====================================== Ma ebootfat Bootable FAT Dis Creation ====================================== 1 SYNOPSIS ========== ma ebootfat [options] IMAGE 2 DESCRIPTION ============= This

utility creates a bootable FAT filesystem and populates it with files and boot tools. It is mainly designed to create bootable USB and Fixed dis for the AdvanceCD project. The official site of AdvanceCD and ma ebootfat is: http://advancemame.sourceforge.net/ 3 OPTIONS ========= -o, --output DEVICE Specify the output device. It must be the device where you want to setup the filesystem. You can use the special "usb" value to automatically select the USB Mass Storage device connected at the system. This option is always required. -b, -1, -2, -3, --boot FILE --boot-fat12 FILE --boot-fat16 FILE --boot-fat32 FILE Specify the FAT boot sector images to use. The -b option uses the same sector for all the FAT types. The other options can be used to specify a different sector for different FAT types. The FAT types for which a boot sector is not specified are not used. This option is always required.

-m, --mbr FILE Specify the MBR sector image to use. If this option is specified a partition table is created on the dis . Otherwise the dis is filled without a partition table li e a floppy dis . -F, --mbrfat Change the MBR image specified with the -m option to pretend to be a FAT filesystem starting from the first sector of the dis . This allows booting from USB-FDD (Floppy Dis Drive) also using a partition table generally required by USB-HDD (Hard Dis Drive). The MBR image specified with the -m option must have

executable code positioned li e a FAT boot sector. You can use the included `mbrfat.bin' file. -c, --copy FILE Copy the specified file in the root directory of the dis . The file is copied using the readonly attribute. -x, --exclude FILE Exclude the specified files and subdirectories in the IMAGE directory to copy. The path must be specified using the same format used in the IMAGE directory specification. -X, --syslinux2 Enforce the syslinux 2.xx FAT limitations. Syslinux 2.xx doesn't support FAT32 at all, and FAT16 with 64 and 128 sectors per cluster formats. This option excludes all the FAT formats not supported by syslinux. Please note that it limits the maximum size of filesystem to 1 GB. -Y, --syslinux3 Enforce the syslinux 3.xx FAT support. Syslinux 3.00 supports all the FAT types and sizes but it requires a special customisation of the boot sector and of the file `ldlinux.sys'. This option does this customisation without the need to use the syslinux installer if the `ldlinux.sys' file is copied on dis with the -c option. -Z, --zip If possible force the ZIP-Dis compatibility. It sets a geometry of 32 sectors and 64 heads. It also uses the 4'th partition entry in the partition table. It's required to boot also in USB-ZIP mode. -P, --partition Ensure to operate on a partition and not on a dis . -D, --dis Ensure to operate on a dis and not on a partition. -L, --label LABEL Set the FAT label. The label is a string of 11 chars. -O, --oem OEM Set the FAT OEM name. The OEM name is a string of 11 chars. -S, --serial SERIAL Set the FAT serial number. The serial number is a 32 bit unsigned integer. -E, --drive DRIVE Set the BIOS drive to setup in the FAT boot sector. Generally this value is ignored by boot sectors, with the exception of the FAT12 and FAT16 FreeDOS boot sectors that require the correct value or the value 255 to force auto detection. -v, --verbose Print some information on the device and on the filesystem

