Install LXDE (?) on Flash Drive

r00ster · 01-03-2015, 05:36 AM

I recently got a flash Drive and I want to install a lightweight (bootable?) debian on it. The primary intended use will be to facilitate scheduled backups of /documents, /etc, & /boot for my deb7 (Wheezy) and for My Documents for Windows 8.1. I will also be using it to manage files on an older PC running W-XP. Note: I have Paragon ExtFS for Windows installed on both W-XP & W-8.1.

1. Would it be advisable to re-format the FD as ext 2/3?
E.g.,

Code:

# mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdc

2. There is an .iso 'debian-7.7.0-i386-lxde-CD-1.iso'from the debian page. Do I need to burn a CD, or can I copy it onto the Flash Drive and install it from there; ... or what?

asus-m32ad-pc
-intel-core-i5-4460
-1tb-hdd
-8gb-ram
-amd-radeon-r7-240-graphics
-windows-8-1

KINGSTON
Location /media
Volume KINGSTON
Free Space 30.9 GB
File Sys Type msdos

disk info:
/dev/sda Maxtor 6L160P0 [deb6 Squeeze + deb7 Wheezy]
/dev/sdb TOSHIBA DT01ACA1 [Windows 8.1]
/dev/sdc Kingston DataTraveler 3.0
partition:
/dev/sda1 Partition
/dev/sda2 Partition [Swap]
/dev/sda3 Partition [Wheezy]
/dev/sda4 Partition [NA]
/dev/sda5 Partition [Squeeze]
/dev/sdb1 Partition
/dev/sdb2 Partition
/dev/sdb3 Partitions
/dev/sdb4 Partition
/dev/sdb5 Partition
/dev/sdb6 Partition
/dev/sdc1 Partition
cdrom:
/dev/sr0 ATAPI DH-24AESH

Head_on_a_Stick · 01-03-2015, 06:43 AM

You will need to burn the .iso image to a CD/DVD or USB stick (there will be instructions on how to do this on the distribution's website) and then boot up your computer using this.

This will either boot up straight into the installer or to a "live session" (that is, a session run from RAM with no settings saved between sessions), which will have an option to launch the installer.

If you run the installer, this will format your flash drive for you (ext4 is probably best, although I like XFS) and install the operating system to the drive.

LXDE is a type of lightweight desktop environment that can be used in most (if not all) distributions.

For overview of the available distributions you should check out DistroWatch:
http://distrowatch.com/

You can download an .iso for Lubuntu (an LXDE desktop based on Ubuntu) from here:
http://lubuntu.net/

EDIT: Looking at the spec of your PC, I recommend trying the GNOME desktop; it require more in the way of resources than LXDE but it is far prettier and offers a very integrated & cohesive environment to work in. It will require some adjustment if you are used to Windows but it has some excellent help documentation for newbies.

r00ster · 01-03-2015, 08:41 AM

Head;

Nice to hear from you again.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Head

EDIT: Looking at the spec of your PC, I recommend trying the GNOME desktop; it require more in the way of resources than LXDE but it is far prettier and offers a very integrated & cohesive environment to work in. It will require some adjustment if you are used to Windows but it has some excellent help documentation for newbies.

I've been using debian since Etch. W-8.1 came pre-installed/OEM'd with this PC. I'd much prefer the KDE4 DTE; which I assume I can install to the FD from my Sources List if/as/when I decide I want it after seeing what LXDE actually does;... or not? Are you suggesting I might be better off to install 'debian-7.7.0-i386-kde-CD-1.iso'?

I'm struggling with some of the terminology here. It seems to me the use for the FD will be as a "Storage Device"; one that will allow me to back-up & manage/move files among my debian installations (2) and the Windows 8.1 on a second/slave HDD. A wrinkle I'm barely coping with is that the ASUS UEFI Boot firmware doesn't cope well with the HDD with linux on it. By repeatedly hitting the Reset button, the thing eventually boots the debian HDD, but the BIOS Boot Menu doesn't show both. Short story: ASUS tech says the fix (i.e., disabling Secure Boot) requires me to ship the PC back to them. I'm hoping I can 'mount' the FD within W-8. At present, I can't mount my debian HDD from within Windows although I can mount Windows from within deb7.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Head

If you run the installer, this will format your flash drive for you (ext4 is probably best, although I like XFS) and install the operating system to the drive.

Aha! So I needn't be concerned with the way the FD came formatted; eh?

rod

Head_on_a_Stick · 01-03-2015, 09:29 AM

Bloody ASUS -- we've seen this Secure Boot problem with them over at the Arch forums too...

Anybody reading this: boycott ASUS!

@r00ster: I'm really sorry about implying that you are a n00b -- you have much more experience of GNU/Linux than me.

