Salix Live Xfce 14.1 beta1

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laprjns
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Re: Salix Live Xfce 14.1 beta1

Post by laprjns »

Did some additional testing on installing SalixLive on a usb stick. Here what I did:
  • 1) Downloaded a fresh Salix LIve 64 bit iso file
    2) Ran isohybride --uefi on the iso to make it uefi bookable
    3) Mounted iso
    4)Copied complete iso onto a vfat32 formatted usb stick
    5) cd to the syslinux directory on usb stick and ran install_on_usb as root and installed the live system right over the top on the same stick
    6) Reboot the machine and selected to uefi boot.
    7) This resulted in a successful boot right into the desktop of user "one". No language menu screen nor did I get the screen where you can chose various boot options like boot with persistence.
    8) Running in this Live environment, I plug in a second usb stick and using the graphical Salix Live Installer (SLI) install Salix live onto the second usb stick.
    9) Rebooted and selected a uefi boot from the second usb stick,
    10) This resulted into a successful boot right into the desktop of user "one" Again no menus.
So there were no problems booting the Live system that was installed by either the install_on_usb script or SLI. No kernel panics this time.

I also did boot one of the sticks in legacy boot mode and had no problems and no kernel panics. I did get the language and boot options screens when booting in this mode.

There is also one bug that I was able to replicate every time i booted into SalixLive. On the first time that I start up an application that requires gksu (like gparted) it asked for a password.,which is normal. But once I close out of that first application, I can start any other app requiring gksu and i do not get the password dialog box; the app just starts up. I certainly doesn't behave this way on my installed Salix system. When I compare between the two system using Task manger, it appears that gnsu-askkey doesn't get invoked on the live system but does on the normal installation.

Hope this helps.
Rich
“Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought?"
djemos
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Re: Salix Live Xfce 14.1 beta1

Post by djemos »

install_on_usb do not work on 32 and 64 bit. This is because system on boot cannot find usb device and get kernel panic. Also install_on_usb.sh
Persistence is working only with usb formatted on ext3 filesystem. Since install_on_usb.sh works only with fat, cannot be used.

Both has been solved. I have test usb and is working with persistence.
First format a usb to ext3 filesystem setting as LABEL Salix-Live
This is important so usb device always can be found.

if you have an ext3 formatted usb then set the label with

Code: Select all

e2label /dev/sdb1 Salix-Live
replace sdb1 with your usb (e.g sdc1 etc)

for a quick test
for 32 bit live iso
mount the 32 bit iso and copy everything to usb.
then download this initrd and copy it on boot folder on usb

for 64 bit live iso
mount the 64 bit iso and copy everything to usb.
download this initrd and copy it to boot folder on usb and on EFI/BOOT folder on usb

then cd on boot/syslinux folder on usb and run

Code: Select all

sudo sh bootinst.sh
cd ~/
and reboot
then choose to boot from usb
or boot with persistence
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laprjns
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Re: Salix Live Xfce 14.1 beta1

Post by laprjns »

djemos wrote:First format a usb to ext3 filesystem ....
Unfortunately by doing this it will not be able to uefi boot. To uefi boot, the EFI System Partition (ESP) needs to be formatted as FAT file system.
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djemos
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Location: Greece

Re: Salix Live Xfce 14.1 beta1

Post by djemos »

Persistence on fat32 formatted usb has been solved.
1. Persistence is working on fat32 when we use a persistence file formatted on ext3. when on boot we hit TAB and set changes=persistent=100 then on boot a persistence file of 100MB will be created and formatted on ext3 filesystem. Use 100 to not wait too long. It is for testing. we cannot use more then 3999MB
If we have a formatted persistent file on usb outside boot folder then this will be used. (e.g if usd is mounted under /run/media/user_name/LIVE than there we create there the file with dd command.)
cd /run/media/user_name/LIVE (e.g. where usb is mounted)

Code: Select all

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=persistent bs=1M count=100
sudo mkfs.ext3 -F persistent
2. Persistence is also working on a usb formatted on ext3 filesystem. In that case we can put on kernel parameters changes=persistent then a folder persistent will created on /run/media/user_name/LIVE and can use all left size of usb. This does not work on UEFI since there is no fat32 filesystem.

