To sort of answer my own question, I have successfully created a Limine-based bootable USB flash drive after looking into this newfound bootloader more closely. I will now share what I did for those interested. This will be for systems using UEFI, but BIOS/MBR-boot doesn't need too many changes to get one going.
1. Download Limine binaries from (https://github.com/limine-bootloader/limine/releases), if you don't already have them.
2. Choose any flash drive you think you can spare for this. Format flash drive to FAT32 filesystem if it isn't already, making sure to back-up any important datas on the drive first.
3. Create the EFI-folder to the root of your USB stick, then create the BOOT-folder inside that, so that you get the standard /EFI/BOOT-directory structure used in UEFI boots. Then copy the file BOOTX64.EFI inside /EFI/BOOT, to get /EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI. BOOTX64.EFI comes from the Limine binary package you hopefully downloaded from Limine's Github page. BOOTX64.EFI, specifically, is for the 64-bit Intel/AMD systems.
4. Now create the folder "limine" to the root of your flash drive, so that you get /limine. Now we need to create the limine.cfg file here, which will contain instructions for Limine to boot our Puppy. Open any ASCII-text editor, and copy and paste this into your limine.cfg.
Code: Select all
TIMEOUT=60
GRAPHICS=no
DEFAULT_ENTRY=1
EDITOR_ENABLED=yes
INTERFACE_BRANDING=Limine Boot Manager
:PUPPY-LINUX-BOOKWORM
COMMENT=PuppyLinuxBookworm
PROTOCOL=linux
TEXTMODE=yes
KERNEL_PATH=boot:///bookworm/vmlinuz
MODULE_PATH=boot:///bookworm/initrd.gz
KERNEL_CMDLINE=pmedia=usbflash psubdir=/bookworm
Then save limine.cfg inside the /limine-folder, so that you get /limine/limine.cfg to your flash drive. Remember, that some of these settings are just my personal preferences.
5. Next, mount and unpack your preferred Puppy .ISO. I will be using the latest and greatest Bookworm Pup for this example. Now you must create one more folder, called /bookworm to the root of your flash drive. With your Bookworm .ISO mounted, copy Bookworm Puppy's files inside the /bookworm folder on your flash drive. Once this is done, you should now have a functional, UEFI-bootable system, self-contained on a USB flash drive, and so you may now unmount the flash drive and test its boot capabilites.
Anyone wishing to amend these instructions to include BIOS/MBR boot capabilities as well is free to do so. If your UEFI has Secure Boot enabled, remember to turn that off first.