isolinux is a bootloader included in the syslinux package and is used to boot a CD or DVD. isolinux is one of several popular bootloaders used to create a bootable CD for open-source operating systems, including Linux and FreeDOS. Another bootloader is GRUB, which I rarely use except for booting Windows 7 with BIOS emulation.
To create a bootable CD with isolinux, just copy the file isolinux.bin to a folder that will hold CD contents for ISO mastering. On Debian or Ubuntu, the file is located at the /usr/lib/syslinux folder.
A file named isolinux.cfg needs to be created in order to provide a menu or boot entries. A sample isolinux.cfg is shown below. It makes use of vesamenu.c32 which helps display a nice graphical menu with a background picture. Vesamenu.c32 is also located in /usr/lib/syslinux and needs to be copied too.
# isolinux.cfg
# Configuration for ISOLINUX
# Wait for 60 seconds before booting up the default entry.
TIMEOUT 600
F1 help.txt #ff702640
UI vesamenu.c32
MENU RESOLUTION 640 480
MENU BACKGROUND back642.jpg
MENU COLOR border 30;44 #40dfdfdf #00000000 std
MENU COLOR title 1;36;43 #e0fdff49 #804206ef none
MENU COLOR sel 7;37;40 #e0000000 #40ffffff all
MENU COLOR hotsel 1;7;37;40 #e0af0000 #40ffffff all
MENU COLOR disabled 1;30;44 #ffe4de6f #00000000 std
MENU COLOR scrollbar 30;44 #40000000 #e0af0000 std
MENU TITLE Boot Menu
MENU CLEAR
MENU ROWS 14
MENU TABMSGROW 20
MENU CMDLINEROW 20
MENU TIMEOUTROW 22
MENU HELPMSGROW 24
MENU VSHIFT 1
# The default is to boot the first hard drive.
DEFAULT hd0
ONERROR hd1
MENU BEGIN livecd_menu
MENU TITLE Linux Live CD Menu
LABEL livecd_heading
MENU LABEL Boot Linux live CD
MENU DISABLE
LABEL livecd_640x480
MENU LABEL 640x480 screen
MENU INDENT 1
KERNEL 360.lnx
INITRD initram.lzm
APPEND root=/dev/sr0 edd=off vmode=640x480
LABEL livecd_800x600
MENU LABEL 800x600 screen
MENU INDENT 1
KERNEL 360.lnx
INITRD initram.lzm
APPEND root=/dev/sr0 edd=off vmode=800x600
LABEL livecd_1024x768
MENU LABEL 1024x768 screen
MENU INDENT 1
KERNEL 360.lnx
INITRD initram.lzm
APPEND root=/dev/sr0 edd=off vmode=1024x768
MENU SEPARATOR
LABEL livecd_console_heading
MENU LABEL Boot Linux live CD into text console
MENU DISABLE
LABEL livecd_console
MENU LABEL text-mode console
MENU INDENT 1
KERNEL 360.lnx
INITRD initram.lzm
APPEND root=/dev/sr0 nox
LABEL livecd_console_old
MENU LABEL text-mode console for an old computer
MENU INDENT 1
KERNEL 360.lnx
INITRD initram.lzm
APPEND root=/dev/sr0 acpi=off irqpoll nox
MENU SEPARATOR
LABEL exit0
MENU LABEL Return to the main menu.
MENU EXIT
MENU END
MENU BEGIN cdram_menu
MENU TITLE Linux on RAMdisk Menu
LABEL cdram_heading
MENU LABEL Boot Linux on RAMdisk
MENU DISABLE
LABEL cdram_640x480
MENU LABEL 640x480 screen
MENU INDENT 1
KERNEL 360.lnx
INITRD initram.lzm
APPEND boot=cdrom root=/dev/ram ramdisk_size=573440 edd=off vmode=640x480
LABEL cdram_800x600
MENU LABEL 800x600 screen
MENU INDENT 1
KERNEL 360.lnx
INITRD initram.lzm
APPEND boot=cdrom root=/dev/ram ramdisk_size=573440 edd=off vmode=800x600
LABEL cdram_1024x768
MENU LABEL 1024x768 screen
MENU INDENT 1
KERNEL 360.lnx
INITRD initram.lzm
APPEND boot=cdrom root=/dev/ram ramdisk_size=573440 edd=off vmode=1024x768
MENU SEPARATOR
LABEL cdram_console_heading
MENU LABEL Boot Linux RAMdisk into text console
MENU DISABLE
LABEL cdram_console
MENU LABEL text-mode console
MENU INDENT 1
KERNEL 360.lnx
INITRD initram.lzm
APPEND boot=cdrom root=/dev/ram ramdisk_size=573440 nox
LABEL cdram_console_old
MENU LABEL text-mode console for an old computer
MENU INDENT 1
KERNEL 360.lnx
INITRD initram.lzm
APPEND boot=cdrom root=/dev/ram ramdisk_size=573440 acpi=off irqpoll nox
MENU SEPARATOR
LABEL exit1
MENU LABEL Return to the main menu.
MENU EXIT
MENU END
LABEL hd0
MENU LABEL First Hard Drive
LOCALBOOT 0x80
LABEL hd1
MENU LABEL Second Hard Drive
KERNEL chain.c32
APPEND hd1 swap
MENU BEGIN hd0_menu
MENU TITLE Partition in First Hard Drive
LABEL hd0_part1
MENU LABEL 1st partition
KERNEL chain.c32
APPEND hd0 1
LABEL hd0_part2
MENU LABEL 2nd partition
KERNEL chain.c32
APPEND hd0 2
LABEL hd0_part3
MENU LABEL 3rd partition
KERNEL chain.c32
APPEND hd0 3
LABEL hd0_part4
MENU LABEL 4th partition
KERNEL chain.c32
APPEND hd0 4
LABEL hd0_part5
MENU LABEL 5th partition
KERNEL chain.c32
APPEND hd0 5
LABEL hd0_part6
MENU LABEL 6th partition
KERNEL chain.c32
APPEND hd0 6
LABEL hd0_part7
MENU LABEL 7th partition
KERNEL chain.c32
APPEND hd0 7
LABEL hd0_part8
MENU LABEL 8th partition
KERNEL chain.c32
APPEND hd0 8
LABEL hd0_part9
MENU LABEL 9th partition
KERNEL chain.c32
APPEND hd0 9
LABEL hd0_part10
MENU LABEL 10th partition
KERNEL chain.c32
APPEND hd0 10
MENU SEPARATOR
LABEL exit3
MENU LABEL Return to the main menu
MENU EXIT
MENU END
LABEL fd0
MENU LABEL Floppy Drive
LOCALBOOT 0x00
LABEL next
MENU LABEL Next in boot sequence
LOCALBOOT -1
LABEL memtest
MENU LABEL Test your computer memory
LINUX memtest.bin
TEXT HELP
Run Memtest86 to test your computer memory
ENDTEXT
LABEL help
MENU LABEL Help
MENU HELP help.txt #ff702640
The example above is one that I use for my live CD, so some settings are specific to my situation. Thus, KERNEL and APPEND settings may have to be adapted for other users. However, all the keywords shown above is standard and acceptable.
