Installing on a 3.0 USB Stick

[Lucas]

Hi,

Sorry it took me so long to reply. First of all, Ed_P, I gave a try to all the links you posted before and didn't manage to make it boot (even the plop menu).
Ed_P, Donald and Bogomips after doing some tests, I ended up with something that could be a clue to what may be happening and for solving the problem (I'm not an expert so there may be some concepts wrong):
I tried to install the 3.2.2 Porteus in my microSD, which I mentioned before, and everything went OK. at that time I was still not able to install it on the Sandisk USB. After downloading some modules and putting them in the microSD I had some problems with my network so I decided to format it again and installing again Porteus. I went to the full exFAT formatting in Windows. This formatting took a long time, which makes me think (besides some 2.0 USB to 3.0 USB compatibility or exFAT issues with long partitions or big drives) that it went reading and writing on the whole microSD and not just changing the partition table. After that, I went in Mint Linux and used gparted to format it back to ext4 and installed Porteus again. After this, my microSD started to give me the same error message that the Sandisk USB gives (that the /changes folder is in exFAT or NTFS). I tried disk utility (with Mint) and it gave the error message again. This made me think that the problem is that when I formatted with Windows the hole USB was written to exFAT and that when I formatted to ext4 it just changed the partition table and or deleted the files but when Linux started it still read/detected as exFAT. Maybe, I would be able to solve the problem if there was a program that could format to ext4 writing to every block and not just the partition table.

Donald and Bogomips, if I'm unable to solve the dilemma, I will try the UUID solution (the formatting problem seems relevant enough to give a second try).

Thanks to all of you who puts lots of effort in Porteus ( ) and best regards,

Lucas.

[normalGuy]

Hi,
What is the problem?! I'm confused:

Format from windows:

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cmd (Win+R and type cmd)
diskpart
list disk 
select disk x (x must be a number of your flash card)
clean (this command erase all data on selected disk!!!!)
create partition primary
exit

Right click the disk in myComputer and format fat32 (repor original stuff)

Gparted linux:
- select the right disk to format
- delect any partitions
- Device: create partition table: msdos
-Select partition . new , format fat32...

my porteus.cfg

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LABEL GRAPHICAL
MENU LABEL Graphics mode XFCE
KERNEL vmlinuz
APPEND from=/multibootusb/Porteus-XFCE-v3.2.2-x86_64 noauto initrd=initrd.xz fsck delay=5 changes=UUID:256043dc-5586-49c2-b8a9-a6544fcb5561/changes
TEXT HELP
    Run Porteus the best way we can.
    Try to autoconfigure graphics
    card and use the maximum
    allowed resolution
ENDTEXT

from=/dev/sdb1 - fat32
changes=/dev/sdb2 - ext4

[Lucas]

Hi NormalGuy,

The problem is that if I format the drive in Windows and after that in Linux (the same process you described but to ext4) I get an error message after Porteus boot menu. It says it can't boot because the system is unable to reach /changes and that it must be because the partition is exFAT or NTFS. I will try now the UUID string that you mentioned.

Regards,

[Lucas]

I was able to get Porteus running on the microSD again, but was unable to get it running on the Sandisk USB. I tried the UUID string on the porteus config but didn't work. Regarding the error messages, I mistook the error messages that my microSD gave me and the one that the Sandisk USB gave (my apologies). The microSD was about formatting (solved) and the Sandisk was:

^searching for porteus-v3.2-i586.sgn file
^device not ready yet? delaying 1 seconds

Porteus data not found.
You are maybe using an unsupported boot device (eg. SCSI or old PCMCIA).
Workaround:...

[Ed_P]

You tried the delay=10 option and it didn't work. Try delay=20 and if that doesn't work try delay=30.

If you are on a BIOS machine the cheatcodes go in the porteus.cfg file and on an EFI machine they go in the refind.conf file.

[tome]

Maybe you have disabled booting from usb in BIOS. Try on another PC. Is your Sandisk formatted in recognized format?

[fulalas]

I get an error message after Porteus boot menu. It says it can't boot because the system is unable to reach /changes and that it must be because the partition is exFAT or NTFS. I will try now the UUID string that you mentioned.

We already discussed this error message in another thread, and my opinion is that this is not exactly an error, but a warning. As Porteus has 'changes=/porteus' cheatcode activated by default, it relies on a Linux partition to save any changes.

In my case, I format as NTFS and simply don't use this cheatcode, saving just what I really want, like Opera tabs/history, Pidgin history, Qmmp playlist and Transmission downloads -- I do it using a shutdown script located at /mnt/sdc1/porteus/rootcopy/etc/rc.d/rc.local_shutdown. So each boot brings me everything else reseted -- in other words: an always fresh OS.

[brokenman]

I've uploaded a new 64bit kernel to the server. Please try with that one. (kernel 4.9.12)

[Ed_P]

I've uploaded a new 64bit kernel to the server. Please try with that one. (kernel 4.9.12)

Thanks brokenman. Does it include the AUF patch?

