Invitation to create Savefile during boot or simplify "Save changes" process
Posted: 21 Sep 2017, 12:08
Hello,
i am noob Porteus 3.2.2 user having computer without HDD atm.
I booted Porteus from FAT USB flash disk created in Windows by programs Rufus and Universal USB Installer. The result was always the flash disk that is not writable for persistence by Porteus thanks to the FAT/NTFS. Which is frequently problem (i assume many people needs some kind of persistence), i needed to enable encrypted persistence.
I tried to save changes using .dat savefile from within Porteus Config. Centre, but it told me "To have the changes stored in this file you will need to edit a line in your porteus.cfg file."
Which is very vague explanation on what to do and how the "Save process" works. After a few reboots in which i lost my modifications and after getting "no key available with this passphrase" error in Porteus 3.1 during boot and during creation of the .dat file (later in 3.2.2), i discovered here that i should probably first create .dat file (maybe unecrypted not to face mentioned error), then reboot, and then start using Porteus (which seems too complicated).
It can be better when Porteus detect non-writable boot disk filesystem (FAT/NTFS) and right at first boot, ask user for the .dat file be created so no need to face obstacles which i describe below and reboots later in order to save changes when running from FAT/NTFS USB drive.
Which obstacles i am talking about?
Currently, noob have to
1) boot Porteus (it will boot in Always fresh mode because most Windows users created USB boot flash disk using NTFS/FAT.
2) User discover "Save changes to .dat" option, and receive vague explanation (i qouted above) on what to do to make the "Save changes" feature working - he is invited to modify porteus.cfg (which is nto easy task for noob)
3) He is a noob so after wasting some time googling how to do it exactly, he end up editing the end of the APPEND line, to make it read 'changes=/porteus/save.dat' (without the quotes, using the name i specified when creating .dat and path where i saved .dat is in this case /mnt/porteusbootdrive/porteus/save.dat)
4) because of non helpfull/short description (pop up window after create .dat file) noob like me may think his changes was now already saved in .dat file i created and because i edited porteus.cfg, changes will be restored @boot. (wrong, he may face "no key available" error mentioned above, or this error: When i encrypted .dat savefile and rebooted, all changes was lost, when rebooted one more time... the changes i made in previous session (the one where my data was already missing) was restored)
5. i was wondering and having doubts on the .dat file size, if is enough big so the changes will be saved on next boot, So this is another doubt/worry i am facing. Porteus should advise the right size during creation and resize if it can not write all data to the .dat
I think whole persistence process with the .dat file should be more simple and convenient and the .dat file created/defined upon first boot for newbies OR from within booted Porteus populated + auto configured in porteus.cfg so the process is simple/guided so one have higher level of certainty his changes will be saved&restored.
i am noob Porteus 3.2.2 user having computer without HDD atm.
I booted Porteus from FAT USB flash disk created in Windows by programs Rufus and Universal USB Installer. The result was always the flash disk that is not writable for persistence by Porteus thanks to the FAT/NTFS. Which is frequently problem (i assume many people needs some kind of persistence), i needed to enable encrypted persistence.
I tried to save changes using .dat savefile from within Porteus Config. Centre, but it told me "To have the changes stored in this file you will need to edit a line in your porteus.cfg file."
Which is very vague explanation on what to do and how the "Save process" works. After a few reboots in which i lost my modifications and after getting "no key available with this passphrase" error in Porteus 3.1 during boot and during creation of the .dat file (later in 3.2.2), i discovered here that i should probably first create .dat file (maybe unecrypted not to face mentioned error), then reboot, and then start using Porteus (which seems too complicated).
It can be better when Porteus detect non-writable boot disk filesystem (FAT/NTFS) and right at first boot, ask user for the .dat file be created so no need to face obstacles which i describe below and reboots later in order to save changes when running from FAT/NTFS USB drive.
Which obstacles i am talking about?
Currently, noob have to
1) boot Porteus (it will boot in Always fresh mode because most Windows users created USB boot flash disk using NTFS/FAT.
2) User discover "Save changes to .dat" option, and receive vague explanation (i qouted above) on what to do to make the "Save changes" feature working - he is invited to modify porteus.cfg (which is nto easy task for noob)
3) He is a noob so after wasting some time googling how to do it exactly, he end up editing the end of the APPEND line, to make it read 'changes=/porteus/save.dat' (without the quotes, using the name i specified when creating .dat and path where i saved .dat is in this case /mnt/porteusbootdrive/porteus/save.dat)
4) because of non helpfull/short description (pop up window after create .dat file) noob like me may think his changes was now already saved in .dat file i created and because i edited porteus.cfg, changes will be restored @boot. (wrong, he may face "no key available" error mentioned above, or this error: When i encrypted .dat savefile and rebooted, all changes was lost, when rebooted one more time... the changes i made in previous session (the one where my data was already missing) was restored)
5. i was wondering and having doubts on the .dat file size, if is enough big so the changes will be saved on next boot, So this is another doubt/worry i am facing. Porteus should advise the right size during creation and resize if it can not write all data to the .dat
I think whole persistence process with the .dat file should be more simple and convenient and the .dat file created/defined upon first boot for newbies OR from within booted Porteus populated + auto configured in porteus.cfg so the process is simple/guided so one have higher level of certainty his changes will be saved&restored.