Can I use the Alien's way of preparing a complete Slack 12.1 installation into pendrive:

http://www.slackware.com/~alien/tools/usbinstall/12.1/

to perform this with brand new Slack 12.2 dvd iso file ?

I should take some time to update it for 12.2, but if you have a big enough pendrive so that all of Slackware 12.2 will fit on it, all you probably need to increase a bit is in line 43 of the script for Slackware 21.1:
I think 22MB may be just a bit too small for the new installer, because we added some cool new things there.
Just experiment. Make it or even more than that.

Eric

I used a 8GB pendrive. Here's what I did:

1. Changes in the create_multipartboot.sh script:
I changed FATSIZE to =26000 and instead of /tmp/slackboot output place I used my user home directory = /olek/slackboot

2. I executed: SLACKROOT=/mnt/cdrom sh create_multipartboot.sh -m 4050
(/mnt/cdrom is a loop/mounted dvd slack 12.2 iso image)

3. The result was:

------------------------------------------------------------------------#
# $Id: create_multipartboot.sh,v 1.26 2008/10/09 18:04:56 root Exp root $ #
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------#

--- Copying all of the Slackware tree to the USB image: ---
--- Cleaning up the staging area... ---
--- Creating 4050 MB disk image: ---
8035+0 records in
8035+0 records out
4146831360 bytes (4.1 GB) copied, 122.885 s, 33.7 MB/s
--- Ignore the 'WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed'... ---
--- Partitioning image with FAT type 4 (FAT16) and Linux partitions: ---

Disk /dev/loop1: 4146 MB, 4146831360 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 8035 cylinders, total 8099280 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xea206be0

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/loop1p1 63 1007 472+ 4 FAT16 <32M
/dev/loop1p2 1008 8099279 4049136 da Non-FS data
*** FAT startsector: 63 - numblocks: 472 ***
*** ext2 startsector: 1008 - numblocks: 4049136 ***
0+1 records in
0+1 records out
440 bytes (440 B) copied, 0.0504891 s, 8.7 kB/s
mkdosfs 2.11 (12 Mar 2005)
Warning: block count mismatch: found 4049608 but assuming 472.
Loop device does not match a floppy size, using default hd params
WARNING: Not enough clusters for a 16 bit FAT! The filesystem will be
misinterpreted as having a 12 bit FAT without mount option "fat=16".
tune2fs 1.41.3 (12-Oct-2008)
Setting interval between checks to 0 seconds
>>> Extracting Slackware initrd.img
63418 blocks
--- Patching the Slackware 'initrd.img' for use with USB: ---
patching file /home/olek/slackboot/newinitrd/usr/lib/setup/SeTmedia
Hunk #1 FAILED at 4.
Hunk #2 succeeded at 45 with fuzz 2 (offset 4 lines).
1 out of 2 hunks FAILED -- saving rejects to file /home/olek/slackboot/newinitrd/usr/lib/setup/SeTmedia.rej
*** create_multipartboot.sh FAILED at line 127 ***
--- Cleaning up the staging area... ---

There are some serious warnings above.
Should I place the final usbhd.img into my pendrive ?

At least one file needs to be replaced obviously. Get a SeTmedia.diff suited for Slackware 12.2 here: http://www.slackware.com/~alien/tool.../SeTmedia.diff and replace the one you have now with this updated version.

That may be enough, but I lack the time to tune the actual script at the moment. Please post your results.

Eric

OK. I replaced this file and issued:

# SLACKROOT=/mnt/cdrom sh create_multipartboot.sh -m 4050

And the output is:

------------------------------------------------------------------------#
# $Id: create_multipartboot.sh,v 1.26 2008/10/09 18:04:56 root Exp root $ #
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------#

--- Copying all of the Slackware tree to the USB image: ---
--- Cleaning up the staging area... ---
--- Creating 4050 MB disk image: ---
8035+0 records in
8035+0 records out
4146831360 bytes (4.1 GB) copied, 120.788 s, 34.3 MB/s
--- Ignore the 'WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed'... ---
--- Partitioning image with FAT type 4 (FAT16) and Linux partitions: ---

Disk /dev/loop1: 4146 MB, 4146831360 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 8035 cylinders, total 8099280 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x44c5bb04

