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Old 10-23-2021, 12:38 PM   #1
igadoter
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Frugall installation of Live Slackware Edition - help needed


I hesitate how to boot Liveslak provided by AlienBob but not from pendrive but from hard drive. I imagine this as put all squashfs files on hardive and boot all live system with help of boot loader.

So at the end I would have just common Slackware distribution and live Slackware frugall installation existed all together.

Idea is to keep frugall installation of -current. While stable would be default. This way I don't have to waste additional partition. Of course one can run -current in VM - but then you know nothing about hardware issues. So it is important to run -current on bare metal.

In practice I suppose one need -current in VM just to create squashes - after -current update. I mean one updates -current in VM and using AlienBob scripts creates all these squashes and put them on hard drive. Rerun boot loader, and you done. Now you can boot in -current. If it breaks just reboot into stable.

I suppose it is about to create proper entry in bootloader configuration. Probably lilo won't do. I just need some hint where to begin with.

I just gave here advice to run -current all time - usually it costs additional partition. So.

All this of course for having fun. We are neither professionals nor hobbyists. But people who want to have fun using computer.
 
Old 10-23-2021, 01:14 PM   #2
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You could try this - no guarantees.
Assuming you are already using Grub, and have downloaded a Live Slack ISO to directory /data/isos/,

Code:
menuentry "Slackwarelive ISO" {
  set iso='/data/isos/slackware64-live-current.iso'
  set bootparms='load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw printk.time=0 kbd=us'
  search -f $iso --set=root
  loopback loop $iso
  linux (loop)/boot/generic livemedia=scandev:$iso $bootparms
  initrd (loop)/boot/initrd.img
}
 
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Old 10-30-2021, 11:21 AM   #3
konmit
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Quote:
Originally Posted by igadoter View Post
I suppose it is about to create proper entry in bootloader configuration. Probably lilo won't do.
I just need some hint where to begin with.
Hi,
Actually, lilo should do the trick.
EDIT: If it were structured the same way as Puppy, with everything in main.sfs + modules,
which obviously isn't case here.
Sorry for being hasty.

That's how I used to boot several Puppy Linux puplets/derivates: Slacko64, FatDog etc.

Make a new directory under /boot, name it as you wish and copy vmlinuz and initrd.gz into it.
Then go and put all the -current .sfs files into same directory, e.g. /home/current.

Add these lines to lilo:

initrd = /boot/your_dir/vmlinuz
initrd = /boot/your_dir/initrd.gz
root = /dev/sda* (partition where your .sfs files live)
append = "psubdir=home_of_sfs_files" (not full path, just THE dir name, e.g. current)

Run lilo -v and you should be able to boot into LiveSlack frugally.

Last edited by konmit; 10-30-2021 at 03:18 PM.
 
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Old 10-30-2021, 11:51 AM   #4
Windu
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Quote:
Originally Posted by konmit View Post
Hi,
Actually, lilo should do the trick.

That's how I used to boot several Puppy Linux puplets/derivates: Slacko64, FatDog etc.

Make a new directory under /boot, name it as you wish and copy vmlinuz and initrd.gz into it.
Then go and put all the -current .sfs files into same directory, e.g. /home/current.

Add these lines to lilo:

initrd = /boot/your_dir/vmlinuz
initrd = /boot/your_dir/initrd.gz
root = /dev/sda* (partition where your .sfs files live)
append = "psubdir=home_of_sfs_files" (not full path, just THE dir name, e.g. current)

Run lilo -v and you should be able to boot into LiveSlack frugally.
These instructions are probably OK for Puppy Linux but it won't get you booting up a Slackware Live based on liveslak.
 
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Old 10-30-2021, 02:59 PM   #5
konmit
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Fair enough.
I didn't consider all the aspects of liveslack, but after some reading it probably won't.
Redacting my previous post.
 
Old 11-07-2021, 08:27 AM   #6
igadoter
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Ok guys. I will try to do this today. Idea is simple. Just extract all *.sfx modules from liveslak. Copy them on hard drive - probably I will need to keep the same directory structure. Copy kernel and initrd from live into your /boot. And probably I will have to use grub configuration as in live. I mean to merge its contents with my own config.

The only precaution is to assure kernel will find *.sfx modules on hard drive. But I am almost sure all will work.

I am posting this in case someone is interested.
 
Old 11-10-2021, 05:57 AM   #7
yancek
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Quote:
This way I don't have to waste additional partition
A frugal install being simply the 'live' system placed on a hard drive rather than a CD/DVD/USB, I'm not sure why you think you would need an additional partition. Grub2 will boot an iso directly on most major Linux systems in the manner shown with the boot entry in post 2 above. The big advantage of a frugal install to a hard drive is speed.

I'm not sure exactly what your needs or intentions are but you can put a frugal install on the same partition a another Linux OS or on a partition with a non-Linux filesystem since the actual filesystem being used is iso9660. That is, if you have the free space on the partition on which to put it.

Below is an entry from a grub.cfg file which boots Slackware Live on partition (hd0,11). All that is necessary is to copy "slackware-live-current.iso" to the / (root) of the partition (hd0,11).