3. if we use home=/home the persistence file will created on /home folder in usb.

4. if we want a fat32 usb filesystem then we cd to /run/media/user_name/LIVE/boot/syslinux and there we run

Code: Select all

sudo sh install_on_usb.sh 
usb will be bootable and also the label will set up as "LIVE". So usb always will be detected and we boot with no kernel panics.

5. if we use an ext3 usb then we execute

Code: Select all

sudo sh bootinst.sh  
in this case also usb will be bootable and also the label will set up as "LIVE". In uppercase so will work in windows also.
bootinst.sh can also be used on a fat32 formatted usb. Can be used in both cases. It will detect the filesystem and run e2label or mlabel -i to set the LABEL

6. we can use also dd command to copy iso image to usb. In this case there is no persistence in both fat32 and ext3 filesystem.

4. We can use SLI (live installer) to install iso on hard disk or in usb. For usb, if we choose /dev/sdb for example usb will be erased. If we have a ready usb and choose /dev/sdb1 then usb will not formatted, only /dev/sdb1 will be formatted and frugal installation will done there.

So everything is working now. I have created ext3 and fat32 usb and checked them with persistence. Both worked. I also checked usb when a persistence file exists made by dd command. It is working fine also.

that's all.

For testing download again

for 64bit
initrd.gz
install_on_usb.sh
bootinst.sh
copy initrd.gz on boot folder and on EFI/BOOT folder on usb
and copy install_on_usb.sh and bootinst.sh to boot/syslinux folder on usb



for 32bit
initrd.gz
install_on_usb.sh
bootinst.sh

copy initrd.gz to boot folder on usb
copy initrd.gz on boot folder and on EFI/BOOT folder on usb
and copy install_on_usb.sh and bootinst.sh to boot/syslinux folder on usb


After tests you will do i will prepare a beta2 or rc1 iso.
What do you think?
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mimosa
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Re: Salix Live Xfce 14.1 beta1

Post by mimosa »

Good work djemos! :)
djemos
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Re: Salix Live Xfce 14.1 beta1

Post by djemos »

persistent file creation on boot disabled. Now user has to create a file by its own with the dd command look in previous post. And boot parameter on menus is changes=persistent
Download again initrd.gz images from above links in previous post.
djemos
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Joined: 29. Dec 2009, 13:45
Location: Greece

Re: Salix Live Xfce 14.1 beta1

Post by djemos »

This is the final install_on_usb.sh It creates 2 partitions on usb (efi and fat32) The install_on_usb_uefi.sh script creates another bios 128 partition for compatibility with grub to boot also in legacy mode. Both are working. (look an line 223 and 225)
needs the iso image and just plug in your usb device.
It will find usb device and iso image in path and format your usb and make a frugal installation. It will ask if you like to create also a persistent file with size you choose.
If you say no you can create the persistent file running again the script with --persistent parameter

you can run it from 64bit and point to 32 bit image and create a 32bit usb or point to 64bit image and create a 64bit UEFI/EFI usb.
I has tested on UEFI and is working fine with persistence also.

you can call the script
sudo sh install_on_usb.sh --usb path/to/your/iso_image 32|64
to create the persistent file
sudo sh install_on_usb.sh --persistent 32|64

e.g
sudo sh install_on_usb.sh --usb /tmp/salixlive-xfce-14.1-32-beta1.iso 32

for persistent just plug in usb device and
sudo sh install_on_usb.sh --persistent 32
sudo sh install_on_usb.sh --persistent 64

files are here http://people.salixos.org/djemos/salix/initrd/
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