Light-Debian-Core-Live-CD-Wheezy + Porteus-Wheezy

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mcewanw · #2161 Post by **mcewanw** » Fri 04 Apr 2014, 00:58

saintless wrote:Terry, I think to make DebianDog autologin as root without using XDM by default.

I'm hoping to find out how Porteus manages the following since it would be ideal if the alternatives (root, puppy, xdm) could be chosen by boot cheat codes:

From Portues FAQ:

As of Version 1.0, Porteus will log you in as a non-root user called 'guest' by default. This is done to increase the security of your system. If you would like to boot into KDE, XFCE or LXDE as the root user, just use the 'login=root' cheatcode.

From:

http://www.porteus.org/tutoriels/57-gen ... cheatcodes

login=user_name

... Lets you specify the name of the user (could be also 'root')
which will be autologged into GUI session.
If username is not provided then booting stops on the lxdm/kdm
login screen.

sunburnt · #2162 Post by **sunburnt** » Fri 04 Apr 2014, 04:59

William; And a "text gui" of checks, entries, and combos for the boot options would be trick.

# Guys; Fred`s weeinst worked great.! Got a USB flash to build and boot.

The copy -r command copies the dir. in the script, but /* works fine when run in Vterm.
# Check this out please, it`s driving me nuts..!

I have not tried the ISO Install yet, it took all day to get it this far.
# I figured the installer would progress faster with some help...

As instructed, I have the partition starting at 8MB and custom formatted to ext4.
The article says even fat was made faster by the partition alignment.
GPT boot is faster too, but old PCs don`t handle it, so it`s out for this installer release.

# Toni; Defaulting to auto. login at boot is my choice also. We`ll make a sys. control gui.
And this is from the instructions, telling how to mount any flash media for performance.
We can work this into DebianDog`s mounting of all types of flash media ( sometime...):
[quote]### Changes to mount
To further reduce IO and increase performance, the following seem to be common recommendations, that I did.

Change /etc/fstab so that entry for root partition fourth parameter is changed from “default

sunburnt · #2163 Post by **sunburnt** » Fri 04 Apr 2014, 05:43

I noticed these Toshiba USB drives OVERPRICED at Amazon. Sizes are: 3.1 x 4.7 x 0.6 inches.
It`s interesting that this Puppy web site insists on adding the word "OVERPRICED".
$70 U.S. for a 1 TB USB-3 HD... And also a 1.5 TB model that`s only $88 U.S... WOW.!
Portable 2.5 inch HDs, so it can have a swap without tearing it up like a flash drive.
http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywor ... is5mf3zd_b

saintless · #2164 Post by **saintless** » Fri 04 Apr 2014, 10:07

Hi, Terry.
some changes from me in debdog-install.
This way it will copy only /live from the iso on top of usb flash drive. I guess it is the only dir we need from the iso?
Unfortunately I can't make it boot on my machine. I don't know if it is old hardware issue or not.
Had to make some changes from your script to create /opt/apps/weeboot folder and symlinks to /opt/bin
This is the only way I can make debdog-install work with iso
I made separate squashfs module with the changes. Just load it with sfs-loader or place it in /live and reboot
Type debdog-install in terminal to start GUI.
http://smokey01.com/saintless/Fredx181/ ... l.squashfs

BTW tested with Unetbootin and it makes bootable and working DebianDog flash drive on my PC.

Toni

mcewanw · #2165 Post by **mcewanw** » Fri 04 Apr 2014, 10:28

saintless wrote:Hi, Terry.
some changes from me in debdog-install....
I made separate squashfs module with the changes. Just load it with sfs-loader or place it in /live and reboot
Type debdog-install in terminal to start GUI.
http://smokey01.com/saintless/Fredx181/ ... l.squashfs

I'll try and find time this weekend to try these also. This machine will boot from usb since I've made bootable usb sticks of Puppy in the past, but it's a pretty old machine so a reasonable test.

sunburnt · #2166 Post by **sunburnt** » Fri 04 Apr 2014, 17:08

Again... Sorry about that, yes I put Fred`s weeinst into a /opt/apps/weeboot folder and forgot.
I almost posted without the new drive-info that shows the raw drive in case drive`s not format.
# I need to work on the gui`s text instructions.

# I`m thinking have gui make list of parts., sizes, and formats, and make them in that order.
So better user control of drives setup. ### What do you guys think about that.?

# Toni; So weeinst did or did not work for you.? If not then we may try unetbootin.
Grub boot setup is actually very simple ( only 4 files ), it`s a shame info. about it is so poor.
weeinst writes wee.mbr to drive`s MBR, then copy grldr & menu.lst to any primary partition.
The menu.lst file`s path info. for the kernel, initrd, etc. files must be proper for their partitions.

Checked my USB with gParted, and it does not have the boot flag set, but it does boot.
I`m thinking the 8MB at the front of the drive could be used for grub boot files and other stuff.

