Can Porteus be booted from the UEFI Shell option?

[Karmi]

PROBLEM with YUMI! How the heck do I save my changes?

Here's the file you manually edit (in my case the lxde version)

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/multiboot/Porteus-LXDE-v5.0rc3-x86_64/grub.cfg

This grub.cfg is written by Yumi, not Porteus. Nevertheless you simply find the linux line, and after the path= path, add a space and extend the line with your

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changes=/mnt/sdaX/path/to/your/savefile.dat

OK...yeah, you were reading my mind on this one. Excellent Tip!!!

New "Samsung.dat" savefile created. I'll have to fix the annoying Linux "Authenticate" popups...only work wid Linux OSes that allow fulltime root user option, which Porteus does on the other computers.

Yeah, this YUMI-UEFI was the key...I'll make this converted Chromebook into a Porteus lappy yet! Thanks nanZor!

[nanZor]

Hi Karmi - glad this worked. Obviously you could put other distros on the stick, but that's not my main use for it - just as a wedge to get Porteus on things that initially say no. So I look for a way to shoehorn it in!

Extra credit: Using this as an example with the custom grub file, you *may* have success with Ventoy since it too uses grub. Most likely though, you'll have to use the "grub plug-in", which isn't actually anything to plug in, just a simple text file with cross references in the json file.

https://www.ventoy.net/en/plugin_grubmenu.html

Imagine - "I can't get Porteus to boot!" Only how do you as a dev support the possibility of the end user goofing up his Ventoy json file? - Dev rips his shirt after 30 help messages. Heh, always ask if the user is using a 3rd party booter!

Ed - trust me, if I could make it work by simple editing of porteus.cfg, I wouldn't go through all this pain.

Those that do edit porteus.cfg file with YUMI-UEFI in charge as the replacement bootloader, will quickly notice that every time they boot, any options are simply ignored, and you basically end up in always-fresh mode no matter what. I didn't want to take Karmi this far, and then not be able to save any files automatically and point him straight to the solution.

It would have kind of like me giving advice about how to run Kiosk, having never run it myself. But it's all good. No nerdy-slap fights necessary.

[nanZor]

What about things like Kiosk, aPorteus and others that aren't in YUMU-UEFI's "supported" list?

There is a handy option called "Try Unlisted Iso". It will analyze the unknown iso, and do the best it can. Sometimes it works out of the box, or sometime you'll have to manually edit YUMI's own grub.cfg file just to get it to boot properly.

Definitely end-user stuff. Don't bug any devs. But like above, it *can* be a solution when your specific hardware/uefi implementation throws your normal distro installation a curve-ball it can't handle.

Something to try anyway before throwing in the towel.

[Karmi]

Something to try anyway before throwing in the towel.

No doubt, nanZor, you *RESCUED* me on this converted Chromebook 'n Porteus test! Hey, GOTTA LOVE these Modules!!! Here's my update:

1) I don't have the normal pretty blue Graphical Login menu screen wid the YUMI-UEFI setup...no biggie, but I wanted to login as root each time. Editing the porteus.cfg didn't work. Started tinkering 'n found: MULTIBOOT (device) > multiboot > Porteus-CINNAMON-v5.0rc3-x86_64 > porteus > porteus-v5.0-x86_64.cfg and added login=root at the bottom. Perfect!

2) After removing CloudReady OS from the builtin 32 GB eMMC drive, I remembered why I put it there to begin wid - I was never able to get another Linux OS to install on that eMMC, and work right. Porteus installers don't even see it...tho Porteus Files does. GParted didn't see it!?! Tried Fedora 36 Cinnamon 'n it installed, but would never shutdown all the way. Went back to my old standby favorite - Puppy Linux. Have been using it for rescue 'n such since a couple of years after Puppy was first created. Made a Clonezilla image of my Puppy Linux 9.5 today, and installed that image onto the eMMC drive...everything works great. Puppy is amazing, but I have never cared for their desktops...not even 9.5's JWM. Cleaned the desktop of all those icons for a clean look, but JWM doesn't work for me. However, that eMMC drive is a permanent spot for ole' FossaPup.

3) Ditto on the GOTTA LOVE these Modules!!! Porteus Browser Tool kept saying "There's not enough space to run this script". I went to another computer wid Porteus on it and copied that Firefox module to a USB. Went back to the converted Chromebook and pasted that Firefox module in the module folder...activated it 'n then rebooted it. BINGO! Now I have Firefox working.

4) Did I say "GOTTA LOVE these Modules" yet? Since Firefox worked wid Copy 'n Paste...went back to other computer and got the gnome-disk-utility (use it a lot when something is formatted wid etcher or Fedora Media Writer - to unmount a partition that GParted can't seem to do in order to reformat that test drive), GIMP & LibreOffice 7.3. Pasted them all in the modules folder 'n activated then rebooted. Ditto on BINGO!

