Boot directly from ISO files, using Grub 2

I used this to stick two bootable WinPE images on my USB drive and still be able to use it for other things. Very handy!

Boot any and all ISO images from USB drive http://tinyapps.org/blog/misc/201005080700_boot_any_iso_from...

Note that this requires kernel support in addition to Grub 2.

There is an iso-scan/filename kernel option in Ubuntu and a findiso option in Grml.

No, this requires initramfs/initrd support. And actually all distributions using debian-live (>= 1.173.1-1) support this feature: http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=534887

Ah, right, thanks.

Oh GRUB2, how I love and hate thee.

I have an operating system my friends and I have been building for the last few years, and I'm glad to see GRUB2 happen in theory, but the lack of documentation makes it really rough to actually program for.

Have you considered running your operating system in a paravirtualized environment instead of on the bare metal?

Yes, and we actually started out developing with bochs, too. Not anti-virtualization, but bare metal is a goal.

If I really sat down and went through it, I'm sure it wouldn't be the end of the world. Unfortunately, I've got a few projects a bit higher up on the food chain right now.