Stable EFI Partition Configuration Questions

Post here if you are a new Porteus member and you're looking for some help.
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32rats
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Stable EFI Partition Configuration Questions

Post#1 by 32rats » 25 Jul 2022, 01:54

Porteus 5.0 KDE on 64 GB USB drive currently on Asus Laptop

Ive had some trouble finding a way to create a stable Porteus boot, both with and without a .dat file though I think ive found one. I wanted to avoid using a .dat file because it seemed like theres a fair amount of issues, but I cant boot without the first partition being a fat32 format. After a lot of research ive came to this set up:
Image
https://imgur.com/NploqeU
(Sorry if the image doesnt show up, im new to forums like this so I left the direct link too just in case)

The fat32 partition only has the boot and efi files, the PortyOS ext4 Partition has the Porteus and System Volume Information files, and the PortyData ext4 Partition has nothing yet. Ive heard that LinuxSwap isnt crazy useful on modern systems (mine has 16gb ram) but I figured it wouldnt hurt. I have the save file under PortyOs>Porteus>Changes and it seems to be saving fine from what I can tell (though on a reboot my downloaded browser, the only thing in the module file, was deactivated and the icon on the desktop was gone, only the text left. Thats not my main focus atm though).


Does this seem like a stable way to run Porteus in the long term? Should PortyOS and PortyData be under the same partition? I am not opposed to doing research into magic folders if I need. I just like the idea of separate partitions, to have two places to make it less likey to slow things down and/or break anything. Im not opposed to changing format, the ext4 choice comes from two posts on here where ppl looked into it and it seemed a good option for both decent speed and corruption prevention. Im not too concerned about the potential long term wear from ext4, USB drives are cheap and I want a good functional version to work with now and learn more advanced options in later installations.

Any reassurance and/or suggestions on stability (and to a lesser extent performance) would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much for any feedback! Ive been really exited about using and learning about Linux for the first time and love Porteus so far :D

P.S. As a side question, is Porteus 5.0 KDE considered fully or at least mostly stable? Could some of my past problems be coming form that? I was running into 3 main issues before, freezing programs, frozen programs not always terminating, and the boot breaking even after save files being successful at saving. Didnt even think of looking into that until just now.

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Ed_P
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Stable EFI Partition Configuration Questions

Post#2 by Ed_P » 25 Jul 2022, 03:48

Welcome to Porteus 32rats.

Did you review the USB_INSTALLATION.txt file in the ISO? On an EFI machine you need a FAT32 partition for the EFI folder, and for Porteus you copy the /EFI, /boot and /porteus folders to it. While Porteus supports reads and writes to FAT32 drives if do that you will need to create a save.dat file for changes you make to the Porteus system. (timezone, keyboard, bookmarks, desktop icons, etc.) This is how I create and use my USB drives. If you don't want to create a save.dat file you can create an ext4 partition and move the /porteus folder to it.

As for the browser you downloaded if it was in your /porteus/modules folder it should have reactivated when you rebooted.
Ed

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32rats
White ninja
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Stable EFI Partition Configuration Questions

Post#3 by 32rats » 25 Jul 2022, 04:12

Ed_P,
Yeah I followed the USB installation file closely, for some reason the OS just wasn't very stable until now (so far). Not sure if it was directly related to the save file or not though

roadie
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Stable EFI Partition Configuration Questions

Post#4 by roadie » 25 Jul 2022, 05:58

@32rats

I use nearly the same partition setup as you have, though the boot partition is smaller at 600mb. Porteus versions are kept in an ext4 partition and the balance of the drive is storage. I don't have a swap partition and with 12gb of ram I've had no issues. I don't use .dat files because of the inherent problems, I find using rootcopy exclusively works best for me. I seldom change the system after I have it set as I want it, and any changes are easily transferred to rootcopy anyway.

As to stability, if you have problems, the best way to find the cause is always to start in "Always Fresh" mode, no change files, base modules only. Most times you'll find the cause is coming from a changes file, though some modules can cause problems too.

I have little experience with Kde, though the last time I tried it there were no problems with freezing or non-responsive windows. Using an Asus, I have run into occasional freezing problems with the video card, usually due to certain kernel versions, but the 5.18.8 kernel used in 5.0 has been very stable to this point.

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32rats
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Stable EFI Partition Configuration Questions

Post#5 by 32rats » 25 Jul 2022, 07:26

roadie

Thanks for the info, it helps really helps for peace of mind. I was going to resize the fat32 partition, I just found it was easiest to install everything to that partition then move the porteus and system volume info into the ext4 partition.

Ill definitely use the fresh start mode more too, tysm

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Stable EFI Partition Configuration Questions

Post#6 by Ed_P » 25 Jul 2022, 15:38

32rats wrote:
25 Jul 2022, 07:26
then move the porteus and system volume info into the ext4 partition.
Windows doesn't read ext4 drives or any partition except the 1st one on removable drives. I suspect the system volume files you refer to are created by Windows so no need to move them.
Ed

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Stable EFI Partition Configuration Questions

Post#7 by 32rats » 26 Jul 2022, 01:13

Ed_P

Thats good to know, thank you

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