created. -i, --interactive Show the errors in a message box. Only for Windows. -h, --help Print a short help. -V, --version Print the version number. IMAGE Directory image to copy on the dis . All the files and subdirectories present in this directory are copied on the dis . 4 DISKS AND PARTITIONS NAMES ============================ In Linux dis devices are named /dev/hdX or /dev/sdX where X is a letter. Partition devices are named /dev/hdXN or /dev/sdXN where X is a letter and N a digit. In Windows dis devices are named \\.\PhysicalDriveN where N is a digit. Partition devices are named \\.\X: where X is a letter, but sometimes \\.\X: is a dis and not a partition, for example on floppies and on all the USB Mass Storage devices without a partition table. 5 SYSLINUX ========== To ma e a bootable FAT using syslinux you must use the -X option for syslinux version 2.xx or the -Y option for syslinux version 3.xx. You must also copy in the root directory of the dis the files: ldlinux.sys - The syslinux loader. syslinux.cfg - The syslinux configuration file. linux - The Linux ernel image (the file name may be different). initrd.img - The initrd filesystem (the file name may be different or missing). You must also specify the `ldlinux.bss' boot sector with the -b option and possibily the `mbr.bin' MBR sector with the -m option. Both the sector images are present in the syslinux pac age. For example: ma ebootfat -o usb \ -Y \ -b ldlinux.bss -m mbr.bin \ -c ldlinux.sys -c syslinux.cfg \ -c linux -c initrd.img \ image 6 LOADLIN AND FREEDOS

===================== To ma e a bootable FAT using loadlin and FreeDOS you must copy in the root directory of the dis the files: ernel.sys - The FreeDOS ernel. Remember to use the "32" ernel version to support FAT32. command.com - The FreeDOS shell. autoexec.bat - Used to start loadlin. loadlin.exe - The loadlin executable. linux - The Linux ernel image (the file name may be different). initrd.img - The initrd filesystem (the file name may be different or missing). You must also specify the FreeDOS boot sectors available on the FreeDOS `sys' source pac age with the -1, -2, -3 option. For the MBR you can use the sectors image available on the FreeDOS `fdis ' source pac age. For example: ma ebootfat -o /dev/hda1 \ -E 255 \ -1 fat12com.bin -2 fat16com.bin -3 fat32lba.bin \ -c ernel.sys -c command.com \ -c autoexec.bat -c loadlin.exe \ -c linux -c initrd.img \ image 7 MULTI STANDARD USB BOOTING ============================ The BIOS USB boot support is generally differentiated in three categories: USB-HDD, USB-FDD and USB-ZIP. The USB-HDD (Hard Dis Drive) standard is the preferred choice and it requires the presence of a partition table in the first sector of the dis . You can create this type of dis using the -m option. The USB-FDD (Floppy Dis Drive) standard requires the presence of a filesystem starting from the first sector of the dis without a partition table. You can create this type of dis without using the -m option. The USB-ZIP (ZIP Drive) standard requires the presence of a device with a very specific geometry. Specifically, it requires a geometry with 32 sectors and 64 heads. It also requires the presence of a partition table with only a bootable partition in the fourth entry. You can create this type of dis using the -m and -Z option. Generally these standards are incompatible, but using the -m, -F and -Z options you can create a dis compatible with all of them. To use the -F option, the MBR image specified must follow the constrains: * It must start with a standard FAT 3 bytes jump instruction. * It must have the bytes from address 3 to 89 (included) unused.

And example of such image is in the `mbrfat.bin' file. For example to create a syslinux image: ma ebootfat -o usb \ -Y \ -Z \ -b ldlinux.bss -m mbrfat.bin -F \ -c ldlinux.sys -c syslinux.cfg \ -c linux -c initrd.img \ image and for a FreeDOS and loadlin image: ma ebootfat -o usb \ -E 255 \ -Z \ -1 fat12com.bin -2 fat16com.bin -3 fat32chs.bin \ -m mbrfat.bin -F \ -c ernel.sys -c command.com \ -c autoexec.bat -c loadlin.exe \ -c linux -c initrd.img \ image Please note that FreeDos has some problems booting from USB. It wor s only on very few conditions. 8 EXCLUSION =========== To exclude some files or directories in the image copy, you can use the -x option using the same path specification which are you using for the image directory. For example, if you need to exclude the `isolinux' and `syslinux' subdirectories from the `image' directory you can use the command: ma ebootfat ... \ -x image/isolinux \ -x image/syslinux \ image 9 COPYRIGHT =========== This file is Copyright (C) 2004, 2005 Andrea Mazzoleni 10 SEE ALSO =========== syslinux(1), m dosfs(1), dosfsc (1)