Yes I would advise using the .iso from that link.

I have successfully installed Arch onto a USB3 stick by just treating the stick as an attached hard drive (in fact, I'm still using the same system having dd'd it to my new laptop's SSD) so try that if you can get past the Secure Boot BS.

r00ster · 01-03-2015, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Head_on_a_Stick

Bloody ASUS -- we've seen this Secure Boot problem with them over at the Arch forums too...

Anybody reading this: boycott ASUS!

@r00ster: I'm really sorry about implying that you are a n00b -- you have much more experience of GNU/Linux than me.

Yes I would advise using the .iso from that link.

I have successfully installed Arch onto a USB3 stick by just treating the stick as an attached hard drive (in fact, I'm still using the same system having dd'd it to my new laptop's SSD) so try that if you can get past the Secure Boot BS.

Oh I'm a "noob" alright, or perhaps 'boob' would suffice. I answer to both. Time was, I just hired people with IT background to fill specific needs. I never touched a terminal until I retired. Even now when I bruit techy lingo on the net, I feel not unlike a 'poseur'. I scarcely know what I'm talking about much of the time; ... and hoping no one notices.

I got the kde .iso. Might as well. I'd be installing it betimes anyway. Thanks for the tip.

AFA ASUS is concerned, PCWorld and PC Magazines and the like would be doing a service if they informed their constituents about what ASUS, Megatrends and MS seem to be doing to significantly inconvenience Open Source, (i.e., non-Microsoft) software & systems. As I wrote elsewhere, ASUS should at least inform potential buyers of Operating System compatibility issues WRT their BIOS Firmware and non-MS Operating Systems. If they want to market their wares as being proprietorialy biased and 'optimized' for Windows, that's their right.

There is a reasonable expectation on the part of a car buyer that they be informed as to whether a unit runs on gas or diesel before they're sold on having it undercoated, overcoated, tarred & feathered, & etc. Leaving it for the proud new owner to find out for themselves the first time they rattle away from the pump... well; we get the picture.

rod

by edit:

I ran:

Code:

# cp /home/rooster/Downloads/debian-7.7.0-i386-kde-CD-1.iso /dev/sdc

and got:

Quote:

Error mounting: mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sdc1,
missing codepage or helper program, or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so

Code:

~# cd /mnt
root@royrogers:/mnt# ls -al
total 1036
dr-xr-xr-x  1 root root   4096 Oct 18 04:55 .
drwxr-xr-x 24 root root   4096 Dec 12 11:50 ..
-r--r--r--  1 root root     27 Oct 18 04:54 autorun.inf
dr-xr-xr-x  1 root root   2048 Oct 18 04:54 css
lr-xr-xr-x  1 root root      1 Oct 18 04:54 debian -> .
dr-xr-xr-x  1 root root   2048 Oct 18 04:55 .disk
dr-xr-xr-x  1 root root   2048 Oct 18 04:54 dists
dr-xr-xr-x  1 root root   4096 Oct 18 04:54 doc
dr-xr-xr-x  1 root root   2048 Oct 18 04:54 firmware
-r--r--r--  1 root root 159564 Oct 13 02:26 g2ldr
-r--r--r--  1 root root   8192 Oct 13 02:26 g2ldr.mbr
dr-xr-xr-x  1 root root   2048 Oct 18 04:54 install
dr-xr-xr-x  1 root root   2048 Oct 18 04:54 install.386
dr-xr-xr-x  1 root root   4096 Oct 18 04:54 isolinux
-r--r--r--  1 root root 192832 Oct 18 04:55 md5sum.txt
dr-xr-xr-x  1 root root   2048 Oct 18 04:54 pics
dr-xr-xr-x  1 root root   2048 Oct 18 04:54 pool
-r--r--r--  1 root root   9265 Oct 18 04:55 README.html
-r--r--r--  1 root root 183440 Oct  7 18:52 README.mirrors.html
-r--r--r--  1 root root  96268 Oct  7 18:52 README.mirrors.txt
-r--r--r--  1 root root    425 Oct 18 04:54 README.source
-r--r--r--  1 root root   5828 Oct 18 04:55 README.txt
-r--r--r--  1 root root 366293 Oct 13 02:26 setup.exe
dr-xr-xr-x  1 root root   2048 Oct 18 04:54 tools
-r--r--r--  1 root root    248 Oct 18 04:54 win32-loader.ini

I agreed with you that I'm a boob. I have no idea how to proceed from here.

jefro · 01-03-2015, 12:26 PM

just a side note.

I'd have removed internal drive and used very newest distro to install directly to usb flash drive just as if it were a real hard drive. Wouldn't have bothered with ext2/3 just native distro ext4 or xfs.

r00ster · 01-03-2015, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jefro

just a side note.

