Could one boot Linux using AutoRunner program on USB?
 

I found this to me new program. But I fail to get if it only
can start a windows prog in windows are already running or
could it start AutoRunner and autorunner start up linux on
the usb stick?

Or is booting a very different thing from running a prog?

http://camtech2000.net/Pages/USB_AutoRunner.htm

Booting is different from running a program. Your motherboard BIOS controls booting. The autorun program works under Windows.

That said, you can run some Linux distros as an application under Windows. There is also a way to run a Linux autoloader called loadlin.exe under MS-DOS or Windows in text console mode. I haven't used that method since Windows 95 became outdated.

That helps but I am still lost I guess.

Is there three layers then. Let me guess.

1. BIOS are the first basic level. It tells which kind of CPU
that works on that board. An old Mac made for 680000 would not
work with a 386 Pentium processor? BIOS is only for a particular CPU
family? Usually the sockets are different for diferent cpu camilies too?

2. Then you need the drivers for the chips set on that motherboard?
And you need the drivers for the periphericals you attach too.
Unless they are compatible with windows plug and play.

You need special drivers MS Windows and special drivers for Linux?
And a third set of drivers for OSX? Solaris?


3. After one have done the drivers one reach the real OS state?
That would explain why AOpen says about the Motherboard they use
in my computer that it is Intel chipset 910/915 chipset based.
They say explicitly that my barebone is only made to work with
Windows XP.

BIOS need to be for that set up and all drivers need to be for that set up?

Does Linux lack the Plug n Play that Ms have? They own it and we don't
have the money to buy us in? Or they don't want to sell to us in Linux?

Which brings up a kind of similar competition in Linux too.


You use PcLinuxOS and that one doesn't recognize my Marwell Yukon
Ethernet Card. Which all the Slackware based Linux distros does recognize.

So someone who are engaged in supporting slackware had a marwell youkon
ethernet card and knew how to include it in that distro? And then came the PCLinuxOS guy and he had no interest in slackware so he didn't knew they had a better hard ware recognition and he used the older Knoppix
and thought that was enough. Why don't they share such info?

One can wonder why they keep it secret to the PcLinuxOS guy?
Or was it the pclinuxos guy that was not curious enough to look into
how slackware distros do it? Him not caring about which hardware he
left unrecognized? While the slackware guy cared about us with Marwell?

I bought the AOpen computer 2005 and it is problably from 2004 so they have had 4 years to tell each other how to do it? What goes wrong there?

Why do they say Linux is easy if it takes more than 4 years to include a Marwell Ethernet card even if one knows how to do it in the other distros?

I guess you refer to co-linux way of using the other core of the processor?
Windows use one core and Linux the other?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoLinux

I cite fro mthat text

In effect Cooperative Linux turns the two different operating system kernels into two big coroutines. Each kernel has its own complete CPU context and address space, and each kernel decides when to give control back to its partner.

However, while both kernels theoretically have full access to the real hardware, modern PC hardware is not designed to be controlled by two different operating systems at the same time. Therefore the host kernel is left in control of the real hardware and the guest kernel contains special drivers that communicate with the host and provide various important devices to the guest OS. The host can be any OS kernel that exports basic primitives that allow the Cooperative Linux portable driver to run in CPL0 mode (ring 0) and allocate memory.

End of citation.

As a noob I barely get what they talk about there. I use Ulteo in that mode. Makes heavy use of the processor I guess. The big bonus is that one don't have to reboot to check
how things works in windows. On just shift over to it.

http://www.informit.com/library/cont...nux7&seqNum=35

Ubuntuforums have a thread and LarsW tells about his success using loadlin.exe
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...21&postcount=5

So maybe that one could work? I guess it is still above my current knowledge but I should look into it.

What about the Debian installer. is that one similar?
I tried to read that text but I drowned in all the details and
they insist one do a partition and full install.

That is not what I need. I think of live linux iso start up.

One should be able to run linux without doing partition.

either from a DVD (CD) or a USB memory or a USB hard drive.
That is a practical way part from the need to reboot into
linux. Not all computers allow this. One need to change bios first.

You can't expect an Internet Cafe to accept that you reboot their
machines. You pay for a certain time not to be able to reboot into linux.

You have a lot of questions about very basic things. I recommend that you read chapter 3 of this web reference.

http://rute.2038bug.com/index.html.gz

There are a lot of web sites that have information about how operating systems work. Lots of Linux web sites have general information about how Intel based computers work. You may find the information that you seek faster if you use Google rather than ask so many questions here. Here is a good web site for general instruction.

http://www.howtoforge.org/

As far as what hardware is supported for a particular Linux distribution that is partly the decision of the distribution developer. However specific hardware support eventually gets merged into the Linux kernel. Differences in startup scripts in each distribution can still determine if a specific chip set or hardware card is supported automatically by a specific Linux distribution. I don't know why PCLinuxOS does not support your Ethernet card when Slackware does support it. You are probably correct when you ask whether it is due decisions made by the distribution developers.