Why is Porteus-installer-for-Linux.com needed for booting Porteus via USB?

[donald]

Hi Ed
I do not have any hardware "contaminated" with UEFI; so please don't ask me questions.

But here is a link to some drivers.
http://efi.akeo.ie/

[cad]

So Cad, for future reference, don't conflate EFI and Secure Boot together. Two different things.

I run some modern hardware, that only allows you to turn off secure-boot, but otherwise, EFI booting is all you have. No fallback to legacy boot.

Yet I still run normal installations for the most part on stick that are EFI aware.

The saddest thing about EFI boot is that the *myth* that one *has* to use fat-32 has been repeated so often, it has become fact. You can use ANY filesystem you want, including ext, but many read the specs too fast.

For a more detailed explanation of EFI and Secure Boot facts and myths, the author of Rufus spells it out in his faq:

https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/wiki/F ... hould_Blah

Next time anyone build a bootable stick that is EFI aware, try using a filesystem of your choice. You can end up with a fat/ntfs-free EFI install.

Thing is, you have to try it to find out. Too many just don't believe it, or just parrot back some other guide that doesn't know this either.

I did not just "parrot" something I had read about "EFI and FAT32" somewhere... I spoke from personal experience. My first attempt booting Porteus on my EFI laptop consisted in following the procedure described in my Jan 2 post above, except at the time of that first attempt I used an EXT4 partition. It did not work, as the partition was not recognized as a booting device and was therefore bypassed by my laptop's BIOS (a last generation Lenovo IdeaPad, manufactured last October). By the way, I too USB-drive boot Porteus v5.0 via EFI, not legacy boot. Next, I followed that same procedure, but this time I booted from a FAT32 partition. It worked flawlessly! Hence, I posted here that a FAT32 partition is required in order to boot Porteus from a USB flash drive on an EFI machine when following that simple procedure. Why would I waste my time searching for, downloading and installing additional drivers when all that is needed is to copy the Porteus ISO files to a FAT32 partition? After reading your post today, I gave it another try with a non-FAT32 partition (this time an EXT2). Again, it did not work. I did not test with non-FAT32 UEFI drivers, and do not intend to. Why should I make it difficult for myself when it can be so simple and easy?

So, yes, for anyone intending to follow the simple procedure outlined in my previous post, a FAT32 partition is required in order to properly boot Porteus from a USB stick on an EFI machine.

[kuldeep]

CAN I JUST BOOT FROM A BOOTABLE LIVE PORTEUS USB Like I do in Ubuntu . ? Why so much hype here - I just wish to give it a try & make a bootable usb - rest I shall take care of selecting that USB as my first boot device - my bios supports and lets me choose any disk to boot from by pressing F9 at bootup. whhy is all that fuss around here about UEFI & ALL . Make things simpler not complex guys. Appreciate any help in advance or I shall figure it out my self - thank you .

[Ed_P]

Hello kuldeep. Booting Porteus from a USB is very easy.

1. Format USB drive as FAT32.
2. Copy all files in the Porteus ISO to the USB drive.
3. Review the USB_INSTALLATION.txt file on the USB drive.
4. Run the /boot/Porteus-installer that matches the OS you are running.
5. Boot the USB drive.

If you have an EFI system you need to disable the Secure Boot option because unlike Ubuntu, Porteus does not have EFI Secure Boot support.

Easy enough for you?

If you have grub installed you can boot the ISO directly. No need for a USB drive.

Added in 9 hours 28 minutes 4 seconds:
Not sure what specifically the Porteus-installer apps do but the Linux version has 2600+ lines of code and both are over 110KB and if you don't run one of them the USB drive doesn't boot.

[beny]

hi Ed_P the installer check the device and install the syslinux boot manager and we have of course two version : for linux and window.

[Ed_P]

Hi beny. Thanks. I know the installer tweaks the USB's MBR to boot Porteus. It may also tweak the USB drive's partition table for GPT compatibility. (Uefi and porteus 3.0) As I said, I don't know all the specifics I just know the drives boot if the ISO files are all copied to the USB drive and the Porteus-install app is run.

[Rava]

Just a reminder, any OS - any Linux, but also e.g. BSD - could be loaded from the same USB drive that has Porteus installed, when you can figure out the needed syntax for it. Just a tip.

[Bicephale]

M'yah, but we're expecting the machines to do machine work. INot to mention i may actually profit from you're own time nonetheless (there's a file or 2 on disk), nice way to meet you! Though that's for when the time feels right, because i tend to get tired fast and this reading alone depleted my today's reserves... Windows11 not an option for my tablet anyway, so linux is installed (twice) but i'm having to deal with legacy USB external peripherals as well and it needs to be thinlightweight while still capable of running QEMU itself running Win7/10, to have legacy drivers working through virtual cross-OS USB channels! To play analog video, play games and more!!

So i must refrain and hold my enthousiasm knowing it's a long ride.