Re: [tlug] the power of the live CD

["Edmund Edgar" <lists@example.com>]

Stephen wrote:

I wonder if for testing purposes it would be possible to make an ISO
image file and boot from that.  (Suggested by Curt's comment that in
NetBSD the dmesg buffer carries over across warm boots.)  Especially
if you could do it in a VM.

Yes, this works fine.

You can configure your boot loader to boot your PC directly from the ISO image on your hard disk (I used Grub) or, if you've got enough RAM, you can boot the thing in a VM on top of a normal hard-disk-based install (I used Qemu).

(On occasion I've also run a cd directly off the disk in Qemu under Windows; I found this quite useful when I wanted to use a Japanese system in foreign internet cafes and things that didn't cater to Japanese in their normal setup.)

That still leaves making the compressed filesystem and ISO while you're developing, though, which can be a bit tedious to wait for if you're dealing with the full 700 MB.

Edmund