etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility *updated*

Post links to your 64bit module repos here. Repo maintainers are responsible for resolving any issues caused by their xzm's.
User avatar
Rava
Contributor
Contributor
Posts: 5401
Joined: 11 Jan 2011, 02:46
Distribution: XFCE 5.01 x86_64 + 4.0 i586
Location: Forests of Germany

etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility *updated*

Post#1 by Rava » 11 Dec 2021, 02:53

Etcher is a KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility.

[Update]
See etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility (Post by burdi01 #86104) for info on the stripping of the module. Thanks to burdi01 for the heads up on that. Updated download at the end of this post, stripping details and also download info here: etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility (Post by Rava #86109)
[/Update]

More info on etcher:
https://www.balena.io/etcher/
Validated Flashing
No more writing images on corrupted cards and wondering why your device isn't booting.

Hard Drive Friendly
Makes drive selection obvious to avoid wiping your entire hard-drive
Tested in Porteus 5.0rc3 XFCE 4.12. Could be other DE need additional dependencies. If so, please reply in this thread and I see what can be done.
_______________________________________________

Cave! It goes online, maybe to look for updates - but it does so without asking you first Image as you can see when you start it via xterm:

Code: Select all

guest@porteus:/tmp/mc-guest$ balena-etcher-electron 
[Axios v1.7.1] Transitional option 'clarifyTimeoutError' has been deprecated since v1.0.0 and will be removed in the near future
[Axios v1.7.1] Transitional option 'forcedJSONParsing' has been deprecated since v1.0.0 and will be removed in the near future
[Axios v1.7.1] Transitional option 'silentJSONParsing' has been deprecated since v1.0.0 and will be removed in the near future
{"message":"certificate has expired","stack":"Error: certificate has expired\n    at TLSSocket.onConnectSecure (_tls_wrap.js:1497:34)\n    at TLSSocket.emit (events.js:315:20)\n    at TLSSocket._finishInit (_tls_wrap.js:932:8)\n    at TLSWrap.ssl.onhandshakedone (_tls_wrap.js:706:12)","config":{"url":"https://balena.io/etcher/static/config.json","method":"get","headers":{"Accept":"application/json, text/plain, */*","User-Agent":"axios/1.7.1"},"transformRequest":[null],"transformResponse":[null],"timeout":0,"responseType":"json","xsrfCookieName":"XSRF-TOKEN","xsrfHeaderName":"X-XSRF-TOKEN","maxContentLength":-1,"maxBodyLength":-1,"transitional":{"silentJSONParsing":true,"forcedJSONParsing":true,"clarifyTimeoutError":false}},"code":"CERT_HAS_EXPIRED"}
ready-to-show: 5.120s
_______________________________________________

I used txz2dir etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-1cf.txz etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-1cf and made the following manual changes to the directory etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-1cf/ as root:

Code: Select all

root@porteus:/etcher# cd etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-1cf/usr/

root@porteus:/etcher/etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-1cf/usr# mkdir bin

root@porteus:/etcher/etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-1cf/usr# cd bin

root@porteus:/etcher/etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-1cf/usr/bin# ln -s ../../opt/balenaEtcher/balena-etcher-electron .

root@porteus:/etcher/etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-1cf/usr/bin# ls -o
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root 45 Dec 11 03:27 balena-etcher-electron -> ../../opt/balenaEtcher/balena-etcher-electron
since the executabe script for starting etcher - balena-etcher-electron - is in /opt/balenaEtcher/ and on your system most probably /opt/balenaEtcher/ is not in your $PATH and I wanted etcher to be startable from an xterminal as well.
Staring it via DE is by default handled via its /usr/share/applications/balena-etcher-electron.desktop:

Code: Select all

[Desktop Entry]
Name=balenaEtcher
Exec=/opt/balenaEtcher/balena-etcher-electron %U
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Icon=balena-etcher-electron
StartupWMClass=balenaEtcher
Comment=Flash OS images to SD cards and USB drives, safely and easily.
MimeType=x-scheme-handler/etcher;
Categories=Utility;
How it looks like:
Image
Cave! The menu of etcher is usually hidden and (for now) I have no clue how to get it visible and workable on a permanent basis. Only during the screenshot process the menu was visible and after the screenshot the menu vanished again. Don't ask me why, I have no clue.

etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-1cf.xzm - 74,34 MB or 77955072 bytes.

md5sum:

Code: Select all

e6e5b316d90f55818fd01022116f3b3d  etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-1cf.xzm
sha256sum:

Code: Select all

7abdf3d0955e5b50087599411f133941bcc7bbfa89983068a2b26b35f05fd952  etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-1cf.xzm
Here is the download:
https://filehorst.de/d/eylDfICr

Since filehorst speaks German, a short HOWTO download and translation:

To get it, first wait 15 seconds "Dein Download wird jetzt vorbereitet." (Your download is being prepared)
Then click "Jetzt zur Download-Seite" (now to the download page)
Then click "Dein Download steht nun bereit. Klicke hier, um ihn zu starten." (Your download is ready. Click here to start downloading it)

________________________________________________________

See etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility (Post by burdi01 #86104) for info on the stripping of the module. Thanks to burdi01 for the heads up on that. Stripping details and also download info here: etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility (Post by Rava #86109)

Here the stripped module: 58929152 bytes (56.20 MB) - filehorst link:
https://filehorst.de/download.php?file=erGuqdtx

md5sum

Code: Select all

20bd6d4bf1242254399e8267cfcfc640  etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-stripped_rava.xzm
sha256sum

Code: Select all

4b6b1ca28b1c1d0bf77626abc68a0891151f78068d32fd2ec21e09bd37e22f13  etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-stripped_rava.xzm
________________________________________________________

For those interested: md5sum of the txz used:
58add8283aca1f60299b1e5f2f36eb49 etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-1cf.txz
Downloaded from https://slack.conraid.net/repository/sl ... 64-1cf.txz
--- Downloads: 1 (74,34 MB) - Zuletzt am: 11.12.2021 04:27 Uhr
Cheers!
Yours Rava

Kulle
Warlord
Warlord
Posts: 594
Joined: 28 Jan 2017, 10:39
Distribution: v4.0 64bit Xfce
Location: Berlin

etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility

Post#2 by Kulle » 11 Dec 2021, 09:48

Hi Rava,
works for me too (Porteus 4.0 Xfce)

burdi01
Shogun
Shogun
Posts: 201
Joined: 18 Aug 2013, 12:09
Distribution: Slackware PartedMagic Xubuntu
Location: The Netherlands

etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility

Post#3 by burdi01 » 11 Dec 2021, 10:52

Actually one can reduce the package size even further:

Code: Select all

.....
# balenaEtcher is a glorified dd. As such it is much too big: the 1.7.1
# appimage is 95.5 MB and the corresponding deb is 86.8 MB. However it is a
# very user-friendly application and I use it frequently out of pure laziness.

# This slackbuild unpacks the deb and cuts things down as much as can be done
# (including the sandbox) without losing the executionability.
# The result is # a 50.5 Slackware txz.
# Note that to enable non-root users a polkit-authorization-agent is required.
.....
# Specific prune
rm -rf opt/balenaEtcher/{libEGL.so*,libGLESv2.so*,libvk_swiftshader.so*,libvulkan.so*}
rm -rf opt/balenaEtcher/{locales,swiftshader,vk_swiftshader_icd.json}
rm -rf opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot
rm -rf opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/node_modules
rm -rf opt/balenaEtcher/{chrome_{1,2}00_percent.pak,chrome-sandbox,snapshot_blob.bin}
.....
:D
Last edited by burdi01 on 11 Dec 2021, 13:10, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Rava
Contributor
Contributor
Posts: 5401
Joined: 11 Jan 2011, 02:46
Distribution: XFCE 5.01 x86_64 + 4.0 i586
Location: Forests of Germany

etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility

Post#4 by Rava » 11 Dec 2021, 12:15

Cave! Unlike what you would expect from a GUI program, it not warns even once that the data on the stick is all erased prior writing the ISO.
All in all, I think I can stay with simply using dd myself, what is the use of etcher-bin when it is unable to make the rest of the drive available for the user?
burdi01 wrote:
11 Dec 2021, 10:52
Actually one can reduce the package size even further
good to know. :)
I will use your tip, shrink the module and upload a 2nd version of it.

