NetbootCD
NetbootCD is a GNU/Linux live CD based on Tiny Core Linux. The live CD allows the user to download and run one of several Linux netboot installers, which can install a full GNU/Linux system with only a hard drive and Internet connection.Several of the distributions supported by NetbootCD are prerelease distributions (such as Debian testing) or development distributions (openSUSE Factory, Fedora Rawhide, Debian sid.) Because NetbootCD downloads the latest installer, which in turn downloads the latest system components, you can install a fully up-to-date system without burning a new CD.
Supported Distributions
The following distributions are installable from the current NetbootCD:
- Ubuntu
- Debian GNU/Linux (standard and daily installers)
- Fedora
- openSUSE
- Mandriva Linux
- Scientific Linux
- CentOS
- Slackware
- (note: for Slackware, you will probably need an alternative installation source, such as NFS or the hard drive)
NetbootCD also supports downloading and launching the latest versions of the GRUB4DOS bootloader and of Tiny Core Linux's Core.
Downloads
The current version of NetbootCD is version 4.9, available from TuxFamily. It is built on a Core-4.3.1 base, with kexec support added to the kernel. The ISO image can be burned to a CD/DVD or written to a flash drive.
Download NetbootCD 4.9 (12 MiB) (md5)
NetbootCD is also available on a set of 1440KB floppies. (See here for how it works.)
Download floppy version: (v4.6 - 5 disk set) or (4.9 - 6 disk set)
I have also made available an ISO image with NetbootCD 4.9 and CorePlus 4.3.1. It should work with CDs or USB drives, and includes everything in CorePlus. A new feature lets you boot to the X desktop and then run NetbootCD after exiting to the prompt.
NetbootCD-4.9+CorePlus-4.3.1.iso (73 MiB) (md5)
Both ISO images include the GRUB4DOS bootloader in command-line mode, for "emergency situations."
- NetbootCD uses a recompiled Tiny Core Linux kernel with kexec support. The kexec-tools binaries are in the initrd (nbinit4.gz) and, on the NetbootCD + CorePlus ISO, they are also in a kexec.tcz archive on the CD so you can use kexec from within Tiny Core.
- In the NetbootCD + CorePlus ISO, you can launch NetbootCD with the CorePlus add-ons. The CorePlus desktop will show up first, and you can run the NetbootCD script by exiting to the command prompt and running "netboot".
- NetbootCD 4.5+ has a new "script" option on the main menu. With this option, you can have NetbootCD load and parse a SYSLINUX-formatted boot configuration and do its best to run one of the boot options specified.
- Multiple initrds are supported, but they are combined in memory, so the process takes a bit longer.
- Kernels other than Linux and GRUB4DOS probably won't work.
- You can choose to search for syslinux.cfg, isolinux.cfg, pxelinux.cfg, or nbcd.cfg. The search checks the CD-ROM first, then all disks listed in "fdisk -l".
- MultiCD: my other Linux-related project. Combines multiple boot discs into one (many ISO images are supported, including NetbootCD.)
- UNetBootin: allows you to put netboot installers or live CDs for several Linux distributions onto a bootable USB disk or your hard drive. Runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.
- reboot.pro: a community for boot disk lovers. Lots of good stuff can be found here.
The NetbootCD script (nbscript.sh) is written by me and is licensed GPLv2+: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
Source for software in version 4.9 can be found at http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/tinycorelinux/4.x/x86/release/src and in the folder http://downloads.tuxfamily.org/netbootcd/4.9. The build script and related components are in build.tar.gz, and the source code to components not in Tiny Core is in source.tar. (To build NetbootCD, grab build.tar.gz. You'll also want to put CorePlus.iso in that folder and kexec.bzI in a folder called "done".)