my experience with installing SalixOS 15

If you have any suggestions or ideas about improving Salix, here's the place to post them.
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ongefar
Posts: 11
Joined: 22. Feb 2023, 18:36

my experience with installing SalixOS 15

Post by ongefar »

I'm not a developer, but I have installed Zenwalk, Vector, and Absolute. I am familiar with Slackware derivatives. I wanted to make a USB install of SalixOS 15 on a Dell Optiplex Core 2 Duo, with 4 GB ram. The first thing I tried was an ncurses install of the Salix install disk to USB drive, a hard drive install with my fingers crossed. Hey, it worked with Mageia. That installation took 4.5 hours, and I think Lilo failed. I say, I think, because the install took so long I fell asleep, and so did the computer. When I woke up, I tried to wake up the computer, and the computer had a lot of lag, such that I accidentally clicked the wrong button due to lag. I decided I wasn't going to try that again. I tried SLI and instonusb installers, without a lot of forethought, and the installations failed. The SLI installs failed with this error condition as the USB drive was detected, whereupon the boot was interrupted.

Code: Select all

[   7.65944] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc]Write Protect is off
[   7.662287] sd 6:0:0:0: Write cache enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[   7.678773]  sdc: sdc1 sdc2
[   7.690651] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk
[  11.714391] random:crng init done
***  Live system error - live media not detected - exiting  ***
sh: can't access tty: job control turned off
I thought the problem was the generic 32 GB USB 3.0 drive, so I tried a Sandisk 64 GB USB 3.0 drive and got the same error. I didn't just try once, I tried the SLI maybe 10 times with different settings, but all failed. Then there was the instonusb gui, which I tried many times. I finally noticed that first thing instonusb does during an install is write GPT partition tables to the USB drive. There's no stopping this action. I am using a BIOS computer. Everytime I used Gparted to redo partitions, I conscientiously made the device partition table MSDOS. But instonusb thinks the USB drive lacks a partition table so it writes GPT part tables to the drive. If user tries to say no to the GPT write, there's a lot of verbiage about hybrid MBR and how flakey it is, and columns of arguments that wouldn't accomplish anything, as instonusb writes the GPT tables to USB anyway. So, is it any surprise that instonusb wouldn't boot my BIOS computer. BTW there's no mention in the documentation that instonusb only works for UEFI computers. Correct me if I'm wrong.
After three or four long, long days of trying to install Salix, maybe 100 reboots and 25 hard shtudowns, giving it up and then deciding to try again, I finally installed Salix as a live install to hard drive. The installation took 4.5 hours, and then installed grub for another 45 minutes, after which I finally booted up a Salix Live USB installation. Unfortunately, Salix LIVE, thus installed as a hard drive, is almost unusable because of lag. I might also add that I really disliked the mandatory login AND logout. You should program some autologin options into the lightdm settings applet. That's a request.
Alternatively, it turns out that the Etcher ISO-to-USB burner can create a bootable Salix Live USB in about 4.5 minutes, 3.25 minutes to burn the ISO, and 1.25 minutes to verify the burn. Can we pause for a moment to contemplate the order of magnitude difference in time and effort to install Salix with Etcher freeware. You know, Gparted can't see inside a iso9660 file system, but I believe DiskDrake can see inside. I'm using an Etcher-generated USB to write this post, and it's light and fast, similar to the Live DVD, on the fly, as they say. Wouldn't it be nice if you could add persistence to an Etcher-burned USB installation of Salix Live 15.
ongefar
Posts: 11
Joined: 22. Feb 2023, 18:36

Re: my experience with installing SalixOS 15

Post by ongefar »

I had one more observation about the sli gui to install SalixOS Live. I used sli to "successfully" install Salix Live to hard drive, where the USB was presumed and prepared to be the hard drive. The final execution buttons are located in the middle of the sli gui. In my experience, the order of tasks accomplished with a gui start at the top and end at the bottom. In other words the gui represents a sequence of steps from top to bottom. When the final execution buttons, the two broad buttons to perform install to usb and install to hard drive, are placed in the middle of the gui, the implied sequence of steps is lost or confused. Those two buttons should be at the bottom of the sli gui, not in the middle.
ongefar
Posts: 11
Joined: 22. Feb 2023, 18:36