Code: Select all

# balenaEtcher is a glorified dd.
Indeed it is no more than that. I was disappointed when using it on the most recent Kali Linux - it just created the approx 3.1 GB ISO sized iso9660 partition and a very small "efi" one - and left the larger rest of the thumbdrive unavailable.
the efi:

Code: Select all

root@porteus:~# ls -o /mnt/sdb2/efi/boot/bootx64.efi 
-rwxrwxrwx 1 guest 409600 Dec  1 12:21 /mnt/sdb2/efi/boot/bootx64.efi
I then used cfdisk (or maybe it was sfdisk) to create a 3rd partition to use the largest part of the stick as well and formatted that area as ext2.
Cave! cfdisk and sfdisk and also fdisk all warn that they will overwrite the iso9660 info on the initial partition. I have yet to test if the now altered stick is still bootable.

The DE filemanager (XFCE 1.12: Thunar) is unable to mount the first partition. I had to use this in the root terminal:

Code: Select all

root@porteus:~# mkdir /mnt/sdb1

root@porteus:~# mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/sdb1
NTFS signature is missing.
Failed to mount '/dev/sdb1': Invalid argument
The device '/dev/sdb1' doesn't seem to have a valid NTFS.
Maybe the wrong device is used? Or the whole disk instead of a
partition (e.g. /dev/sda, not /dev/sda1)? Or the other way around?
root@porteus:~# mount -t iso9660 /dev/sdb1 /mnt/sdb1

root@porteus:~# mount -t iso9660 /dev/sdb1 /mnt/sdb1
mount: /mnt/sdb1: WARNING: device write-protected, mounted read-only.
Then finally all is available:

Code: Select all

root@porteus:~# /bin/df -Tm /mnt/sdb[123]
Filesystem     Type    1M-blocks  Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb1      iso9660      3143  3143         0 100% /mnt/sdb1
/dev/sdb2      vfat            1     1         1  98% /mnt/sdb2
/dev/sdb3      ext2         4423     1      4418   1% /mnt/sdb3
You also have to use the terminal to umount the ISO partition - in my case, /dev/sdb1 aka /mnt/sdb1 .

Added in 3 minutes 8 seconds:
In case one might wonder: I used

Code: Select all

tune2fs -m 0.1 /dev/sdb3
after I created the filesystem to adjust (=reduce) the reserved blocks.

Added in 5 minutes 21 seconds:
burdi01, what's the purpose of that code line:
burdi01 wrote:
11 Dec 2021, 10:52

Code: Select all

.....
Cheers!
Yours Rava

burdi01
Shogun
Shogun
Posts: 201
Joined: 18 Aug 2013, 12:09
Distribution: Slackware PartedMagic Xubuntu
Location: The Netherlands

etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility

Post#5 by burdi01 » 11 Dec 2021, 13:13

burdi01, what's the purpose of that code line:

burdi01 wrote: ↑
11 Dec 2021, 12:52

Code: Select all

.....
Indicate that line(s) have been omitted.
:D

burdi01
Shogun
Shogun
Posts: 201
Joined: 18 Aug 2013, 12:09
Distribution: Slackware PartedMagic Xubuntu
Location: The Netherlands

etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility

Post#6 by burdi01 » 11 Dec 2021, 14:24

# balenaEtcher is a glorified dd.
Indeed it is no more than that. I was disappointed when using it on the most recent Kali Linux - it just created the approx 3.1 GB ISO sized iso9660 partition and a very small "efi" one - and left the larger rest of the thumbdrive unavailable.
Understand that "dd" (and hence Etcher) copies an image to the drive. An ISO just happens to be an image. Just have a look with GParted at the drive and you will see that e.g. sdd is an iso9660 drive -- note "sdd", not "sddX", just like e.g. sda might be an MSDOS/GPT drive. And just like Linux can see the sdaX partitions it can see the sddX partitions. Note however that an iso9660 drive is still a CD on an USB drive and is not writeable therefor.
:D

