If you are reporting problems, please include all possible information
769 about your system and your BIOS; the vast majority of all problems
770 reported turn out to be BIOS or hardware bugs, and I need as much
771 information as possible in order to diagnose the problems.
773 There is a mailing list for discussion among Syslinux users and for
774 announcements of new and test versions. To join, or to browse the
777 http://www.zytor.com/mailman/listinfo/syslinux
779 Please DO NOT send HTML messages or attachments to the mailing list
780 (including multipart/alternative or similar.) All such messages will