[SOLVED] Cannot replace AntiX with other distro

Klaas Vaak · 08-01-2019, 08:54 AM

Even if they were automounted, it should be possible to unmount them now, and that's not happening.

bodge99 · 08-01-2019, 09:07 AM

Hi,

You don't need to unmount anything.. just use the mount commands as described. All that happens is that the source partition is mounted in two places. i.e. the file system of the source is visible in two locations.

The automounting mechanism is performing as it should, that's normally fine for most purposes. Here, it's fine to let it "do its stuff".. you just want something slightly different.

Bodge99

Klaas Vaak · 08-01-2019, 09:21 AM

Quote:

You don't need to unmount anything ...

Have you read my earlier comments? Please do because I am stuck.

colorpurple21859 · 08-01-2019, 09:35 AM

if the parttiions are mounted and your having trouble unmounting, change the cp command to the mount points similar to this:

Code:

sudo cp -a  /media/sdb1-usb-SanDisk_Cruzer_B/. /media/mmcbblk0p1/

bodge99 · 08-01-2019, 09:47 AM

Hi.

Quote:

This where I got stuck. When I boot from the AntiX flashdrive, the EFI partition /dev/mmcblk0p1 is mounted at /media/mmcblk0p1, and the system /dev/mmcblk0p2 is mounted at /media/rootantix17.4.1.

The Mint flashdrive is mounted as follows:
EFI /dev/sdb1 is mounted at /media/sdb1-usb-SanDisk_Cruzer_B
System /dev/sdb2 is mounted at /media/sdb2-usb-SanDisk_Cruzer_B

If I do mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt1/sdb1-usb-SanDisk_Cruzer_B
it says that mount point /mnt1/sdb1-usb-SanDisk_Cruzer_B does not exist.

O.K. You have your Mint flashdrive partitions mounted somewhere... That's fine.
Now forget where these partitions have been automounted...

Just follow the mount instructions that I gave..

For the EFI partitions:

Code:

mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt1 {Your flashdrive Mint EFI partition, your specific designation here may differ}
mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt2 {Your eMMC EFI partition}
cd /mnt2
rm -r *

It matters not that the flashdrive partitions are already mounted... Although you could use these mounted locations if you wish, why complicate things and risk confusing yourself? (I do this a lot!.. confusing myself, I mean!).

Just manually mount the EFI partitions as per my worked example and go from there..

That's why I use such "easy to identify and find" locations such as /mnt1 and /mnt2. I've created these mount points and have manually mounted specific partitions to these locations (initially both EFI partitions). I then "do some stuff..." delete, copy or whatever. I then unmount /mnt1 and /mnt2 when I've finished with the source and target partitions.. Ready for the next bit (system partitions next..).

Bodge99

Klaas Vaak · 08-02-2019, 12:09 AM

Bodge, couple of things:
* I got confused between mmcblk as installed on the eMMC, and mmcblk as on the live AntiX flashdrive. In your mind that is so obvious therefore it does not need to be made explicit, but for me it did. Anyway, once I got that straight in my mind, then I could move forward.

* I left the Mint flashdrive mounted as is, so did not create a /mnt1, I only created /mnt2.
*

Code:

mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt2 {Your eMMC EFI partition}
cd /mnt2
rm -r *

The removal went well.

* you advised:

Code:

cp -a /mnt1/. /mnt2/

This is what I got:

Code:

root@antix1:/home/demo# cp -a /media/sdb1-usb-SanDisk_Cruzer_B/. /mnt2/
cp: failed to preserve ownership for '/mnt2/.': Operation not permitted

Code:

whoami

returned "root", so what's going on?

Please advise.

bodge99 · 08-02-2019, 03:16 AM

Hi,

When I performed this action, I didn't get this message. You can get this message as Fat32 does not support the concept of file ownership and the command is just warning you of this.
It's not an error, it's a warning. As the filesystem on the USB stick is FAT it is unable to keep the information about who is the owner of the file, but it doesn't mean it hasn't successfully written the file. If you check /mnt2/ you'll see that the files have been copied.

Code:

ls -R /mnt2

Should return something like this:

Code:

/mnt2:
EFI

/mnt2/EFI:
BOOT ubuntu

/mnt2/EFI/BOOT:
BOOTX64.EFI fbx64.efi

/mnt2/EFI/ubuntu:
BOOTX64.CSV fw fwupx64.efi grub.cfg grubx64.efi mmx64.efi shimx64.efi

/mnt2/EFI/ubuntu/fw:

I've obviously got used to this warning and "blank it out". Because of this I neglected to warn you. My apologies for this.

When I refer to the eMMC (or partitions such as mmcblk0p1) I mean the eMMC on the Leonovo.
The flashdrive is mounted (as in my worked examples as sdb). This is one of the reasons why I use easy to identify mount locations and manual mount operations. As you've found, it it quite easy to become confused as to "what is where"..

Bodge99

Klaas Vaak · 08-02-2019, 05:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bodge99

Hi,

When I performed this action, I didn't get this message. You can get this message as Fat32 does not support the concept of file ownership and the command is just warning you of this.
It's not an error, it's a warning. As the filesystem on the USB stick is FAT it is unable to keep the information about who is the owner of the file, but it doesn't mean it hasn't successfully written the file. If you check /mnt2/ you'll see that the files have been copied.