One problem left...I can't get the clock to stay set, and not even the “timezone=America/New_York” work in two different .cfg files.

BTW, this is now a Porteus laptop!

UPDATE: in another thread, Blaze had the solution:

cp /etc/localtime{,.bak} && rm /etc/localtime && ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/Europe/Moscow /etc/localtime && ntpdate pool.ntp.org && hwclock -lw

I just replaced Europe/Moscow wid America/New_York...which Blaze 'n Ed_P helped me wid before.

[Ed_P]

Happy to hear things are working for you Karmi.

[nanZor]

Right on Karmi! You'll be putting Porteus on things like toasters soon.

For #2 and the eMMC. Normally I simply ignore what's on those little on-board storage devices and run from usb anyway - but occasionally instead of totally messing with it, I'll resize / repartition what's there for simple storage.

It's late, but I'm not sure if the lack of the eMMC not being seen is due to devs recompiling it without that support so that noobs don't wipe out their windows installs which typically come on them. I could be totally wrong. Might be worth it to see if the latest Gparted-Live will recognize it.

Tip: Gparted-Live, if you hunt for the alternative ZIP file and not the normal iso, can be installed to a usb just like Porteus by merely opening the archive, copy and drag contents to the stick, and run the exe or sh file to activate. (if necessary) Or I suppose do the usual with the iso version - run it with Ventoy if needed etc.

Too late for me to test it to see if eMMC support is missing in Porteus' gparted, or purposely avoided.

Anyway, getting too far ahead of myself. I can sense your excitement at Porteus working well on that Chromebook reading between the lines, so enjoy!

[nanZor]

P.S. You may notice that because YUMI-UEFI is windows-based, depending on your editor you may see those dreaded ^M carriage returns.

The usual way of cleaning that up is pretty classic using tr -d and other methods.

Me being lazier as I get older, I run busybox and pick up the dos2unix command. And a new vi and all sorts of goodies. Just wanted to point that out if you want to clean up any ctrl-M's you see.

[Karmi]

P.S. You may notice that because YUMI-UEFI is windows-based, depending on your editor you may see those dreaded ^M carriage returns.

The usual way of cleaning that up is pretty classic using tr -d and other methods.

Me being lazier as I get older, I run busybox and pick up the dos2unix command. And a new vi and all sorts of goodies. Just wanted to point that out if you want to clean up any ctrl-M's you see.

I have no clue what vi 'n ctrl-M's are. My primary OS is Win11 Pro - actually it's on 6 PC's and a Dell XPS13. 6 PC's are my builds wid OEM Win10 Pro licenses purchased from URcdkey before they became VIP-URcdkey, for between $11-20 each. Upgraded them to Win11 Pro when it came out. I have piddled wid Linux since 1996, and use it as a secondary OS or special purpose OS for like rescue (Puppy's specialty). 'Sam' the Porteus 'Lappy' is my first fully dedicated Linux computer, tho 3 of the PC's are mainly used to test Linux OSes.

YUMI UEFI acts as a sorta Boot Menu 'n has been excellent to work wid...again, thanks for that Tip! I may increase the microSD to 64 GBs when final 5.0 stable comes out, and put Clonezilla on it wid Porteus.

[Ed_P]

you may see those dreaded ^M carriage returns.

The usual way of cleaning that up is pretty classic using tr -d and other methods.

You might want to clarify that with an example or two.

[nanZor]

I'll leave that up to the user to find - it's all over the place. Mostly involving sed, but there the whole thing about typing and escaping ctrl-m is a pain. Especially if you forget.

I prefer tr:

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tr -d '\r' inputfile > outputfile

EVEN BETTER: convince the devs that the next time they compile busybox for Porteus, to add the dos2unix "app" with it.

We can find Porteus' own busybox compiled with their desired options at:

/mnt/live/boot/busybox

Unfortunately, it doesn't have dos2unix contained in it. If you try to execute busybox with no arguments, you'll see which version and which apps are compiled into it.

[Ed_P]

the whole thing about typing and escaping ctrl-m is a pain. Especially if you forget.

I prefer tr:

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tr -d '\r' inputfile > outputfile

That simple command removes these!!

you may see those dreaded ^M carriage returns.

[nanZor]

Yup. If I'm using a windows-based util that writes config files for use with linux, I always check it to see if the configs are peppered with ctrl-m's. You may not notice, but it bugs me especially if I want to edit it afterwards.

Therefore I'll use the hotly-centested use of cat -v to check and actually see if they are there. Don't tell Rob Pike I cheat like this!

https://harmful.cat-v.org/cat-v/

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cat -v foofile