User avatar
Rava
Contributor
Contributor
Posts: 5401
Joined: 11 Jan 2011, 02:46
Distribution: XFCE 5.01 x86_64 + 4.0 i586
Location: Forests of Germany

etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility

Post#7 by Rava » 11 Dec 2021, 15:39

burdi01 wrote:
11 Dec 2021, 14:24
Understand that "dd" (and hence Etcher) copies an image to the drive. An ISO just happens to be an image.
I know.
Just… a gui like Etcher could easily offer to partition the drive first and then dd the iso to the first partition.
Anyhow, how does it work that initially there have been two partitions?
The large 1st iso9660 and the small 2nd efi one?

Was the iso a multipart-iso?

Or did etcher made the efi one by itself?
Cheers!
Yours Rava

User avatar
Rava
Contributor
Contributor
Posts: 5401
Joined: 11 Jan 2011, 02:46
Distribution: XFCE 5.01 x86_64 + 4.0 i586
Location: Forests of Germany

etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility

Post#8 by Rava » 12 Dec 2021, 13:55

See etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility (Post by burdi01 #86104) for info on the stripping of the module. Thanks to burdi01 for the heads up on that.

I used -v option to see what got deleted. Here is the stripping result:

Code: Select all

root@porteus:/etcher/etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-stripped_rava# rm -rvf opt/balenaEtcher/{libEGL.so*,libGLESv2.so*,libvk_swiftshader.so*,libvulkan.so*}
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/libEGL.so'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/libGLESv2.so'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/libvk_swiftshader.so'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/libvulkan.so.1'
root@porteus:/etcher/etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-stripped_rava# rm -rvf opt/balenaEtcher/{locales,swiftshader,vk_swiftshader_icd.json}
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/bn.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/cs.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/fil.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/tr.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/te.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/it.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/bg.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/uk.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/sl.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/fi.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/et.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/pt-PT.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/id.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/ml.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/ko.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/zh-CN.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/lt.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/hu.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/hi.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/de.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/da.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/ro.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/nb.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/el.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/hr.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/gu.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/sv.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/lv.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/es-419.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/fa.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/he.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/ca.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/en-GB.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/ms.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/nl.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/pt-BR.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/ar.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/ja.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/sr.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/sw.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/kn.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/ru.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/zh-TW.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/am.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/vi.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/es.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/pl.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/sk.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/ta.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/en-US.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/th.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/fr.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales/mr.pak'
removed directory 'opt/balenaEtcher/locales'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/swiftshader/libEGL.so'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/swiftshader/libGLESv2.so'
removed directory 'opt/balenaEtcher/swiftshader'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/vk_swiftshader_icd.json'
root@porteus:/etcher/etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-stripped_rava# rm -rvf opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot 
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/cm4/start4.elf'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/cm4/bootcode.bin'
removed directory 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/cm4'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/raspberrypi/bcm2709-rpi-2-b.dtb'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/raspberrypi/overlays/dwc2.dtbo'
removed directory 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/raspberrypi/overlays'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/raspberrypi/bcm2708-rpi-b.dtb'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/raspberrypi/fixup_cd.dat'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/raspberrypi/bootcode.bin'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/raspberrypi/bcm2708-rpi-0-w.dtb'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/raspberrypi/kernel.img'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/raspberrypi/config.txt'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/raspberrypi/bcm2708-rpi-b-plus.dtb'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/raspberrypi/kernel7.img'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/raspberrypi/start_cd.elf'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/raspberrypi/LICENSE'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/raspberrypi/bcm2708-rpi-cm.dtb'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/raspberrypi/bcm2710-rpi-cm3.dtb'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/raspberrypi/bcm2710-rpi-3-b.dtb'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/raspberrypi/bcm2710-rpi-3-b-plus.dtb'
removed directory 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs/raspberrypi'
removed directory 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot/blobs'
removed directory 'opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/generated/modules/node-raspberrypi-usbboot'
root@porteus:/etcher/etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-stripped_rava# rm -rvf opt/balenaEtcher/resources/app/node_modules
root@porteus:/etcher/etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-stripped_rava# rm -rvf opt/balenaEtcher/{chrome_{1,2}00_percent.pak,chrome-sandbox,snapshot_blob.bin}
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/chrome_100_percent.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/chrome_200_percent.pak'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/chrome-sandbox'
removed 'opt/balenaEtcher/snapshot_blob.bin'
One line did not remove anything.