Code:

ls -R /mnt2

No, that just returns

Code:

/mnt2

i.e. there is nothing in /mnt2, and that makes sense because when I check with the File Manager the folder is empty.

bodge99 · 08-02-2019, 07:06 AM

Hi,

Interesting.. It looks like the AntiX automount options are interfering with what you are trying to do. I'll look more closely at this later. I didn't have any problems like this at all, although I didn't use the automounted location..

Two ways to proceed:

Either: Use your File Manager to copy the files and directory structure over. The content of the EFI partition is quite small.

Or: Mount the flashdrive EFI partition manually to /mnt1 as per my worked example.

I'm having a break from laying a new floor in the back room so I'll check out the AntiX automount settings shortly...

You will find that various Desktop Managers implement "helpful" functionality such as automount.. This is all "well and good" as, most of the time, it is actually assisting the user. Problems can occur if you are attempting to perform a perhaps slightly less common action in a way which doesn't quite fit with the distro "we do this action this way" method.

I'd guess that AntiX is geared to use GUI tools.
Bodge99

Klaas Vaak · 08-02-2019, 07:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bodge99

Hi,

Interesting.. It looks like the AntiX automount options are interfering with what you are trying to do. I'll look more closely at this later. I didn't have any problems like this at all, although I didn't use the automounted location..

Two ways to proceed:

Either: Use your File Manager to copy the files and directory structure over. The content of the EFI partition is quite small.

That is what I wanted to do. Unfortunately, this is now becoming a nightmare: the Mint EFI partition is mounted in /media, but it is empty !! And /mnt2 is empty too, so 1 way or another those files have been deleted. As I am writing this, I am beginning to think that, during my confusion about the 2 different sets of mmcblk files, I probably deleted the wrong ones :-(((
I am now awaiting your instructions again, although I fear you will tell me to go back to square 1 and reinstall Mint to the flashdrive.

Quote:

I'd guess that AntiX is geared to use GUI tools.

No, on the contrary, it is more geared to the use of the CLI. Its offspring, MX, is geared to the use of GUIs.

I know I am not supposed to blame this on AntiX - a lot of people use it happily, and it has a high rating on DistroWatch- but if I manage to replace it with Mint I will not even touch it with a barge pole. Same for a computer with an eMMC card.
Sorry for my rant as a frustrated newbie who was proud to have found a simple, reliable, low resources consuming OS as a replacement for a borked Win 8.1 tablet. I regret for not having at other alternatives. End of rant.

bodge99 · 08-02-2019, 08:07 AM

Hi,

You've been quite unlucky so far.. Things will get better.. I promise!

O.K. As you have Mint on your main computer then you could just copy the EFI partition contents and work with that.

If you look at your main system with a file manager (I'd use Midnight Commander, but any file manager run as Root will do.)

Browse to /boot/efi

Now copy the EFI directory and its contents to a flashdrive (full path is /boot/efi/EFI)
You want to end up with the flashdrive having these contents:

Code:

└── EFI
 ** ├── BOOT
 ** │** ├── BOOTX64.EFI
 ** │** └── fbx64.efi
 ** └── ubuntu
 **     ├── BOOTX64.CSV
 **     ├── fw
 **     ├── fwupx64.efi
 **     ├── grub.cfg
 **     ├── grubx64.efi
 **     ├── mmx64.efi
 **     └── shimx64.efi

Bodge99

Klaas Vaak · 08-02-2019, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bodge99

Hi,

You want to end up with the flashdrive having these contents:

Code:

└── EFI
 ** ├── BOOT
 ** │** ├── BOOTX64.EFI
 ** │** └── fbx64.efi
 ** └── ubuntu
 **     ├── BOOTX64.CSV
 **     ├── fw
 **     ├── fwupx64.efi
 **     ├── grub.cfg
 **     ├── grubx64.efi
 **     ├── mmx64.efi
 **     └── shimx64.efi

Got that. I managed to copy it to /mnt2 (despite "operation not permitted"), but the .efi files are shown with a Windows icon. Is that OK? Can I continue?

bodge99 · 08-02-2019, 10:14 AM

Hi,

Just looking at the .efi files (btw, normal installations only need bootx64.efi and/or grubx64.efi)

Code:

In EFI/BOOT

BOOTX64.EFI 1334816 bytes
fbx64.efi   1213032 bytes

In /EFI/ubuntu

fwupx64.efi   75992 bytes
grubx64.efi 1116024 bytes
mmx64.efi   1269496 bytes
shimx64.efi 1334816 bytes

Ignore anything not in /EFI/BOOT or /EFI/ubuntu

Bodge99

Klaas Vaak · 08-02-2019, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bodge99

Hi,

Ignore anything not in /EFI/BOOT or /EFI/ubuntu

Bodge99

There is nothing outside /EFI/BOOT and /EFI/ubuntu.

My question was whether the fact that the .efi files have a Windows icon matters. You have not said anything about that.

bodge99 · 08-02-2019, 11:20 AM

Hi.

The icons are assigned as per whoever wrote the desktop manager... Nemo in Mint shows the same thing. Microsoft are part of the UEFI consortium but they don't own it.. (yet!)

You should be "good to go" as windows shouldn't write anything to the Ubuntu directory. Check the file size of BOOTX64.EFI in EFI/BOOT .

Bodge99