Isotick and ReactOS?

[tomleem]

This USB flash drive is - supposedly - seen as not just as a flash drive but also as an optical drive. Could one use it to install ReactOS? According to the site, one could install the iso file onto the optical part of the drive and use it like an optical drive to install an os or software from it. They are still looking for investors but it would be interesting if it could install ROS from it to a computer without an optical drive. Could this work? (perhaps in theory since it is not available yet).
http://liliputing.com/2011/07/isostick-is-a-usb-flash-drive-your-computer-thinks-is-an-optical-drive.html
"At first blush, the idea of the Isostick might not seem that amazing. In simplest terms, it’s a USB flash drive that your computer detects as an optical drive. ... "
http://gigaom.com/mobile/isostick-turns-a-flash-stick-into-an-optical-drive/
"A new Kickstarter project called the IsoStick aims to change that with a small USB flash drive capable of re-installing your laptop’s operating system. HackADay found the project, which is a memory stick containing all of the software and drivers needed to essentially trick your laptop into thinking that the device is actually an optical drive, not a flash drive."

[SomeGuy]

Could one use it to install ReactOS?

Currently, no. But perhaps in the future.

These kinds of flash drives emulate a USB CD drive. Currently ReactOS installation media must be attached via an IDE or SATA controller supported by UNIATA. USB storage devices of any kind currently do not work at all, but hopefully that will change one day.

BTW, flash drives that emulate USB CDs have been around for a while, but I presume they have come up with some friendlier way of loading images.

Also, in theory once ReactOS does get USB storage support any normal USB flash drive should be able to act as installation media without the need to emulate a CD. (The files would boot and load form the FAT32 partition as if it were a hard drive)

[tomleem]

Perhaps by the time the isostick is actually made, ROS would have the USB support? Once it is in production, it would be neat to give it a try.

Thank you for the reply and information. It is appreciated.

[Bblaauw]

I'm happily using this for booting ISOs: http://www.zalman.com/eng/product/Produ ... sp?idx=431 , goes for 30 euro or so at webshops.
It's nice to use though the ESATA cable is really stubborn. USB CD/floppy emulation only works when not connected through ESATA, as the emulation hardware is part of the specific used USB controller in this device.

Also I'm using this device more often through ESATA due to only having one 2.5" disk that needs to be inserted. Unfortunately my ASUS BIOS is happily providing USB1.1 speeds to BIOS legacy USB emulation, despite the VE200 device being USB2.0 as well as the port/controller on my machine.

All in all an ISOSTICK might be more convenient indeed, but I guess the controller chip could get relatively expensive.

Let's hope ReactOS will be a bit smarter than Windows with regards to booting from USB, by first loading USB drivers, then setting USB speed if possible, and only then load rest of drivers (mass storage driver, USB driver, etc).

[xpert]

May be you all should look at this software:
http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/MEMDISK

"MEMDISK is meant to allow booting legacy operating systems. MEMDISK can boot floppy images, hard disk images and some ISO images.

MEMDISK simulates a disk by claiming a chunk of high memory for the disk and a (very small - 2K typical) chunk of low (DOS) memory for the driver itself, then hooking the INT 13h (disk driver) and INT 15h (memory query) BIOS interrupts. "

[SomeGuy]

MEMDISK simulates a disk by claiming a chunk of high memory for the disk and a (very small - 2K typical) chunk of low (DOS) memory for the driver itself, then hooking the INT 13h (disk driver) and INT 15h (memory query) BIOS interrupts. "

Unfortunately BIOS software like this is mostly only useful for DOS based OSes. (mainly DOS/Win95/98/ME). Once a modern OS like Linux, or NT gets passed the boot loader it stops using BIOS and requires a standard recognized hardware interface.

[Bblaauw]

Unfortunately BIOS software like this is mostly only useful for DOS based OSes. (mainly DOS/Win95/98/ME). Once a modern OS like Linux, or NT gets passed the boot loader it stops using BIOS and requires a standard recognized hardware interface.

Now that's *exactly* what the WinVBlock driver was invented for..making it possible for Windows to find/detect a Memdisk-ramdisk.
See [ http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.ph ... FISO_image ]. People got tired of PXE-loading Windows into local machine's RAM, only to find out that WinPE again copies/decompresses itself to RAM from that RAM-windows.

