Install Skywave 4.1 liveCD as normal (modifiable) Linux installation

wickercoffin · 11-27-2020, 02:09 AM

Hi, folks!

I will try to be as succinct as possible. I am a bit of a Linux novice having installed several Debian and Ubuntu distros on various laptops I've owned. I would like to be able to install the Skywave Linux distro to my hard drive (okay, fine it's really an SSD) as a normal (modifiable) Linux installation.

As of Skywave 4.0 the author has changed the distro so that it *only* a live CD and has changed the WM used in Mate (Compiz I think) to the minimalist i3 WM ... and I ***HATE*** this interface.

The author of this distro seems to think i3 is the greatest thing since sliced bread and isn't fully forthcoming with advice. I want to be able to change the DE to Mate or Xfce but I do not know how. Google is of little help unless you know the right search terms.

I would appreciate any advice!

Thank you.

berndbausch · 11-27-2020, 09:16 PM

Thanks for making me curious. Getting all sorts of radio signals on a PC? Mouth-watering. I will try this out.

I am not sure what your question is, though. There are at least two ways for installing Skywave on a hard disk:

Quote:

UPDATED 11/15/2020: This method works, but is no longer the best. Use the TimeShift package to back up your running live environment to a separate medium, then do a "restore" onto the device you want to use as your daily driver.

"this method" refers to Ubiquity or Calamares as instructed on that page.

But then you ask about changing the windows manager, which is a totally different question. Can't you just apt install Xfce? After all, this is just a remixed Ubuntu.

wickercoffin · 11-29-2020, 06:50 AM

Hi, thanks for the reply.

From what I can tell either of those methods on the web page load up the ISO image as if it were a liveCD -- read only. I've tried just using Disks to "restore" this ISO to a hard drive partition and, guess what, it was -- read only. This means I cannot install Xfce because it ends up being a read only installation of Linux. My expertise on this subject is very limited.

I would be using Skywave right now if it weren't for the interface.

yancek · 11-30-2020, 07:08 AM

If you go to the Skywave site at the link below, it has the paragraph below which indicates that Ubiquity is available on the live system. Skywave, according to their site, is based on Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubiquity is the Ubuntu GUI installer so look for it in the applications menu or run the command "ubiquity --desktop gtk_ui" (without quotes). Discussed at the 2nd link below. According to this site, the --desktop is probably not needed. Restoring or writing ths iso to a hard drive will still have a read-only iso system, that is expected behavior. You need to run the installer Ubiquity to install.

https://skywavelinux.com/

Quote:

Installer crashes on versions 2.0 and earlier: Ubiquity had a bug which caused installations to fail when selecting languages and time zones. To remedy the bug, use "sudo apt update" and then "sudo apt upgrade" to freshen the running system before attempting a full installation.

https://askubuntu.com/questions/9959...l-bootable-usb

jefro · 11-30-2020, 02:56 PM

Mount the iso to some modern linux. Should be able to mount the iso. That will tell you what it on it. I suspect a large file someplace that is the actual compressed virtual filesystem. Basically take that filesystem and create the supporting files like bootloader and intrid.
May have to modify some of the static naming fstab stuff. I'd think there are still some old Knoppix web pages on that subject since that is the way you had to do it. They did change root and change owners in their examples.