Booting Thinstation from HDD

[Luke_T]

Hi All,

I'm trying to setup some old machines to boot a Thinstation Image from the HDD ... so far I have the thinstation image al set up as a Live CD and was hoping I could just copy the Live CD files to the HDD and make the partition bootable. However I've run into some trouble trying to get the partition bootable. Reading through some of the Thinstation FAQ's & guides it seems I need to use syslinux to make the HDD / Thinstation distro bootable ... However being a complete Linux noob I can't figure out how to do so ...

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Luke T

[trolley01]

Hi,

Best thing to do is use the syslinux files that the build creates.

1. Download Thinstation and extract on a linux machine.
2. Configure the Thinstation.conf files to your needs (remove all excess drivers - does make the boot quicker)
3. Run ./build.
4. Format your target machine with FAT16 (Important!!) and make it DOS bootable.
5. Copy the files from the build directory --> syslinux to the root of the client machine.
6. Run syslinux c:
7. Reboot and your machine should work!

I think I've included all the details off memory. Once you get one working, I think you should then be able to ghost to other machines.

If they support PXE though, it may be easier to get them to boot from the network. I haven't tried this though as the machine we use don't have PXE on them.

[Luke_T]

I was trying to avoid having to set up a Linux machine by just configuring the Live CD and copying that, however unless anyone knows how to convert from isolinux to syslinus, so that I can just copy the file from a Live CD & run syslinux .. I feel that I'm gonn ahve to set up a Linux box :-)

Step 2 - what distro of Linux would you reccommend for said box?

cheers!

[Luke_T]

Could I get away with Knoppix or would I need a proper install of Linux?

[trolley01]

Other option is to use TS-O-Matic

:: ThinStation - a light, full-featured thin client OS ::

This will allow you to configure the client fully on the internet and then just download the complete files - will save an install of linux.

You should be able to use any version of linux if you want to use that route, as long as it has a text editor you will be fine.

[Luke_T]

Ok so boot from a HDD is now working nicely.

Next thing missing seems to be USB memory stick support.

Now I'm not sure if this a Thinstation or a Remote Desktop configuration issue, but any help would be greatly appreciated.

So far I've checked that the modules usb-storage & supermount are included in the build.conf. Is there anything more that needs to be configured? What diagnostics can I do?

Many Thanks,

Luke T

[trolley01]

It is a bit of both. You need to make sure that it is enabled on the server, and also, that rdesktop knows to connect any devices with the server.

I inserted the following lines to the thinstation.conf.buildtime file and it all started to work.

USB_STORAGE_SYNC=On 
USB_MOUNT_DIR=”/mnt/usbdevice” 
SESSION_0_RDESKTOP_OPTIONS=”-r disk:USBDrive=/mnt/usbdevice -r sound:local”

This got sound and my USB drives to work. There is the a permanent folder in My Computer, and any attached USB drives are then available through that.

[strawberry]

nice one luke, would it be possible to come have a look at the setup sometime ?

[Luke_T]

sure ... once I get it all working!

I'll run it past the big boss lady after the mad rush that will be the next 2 weeks!

Luke