Salix Forums

A quick question (well, a couple of questions).

First, is there going to be a 64-bit version of the live CD? I could find that quite useful... I have a DIY NAS that I'm building, and need a USB bootable/installable system to use for it. Since it uses a 64-bit CPU, I would like to use a 64-bit system for it.

Second, when it comes to creating a USB version, I've had a look at the scripts in /boot, and would have to run both boot-inst.sh and the install-on-USB. I can't see any information about what format the USB stick should have, or how large it needs to be. Can someone provide those details?

Thanks.

Paul.

Either you just extract the install-on-USB script and run it like that (it requires grub*2* to be installed):

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install-on-USB /path/to/salix.iso /media/myusbkey

Pretty much any filesystem should work for the USB key, if it is grub has read support for it (there's no write support anyway (yet)). I think NTFS is not (yet) supported but I'm not sure.

Optionally if you don't have grub2 installed you can use bootinst.sh (on Linux) or bootinst.bat (on Windows) to make the stick bootable using syslinux. It will then boot and install grub2 from the live environment to provide you with a full-featured menu.
You just have to run that script from the stick with the ISO exploded onto it.

A 64 bits version would probably be released when the current 32 bits rc1 version will become stable. I keep you informed when I know more about it.

About USB, please read the HOW_TO on the USB section : http://enialis.net/~jrd/salix/salixlive ... ml#english
The USB key should be labeled with an msdos partition scheme (the standard one) and have at least one partition. The partition should be in either fat or extX, big enough to contains all files of the iso. The first partition should start at sector 1, and not 0. This is a regular configuration of the most USB keys out there.
The ISO use grub2 for booting, that can boot on fat or extX (maybe others, not tested).
Unfortunately, it's not easy to install grub2 on disk for now. And there is no way to do it under Windows for example.

A solution is to install isolinux/syslinux with a special parameter, so when the first boot occur, grub2 is installed instead of isolinux/syslinux and the computer is rebooter to boot on grub2.
This what boot/boot-inst.sh or boot/boot-inst.bat do.

The other way, is to install grub2 from your running Linux distro and if you have grub2 available on your distro, by running boot/install-on-USB from the copied files on the USB key.

Is this a bit more clear ?
Tell what you have and what you want, and I tell you how to do it.

P.S. Unetootbin is not working good with Salixlive, do not use it.
P.P.S. Shador was quicker than me :p

Shador wrote:Either you just extract the install-on-USB script and run it like that (it requires grub*2* to be installed):
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install-on-USB /path/to/salix.iso /media/myusbkey
Pretty much any filesystem should work for the USB key, if it is grub has read support for it (there's no write support anyway (yet)). I think NTFS is not (yet) supported but I'm not sure.

Optionally if you don't have grub2 installed you can use bootinst.sh (on Linux) or bootinst.bat (on Windows) to make the stick bootable using syslinux. It will then boot and install grub2 from the live environment to provide you with a full-featured menu.
You just have to run that script from the stick with the ISO exploded onto it.

Thanks. Finally got enough time to try it. A few problems, howerver.....

I do not have Grub2 installed (still using Grub legacy, since I need the boot loader installed to the root of a Linux partition, not to the MBR). Anyhow, I opened the iso and wrote it to a Verbatim 1 GB USB flash drive. No problem there...

I then ran bootinst.sh from the flash drive. When it completed, I restared the machine, pressed F12 to get the boot menu and selected the USB drive. It booted fine, gave me a simple menu with Salixlive and Memtest. I selected Salixlive and it went through.

The attempt to install Grub 2 failed (tried it a couple of times). Unfortuantely, the error screen is cleared as the system goes on booting, so I'm not sure what the error is. There is something about the 'embedding area' being very small, then a failure message. I can boot and the system appears to be working ok, but I'm having to hit TAB from the initial (Lilo?) menu and edit options to set the correct framebuffer mode (vga=870) and remove the grub install commands.

Salixlive seems to be working fine, but it would be nice to be able to resolve the Grub2 problem, since most of the options I would like to use are not available from the menu that I do have. Any suggestions as to how to fix that?

Paul.

JRD wrote:A 64 bits version would probably be released when the current 32 bits rc1 version will become stable. I keep you informed when I know more about it.

Great, I will look forward to that....

About USB, please read the HOW_TO on the USB section : http://enialis.net/~jrd/salix/salixlive ... ml#english

I had done that before I asked the questions. I was a little concerend as to how much space I would need on the flash drive, and I wanted to make sure that the commands mentioned wouldn't attempt to install Grub2 on my hard drive - would mess things up too much at the moment to try to switch from using the Windows boot loader/grub legacy to using Grub2.

The USB key should be labeled with an msdos partition scheme (the standard one) and have at least one partition. The partition should be in either fat or extX, big enough to contains all files of the iso. The first partition should start at sector 1, and not 0. This is a regular configuration of the most USB keys out there.
The ISO use grub2 for booting, that can boot on fat or extX (maybe others, not tested).
Unfortunately, it's not easy to install grub2 on disk for now. And there is no way to do it under Windows for example.