Currently unable to test the stripped version (I just started it and it ran okay), first I have to test the today created Kali Stick I mentioned above, then if that is unsatisfactory I might use etcher to write yet another to-be-tested Live-Linux on the same stick.

And here we have the stripped module:
58929152 bytes (56.20 MB)

Filehorst link:
https://filehorst.de/download.php?file=erGuqdtx

md5sum

Code: Select all

20bd6d4bf1242254399e8267cfcfc640  etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-stripped_rava.xzm
sha256sum

Code: Select all

4b6b1ca28b1c1d0bf77626abc68a0891151f78068d32fd2ec21e09bd37e22f13  etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-stripped_rava.xzm
Cheers!
Yours Rava

User avatar
Rava
Contributor
Contributor
Posts: 5401
Joined: 11 Jan 2011, 02:46
Distribution: XFCE 5.01 x86_64 + 4.0 i586
Location: Forests of Germany

etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility *updated*

Post#9 by Rava » 16 Dec 2021, 07:37

Info Update on differences between good ol'dd itself and etcher

Just like the code that burdi01 provided said
burdi01 wrote:
11 Dec 2021, 10:52

Code: Select all

# balenaEtcher is a glorified dd. As such it is much too big: the 1.7.1
# appimage is 95.5 MB and the corresponding deb is 86.8 MB. However it is a
# very user-friendly application and I use it frequently out of pure laziness.
etcher is indeed nothing but a glorified dd.

As such I had to replace my Kali installer ISO on USB thumbdrive with the Kali Live Linux ISO on USB thumbdrive… but I was on my i586 Port 4.0 with 3.1kernel system, so no etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64-stripped_rava.xzm for me, and I used dd instead.
Interestingly enough, it also created 2 partitions, the larger 3.x GB one with the main system and the small fat16 one with efi like described above.
But unlike created by etcher, this time the partition table did not contain an iso9660 filesystem, the very one that fdisk, sfdisk and cfdisk all complained about.

Instead fdisk -l reports this (after I again added the largest 3rd partition and formatted it into ext2):
Disk /dev/sdb: 7.5 GiB, 8016363520 bytes, 15656960 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
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x8a8b8c8d

Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sdb1 * 64 7823903 7823840 3.7G 17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb2 7823904 7825375 1472 736K 1 FAT12
/dev/sdb3 7825408 15656959 7831552 3.8G 83 Linux
As you can see, the plain dd itself creates a USB thumbdrive with the iso9660 part of the .iso file then being a partition type 17 aka "Hidden HPFS/NTFS", instead of etcher's iso9660 partition type.
Nonetheless, that "partition type 17 Hidden HPFS/NTFS" is still read-only just as iso9660 partition type is:

Code: Select all

root@porteus:/mnt# mount sdb1
mount: /mnt/sdb1: WARNING: device write-protected, mounted read-only.

root@porteus:/mnt# dx sdb1
16.12.2021 08:34:43 ____________________________________________________________
Filesystem     Type    1M-blocks  Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb1      iso9660      3821  3821         0 100% /mnt/sdb1

root@porteus:/mnt# cd sdb1

root@porteus:/mnt/sdb1# touch blablabla.dummy
touch: cannot touch 'blablabla.dummy': Read-only file system

root@porteus:/mnt/sdb1# cd ..

root@porteus:/mnt# umount sdb1/
dx is once again my function - type dx reports:

Code: Select all

dx is a function
dx () 
{ 
    echo $(date +%d.%m.%Y\ %H:%M:%S) ____________________________________________________________;
    /bin/df -Tm $* | grep -vE 'tmpfs|/mnt/live/run|squashfs'
}
:D
Cheers!
Yours Rava

