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Sounds good. I admit I'm not too familiar with the framework of a live CD. It looks similar to a trimmed down root directory, so I guess that makes sense. But I'm definitely interested in finding out more.

OK
heres link to a tar.gz 'd folder named diousb.tar.gz

inside is a boot folder, with isolinux, syslinux folders
and syslinux.cfg for grml/mint/puppy

also included other stuff and custom initrd.gz in boot/grml folder

wish you had an ubuntu livecd, their invaluable:)
with ubuntu you can just right-click extract-here iso images

anyway, get your grml iso and extract it
or if not in ubuntu
mount and copy iso parts to usb

assuming iso on Fedora desktop
make a folder named mnt
and one named newusb

then mount iso and copy to folder newusb

Code:

cd Desktop



mount -o loop grml-2009-05.iso mnt



cp -a mnt/* newusb



umount mnt

now the iso is copied to newusb folder

now, only put the folders "live" and "GRML"
on usb, just not the boot folder

also, rename "live" folder from grml iso to "diomedes"

now, extract the debian iso
and again move the folder "live" and whatever onto usb
just not boot
folder, I dont thing there is one..

place the boot folder from my download on usb too

heres the download
http://multidistro.com/pwl/diousb.tar.gz

on usb you should now have a folder named diomedes, live, boot, and GRML
+ one named preseed and maybe others

puppy doesn't have any folders
just extract iso and put kernel/initrd and pup.sfs on usb too

do you already have syslinux installed to usb?
boot flag set?

also, to make persistent casper-rw PARTITION for Mint
on sdb2

Code:

sudo mkfs.ext3 -b 4096 -L casper-rw /dev/sdb2

that will label and format sdb2, dont have anything there or it will get wiped

to make a debian-live/grml live-rw/diomedes-rw FILE
put these two files on sdb2 after formatting/labeling sdb2
make these two files on usb

cd into mounted sdb2

Code:

cd /media/disk

Code:

cd /mnt/sdb2

now, make the diomedes-rw

Code:

dd if=/dev/null of=diomedes-rw bs=500M seek=1

then format it

Code:

mkfs.ext2 -F diomedes-rw

now, do the same for the debian-live live-rw

Code:

dd if=/dev/null of=live-rw bs=500M seek=1

and format it

Code:

mkfs.ext2 -F live-rw

you should be good to go!

tell me if any of that works and if you have syslinux already installed to usb??
NOTE that the commands above will make a 500MB rw for both grml and deb
500+500=1GB
so make your casper-rw partition at least 2GB

again

sdb1 fat32 containg all distros

sdb2 ext2 labeled casper-rw, also contains diomedes-rw/live-rw files

Ah, okay. I'm moving along slowly. I'm constructing the two partitions' contents outside of the USB drive first so I know exactly what's going on there. Bear with me, this is a bit over my head. :P
How would you suggest I size the two partitions on the USB drive?

thats cool
sounds good to me

um, well you need at least 2GB on sdb1 grml=690mb deblive=500-600MB, and whatever puppy is..

sdb2 should be at least 2GB 500mb + 500mb rw's for grml/debian
and that leaves 1GB for Mint

how big is usb 8GB??

maybe

sdb1 5GB
sdb2 3GB

?

also, put all the grml stuff from grml boot folder in my boot folder
just not the isolinux/syslinux and grml folders

Here's what I have so far.
On the first USB partition I will have:
boot (your folder, including "grub" and "addons" folders from grml iso)
diomedes (renamed from "live", from grml)
GRML
live (from debian iso)
doc (also from debian iso, figured I'd put it there anyway since you didn't say not to)
..and then pup-430.sfs, vmlinuz, and initrd.gz (from the puppy iso)

Is this correct so far?

Two other things: first, I'm not sure what I'm doing with syslinux, i.e. installing it. Sorry. Second, just to clarify -- for Mint, I use only the second partition, and put the "casper", "preseed" and "drivers" directories in there, and then create casper-rw per your instructions?

I appreciate your patience. I'm learning a lot, just in kind of a crash course setting.

um
on sdb2 there should only be 2 files named diomedes-rw and live-rw

sdb2 itself IS the casper-rw

the casper drivers, and preseed folders need to be on sdb1

everything else is correct

on sdb1 should be all files folders except diomedes-rw and live-rw

to install syslinux to usb
put everything on usb

cd into usb, into boot/syslinux folder
then install syslinux from there(its in syslinux folder)

Code:

./syslinux -s -f /dev/sdb1

now syslinux is installed to usb sdb1

now, did you activate boot flag on usb?
use Gparted to do that if you need to

Ah, I see. Thanks. I figured I'd mess that up. I'm going to walk through the rest and I'll be right back with the result!

ok
heres pic of gparted on my usb
http://multidistro.com/pwl/flag.png
note where it says manage flags
click that and select boot

oh
make sure to right-click on line where sdb1 is, then select manage flags

Alright, everything has been completed, apparently successfully, to your instruction. I'm going to try to boot something off the USB drive. Wish me luck!

tell me if it works as I gotta go to bed:)

Sorry... I'm not trying to keep you up, I promise. :P
I ran into errors with each distro, sadly...
Mint didn't even show up in the menu
Debian-Live, when selected at the main menu, gave the error "No LABEL entries found in configuration file!"
GRML gives me numerous options, such as persistent, no-persistent, Default, etc. Upon selecting any of them, however, it hangs indefinitely.
Puppy seems to boot okay. It asks me about time zone and keyboard. Then it takes me to a CL telling me to initialize X by entering xwin. I do so, the screen blacks, then it comes back to the exact same screen.

Sorry this is so problematic.

I dumped "ls -R" of partition 1 into a text file so I could try to make sure I had everything in the right place, but obviously it doesn't help me much. Would the dump be of any use in assessing problems?

BTW, feel free to go to bed, please. You've helped out extravagantly thus far, I don't want to abuse it.