[brokenman]

It didn't require the patch. I will remove it today as after a reboot I found many problems with the kernel.

[Ed_P]

It didn't require the patch.

I'm confused, based on this comment:

From what I've gathered so far, kernel 4.9.0 just has to be rebuilt/(relinked?) with the patched module,

from http://forum.porteus.org/viewtopic.php? ... =30#p52463 it did.

I will remove it today as after a reboot I found many problems with the kernel.

Ok. I think I found a more current one to try at http://dl.porteus.org/x86_64/kernel/porteus-4.9.12/ You might want to delete the one at http://dl.porteus.org/x86_64/Porteus-v3.2.2/kernel/ so people don't get confused.

-update-

Using the 26-Feb-2017 kernel at http://dl.porteus.org/x86_64/kernel/porteus-4.9.12/ I'm seeing this:

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guest@porteus:~$ uname -a
Linux porteus 4.9.0-porteus #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat Dec 17 19:22:10 BRST 2016 x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-6100U CPU @ 2.30GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
guest@porteus:~$ 

and this still

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cp: preserving permissions for ‘/tmp/mod/home/guest/.config/nemo’: Invalid argument
cp: preserving permissions for ‘/tmp/mod/home/guest/.config/gtk-3.0’: Invalid argument
cp: preserving permissions for ‘/tmp/mod/home/guest/.config/dconf’: Invalid argument
cp: preserving permissions for ‘/tmp/mod/home/guest/.cache/dconf’: Invalid argument

-update II-

But, if I also use the vmlinuz module from the http://dl.porteus.org/x86_64/kernel/porteus-4.9.12/ URL:

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guest@porteus:~$ uname -a
Linux porteus 4.9.12-porteus #1 SMP PREEMPT Sun Feb 26 13:48:34 BRT 2017 x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-6100U CPU @ 2.30GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux
guest@porteus:~$

and no more

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cp: preserving permissions for ‘/tmp/mod/home/guest/.config/nemo’: Invalid argument

Sorry Lucas, a bit of a diversion on your thread.

[brokenman]

I'm confused, based on this comment:

To clear up any confusion, the linux-4.9.12 kernel has the patch merged into the code. The patch is no longer needed.

Using the 26-Feb-2017 kernel at http://dl.porteus.org/x86_64/kernel/porteus-4.9.12/ I'm seeing this:

When updating a kernel you MUST replace both the vmlinuz (kernel) and the 000-kernel.xzm (kernel firmwre and modules) files.

But, if I also use the vmlinuz module from the http://dl.porteus.org/x86_64/kernel/porteus-4.9.12/ URL:

Yes, this is how it should be done. The vmlinuz file is the kernel.

@Lucas
Please try with this latest kernel. I imagine that whatever kernel module handles your USB needs to be built into the kernel and not added as a kernel module.

[Lucas]

Sorry guys it took me so long to reply, work here kept me really busy.
Just a little quick explanation to what is happening right now in the tests and the error messages I get. I'm really sorry that its is so confusing, I never got stuck like this before.

I'm using 2 devises, one MicroSD and one Sandisk USB. I had the previous version of Porteus in the MicroSD and it was my main pc. I never was able to install the previous Porteus on the USB so decided to wait for porteus 3.2.

I'm getting 2 error messages just after I choose xfce4 on the Porteus menu (the one that has always fresh, etc). The first message was "You are maybe using an unsupported boot device (eg. SCSI or old PCMCIA)." and the second was that my partition was exFAT or NTFS (in this option I was able to start as ALWAYS FRESH and suggests creating a savefile).

In recent tests I discovered that my MicroSD boots normally in some machines and in other machines it gives the exFAT or NTFS message (can start in ALWAYS FRESH). I don't know why this happens.

The Sandisk USB until recently only gave the first message (the SCSI or old PCMCIA one). I wasn't able to start it by any means or in any boot option. Something weird happened by the time I wrote the last post and I hadn't noticed at first. The Sandisk USB started giving the exFAT or NTFS message in some computers and the SCSI or old PCMCIA in others. I tried to go in the always fresh and see what was inside the USB and there wasn't a changes folder. I tried to copy the changes folder from my MicroSD and booting and, at that time, the only message I got at booting was the "SCSI or old PCMCIA" one. I needed to format it again and install it again to get the second message again.

Ed_P and Brokenman, I still didn't try your last suggestions. I will do them tomorrow and will post the results. Just a few quick questions, the version that I'm using is the i586. Is there a problem using th x86 kernel? Isn't there a version of this new kernel for i586? or do you suggest me to migrate to x86? In the case of using this version, I just need to copy all this files to the base folder, right?

Thanks again for the effort and attention.

[burdi01]

From my days on the PartedMagic forum I remember that booting from Sandisk USB sticks always was a hit-or-miss affair. The specific Sandisk explanation however is no longer available ...

[Evan]

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