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/loop1p1 63 1007 472+ 4 FAT16 <32M
/dev/loop1p2 1008 8099279 4049136 da Non-FS data
*** FAT startsector: 63 - numblocks: 472 ***
*** ext2 startsector: 1008 - numblocks: 4049136 ***
0+1 records in
0+1 records out
440 bytes (440 B) copied, 0.0432977 s, 10.2 kB/s
mkdosfs 2.11 (12 Mar 2005)
Warning: block count mismatch: found 4049608 but assuming 472.
Loop device does not match a floppy size, using default hd params
WARNING: Not enough clusters for a 16 bit FAT! The filesystem will be
misinterpreted as having a 12 bit FAT without mount option "fat=16".
tune2fs 1.41.3 (12-Oct-2008)
Setting interval between checks to 0 seconds
>>> Extracting Slackware initrd.img
cpio: .installer-version not created: newer or same age version exists
63418 blocks
--- Patching the Slackware 'initrd.img' for use with USB: ---
patching file /home/olek/slackboot/newinitrd/usr/lib/setup/SeTmedia
patching file /home/olek/slackboot/newinitrd/etc/rc.d/rc.usb
--- Gzipping the resulting initrd image (initramfs format): ---
63426 blocks
--- Copying installer files to the image file's FAT partition: ---
--- Available space: 463k ---
cp: writing `/home/olek/slackboot/fat/initrd.img': No space left on device
*** create_multipartboot.sh FAILED at line 127 ***
--- Cleaning up the staging area... ---


What next ?

The thing to change in your command is the "4050" because that does not provide sufficient space to copy all the Slackware files to the USB image.

You should be safe (assuming your pen driver is 8 GB) with
Eric

Executing:

SLACKROOT=/mnt/cdrom sh create_multipartboot.sh -m 7500

gives this:

------------------------------------------------------------------------#
# $Id: create_multipartboot.sh,v 1.26 2008/10/09 18:04:56 root Exp root $ #
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------#

--- Copying all of the Slackware tree to the USB image: ---
--- Cleaning up the staging area... ---
--- Creating 7500 MB disk image: ---
14880+0 records in
14880+0 records out
7679508480 bytes (7.7 GB) copied, 228.623 s, 33.6 MB/s
--- Ignore the 'WARNING: Re-reading the partition table failed'... ---
--- Partitioning image with FAT type 4 (FAT16) and Linux partitions: ---

Disk /dev/loop1: 7679 MB, 7679508480 bytes
16 heads, 63 sectors/track, 14880 cylinders, total 14999040 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x01a9fc2f

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/loop1p1 63 1007 472+ 4 FAT16 <32M
/dev/loop1p2 1008 14999039 7499016 da Non-FS data
*** FAT startsector: 63 - numblocks: 472 ***
*** ext2 startsector: 1008 - numblocks: 7499016 ***
0+1 records in
0+1 records out
440 bytes (440 B) copied, 0.016724 s, 26.3 kB/s
mkdosfs 2.11 (12 Mar 2005)
Warning: block count mismatch: found 7499488 but assuming 472.
Loop device does not match a floppy size, using default hd params
WARNING: Not enough clusters for a 16 bit FAT! The filesystem will be
misinterpreted as having a 12 bit FAT without mount option "fat=16".
tune2fs 1.41.3 (12-Oct-2008)
Setting interval between checks to 0 seconds
>>> Extracting Slackware initrd.img
63418 blocks
--- Patching the Slackware 'initrd.img' for use with USB: ---
patching file /home/olek/slackboot/newinitrd/usr/lib/setup/SeTmedia
patching file /home/olek/slackboot/newinitrd/etc/rc.d/rc.usb
--- Gzipping the resulting initrd image (initramfs format): ---
63426 blocks
--- Copying installer files to the image file's FAT partition: ---
--- Available space: 463k ---
cp: writing `/home/olek/slackboot/fat/initrd.img': No space left on device
*** create_multipartboot.sh FAILED at line 127 ***
--- Cleaning up the staging area... ---

Goal not yet achieved, I suppose.
Is it possible that relatively small (3.9GB) root partition's free space area where "/tmp" belongs too has any effect on our issue ?
Earlier, I redirected "/slackboot/*" output directory to "/home/olek/" equipped with 75 GB of free space.

I have a working script now for Slackware 12.2. Get it at http://www.slackware.com/~alien/tools/usbinstall/12.2/

Eric

I installed it on the 8GB pendrive without problem. I quick-booted a notebook from it without installing anything.
Seems fine as of now.

Thanks AlienBob

Hello,

I'm trying to use the 12.2 version for a usb installer, but I get the following error (I changed the output directory to /mnt/home, otherwise all else is untouched with create_multipartboot)...I tried just using this file as is, but I cannot get it to boot from that image. I assume it's related to the error:

# SLACKROOT=/mnt/home/slackware-12.2-iso/ sh create_multipartboot.sh 2010

Your mention of SLACKROOT=/mnt/home/slackware-12.2-iso/ makes me think that there is only an ISO image found in that directory.
The script does not want to find an ISO image. It requires the slackware directory tree at that location, i.e. the directories "slackware" "kernels" and "isolinux" are expected to be found directly below SLACKROOT.

Eric

Oops, I pulled the wrong command from the terminal. I recognized that mistake too and later mounted the iso and then pointed slackroot to that folder.. I still couldn't boot. But I think I realize why. I had two partitions on the usb for a bootable slax drive. I didn't erase those partitions before writing usbhd.img, and I think I selected the first partition there to copy the image to. I deleted the partitions and rewrote it, all works well now. Thanks for providing this great tool!!