I'd have removed internal drive and used very newest distro to install directly to usb flash drive just as if it were a real hard drive. Wouldn't have bothered with ext2/3 just native distro ext4 or xfs.

AFAIK 'debian-7.0.0-i386-kde-CD1.iso' 2014-10-18 is the latest; or not?

If I remove my internal drives how do I access the iso?? How do I copy the distro to the FD? I'm very confused.

I didn't do anything about existing formatting. I took it on faith the installation would do that.

rod

Head_on_a_Stick · 01-03-2015, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by r00ster

I ran:

Code:

# cp /home/rooster/Downloads/debian-7.7.0-i386-kde-CD-1.iso /dev/sdc

It's a disk image and needs to be transferred verbatim to your drive.

You can use:

Code:

# dd if=/full/path/to/<name of .iso> of=/dev/sdc bs=4096;sync

Or even:

Code:

# cat foo.iso > /dev/sdc

But you must be absolutely sure that the /dev/sd<x> bit is correct -- `lsblk` is your friend here

yancek · 01-03-2015, 02:24 PM

Quote:

# cp /home/rooster/Downloads/debian-7.7.0-i386-kde-CD-1.iso /dev/sdc

Using the cp command as above will NOT work. Boot Debian, open a terminal as root user and run the command below which should put a bootable Live CD on your flash drive. Make sure the flash drive you are copying to is sdc because there is no recovery.

Quote:

# dd if=/home/rooster/Downloads/debian-7.7.0-i386-kde-CD-1.iso of=/dev/sdc bs=4M; sync

Taken from the Debian FAQ site below.

https://www.debian.org/CD/faq/#write-usb

If you have Debian already installed, you should be able to boot the iso for the new Debian from Grub although I'm not sure Debian is capable of being booted directly from the iso. You could surely do it with the extracted iso but the above method is much simpler as is software such as unetbootin. When you have done this, you will be able to boot the flash drive to install Debian.

dr_agon · 01-04-2015, 08:50 AM

r00ster - Do you just want a bootable flash disk with Debian "liveCD" on it or a regular installation on a removable disk?

"LiveCD" iso images usually put lot of informations in temporary filesysytems, which are not preserved for next boot.

If you want to install full system on removable disk you cannot boot your installation media from the same disk (partition), as it need to be overwritten during installation.
BTW - I am not sure about Debian .iso, but you can definitely boot any clone of Ubuntu .iso directly by Grub without unpacking it, no need to "burn" CD or look for an empty flash drive anymore.

r00ster · 01-05-2015, 09:08 AM

Head & yancek;

Code:

# dd if=/home/rooster/Downloads/debian-7.7.0-i386-kde-CD-1.iso of=/dev/sdc bs=4096;sync
165632+0 records in
165632+0 records out
678428672 bytes (678 MB) copied, 31.9247 s, 21.3 MB/s

Code:

root@royrogers:~# lsblk
NAME   MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda      8:0    0 149.1G  0 disk 
├─sda1   8:1    0   9.3G  0 part 
├─sda2   8:2    0 486.4M  0 part [SWAP]
├─sda3   8:3    0    28G  0 part /
├─sda4   8:4    0     1K  0 part 
└─sda5   8:5    0    14G  0 part 
sdb      8:16   0 931.5G  0 disk 
├─sdb1   8:17   0   800M  0 part 
├─sdb2   8:18   0   260M  0 part 
├─sdb3   8:19   0   128M  0 part 
├─sdb4   8:20   0   150G  0 part 
├─sdb5   8:21   0 763.2G  0 part 
└─sdb6   8:22   0  17.2G  0 part 
sr0     11:0    1  1024M  0 rom  
sdc      8:32   1  28.9G  0 disk 
└─sdc1   8:33   1   647M  0 part

Code:

~# blkid /dev/sdc
/dev/sdc: LABEL="Debian 7.7.0 i386 1" TYPE="iso9660"

'Twould seem to have done the job; but I'm not seeing what I hoped to see. Shouldn't '/dev/sdc' appear in '/fstab' even if not mounted?

Code:

# cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'blkid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
# / was on /dev/sda3 during installation
UUID=5a0d08c0-b556-423b-b368-582cca648577 /               ext3    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda2 during installation
UUID=ba8c200b-6266-4d44-a670-d3cbc4e23ce1 none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/sr1        /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto     0       0
/dev/sr0        /media/cdrom1   udf,iso9660 user,noauto     0       0

Code:

/mnt# ls -al
total 8
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root 4096 Dec 14  2012 .
drwxr-xr-x 24 root root 4096 Jan  5 06:02 ..

