Differences between revisions 5 and 22 (spanning 17 versions)

How to boot DyneBolic from USB

The following instructions explain how to make a usb storage device (like usb stick) bootable with grub and install dyne:bolic on it so that you can run it from USB, without harddisk or CD.

If you are looking for instructions on how to save your personal data on a USB stick, then this is not the right place, look at ["Nesting"]. If you're looking to copy the entire system over to your harddrive, again, this is not the right place, look at ["Docking"]. This page documents on how to put the whole system on the usb stick.

The whole system requires a USB device about the size of the /dyne directory (currently ~655MB at version 2.4.2) + ~30MB (for file system headers). Therefore, the entire system should fit on a USB stick of ~685MB, but you may want a bit more space for your personal files. If your USB stick is smaller try ["Nesting"] instead.

How DyneII loads (technical):

the boot system consists of a bootloader, in our case grub
the bootloader loads a kernel, in our case linux
the kernel loads a ramdisk, in our case dyne:II initrd.gz
the ramdisk will look for a dyne/ dock
we keep both kernel and ramdisk in a dock and install grub

Use this tutorial from a running dyne:bolic system, it should be nested or running as a liveCd:

Open a terminal window.
Find what device your USB drive is:
- ```
cat /proc/partitions
```
- Ignore the entries that end in numbers, those are individual partitions on each separate device. The ones that end in letters are different devices.
- hda means your primary IDE harddrive, sd... generally means a RAID/SCSI/USB device
- If you're confused, look at the blocks column, which shows the # of 1KB blocks on the device. If you know how big your USB stick is, you can find it this way. ~1,000,000 blocks = a 1 gigabyte device; ~64,000 blocks = 64MB device.
- From here on in, this tutorial assumes your usb device is /dev/sda, if it's not /dev/sda, change it as necessary.
Start the partition tool:
- ```
cfdisk /dev/sda
```
  - With cfdisk:
  - delete all partitions
  - create a new primary at maximum size (Don't use the "Maximize" button, it does something very different)
  - put the type to 83 (Linux)
  - write everything and quit
Format your drive:
- ```
mke2fs /dev/sda1 
```
- Change it to mke2fs -j... if you want to use EXT3 instead of EXT2. However, it is probably not advised to use the EXT3 journaled filesystem on a flash/USB device. Journaling writes to the disk more often than necessary, which wears out the USB device more quickly. Use a non-journaled filesystem such as EXT2 (Linux only) or FAT32 (if you want to make your usb device readable outside of Linux). The default (ext2) is a safe choice, however, you may want to read up on journaled vs non-journaled file systems and make an informed decision in your case.
Mount the drive:
- ```
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/usb 
```
Install grub:
- ```
grubconfig
```
- Select the usb device, generally the last item in the list.
- Note: If all the items in the list start with hda..., the computer you're currently using can't be booted from a usb device and you'd be installing grub to a partition of your harddrive instead. Quit, then find another computer.
Copy the dyne/ dock directory from the CD
- ```
rsync -Pr /mnt/cd1/dyne /mnt/usb/
```
- (rsync is better than cp and we have a progressbar)
Try booting your USB device. If it works, great! If not:
1. Open your /boot/grub/menu.lst (on the USB device) and change the root(...) line from (hd0,0) to (hd1,0). Save the old line as a comment.
2. There is an alternate set of boot options in /dyne/menu.lst, which selects a different kernel (use if it complains how it can't mount the drive), and replace the kernel line. Save the old line as a comment. (Try this with the default root line and the alternate)

Your USB device is ready!

Note: This does not seem to work if your USB device is sdb... (ie, on a system with a RAID hd), the usb device is never loaded into /boot/volumes, so the system complains about not having a dyne system to boot from. If you put the CD in, it works fine.

-  ⇤ ← Revision 5 as of 2007-03-16 08:53:59 → 
  Size: 2413
  Editor: anonymous
  Comment: Added information that journaled filesystems are probably not good choices for USB devices; reformatted instruction list.
+   ← Revision 22 as of 2007-11-05 11:49:19 → ⇥
  Size: 4282
  Editor: anonymous
  Comment:
-Deletions are marked like this.
+Additions are marked like this.
 Line 4:
-If you are looking for instructions about ["Nesting"], on how to save your personal data on a USB stick, then this is not the right place. This page documents on how to put the WHOLE SYSTEM on the usb stick.
+If you are looking for instructions on how to save your personal data on a USB stick, then this is not the right place, look at ["Nesting"].  If you're looking to copy the entire system over to your harddrive, again, this is not the right place, look at ["Docking"].  This page documents on how to put the '''whole system''' on the usb stick.
 Line 6:
-The WHOLE SYSTEM requires a USB stick of at least zzzzzz MB. If your USB stick is smaller than that, try ["Nesting"] instead.
+The '''whole system''' requires a USB device about the size of the /dyne directory (currently ~655MB at version 2.4.2) + ~30MB (for file system headers). Therefore, the entire system should fit on a USB stick of ~685MB, but you may want a bit more space for your personal files. If your USB stick is smaller try ["Nesting"] instead.
 Line 8:
-little briefing:
+How DyneII loads (technical):
 Line 14:
-we keep both kernel and ramdisk in a dock and install grub
+ * we keep both kernel and ramdisk in a dock and install grub
'''Use this tutorial from a running dyne:bolic system,''' it should be nested or running as a liveCd:
-Line 16:
+Line 17:
-do the following operations from a running dyne:II DHORUBA 2.3 (i will assume the usb stick is recognized as /dev/sda)