I`d like to try testing 1MB and 8MB first partition alignments to see how much faster 8MB is.
# A small portable collection of test tools like this would be good for optimizing DebianDog.
.

saintless · #2167 Post by **saintless** » Fri 04 Apr 2014, 17:24

sunburnt wrote:Toni; So weeinst did or did not work for you.? If not then we may try unetbootin.

Hi, Terry.
weeinst did not work for me. The flash does not boot. I also made changes in debdog-install to make only /live folder copy on top of the flash. In your original script on the flash I get /iso/live which is not in the menu.lst boot code path. may be this breaks something from your original script and cause the drive not to boot.

Unetbootin works fine for me and it has also options for download and install different linux systems on flash drive.
The only problem it has many dependencies. I can make 14Mb squashfs separate module. I can try to slim it down but it is too big to be included in DebianDog. On the other hand it can be downloaded from the site after first boot and used to create bootable flashdrive from the iso.
Some instructions for Unetbootin:
http://foxyroxylinux.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=133

Toni

sunburnt · #2168 Post by **sunburnt** » Fri 04 Apr 2014, 17:39

Toni; That`s why I never used unetbooin, I remember now, it`s so damn big.

Did you try running weeinst in Vterm and copy the grldr and menu.lst files.?
Also I assume your USB only has 1 partition and /live is only 1 dir. deep.

# SUCCESS... Use this code in place of the cp command for the iso:

Code: Select all

		cp -a "$MntD/iso/." "$MNT/live"

# And this code in place the cp command below it for the /live dir.:

Code: Select all

		cp -a "${PF%/*}/." "$MNT/live"

saintless · #2169 Post by **saintless** » Fri 04 Apr 2014, 18:23

sunburnt wrote:Toni, did you try running weeinst in Vterm and copy the grldr and menu.lst files.?
Also I assume your USB only has 1 partition and /live is only 1 dir. deep.

Terry. /live has also /live/debian dir and subdirs and files included. Tested also with weeinst /dev/sdb1 + manual copy and the usb is not bootable. Or it is bootable but gives black screen without further action or any messages and stays like this till I restart the PC.

# SUCCESS... Use this code in place of the cp command for the iso:
Code: Select all
          cp -a "$MntD/iso/." "$MNT/live"
# And this code in place the cp command below it for the /live dir.:

This code from the squashfs I attached works also but the problem is the flash drive doesn't boot:

Code: Select all

                mkdir -p "$MntD/iso" "$MNT/"
                mount -t iso9660 -o loop "$PF" "$MntD/iso"
                [ "$?" -gt 0 ]&& xmessage -center " ISO File Mount Failed." && exec "$0"
                cp -r "$MntD/iso/live" "$MNT/"
                [ "$?" -gt 0 ]&& xmessage -center " File Copy Failed." && exec "$0"
                umount -d "$MntD/iso"
        else                                                                    # o.s. files
echo "###  COPY ${PF%/*}" "$MNT/"
#               mkdir -p "$MNT/live"
                cp -r "${PF%/}" "$MNT/"
####################################

Terry, DebianDog iso has two boot options - Debian boot and Porteus boot. We need to include both in the usb installer or there is no use to make it at all. We need /live/debian folder and subfolders included and similar to this boot codes:

Code: Select all

title DebianDog
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
kernel /live/vmlinuz1 boot=live config swapon noprompt nofastboot autologin persistent showmounts
initrd /live/initrd1.img

title Porteus-DebianDog
root (hd0,0) 
kernel (hd0,0)/live/vmlinuz1 noauto from=/live/ changes=/live/debian
initrd (hd0,0)/live/initrd1.xz

And it is good to have copy to ram and no copy options for both like in the iso.

Toni

sunburnt · #2170 Post by **sunburnt** » Fri 04 Apr 2014, 18:25

Toni; The wee problem is unique, and we`ll have to find the solution.
# Hopefully Fred can jump in and diagnose this. # USB drives and BIOS are really crappy.

# You are saying the iso has sub dirs.? I have not downloaded it yet.
# The installer copy command now copies ALL of the files and sub dirs.

Okay, if a few of you can try this, it tested good for the /live install, and the iso should work.
Get the weeinst above and install it into /opt/apps and make a link to weeinst in /opt/bin.
Here`s debdog-install and drive-info:

sunburnt · #2171 Post by **sunburnt** » Fri 04 Apr 2014, 18:50

Toni; I can add code to copy the proper Squash file to ram. # Path to copy to.???
4 boot entries in menu.lst file are needed. Std. & Porteus boot, and copy them and boot.
# But it sounds like you are saying that the iso is already set up this way.?

ANYONE; Do you know the menu.lst command line for booting Windows.?
I know there`s a way for it to search for any installed WinBlows and boot it.
It would be a good thing to have as part of DebianDog`s boot setup.
.

saintless · #2172 Post by **saintless** » Fri 04 Apr 2014, 18:55

sunburnt wrote:# You are saying the iso has sub dirs.? I have not downloaded it yet.
# The installer copy command now copies ALL of the files and sub dirs.