I was going to create a new file system, but decided to go with the FAT32 file system already on the flash drive - didn't want to have to fiddle with changing the partition type to Linux and then using mke2fs on it. I would guess for a USB stick, ext2 would probably be a better option that ext3, so I might try that next time. The partition should be a standard DOS-style partition.

A solution is to install isolinux/syslinux with a special parameter, so when the first boot occur, grub2 is installed instead of isolinux/syslinux and the computer is rebooter to boot on grub2.
This what boot/boot-inst.sh or boot/boot-inst.bat do.

That seems to be the major problem area - bootinst.sh completes without problems, but the attempt to install Grub2 on first boot from the USB stick fails every time.

Because of the failure to install Grub2 to the USB stick, I only have a basic menu available, which does'nt allow me to select the correct (UK) keyboard, or make any other boot selections. All I can do is use TAB and set the correct framebuffer mode and remove the (failing) attempt to install Grug2. Any suggestions as to how I can get that install to work would be great.

The other way, is to install grub2 from your running Linux distro and if you have grub2 available on your distro, by running boot/install-on-USB from the copied files on the USB key.

I may have to try this option eventually, but I'm reluctant to fiddle with the existing boot loader. At the moment, I have Windows Vista (which I need for customer support, unfortunately), Zenwalk, Vector 6.0 light, Vector 6.0 standard and Salix 64 installed, and I can't afford to mess that lot up

Is this a bit more clear ?

Yes, thanks, that was a help.

Tell what you have and what you want, and I tell you how to do it.

The machine is a Lenovo T61 with 3GB of memory and a 250 GB hard drive. I'm using a 1 GB Verbatim USB drive, since it was the easiest one to clear and is big enough to handle the contents of the iso once it is opened.

P.S. Unetootbin is not working good with Salixlive, do not use it.

I've had trouble with it in the past, so I am quite happy not to go near it.

P.P.S. Shador was quicker than me :p

Always the way - there's bound to be someone faster around.

Could I sugges that you add some of the information you provided me with to the text file - things like the file system information and approximately how much space would be needed on a USB drive would certainly help other people who want to install to USB.

Paul.

toothandnail wrote:I wanted to make sure that the commands mentioned wouldn't attempt to install Grub2 on my hard drive

Yes it's sure.

toothandnail wrote:I may have to try this option eventually, but I'm reluctant to fiddle with the existing boot loader.

Maybe it was not clear but only the grub2 package needs to be present to use that option. No need to really use grub2 in fact.

toothandnail wrote:I was going to create a new file system, but decided to go with the FAT32 file system already on the flash drive - didn't want to have to fiddle with changing the partition type to Linux and then using mke2fs on it. I would guess for a USB stick, ext2 would probably be a better option that ext3, so I might try that next time. The partition should be a standard DOS-style partition.

toothandnail wrote:That seems to be the major problem area - bootinst.sh completes without problems, but the attempt to install Grub2 on first boot from the USB stick fails every time.

toothandnail wrote:I can't see any information about what format the USB stick should have, or how large it needs to be

For USB needed size, it's exactly the size of the ISO, not more, not less

Ok, so we cornered the problem here. Grub2 does not have enough room before the first partition on your USB key to install itself.
Please run this command, supposingly that your USB key is /dev/sda :

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parted /dev/sda unit s print

If the first partition starts before the sector 63, then it's not a standard msdos partition scheme and grub2 has problem about it.

JRD wrote:
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parted /dev/sda unit s print
If the first partition starts before the sector 63, then it's not a standard msdos partition scheme and grub2 has problem about it.

You should be able to fix that by resizing the partition. Please post the output of the command JRD posted.
We can then see what's the best solution for you.
For one of my sticks with only one fat32 partition this worked (inside parted):

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resize 1 63s 100%

But as I already mentioned, it depends on your disk layout (i.e. the output of parted). So if you don't exactly know what you're doing and what that resize command does, first post your output.

It looks like its the partition on the stick that is causing the problem. I ran the suggested command, and this is the output:

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root:# parted /dev/sdb unit s print
Model: VBTM Store 'n' Go (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 2013184s
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos

Number  Start  End       Size      Type     File system  Flags    
 1      32s    2011647s  2011616s  primary  fat32        boot, lba

If necessary, I can wipe the partition and start again, but if it is possible to resize it, I'll give that a try first....

Thanks for the help.

Paul.

This command should work then:
Launch parted:

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parted /dev/sdb

Resize the partition:

Shador wrote:
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resize 1 63s 100%

Nevertheless I recommend you make a backup of your data.

I'm not sure it's a good idea to do what Shador suggest you BEFORE reducing the filesystem.

I think you could simply do it with gparted, which will also reduce the filesystem in the same time.
But maybe I'm wrong and parted will also resize de fat32 filesystem with the partition...

Atfer reading the manual, resize also resize the underlying filesystem (fat16/32, ext2/3, reiserfs, xfs). So it's ok

If it's ok, I will try to ask about it when installing grub2.

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