Contrary to the following suggestions, it is probably not advised to use the EXT3 journaled filesystem on a flash/USB device.  The journaling results in more disk access than necessary, and results in wearing out the USB device more quickly.  It is preferrable to use a non-journaled filesystem such as EXT2 (Linux only) or FAT32 (if you want to make your usb device readable outside of Linux).  Read up on journaled vs non-journaled file systems and make an informed decision in your case.

partition the usb stick as a unique EXT3 journaled partition (or FAT32 to read the drive in windows):
+. Open a terminal window.
 1. Find what device your USB drive is:
  . {{{
cat /proc/partitions}}}
  * Ignore the entries that end in numbers, those are individual partitions on each separate device. The ones that end in letters are different devices.
  * ''hda'' means your primary IDE harddrive, ''sd...'' generally means a RAID/SCSI/USB device
  * If you're confused, look at the ''blocks'' column, which shows the # of 1KB blocks on the device. If you know how big your USB stick is, you can find it this way. ~1,000,000 blocks = a 1 gigabyte device; ~64,000 blocks = 64MB device.
  * From here on in, this tutorial assumes your usb device is /dev/sda, if it's not /dev/sda, change it as necessary.
-Line 23:
+Line 26:
-  * {{{
+  . {{{
-Line 26:
+Line 29:
-. delete all partitions
   1. create a new primary at maximum size
   1. put the type to 83 (Linux)
   1. write everything and quit
+   * delete all partitions
   * create a new primary at maximum size (Don't use the "Maximize" button, it does something very different)
   * put the type to 83 (Linux)
   * write everything and quit
-Line 31:
+Line 34:
-  * {{{
mke2fs -j /dev/sda1 }}}
+  . {{{
mke2fs /dev/sda1 }}}
  . Change it to ''mke2fs -j...'' if you want to use EXT3 instead of EXT2. However, it is probably not advised to use the EXT3 journaled filesystem on a flash/USB device. Journaling writes to the disk more often than necessary, which wears out the USB device more quickly. Use a non-journaled filesystem such as EXT2 (Linux only) or FAT32 (if you want to make your usb device readable outside of Linux). The default (ext2) is a safe choice, however, you may want to read up on journaled vs non-journaled file systems and make an informed decision in your case.
-Line 34:
+Line 39:
-  * {{{
+  . {{{
-Line 37:
+Line 42:
-  * {{{
+  . {{{
-Line 39:
+Line 44:
-   . (select the last item in the list and proceed)
+  * Select the usb device, generally the last item in the list.
  . '''Note:''' If all the items in the list start with ''hda...'', the computer you're currently using can't be booted from a usb device and you'd be installing grub to a partition of your harddrive instead. Quit, then find another computer.
-Line 41:
+Line 47:
-  * {{{
+  . {{{
-Line 43:
+Line 49:
-   . (rsync is better than cp and we have a progressbar)
+  . (rsync is better than cp and we have a progressbar)
 1. Try booting your USB device. If it works, great! If not:
  1. Open your /boot/grub/menu.lst (on the USB device) and change the root(...) line from (hd0,0) to (hd1,0). Save the old line as a comment.
  1. There is an alternate set of boot options in /dyne/menu.lst, which selects a different kernel (use if it complains how it can't mount the drive), and replace the kernel line. Save the old line as a comment. (Try this with the default root line and the alternate)
-Line 46:
+Line 55:
-inside the boot/grub/menu.lst there are the default options to boot, they should work alltough some times they might need (hd0,0) to be changed to (hd1,0) depending on how the computer sees the usb...
+'''Note:''' This does not seem to work if your USB device is ''sdb...'' (ie, on a system with a RAID hd), the usb device is never loaded into /boot/volumes, so the system complains about not having a dyne system to boot from.  If you put the CD in, it works fine.