Quote:
menuentry "Slackware-Live" {
insmod loopback
insmod iso9660
set isofile="/slackware-live-current.iso"
loopback loop (hd0,11)$isofile
linux (loop)/boot/generic load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw printk.time=0 kbd=us tz=localtime locale=us_EN.utf8 rootdelay=20 livemedia=/dev/sda11:slackware-live-current.iso
initrd (loop)/boot/initrd.img
}
This allows running the 'live' slackware current. I haven't tried creating persistence so that you can install software and/or make modifications but I would think that could be done. The grub.cfg entry would need to be created manually.

Another method would be to extract the iso files from slackware current and copy them to a partition and again, manually create an appropriate grub.cfg entry.
 
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Old 11-10-2021, 07:34 AM   #8
igadoter
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yancek View Post

I'm not sure exactly what your needs or intentions are but you can put a frugal install on the same partition a another Linux OS or on a partition with a non-Linux filesystem since the actual filesystem being used is iso9660. That is, if you have the free space on the partition on which to put it.
y.
Great thanks for your config. Liveslak has some nice features. Say it combines sfx modules into /. It also gives opportunity to dynamically add custom build sfx modules.

Alien Bob made everything ready. My scenario is to keep local mirror for current. Having such mirror I can update sfx modules accordingly. Of kernel etc. Some part of custom sfx modules will require to be rebuild. At the end I don't have to rely on liveslak provided by Alien Bob. Just my own all the time fresh current. And running on bare metal. Of course all glory goes to Alien Bob nonetheless. I just have enough headache playing with partitions. And I know that such system can be stable. I got 35 days of uptime on liveslak. Without issue.

But / on overly file system, which is how liveslak works, offers some other possibilities. But first things first.
 
Old 11-10-2021, 03:22 PM   #9
0XBF
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Grub can be set up to boot an .iso file like others here have stated. I have used that myself to test out isos in the past. However, I think you may run into trouble because the stock iso has no persistence. With liveslak, persistence is set up when using the iso2usb.sh script to copy the iso to a flash drive, creating partitons and setting up a persistence overlay in the process. This makes no change to the original iso file.

Also to add custom squashfs modules you would need a setup created by iso2usb.sh, so that you can put modules in the addons directory. I think your only option to add custom software would be to create custom isos using the 'make_slackware_live.sh' script of liveslak and run the isos from grub without persistence. Maybe you could have a separate '/home' partition that you could mount on top to at least give your user persistent configuration settings.

Edit: Something interesting from liveslak's changelog today:
Quote:
=== Boot from an ISO file on disk ===


If you downloaded a liveslak ISO file and want to boot that ISO directly from its location on your computer's hard drive, you can use this Grub configuration block and add it to your ''/boot/grub/grub.cfg'':
Code:
menuentry " LIVESLAK ISO" --class gnu-linux --class os --class icon-linux {
  set iso='/data/ISOS/slackware64-live-xfce-current.iso'
  set bootparms='load_ramdisk=1 prompt_ramdisk=0 rw printk.time=0 kbd=us tz=Europe/Amsterdam lang=nl'
 
  search -f $iso --set=root
  loopback loop $iso
  linux (loop)/boot/generic livemedia=scandev:$iso $bootparms
  initrd (loop)/boot/initrd.img
}
This example will add a 'LIVESLAK ISO' menu entry to your local computer's boot menu, through which you can start a downloaded XFCE Live ISO pre-configured for a US keyboard, Dutch language and Amsterdam timezone.

Last edited by 0XBF; 11-10-2021 at 03:41 PM.
 
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Old 11-10-2021, 04:25 PM   #10
igadoter
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 0XBF View Post
Edit: Something interesting from liveslak's changelog today:
That's great. About modules: I think they can be added during boot time.

Edit: I just tried to use that menu entry for grub. So far only partial success. Kernel boots from iso and runs busybox. But then errors are reported. So I am being switched to local console. I will have a look into it.

Last edited by igadoter; 11-11-2021 at 11:20 AM.
 
Old 11-13-2021, 04:18 PM   #11
igadoter
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Ok now it works. liveslak is using generic kernel, initrd.img for liveslak does not contain btrfs module. It is important because in my first attempt iso file was located on btrfs file system. So I moved iso file onto partition with ext4 file system. And slightly modified custom menu entry for grub to boot liveslak. I rerun grub and now I can boot liveslak from iso located on my hard drive. This is kind of frugall installation.

I used 'lean' version. But in future I use full iso.

The other way is to repack iso adding to initrd.img missing btrfs module.

So I mark this thread as solved.
 
Old 11-14-2021, 03:03 PM   #12
yancek
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Glad you got it working. Just noticed your 'location' which isn't far from my ancestral home of Kalisz. Small world.
 
Old 11-15-2021, 08:25 AM   #13
igadoter
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yancek View Post
Glad you got it working. Just noticed your 'location' which isn't far from my ancestral home of Kalisz. Small world.
My ancestral home is now part of Ukraine.
 
  


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