Re: my experience with installing SalixOS 15

Post by ongefar »

balenaEtcher
Etcher is primarily used through a graphical user interface. Additionally, there is a command line interface available which is under active development. Future planned features include support for persistent storage allowing live SD card or USB flash drive to be used as a hard drive, as well as support for flashing multiple boot partitions to a single SD card or USB flash drive.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Etcher_(software)

List of tools to create bootable USB
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_t ... otable_USB

ISO 9660 file system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_9660

ISO9660 File System - The Linux Kernel documentation
https://www.kernel.org/doc/html/latest/ ... isofs.html

Modify/Edit/Re-pack ISO Files Using Mkisofs In Linux
https://www.unixmen.com/edit-iso-files- ... -in-linux/

When I suggest persistence, I mean something like a frugal install with root persistence. Or a persistence that stores deltas, and allows the deltas to be incorporated in a periodic remaster. I'm not asking for something over-complicated like, for example, antiX.
djemos
Salix Warrior
Posts: 1433
Joined: 29. Dec 2009, 13:45
Location: Greece

Re: my experience with installing SalixOS 15

Post by djemos »

Did you read the salix_live_startup_guide ?
To create a live usb with gui tool instonusb just format the live usb in vfat (fat32).
Then run the instonusb gui tool, find the salixlive iso image downloaded on your disk, choose your usb /dev/sdb, or /dev/sbc etc and click on install is that simple. (Then create the persistence file but it becomes slow after installing a lot of packages since a real installation is working fine. It is a real installation as the installation to hard disk. I suggest to not use persistence.)

Then boot with this live usb and use sli either to install to hard disk or plug in another clean usb to do a real installation to that usb stick.
Sli is a project took many months to be done and is working fine. I am not going to change anything since it is working fine. I am writing this message using salix-15.0 xfce running from a real installation to usb stick.
I do not know what you are doing. About your message and usb it means cannot find the live usb, it seams you create the live usb with another tool and not with the instonusb script or gui instonusb tool. I do not use or going to examine how other tools developed from other are working. We use our tools developed in house which are tested.
Some usb's do not support linux filesystems or are slow. Use sandisk usb's which are working and real installation take about 20-30 minutes.
Again i suggest to read the salix_live_start_up_guide.
ongefar
Posts: 11
Joined: 22. Feb 2023, 18:36

Re: my experience with installing SalixOS 15

Post by ongefar »

Thanks, Djamel, I have salix_installation_guide.pdf and README_SALIXLIVE_INSTALL_ON_USB.TXT downloaded. If anybody wants work with iso9660 file systems, you probably want Cdrtools, rather than the knockoffs you get from distro repositories (eg, Ubuntu's genisoimage replacement for mkisofs).

Cdrtools (wikipedia)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cdrtools

Cdrtools
https://cdrtools.sourceforge.net/private/cdrecord.html
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bill_greene
Posts: 6
Joined: 22. Feb 2023, 11:41

Re: my experience with installing SalixOS 15

Post by bill_greene »

1st time Salix user, I found the installer very easy to navigate and use. I really like the apps Gslapt,rebuild icon cache and repository mirror along with codec installer.Flathub being ready to use was nice. I have installed Sboui and slackpkg plus and Magiic frontend for slackpkg so far. Thanks again to Old Tech Bloke on YouTube for helping me find Salix!
DidierSpaier
Posts: 518
Joined: 20. Jun 2016, 20:15

Re: my experience with installing SalixOS 15

Post by DidierSpaier »

bill_greene wrote: 25. Feb 2023, 19:48Thanks again to Old Tech Bloke on YouTube for helping me find Salix!
Old Tech Bloke helped a lot of people indeed. Unfortunately his bad health won't allow him to continue posting videos.
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bill_greene
Posts: 6
Joined: 22. Feb 2023, 11:41

Re: my experience with installing SalixOS 15

Post by bill_greene »

Wishing Old Tech Bloke well, his video's on Salix and Slackware were very helpful.
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