Should the WinVblock driver ever be integrated into ReactOS, then you'd have the chance to install ReactOS from a single ISO file. Quite usefull considering optical media and drives are heading the way of the dodo..ehm..floppy

[xpert]

Should the WinVblock driver ever be integrated into ReactOS, then you'd have the chance to install ReactOS from a single ISO file. Quite usefull considering optical media and drives are heading the way of the dodo..ehm..floppy

I am in close contact to one syslinux developer to prepare ROS for PXE boot.

[Cloudy]

If you see this section of the same page, there are Windows drivers for the ram disk. Obviously they might not work "out of the box" on reactos, but might be worth a look at (they're open source too)!

http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.ph ... FISO_image

[hto]

ReactOS already has built-in support of ramdisk. Interesting, can it be adapted for booting from ISO files…

[Bblaauw]

ReactOS already has built-in support of ramdisk. Interesting, can it be adapted for booting from ISO files…

Ah that means the ReactOS LiveCD has the ability to load a ramdisk so people can download and run programs?

Xpert, I guess you're the person from the Youtube video when searching for "ReactOS PXE" ? Uploader's name is kinda similar, and it's a nice proof of concept.

[hto]

Ah that means the ReactOS LiveCD has the ability to load a ramdisk so people can download and run programs? :)

I have no idea — just never tried it.

[tomleem]

May be you all should look at this software:
http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/MEMDISK

"MEMDISK is meant to allow booting legacy operating systems. MEMDISK can boot floppy images, hard disk images and some ISO images.

MEMDISK simulates a disk by claiming a chunk of high memory for the disk and a (very small - 2K typical) chunk of low (DOS) memory for the driver itself, then hooking the INT 13h (disk driver) and INT 15h (memory query) BIOS interrupts. "

It looks like is worth checking out. Thanks for the link. It says it is sold in 52 countries.

[tomleem]

This USB flash drive is - supposedly - seen as not just as a flash drive but also as an optical drive. Could one use it to install ReactOS? According to the site, one could install the iso file onto the optical part of the drive and use it like an optical drive to install an os or software from it. They are still looking for investors but it would be interesting if it could install ROS from it to a computer without an optical drive. Could this work? (perhaps in theory since it is not available yet).
http://liliputing.com/2011/07/isostick-is-a-usb-flash-drive-your-computer-thinks-is-an-optical-drive.html
"At first blush, the idea of the Isostick might not seem that amazing. In simplest terms, it’s a USB flash drive that your computer detects as an optical drive. ... "
http://gigaom.com/mobile/isostick-turns-a-flash-stick-into-an-optical-drive/
"A new Kickstarter project called the IsoStick aims to change that with a small USB flash drive capable of re-installing your laptop’s operating system. HackADay found the project, which is a memory stick containing all of the software and drivers needed to essentially trick your laptop into thinking that the device is actually an optical drive, not a flash drive."

Kickstarter.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elegantinvention/isostick-the-optical-drive-in-a-usb-stick
It indicates it has raised funds.

"There has been a lot of misconception about the functionality of isostick. All the optical disk magic takes place in the isostick itself, it doesn't matter if you're in the computer's BIOS, an OS, anything -- whatever you plug it into will see both an optical drive and a flash drive. Absolutely no software is required for this. The software mentioned is a convenience for configuring it, but all settings are ultimately stored in config files on the flash portion, which you can edit however you please. I hope this clears up some confusion about the isostick, and I hope you like it!" (copied from the Kickstarter site).

It would be neat to give it a try and see if ROS can be installed from it.

[tomleem]

"Is it a portable DVD drive, or is it a 32GB thumb drive? As a matter of fact it’s both: the Isostick, which is currently seeking funding on Kickstarter, is basically a memory stick that automatically converts ISO images into physical, mounted optical drives — or at least as far as the host computer is concerned. This all happens so transparently that you can put an image of Ubuntu or Windows on an Isostick, restart your computer, and boot from it; as far as your computer is concerned, it’s an optical drive."
Extreme Tech.
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/91344-isostick-the-usb-memory-stick-that-thinks-its-an-optical-drive