Kulle
Warlord
Warlord
Posts: 594
Joined: 28 Jan 2017, 10:39
Distribution: v4.0 64bit Xfce
Location: Berlin

etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility *updated*

Post#10 by Kulle » 19 Apr 2022, 13:13

Hi Rava,
etcher doesn't always work!
etcher has copied the iso file KNOPPIX_V9.1DVD-2021-01-25-DE__1_.iso onto the usb stick.
But the stick does not boot.
Can it be made bootable afterwards? somehow?
what does the script do Porteus-installer-for-Linux.com.
Could parts of it be used to make the USB stick bootable afterwards?

beny
Full of knowledge
Full of knowledge
Posts: 2086
Joined: 02 Jan 2011, 11:33
Location: italy

etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility *updated*

Post#11 by beny » 19 Apr 2022, 21:07

hi kulle download the last version in this repository:
https://slack.conraid.net/repository/sl ... tcher-bin/

Kulle
Warlord
Warlord
Posts: 594
Joined: 28 Jan 2017, 10:39
Distribution: v4.0 64bit Xfce
Location: Berlin

etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility *updated*

Post#12 by Kulle » 20 Apr 2022, 06:59

Hi beny,
I used the latest version 1.7.8
downloaded here: https://www.balena.io/etcher/

But it didn't work, the USB device won't boot.

Also unetbootin does not work for all distributions, e.g. not for Knoppix.

My specific question is formulated above #10

beny
Full of knowledge
Full of knowledge
Posts: 2086
Joined: 02 Jan 2011, 11:33
Location: italy

etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility *updated*

Post#13 by beny » 20 Apr 2022, 08:43

hi kulle, well the link is of a slackware package,if you want to try well if not when you have put into the usb key all the knoppix files and directories you have to mount the usb key into a directory and chroot into it ,you have to find where is located the mbr.bin and copy it with the dd into the root of the usb key file system
dd bs=440 count=1 conv=notrunc if=/usr/lib/syslinux/bios/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdx this is like you have to do with... but with your data...when you have done reboot the usb key don't do this on a wrong device.
ps:why try to use an appimage that is for other distro,or you don't run porteus for that task.

User avatar
Rava
Contributor
Contributor
Posts: 5401
Joined: 11 Jan 2011, 02:46
Distribution: XFCE 5.01 x86_64 + 4.0 i586
Location: Forests of Germany

etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility *updated*

Post#14 by Rava » 01 Nov 2023, 21:47

late reply is late, but this irked me:
beny wrote:
20 Apr 2022, 08:43
dd bs=440 count=1 conv=notrunc if=/usr/lib/syslinux/bios/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdx
Shouldn't be a mbr copy use this

Code: Select all

bs=512
instead of

Code: Select all

bs=440
The code I usually use:

Code: Select all

dd if=/dev/sdX1 of=/path/to/sdX1.mbr count=512c bs=1	# backups MBR of sdX1 into file
dd if=/path/to/sdX1.mbr of=/dev/sdX1 count=512c bs=1	# writes backup MBR onto sdX1 

donald
Full of knowledge
Full of knowledge
Posts: 2064
Joined: 17 Jun 2013, 13:17
Distribution: Porteus 3.2.2 XFCE 32bit
Location: Germany

etcher-bin-1.7.1-x86_64 - KISS Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drive writer utility *updated*

Post#15 by donald » 02 Nov 2023, 06:36

@ Rava
If I'm not completely mistaken:

copy 512 bytes = contains both boot code and the drive’s partition table.
only for drives with identically sized partitions.

copy 446 bytes = to overwrite or restore the MBR boot code
( for discs with different size partitions.)
This will preserve the partitioning schema.

MBR is divided into 3 sections
1. Bootstrap . 446 bytes
2. Partition table. 64 bytes
3. Signature. 2 bytes (optional)

....located in the first sector of the drive.
so your code "dd if=/dev/sdX1 of=/path/to/sdX1.mbr..." does not backup the MBR but the VBR.
( Volume Boot Record )

Explanation:
(Post by donald #32201)

Post Reply