Tested the copy command in new debdog-install, Terry.
It still creates one more /live folder with this command "$MNT/live"
The path becomes /media/sdb1/live/live/ instead /media/sdb1/live/
We do not need /live in "$MNT/live"

Toni

saintless · #2173 Post by **saintless** » Fri 04 Apr 2014, 19:01

sunburnt wrote:Toni; I can add code to copy the proper Squash file to ram. # Path to copy to.???

No way to do this, Terry. Porteus boot uses 2 squashfs (xzm) modules and copy only one of them will not work. The copy command should be toram and will copy all the content of the flashdrive in RAM otherwise it will not work.
We need to remove live-rw from the flashdrive to use copy to ram option.
I don't think live-rw save file created as default will be good for every user. And live-rw will not work for porteus boot. It needs changes.dat file.
We have your mk-save script to make save file if it is needed.

Toni

fredx181 · #2174 Post by **fredx181** » Fri 04 Apr 2014, 19:03

Hi Toni, Terry
I've read about (can't remember exactly what) that wee doesn't work on some BIOS's
Maybe you can try bootlace.com manually and see if it boots then:

Code: Select all

bootlace.com --time-out=0 --no-backup-mbr /dev/sdb

for sdb

Tested also with weeinst /dev/sdb1

That should be:

Code: Select all

weeinst /dev/sdb

Not sdb1 but sdb

I hope the use of unetbootin could be avoided.

I'm also busy these days with modifying Terry's debdog-install and will soon post my own version of it.
Learning more about gtkdialog now, which is very useful.

Fred

sunburnt · #2175 Post by **sunburnt** » Fri 04 Apr 2014, 19:14

Toni; So remove making live-rw/changes.dat files from the installer and users do it by menu.?
Should I add making changes.dat to the mk-save.gtkdlg ?

I`m thinking being able to copy the working Save file would be very good too. But hard to do.

# I wish we had more testers for the installer, I think there will always be boot problems.

Fred; GtkDialog is a bag of bolts basically. It`s sad that it`s so messed up.
BaCon is better, but it does not have a grid box, that`s why I used GtkDialog for the installer.
.

saintless · #2176 Post by **saintless** » Fri 04 Apr 2014, 19:33

Hi, Fred.
this command needs to specify something more or to removetime-out

fredx181 wrote:
Code: Select all
bootlace.com --time-out=0 --no-backup-mbr /dev/sdb

Removing time-out does something and the flash boots but I get this error message:
"cannot find GRLDR in all devices. Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE to restart"
I have grldr and menu.lst copy on the flash drive.

Not sdb1 but sdb

No change. Still not bootable.

Toni

saintless · #2177 Post by **saintless** » Fri 04 Apr 2014, 19:38

Hi, Terry.

sunburnt wrote:Toni; So remove making live-rw/changes.dat files from the installer and users do it by menu.?

Yes, I think it is better not to auto-create live-rw save file on the flash drive. Maybe to give option but not as default behaviour.

Should I add making changes.dat to the mk-save.gtkdlg ?

No. We can give any name we wish in mk-save. The name is typed manual from the user. Also in porteus boot mk-save is replaced with version for porteus changes.dat save file. It is included in the second module with porteus changes in /live/debian/base

Toni

sunburnt · #2178 Post by **sunburnt** » Fri 04 Apr 2014, 20:08

Toni; I understand, to remove image file making, # comment out this line ( # 181 I think ):

Code: Select all

#	mkimg

Here`s what I found for booting Windows with grub4dos.
# If anyone has a Weeners version installed they could try booting it from a USB drive.

# I`ll test my DebianDog USB install on Olga`s HP laptop when she gets home.

sunburnt · #2179 Post by **sunburnt** » Fri 04 Apr 2014, 20:15

Toni & Fred; I forgot to say, the installer makes a ext4 partition, so Grub won`t work.
So bootlace won`t work, that`s what wee.mbr does that grldr.mbr does not do.

A linux partition is obviously better, and so is an optimized fast setup.
But I could make installer options for ext2-3 & fat partitions, and Grub to boot.
.

fredx181 · #2180 Post by **fredx181** » Fri 04 Apr 2014, 20:31

Hi Toni

this command needs to specify something more or to removetime-out
fredx181 wrote:
Code:
bootlace.com --time-out=0 --no-backup-mbr /dev/sdb

Removing time-out does something and the flash boots but I get this error message:
"cannot find GRLDR in all devices. Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE to restart"
I have grldr and menu.lst copy on the flash drive.

Strange...
I guess you did have success with grub4dos in the past.
And it just doesn't work on the flash drive your'e trying out now?
Maybe experiment with other filesystem to test if that works.

Fred

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Light-Debian-Core-Live-CD-Wheezy + Porteus-Wheezy