Need help using from_dir=/port32 code (Solved)

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newbody
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Need help using from_dir=/port32 code (Solved)

Post#1 by newbody » 07 Oct 2011, 19:09

I found the example here but maybe my post should be in booting instead?

from_dir=/port32 I try to learn how to use this properly but my poor brain is very dense.
So would be cool to have friendly suggestions on what to try.

Reading about Porteus I found that you guys accept that one do frugal installs. Very happy about that.

But a problem happens when one have several Linux distros that all of them use boot as name on a dir or folder.

Now I try to solve it by writing name of distro and boot. like this.

porteusboot
pmagicboot
knoppixboot

and so on. Example

Code: Select all

title Porteus OS 
rootnoverify (hd0,2)
kernel /porteusboot/vmlinuz rw changes=/porteus/slaxsave.dat
initrd /porteusboot/initrd.lz
boots just fine. But then I found this example
multilple porteus os on the same partition
http://porteus.org/forum/viewtopic.php? ... D%2Fport32
Fanthom suggests
unpack porteus ISO's to subfolders ie, /mnt/sda2/port32 and /mnt/sda2/port64
c) use "from_dir=/port32" and "from_dir=/port64" cheatcodes respectively

read /boot/docs/cheatcodes.txt for more info and additional improvements.
Now I don't have several Porteus but instead several linux distros that all of them want the boot dir
to be named just that. So should I change my current code then to this ?

Code: Select all

title Porteus OS 
rootnoverify (hd0,2)
kernel /port32/boot/vmlinuz rw from_dir=/port32 changes=/port32/slaxsave.dat
initrd /port32/boot/initrd.lz
Or do I only need the from_dir=/port32 if I have another Porteus.
What about other Slax like variations of Slackware like Vector, Slabix, Wolvix, Goblin, NimbleX
Parted Magic, Compact Disk Linux, CDLinux, others that I don't know of or remember now.

My current solution is to separate them with renaming boot to porteusboot and renaming boot to pmagicboot
would this from_dir=/port32 be a better solution and how do I make use of it?

Don't tell me to read some manual or FAQ or Wikka or such because due to severe reading difficulty
such text only makes me totally lost having not a clue what to do after reading them. I am very dense but love
computers. Have booted some 75 distros and have currently at least 5 different frugal installs on my ntfs hdd

So only need some basic examples how the code should look like.

I log out and test to see if I can boot with that later code.

Posted after 25 minutes 19 seconds:
Nope that did not work I had to place the porteus dir outside of
the port32 dir. then it booted. And all seems to work.
But I fail to understand that code from_dir=/port32 is it only needed
if one have two Porteus? None of the other Slax varieties are close
enough to get in trouble?
Last edited by newbody on 07 Oct 2011, 22:00, edited 1 time in total.

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Hamza
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Re: Need help using from_dir=/port32 boot code properly.

Post#2 by Hamza » 07 Oct 2011, 19:54

What was the error ?
Log? screenshot or photo ?
NjVFQzY2Rg==

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Re: Need help using from_dir=/port32 boot code properly.

Post#3 by newbody » 07 Oct 2011, 20:14

Thanks Hamza,

as I remember it told me that it could not find the sign file. When I placed the porteus dir
outside of port32 then it just booted and I am using it now and it did boot the slaxsave.dat
file and remembered evertying I did last time. Not important but what about my questions
re the from_dir=/port32 boot code does it only apply to booting two versions of Porteus.

Would none of the other Slax varieties find the slaxsave.dat file inside porteus and use it?

Posted after 7 minutes:
Whoa, important finding.

Like I suspected. Parted Magic and Porteus may be too close to each other.

Now when I look in root then it has loaded pmagic directory.
That is not what I expected. I have pmodules dir there and so on with flash and another
firefox 6.02 that I don't want to mix with the FF 3.6.23 in Porteus.

So no wonder my intuition asks about how to make use of this in the title.
Need help using from_dir=/port32 boot code properly.

I have taken a snapshot and saved it in root but don't know how to upload it and most likely
it is big? I see nothing that allow me to add a picture?
Last edited by newbody on 07 Oct 2011, 20:21, edited 2 times in total.

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Hamza
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Re: Need help using from_dir=/port32 boot code properly.

Post#4 by Hamza » 07 Oct 2011, 20:18

Hehe, the from_dir=/port32 cannot works
Please enter the relative path like this example,
/mnt/sdb3/port32

So, it will be from_dir=/mnt/sdb3/port32 instead from_dir=/port32
NjVFQzY2Rg==

newbody
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Re: Need help using from_dir=/port32 boot code properly.

Post#5 by newbody » 07 Oct 2011, 20:22

Ooops your example looks much better than mine

But it should be like this on my machine from_dir=/mnt/sda3/port32
its and internal hdd and not an external usb something :)
so I edit it now and reboot
but how does one add pictures?

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Re: Need help using from_dir=/port32 boot code properly.

Post#6 by Ahau » 07 Oct 2011, 20:50

The best way to add pictures is to upload them to a filesharing site and pasting a link here. That reduces the size of the database on our server.

It looks like you're booting grub, which I'm less familiar with -- I boot multiple distros from one partition using syslinux, though, so we should be able to sort this out.

Try using the from_dev= cheatcode along with the from_dir= cheatcode. This allows you to specify the device where the data is, as well as the directory inside that device. I'm guessing grub is installed to a different partition than your Porteus data, such as /dev/sda1? That might be the real mixup here, if Porteus isn't looking for the data in the right device.