FYI:

Code:

~# dmesg | grep scsi -A 3
<SNIP>
[  634.898720] scsi6 : usb-storage 2-2:1.0
[  634.898785] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[  634.898786] USB Mass Storage support registered.
[  635.897269] scsi 6:0:0:0: Direct-Access     Kingston DataTraveler 3.0 PMAP PQ: 0 ANSI: 6
[  635.898415] sd 6:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg3 type 0
[  636.065063] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] 60489728 512-byte logical blocks: (30.9 GB/28.8 GiB)
[  636.066559] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Write Protect is off
[  636.066568] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Mode Sense: 23 00 00 00

...and,

Code:

~# umount /dev/sdc
umount: /dev/sdc: not mounted
# fsck /dev/sdc
fsck from util-linux 2.20.1
fsck: fsck.iso9660: not found
fsck: error 2 while executing fsck.iso9660 for /dev/sdc

I'm leery about doing anything without checking before I do damage. Might this be what to do next?

Code:

mount -t iso9660 /dev/sdc /mnt/sdc

dr_agon;

Quote:

Originally Posted by ”dr_agon”

If you want to install full system on removable disk you cannot boot your installation media from the same disk (partition), as it need to be overwritten during installation.

My assumption is that I “should” be able to boot it from BIOS Boot options. It is an assumption qualified by the erratic behaviour of the BIOS firmware (Megatrends) already mentioned above. As long as I can 'mount' it from my deb disk part'n on my Maxtor HDD, and even from my Windows-8.1 HDD (Toshiba) I 'should be good to go.

Head_on_a_Stick · 01-05-2015, 10:05 AM

I don't know why you're asking about mounting & fstab entries -- just put the stick in the slot (fnar!), boot up your computer whilst holding down whichever hotkey your machine uses to access the firmware (BIOS) settings (<Escape> or <F2> are common options) and then select the USB stick to boot from it.

The installer should boot up from the USB stick and then have options to select which drive you wish to install to -- make sure you select your flash drive (the installer will show the sizes, partitions and filesystems of all your attached drives).

You don't have to mount it or indeed do anything with it from your current system once you've transferred the image to the stick.

r00ster · 01-05-2015, 11:53 AM

Head;

To assuage your frustration... when the only tool you have is a hammer, every issue looks like a nail.
I was just using the few tools I have to look at what changes had been made before I did anything drastic.

I proceeded to do the installation, but got the following error message at the end.

Quote:

Partition(s) 1 on /dev/sdc have been written, but we have been unable to inform the kernel of the change, probably because it/they are in use. As a result, the old partitions will remain in use. You should reboot now before making further changes.
ERROR!

I wondered if sdc1 might have resulted from my botched first attempt to copy the .iso to the Flash Drive.

Code:

# fdisk -l
<SNIP>
Disk /dev/sdc: 31.0 GB, 30970740736 bytes
64 heads, 32 sectors/track, 29536 cylinders, total 60489728 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0006fd0b

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1            2048    15312895     7655424   83  Linux
/dev/sdc2        15314942    60487679    22586369    5  Extended
/dev/sdc5        15314944    17268735      976896   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdc6        17270784    60487679    21608448   83  Linux

I can't mount the thing in my deb7 HDD

Code:

~$ dmesg | tail
[  949.981624] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[  949.986845] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page found
[  949.986854] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[  949.988412]  sdc: sdc1 sdc2 < sdc5 sdc6 >
[  949.992897] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] No Caching mode page found
[  949.992905] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Assuming drive cache: write through
[  949.992911] sd 6:0:0:0: [sdc] Attached SCSI removable disk
[  950.146472] ISOFS: Unable to identify CD-ROM format.
[  950.243691] ISOFS: Unable to identify CD-ROM format.
[ 1587.472109] ISOFS: Unable to identify CD-ROM format.

What next?

On a positive note, the UEFI Boot Menu does show the Flash Drive, even though it still omits the Maxtor HDD.

Head_on_a_Stick · 01-05-2015, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by r00ster

I proceeded to do the installation

What exactly do you mean by this?

The installer should offer to format your flash drive & overwrite anything on it.

Are you sure /dev/sdc is the flash drive to which you are installing?

yancek · 01-05-2015, 01:01 PM

In post 11, you show the dd command you used to put the Debian bootable iso image on a flash drive, the flash drive was /dev/sdc.
In your last post, you show an install with partitions on sdc. Did you try to install Debain to sdc from sdc as the error below seems to indicate?

Quote:

Partition(s) 1 on /dev/sdc have been written, but we have been unable to inform the kernel of the change, probably because it/they are in use. As a result, the old partitions will remain in use. You should reboot now before making further changes.
ERROR!