How to use Plop Boot Manager to boot from USB in Linux?

Question

I failed to upgrade from 12.04 to 12.10, so I decide to make a fresh install of 12.10. My old computer doesn't support boot from usb, and its cd-rom is broken.
I know Plop Boot Manager can make my computer boot from usb. I know how to use it in Windows, and I did use it when I tranfer from Win-XP to Ubuntu 12.04. But now, I don't know how to use it under Linux.

As far as I know, despite of the lengthy documentation, using Plop to boot from usb under Windows is as simple as double clicking a bat file. But doc for linux is not that straitfoward and contains daunting terminologies such as LILO for a Linux newbie. What makes it worse is that I'm not a native English speaker.

So could someone show me a brief and concise instruction how to boot from usb?

Solution 1

This should work if you have GRUB2. Follow the source link to see other methods using LILO and other options.

Quote from the PLOP Boot manager site.

Download the current boot manager plpbt-5.0.14.zip. Extract it to get the boot manager install program. You find the install program plpinstc.com in the install directory.

Copy plpinstc.com to /boot.

Example file /etc/grub.d/40_custom

#!/bin/sh
exec tail -n +3 $0

menuentry "Install Plop Boot Manager" {
    set root='(hd0,1)'
    linux16 /boot/plpinstc.com
}

Then run update-grub2 or update-grub.

When you reboot, you should be able to choose the install program from your grub menu.

Info: You have to choose the correct root settings in your configuration or you get a "Error: file not found". See also this Forum entry.

Solution 2

Rather late, but see following:_ https://www.linux.com/learn/tutorials/445010:weekend-project-use-the-plop-boot-manager-to-boot-older-computers-from-usb

Comments

[Rinzwind]

Why not fix the cd rom? It would solve all your problems since you could then install from CD.

[duleshi]

@Rinzwind I only use this old slow laptop for study popose. I have a new one as my main computer running Windows. So it's not worth repairing the old one.

[Rinzwind]

Put the USB in the Boot order. he can not... he stated his BIOS does not support booting from USB and his CD is broken. PLOP is used to simulate or by-pass or something like that the not-booting-from-usb to boot from usb

[duleshi]

Similar to nerof61, you also missed one key restriction, the cd-rom is broken. My fault. I should make the keywords bold and italic to make them more striking.

[duleshi]

I do exactly what you said. 1)Copy plpinstc.com to /boot. 2)modify /etc/grub.d/40_custom to be exactly the same as the example above. 3)run update-grub2 But no grub menu showed,just reboot normally as before. I guess the problem lies in the 40-custom file. My hard disk's name is /dev/sda1. Should the clause set root='(hd0,1)' be modified? Please give me more specific detail, since I'm a rookie in Linux. Thank you very much!@japzone

[japzone]

@duleshi After you run update-grub you need to reboot your PC and access the GRUB menu. Are you saying that the GRUB menu doesn't appear during boot?

[duleshi]

Yes,there isn't any GRUB menu appear. After I'v done those 3 steps, nothing has happened yet and everything is the same as before.

[japzone]

@duleshi Hold your SHIFT key while your computer is booting to make GRUB appear. More details here: askubuntu.com/a/16049/41387

[duleshi]

Bravo! Your instructions succeed to make PLOP installed! But unfortunatly, the installation stuck in the whether or not connect to wireless network. Whilst the same usb can work on another computer. I 'm always doing Ubuntu the hard way. Sigh! Finally I give up. I want to use my 12.04 now. But I can't find a way to boot into my original OS. So could you please tell me how I can go into the OS or how can I uninstall PLOP? Pressing shift doesn't work any more, it seemed that PLOP has priviledge over GRUB.

[duleshi]

tired of all the extra burden caused by my old broken computer, I reinstalled 12.04 just now. Since my main purpose is to make use of a to-be-obsolete computer to learn Ubuntu, I have decided to concentrate on 12.04 and the essential part of linux， and no unnecessary trouble any more. ：）Thank you again!@japzone

[Mouli]

Welcome to Ask Ubuntu! Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference.