Hello and welcome

You have replied to a two year old post (it happens frequently and I have done it as well). It is better to start your own thread and include a link to this thread if you think it is related.

Hi,

Yes, your query reached me..

I would approach this task somewhat differently these days.. Reasons for this include: growing problems getting some Iso's to boot using the various isobooting procedures and "problematic" system installers that won't work properly if used in a "non-standard" way. etc.

I've found that the most robust method which works for multiple purposes is to install a new distro into Virtualbox. The installation is then tweaked to suit my specific requirements and updated as normal.

The installation is then extracted from the Virtualbox drive (yes, at file level) and copied to a spare location on an external bootable drive.

At this stage, I have a fully updated system that can be copied onto any machine.. (yes, some further tweaking is/will be required to performed to 2 or 3 text files on the new system.)

I then boot the target machine from the external drive, prepare/alter the target internal drive(s) (using gparted) and copy the installation across.

Finally, I alter the target systems fstab (change the UUID to suit the target drive(s) ) and either search & replace the target systems grub.cfg's UUID's or use a 3 or 4 line manually written temporary grub.cfg. This is replaced with a system generated one when the target system first boots by using 'update-grub'.

This might all seem to be a great deal of work.. but::

The external bootable drive (one of several) that I use for these purposes has several full Linux installations on it (a mix of 32-bit and 64-bit distros). The drive is set up so it can be booted on **anything** x64/x86, legacy, 32 or 64-bit UEFI. The drive also acts as a rescue drive.. e.g. it will boot any Linux system that has a borked bootloader.. Repairs are often easier to perform from within a running system.

I had this particular method implemented a couple of years before I started using Virtualbox.
A further advantage in using this drive on "potentially" problematic hardware is that you can attempt to boot the external drive from the tablet without making any changes to the tablet at all.. You will just use the tablet's boot override or (failing this) a direct boot using the EFI shell.

The main advantage of using an extracted Virtualbox installation is that you have a fully updated system that can be copied anywhere..

If you (or anyone else) requires further info. then just ask here.. I can post full instructions if required.

B.

Hi,@Bodge,

Thanks for getting back to me - and so amazingly quickly.

However, my first thought is... do I have the technical skills to do what you suggest? As I said, I really am not techie at all - I really am the scourge of boards like this - and I couldn't really understand much of what you wrote. I was up for work at 4am yesterday, after maybe 20 minutes' sleep, and I worked until 6.30pm and have woken up this morning with a stinking cold so I'm probably not firing on all cylinders, but even when I am feeling better, will/would I be able to follow your instructions?

I mean, I looked up virtualbox and I can't even work out which Linux distribution to download! That doesn't bode well for me doing anything more complicated, does it? But am I right in thinking that, as in your previous method, the iso still needs modifying and that virtualbox is, sort-of, a place in which you/I/anyone can do that modifying before copying/moving the tweaked iso to a USB, which could then be used to boot my knackered tablet and/or any machine, really? If my thought is correct, how easy would it be do to all that, given how completely useless I am?

Hi,

I'd suggest starting very simply and progressing from there.

You don't need to be a Linux expert at all.. all you need is some basic Linux familiarity, a working computer installation (Linux is not essential, at least on the host system), some spare hard drive storage space and some sort of external device. For this, a hard drive (spinning rust or SSD) in a USB caddy is preferable. If you are stuck, you could use a suitably sized flashdrive at a pinch.

One thing I'll say here before I go any further.. No one is born knowing this stuff and there is no such thing as a silly question. If you don't understand **anything** then just ask about it here. Don't assume.. ask!! (please).

If you do decide to proceed here then I can promise you that the knowledge that you gain will help you in your future Linux endeavours.

First off.. I'll need some information from you.
What type of computer do you have and which operating system are you running??
How much spare hard drive space do you have available?
Do you have any external storage devices available??

Overview:
I'll get you to install something like Linux Mint into Virtualbox. This will allow you to experiment on a working system with no risk at all of causing any problems on the host system.
I'll explain the concepts that you'll need at this stage in order to progress to the next stage.

When you are confident enough to proceed, I'll talk you through copying this installation to your external device. You will now have an external bootable device that you can use to start your host computer with.

Next, a couple of simple additions are made to the external device's installation which you can then use with your tablet..

There are no Iso's to modify.. only a few text files in an installed system to alter.

Finally, if you want to proceed.. everything at **your** pace. I do understand that "life" gets in the way quite often. It does with me, anyway.

More if required.

B.

Hi, @Bodge,

First up,thanks for being so reassuring, and, of course, for continuing to be up for helping.

I'm sorry for taking a while to respond; I was trying to work out how to get the info you asked for (you'll see what i mean in a bit!)

OK, so the laptop I'm using is a Samsung RV510, running Linux Mint Cinnamon. My laptop is indeed old, but I bought it refurbished about a year ago, because (as may be a bit obvious) I hate the thought of good stuff going into landfill for no reason. OK, so I'm no expert but mechanically it's perfect, and it does all the things I need a laptop to do (maybe it wouldn't if I was into gaming or whatever, but I'm not so it does).

As for storage, I think it's 120GB, but - and here's where I will really embarrass myself - I don't think I can access it all, or work out how to access it. I've installed Linux on a handful of machines now, for myself and others, but I still don't understand the whole partitions thing. So, would it be OK, please, if I attach a screenshot of what I get if I go into accessories, discs? Can you view it? Can you make sense of it?:



As for external storage, I have umpteen USBs, deffo at least one 16GB, maybe more, and maybe one 64GB one, but also several 1GB, 2GB and 8GB ones. I've got loads of DVDs, and a few SD cards, although I think the maximum size of any of those is 4GB.

Thanks, again, for getting involved, but please feel free to get back to me when you get chance, whenever that might be - you're doing me a massive favour, so it's only fair to do stuff at your convenience rather than mine!

Hi,

A good start.. You've got a working Linux system and you have some experience with Linux..

Now that I've got some info about your setup, I'd recommend proceeding in a slightly different way to what I initially proposed.. I'll explain:

The 'Disks' image that you attached suggests that your system may have once had Windows installed.
First off, a few questions:

Do you dual boot with Windows?? If you do, I need to know before proceeding..
If you don't, is there anything on the Windows partition that you want to keep? e.g. documents, video files, music, pictures etc. ??

It would appear that you have about 60GB that is not allocated for Linux use. There is a 31GB windows partition followed by 29GB of free space.
Your Mint installation appears to be installed within an extended partition.

There is nothing technically wrong with this but it's a non-standard layout for a single operating system.
I think that it would make sense to rationalise the drive layout, so allowing Linux to use the whole disk.

Here, you can either wipe the drive and reinstall from scratch **OR** use simple tools and rejig the existing drive layout.
Performing this job the second way (with a full system backup) will also fulfill about 90% of the work needed to get Linux onto your tablet..
You would then have no need to install a new system into Virtualbox.. You can just use your copy of your existing installation.

I'll write something up on drives & partitions etc. that should help..

Next: Could you do this:

Open a terminal and type in the following commands. This will create a text file called 'myDiskstuff.txt'.
If you could then post the contents of this file (or the actual file) here. This will give me more detailed information about your drive and system usage.


Note: File names are case sensitive in Linux. 'myDiskstuff.txt' is a different file than 'MyDISKStuff.txt'

B.

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Hi, @Bodge,
I'm so sorry for not getting back sooner. It's partly family/home stuff, but mainly computer stuff, which could be relevant.
OK, so almost as soon as you posted your last reply I tried the terminal thing, several times, but I got nowhere. I think I got a couple of different responses but I can't remember what they were, possibly one was about there being no such file or directory or something. I'm a bit vague because while I was doing the terminal thing firefox sort-of froze. It has done it before, usually when I have a handful of (internet) tabs open. I can try to move to a tab other than the one I was in when it froze but that tab will take a lifetime to open, if it will open at all. It's only the internet/browser that freezes, everything else seems OK, but it's impossible to do anything when the tab/s I've tried to open keep opening over/around whatever I'm trying to do (if that makes sense to you). I employed my usual 'cure' - a restart - but by then I'd lost the will to live, and lost all track of what i was supposed to be doing anyway.
This morning I had enough spare time to try again, but I couldn't get into Linux. The welcome window thing would open and I would put in my password but all that would happen is the screen would reload - and this happened umpteen times. I tried putting off/taking off the caps lock, and then I got a message that i'd entered the wrong password - so I MUST have been using the correct password before, but Linux didn't like it for some reason.
I managed to get in via recovery mode. I tried the dpkg(?) thing and still couldn;t get in, but then I tried the 'make some space' or whatever option, and then I could get in (but there's no way I can remember any message I got during the process.) By then, though, I'd run out of 'free brain' time.
I've got some now, though, and I've tried the terminal thing again and this is what I've got. The first bit came after i'd copied and pasted your 'request', the second when I'd typed it in myself (the x's replace my name - I dunno, it just seemed sensible from a security perspective, but maybe it isn't necessary?):

xxxxxxx@xxxxxx-RV410-RV510-S3510-E3510:~$ df > myDiskstuff.txt
df: /run/user/1000/doc: Operation not permitted
df: write error: No space left on device
xxxxxx@xxxxxx-RV410-RV510-S3510-E3510:~$ df > myDiskstuff.txt sudo fdisk -l >>myDiskstuff.txt
df: sudo: No such file or directory
df: fdisk: No such file or directory

I hope this isn't turning into more trouble that it's/I'm worth!
Thanks for your help so far, and apologies, again, for taking so long to get back to you.

Hi,

EDIT: I've just read your last message properly.. You might be suffering from a lack of available disk space.. (i.e. Your disk is full). If so, this will cause all sorts of problems in running your system. You **DO** have plenty of space that can be made available for use. If space is **really** tight, then you'll have to perform the work using a Mint Live flashdrive.
Don't worry, I'll talk you through what to do.

Questions:
Do you run MS windows on your laptop?
Have you got a Mint Live flashdrive (used to install Mint) available (any version will do)?
Leave everything else for now. This job is **MUCH** more important!!
I'll write something up that will help.

**Leave the following for now**
Don't ever worry about getting back to me.. Just when you can.. I do understand.

O.K. then.. I'll cover the previous commands that I asked you to enter into a terminal..

Open a terminal and enter the following. Press 'enter' after typing in the command.
You should see something like this returned:
This is actually from a Linux Mint installation in Virtualbox.

Your output will look a little different.. no biggy. As you were seeing an "operation not permitted" message, I'll get you to repeat the command, but this time as the 'Super User'. The 'Super User' (aka 'Root') is the Linux equivalent of the Windows 'Administrator' user. As Root, you have total access to the internals of the system that are normally kept 'locked away' from a normal user. TIP: Be careful using Root.. "With great power comes great responsibility".
You will be asked for your password. This time there may be more information shown here.. again, no biggy.

Now for the full line, with the command output saved to a text file called 'myDiskstuff.txt' (No quotes are in the file name).
Explanation of this command:

'sudo' Run the following command (everything typed in until you press 'Enter') as Root.

'df' This is the 'disk free' command. It returns basic information about how much of your disk(s) is used.

'>' This is the 'redirection' command. Here, it just means "instead of displaying some output text, send it somewhere else. In this case, save it in a text file named 'myDiskstuff.txt'. This file will be created if it doesn't exist or overwritten if it does.

Now run the second line:
Explanation of this command:
'sudo' As before.

'fdisk -l' This is a low level disk tool. You are using it here to give a greater detail about your harddrive setup.
You need to be Root to see any meaningful output. The '-l' is called a 'switch' or a 'modifier'. All this does is tell the 'fdisk' command to display it's output in a specific way.

'>>' This is similar to the '>' redirection above, but here it appends the command output to an existing file. i.e. it adds the new text to any already there.

If you run (in your terminal).
You'll get something like this:
Don't worry about what any of this means.. All will become clear later.

So.. If you could do the following: Don't forget, press enter after each line.

More later.

B.

Hi,

Let's give your laptop's Mint installation some more disk space..

To begin, a few concepts.. Somewhat simplified.

A hard drive (or other storage device) has to be initialised and set up in a specific way so that it can be used or accessed by the operating system.
First off, the disk is designated as either an MBR or a GPT drive.

An MBR drive is often referred to as an 'msdos' or 'Legacy' style drive. Historically, these drives could be split into (up to) 4 logical sections called partitions. These partitions can then be set up (formatted) to hold a filesystem. It is the filesystem that the operating system can access and use for file storage etc.
The important thing is that each filesystem is totally isolated from any of the other filesystems. You would need to use system tools in order to access one filesystem from another.

Over time, only having a maximum of 4 partitions per harddisk became insufficient.. The concept of an extended partition was then introduced. This extended partition can hold a greater number of further partitions.
The original (up to) 4 partitions are now referred to as primary partitions.. Partitions within the extended partition are known as logical partitions.

So.. an MBR drive can have up to 4 primary partitions or up to 3 primary partitions and 1 extended partition. This extended partition can hold multiple logical partitions.

A GPT drive doesn't use the concept of an extended partition. It can support a much greater number of partitions directly.

If you would prefer to practice with 'gparted' with a flashdrive then stop here, tell me and I'll write something up. I have no problem doing this if you would prefer.

To continue:
Boot your laptop from your Linux Mint flashdrive.

Open a terminal and enter the following. Then press your 'enter' key.
Enter your password (if requested). Gparted should now run and look something like pic1, attached.
I've mocked up a drive with a similar layout to your laptop drive. Ignore all of the names and numbers for now. Just look at the rectangular boxes near the top and the 'File System' list, below.
As you select a partition, the partition box as well as the entry in the 'File System' list is highlighted.
These are a graphical representation of how your harddrive is organised.

Have a look at pic2. If you look at the 'File System' list you'll see that the extended and the logical partition within have a key symbol next to them. The Linux (ext4 filesystem) is shown with a 'Mount Point' of (here) '/mnt'. All this means is that the filesystem on this partition is (AT THIS TIME) 'connected' to the running Linux system.
Here, you would need to change the filesystem from 'mounted' (i.e. connected) to unmounted (i.e. disconnected).
You would only need to do this if the filesystem was actually mounted, because you want to modify it.
Assuming that nothing is accessing any files on this filesystem (you won't be) then right click on the partition and click on 'Unmount'. As your Linux drive probably won't be mounted, you won't need to do this. You need to be aware of the difference between a mounted and unmounted filesystem. That's why I mentioned this here.

It would appear that your laptop drive is a legacy drive.. as indicated by the extended partition.
However, without further information, your **exact** booting mechanism is currently unknown.

So, we'll play safe here and only move one partition, then expand the space allocated to Linux using the newly consolidated free space.

Warning: There is always a small risk of data loss when altering disk structures. Keep your laptop charger connected while performing the following and you'll be fine.

Now back to your 'gparted' window. Click on the 4th box, the one between the two 'unallocated' regions.
This is shown as partition 3, 151MB on your original 'Disks' image.

Now right click on this box (or your equivalent to '/dev/sda4' entry as shown highlighted in pic2.).
Select 'Resize/Move'. Drag the partition image from the far right hand side to the far left hand side, as per pic3. Don't resize the box (i.e. make it bigger) just move it. Cancel and retry if necessary.

Click on the 'Resize/Move' button. and O.K. the warning message. Now click on the tick button (underneath 'help' on the menu) to apply the operation. Click 'Apply' to confirm the pending operation. This will take a short time, depending on the partition size and your computer speed.

Next, expand the extended partition to use the unallocated space:
Right click on the extended partition (It's easiest to use the 'File System' list here. See pic4).
Select 'Resize/Move'. Drag the left hand handle all the way to the left, so that 'Free space preceding' is '0'. See pic5.
Click on the 'Resize/Move' button and then the 'Apply All Operations' tick button.

Finally, expand the Linux partition in the same way so that it now uses the whole of the extended partition.
Right click on the 'ext4' partition. Select 'Resize/Move'. Drag the left hand handle all the way to the left, so that 'Free space preceding' is '0' (or, more probably '1' on your system). Click on the 'Resize/Move' button, confirm the choice and then the 'Apply All Operations' tick button. Confirm the choice by clicking on 'Apply'.
This will take considerably longer.. Just wait until you see the 'All operations successfully completed' message.

Now shut down the laptop, remove the flashdrive and restart.

Any problems, just ask..

B.

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Hi, @Bodge,

thanks (again!).

Before I try anything else, does this look OK to you, please? (Please feel free to take your time getting back to me, btw - you must have a life to live that doesn't involve sorting my computer!)

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Hi,

Looking good so far.. You've added (or are adding) an extra 28GB of space to your Mint installation.. Your system should work a lot better now.

I'd suggest performing further work to "tidy everything up". We'll discuss this later on.. Let's get your system stable first.

I'll need to ask a few questions and get you to run a few basic tests so that we can proceed in the best way.

More later..

B.

Hi,

Just a couple of very general questions about your current Mint installation, if I may.

Is your system running properly now? Can you surf the web without any browsers crashing?
Can you play videos & music O.K. ?? Any problems at all??

If everything seems O.K. now.. then I'll write something up that you can use to produce some information about your system and how it is set up.
I think at this stage it is important to emphasise that none of your personal information will be accessed, copied or asked for.

I will explain every task that I ask you to perform. All the generated info. will be in one or more text files that I'll ask you to post here. You can always check exactly what is being asked for by viewing these files with text editor or even a word processor.

More later..

B.

Hi,

Now for some information gathering.. so we can work out the best way to proceed:

I'll list the commands without any text output redirection so that you can see the output for yourself.

Open a terminal and enter the following commands, pressing 'enter' after each line.
'lshw': This is 'list hardware'. Basic information about your system.
'fdisk': A low level disk tool. This will provide specific information about your disk(s) and filesystems.
'inxi': This provides information about your hardware and some details about your operating system.
'df': The command line "disk free" utility. This shows the size and used/available space of each mounted filesystem.
'cat /etc/fstab': This prints the contents of a file onto the screen. In this case, the 'file system table'. This file is used by the system to automatically mount one or more filesystems to the running Linux system.

Now repeat the commands, redirecting the output to a text file.

Could you now post this file here.. (or PM me if you would prefer).

Also, do you run Windows on this laptop??

B.

Hi, Bodge,

It's CluelessLass here. I tried to post the information you asked me for and I got blocked! I have emailed 'contact us' to ask to be unblocked but so far I haven't had any response at all, even though I got blocked days ago - probably less than 24 hours after the last post from you. I don;t want to hassle anyone, so I'm going to give it another couple of days then try contacting them again, and I'll post an update when I do. (There doesn't seem much point me posting the info you asked for under my 'new' id, as I'd only get blocked again!)
Thanks (again) and sorry,
Clueless

Hi,

Welcome to my world.. I get days where everything I touch turns to *****. As you say, you'll have to wait for admin to get back to you.
Hopefully you'll then be able to PM me directly.

B.