Here's my boot line for 64-bit Porteus 1.0, in Syslinux:

Code: Select all

KERNEL /64/boot/vmlinuz
APPEND initrd=/64/boot/initrd.xz vga=791 from_dev=/dev/sdb2 from_dir=64 autoexec=xconf;telinit~4 toroot delay=4 
So, translating into your grub, let's try this:

Code: Select all

title Porteus OS 
rootnoverify (hd0,2)
kernel /port32/boot/vmlinuz rw from_dev=/dev/sda3 from_dir=/port32 changes=/port32/slaxsave.dat
initrd /port32/boot/initrd.lz
Out of curiosity, are you still using Porteus v0.9? If you've upgraded to v1.0, you need to point to initrd.xz, not intird.lz, and you can also use a custom name for your save.dat (it can be slaxsave.dat if you like, or save.dat, or 32bitporteuschanges.dat).
Please take a look at our online documentation, here. Suggestions are welcome!

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Re: Need help using from_dir=/port32 boot code properly.

Post#7 by newbody » 07 Oct 2011, 21:03

Thanks Ahau,
good that one can rename the slaxsave.dat to something unique.
Yes maybe I still use the 0.9 then? I did not think about it. Where does one look?
okay about needing to link to such system on other sites. Then I need to join one then :)

But I did solve it by renaming boot of pmagic to pmagicboot instead of just boot.

That is why I started a thread about how to separare difference versions of Slax variations.

My Porteus did boot the boot from pmagic too. Now when I changed name it does not do that.

I am using KDE not that I want it but it loads automatically.
Re your code.

I guess I need to have the dir porteus outside of port32 or else it fails to find the needed files.
I am in porteus now and it only booted if I placed the porteus dir outside of port32.

My current code looks like this
title Porteus OS
rootnoverify (hd0,2)
kernel /port32/boot/vmlinuz rw changes=/mnt/sda3/porteus/slaxsave.dat
initrd /port32/boot/initrd.lz

Would it be better to make use of the 1.0 isntead of 0.9? I guess I can wait for the 1.1 instead?

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Re: Need help using from_dir=/port32 boot code properly.

Post#8 by Ahau » 07 Oct 2011, 21:18

The ISO file that you downloaded and are pulling the files from should contain the version number in it. Also, if you go into the porteus /boot directory, and you have an initrd.lz file, then you are using V0.9. If you have initrd.xz, then you have V1.0. Personally, I would update to 1.0, it's more recent, more stable, better support on the forums (I've forgotten how to do things in V0.9 lol), and while we're probably a month or less away from an alpha release for 1.1, we're probably still 3 months or so from V1.1 final (assuming we stay on the timeline as proposed by fanthom).

If you have your cheatcodes set up properly, your /porteus folder can go inside your port32/ folder, and your pmagic /boot folder can stay as /dev/sda3/boot. Fanthom would be more familiar with the kernel and initrd than I am, but I know that it searches for your porteus data (i.e., the *.sgn file) if it doesn't find it where it expects to be -- what I don't know is how deep inside subdirectories it goes with this search, and I think that's why you need to have the from_dev and from_dir cheatcodes to make this work the way you want it. I've had 5 distros (2 versions of porteus plus slitaz, puppy and slax) installed on one partition and booted them all without interference.
Please take a look at our online documentation, here. Suggestions are welcome!

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Re: Need help using from_dir=/port32 boot code properly.

Post#9 by newbody » 07 Oct 2011, 21:21

Ahau yes I should try the dev thing. Especially if I want to test the old .9 and the new 1.0
beside each other.

So I can just change the files and reuse the slaxsave.dat to the new one hopefully?
or is every such save file very specific to the version maybe?

oops it is very late at night here so I do a quick test and then I should turn in

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Re: Need help using from_dir=/port32 boot code properly.

Post#10 by Ahau » 07 Oct 2011, 21:38

You might be able to just use your .dat file from V0.9 on a V1.0 setup, but I wouldn't recommend it. The .dat file has a lot of saved system settings, shortcuts, cache files, etc., and it might mess things up for you. I think it would be better to keep that old .dat file, but don't boot with it -- create a new .dat file with whatever name you like in V1.0. Then you can loopmount your old container and copy the files you want to save into your new .dat file. Most or all of these should be in the /root/ directory, assuming you have been running the system as root user.

After you install V1.0 and create a save.dat container (plenty of howto's on our website for details), do this:

Code: Select all

mloop /mnt/sdXY/path/to/slaxsave.dat
Now, you can open up your file manager (konqueror, if you're in 32-bit KDE), and navigate to /mnt/loop. You now have access to all of the files in your .dat container. You can copy the ones you want to put in your new .dat container (again, most of them will be in /mnt/loop/root/), and save them somewhere. Then:

Code: Select all

uloop
mloop /mnt/sdXY/path/to/newsave.dat
Now, you can copy the files you saved out of your old container, back into /mnt/loop. Reboot the system, pointing your changes= cheatcode to the new save.dat container, and your old files should be in effect, along with all of the system files that have been created and saved for V1.0.

Note -- you could loopmount both .dat files at the same time, so that you could transfer files directly from one to the other...but the mloop command is just so darn simple! It's one downfall is that you can't use it for two files at the same time.
Please take a look at our online documentation, here. Suggestions are welcome!

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Re: Need help using from_dir=/port32 boot code properly.

Post#11 by newbody » 07 Oct 2011, 21:50

I trust that is good advice and I maybe look into it tomorrow.
I am beginning to get a severe headache so I just do a quick reboot and
check how the new 1.0 boots with the old save file and if that fail
I just shut down and go to bed and it if works then maybe I write Success here.

Don't hold your breath. I reboot now and test.

Edit from within Porteus 1.0 instead of 0.9

surprisingly it worked reusing the old slaxsave.dat file renamed.

And this time I had porteus inside port32-10 but the code for my keyboard failed.
It did not save keyboard settings. Apart from that minor thing it even retained my login pasword here.

Now time for bed.

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