Author Topic: can I install from pendrive made with unetbootin?  (Read 1116 times)

Offline sir_herrbatka

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can I install from pendrive made with unetbootin?
« on: November 25, 2012, 02:00:34 AM »
hi,

The last time I attempted to install pclinuxos from pendrive made with unetbootin I failed. I'm not able to check if it will work now and tomorrow I'm about to install it on the friends netbook.

So, will it work?

Offline agmg

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Re: can I install from pendrive made with unetbootin?
« Reply #1 on: November 25, 2012, 02:12:09 AM »
Never had problems installing PCLinuxOS from a USB made with Unetbootin...
Of course the best option would be to use PCLinuxOS LiveUSB Creator.
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Offline Just17

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Re: can I install from pendrive made with unetbootin?
« Reply #2 on: November 25, 2012, 05:14:32 AM »
hi,

The last time I attempted to install pclinuxos from pendrive made with unetbootin I failed. I'm not able to check if it will work now and tomorrow I'm about to install it on the friends netbook.

So, will it work?

Check the files are copied correctly and all should be OK.

Would be useful to do an MD5sum on the livecd.sqfs file and compare it to the same file within the ISO.
If they match then it should work.

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Offline DeBaas

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Re: can I install from pendrive made with unetbootin?
« Reply #3 on: November 25, 2012, 05:26:46 AM »
My workaround(s) with unetbootin:

1 Create a partition and format as FAT16 with gparted (is in Synaptic)
--FAT16 let you boot also from older systems where FAT32 will fail--
2 Set the boot flag with gparted
--Won't boot on many systems without the bootflag set--
3 Do the unetbootin creation
4 change the syslinux.cfg file to my likings
--menu title to PCLinuxOS version and type--
--remove or comment unwanted entry's, f.i. Copy to RAM--
--add fromusb at the end of the append lines--
--remove the spaces that contain graphical info and use normal spaces in the menu labels--
5 If needed for special setups, create extra menu items with modified startup items, f.i. VESA
6 Have them always with me for demo or troubleshooting ;)

For older systems without USB boot have a Plop Boot Flop or CD at hand.

P.S. if your USB won't boot check with gparted if the bootflag is set ;)

Offline zorlac

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Re: can I install from pendrive made with unetbootin?
« Reply #4 on: November 25, 2012, 11:08:15 AM »
My workaround(s) with unetbootin:

4 change the syslinux.cfg file to my likings
--menu title to PCLinuxOS version and type--
--remove or comment unwanted entry's, f.i. Copy to RAM--
--add fromusb at the end of the append lines--
--remove the spaces that contain graphical info and use normal spaces in the menu labels--
5 If needed for special setups, create extra menu items with modified startup items, f.i. VESA



Offline DeBaas

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Re: can I install from pendrive made with unetbootin?
« Reply #5 on: November 25, 2012, 03:35:38 PM »
@zorlac
syslinux.cfg is on the unetbootin USB.
Example The original:
Code: [Select]
default menu.c32
prompt 0
menu title UNetbootin
timeout 100

label unetbootindefault
menu label Default
kernel /ubnkern
append initrd=/ubninit livecd=livecd root=/dev/rd/3 acpi=on vga=788 keyb=us vmalloc=256M nokmsboot splash=silent

label ubnentry0
menu label LiveCD
kernel /isolinux/vmlinuz
append initrd=/isolinux/initrd.gz livecd=livecd  root=/dev/rd/3 acpi=on vga=788 keyb=us vmalloc=256M nokmsboot splash=silent

label ubnentry1
menu label LiveCD - No Boot Splash
kernel /isolinux/vmlinuz
append initrd=/isolinux/initrd.gz livecd=livecd  root=/dev/rd/3 acpi=on vga=788 keyb=us vmalloc=256M nokmsboot splash=verbose

label ubnentry2
menu label Video safe mode - FBDEV
kernel /isolinux/vmlinuz
append initrd=/isolinux/initrd.gz livecd=livecd  root=/dev/rd/3 acpi=on vga=788 keyb=us vmalloc=256M nokmsboot splash=silent fbdev

label ubnentry3
menu label Safe boot
kernel /isolinux/vmlinuz
append initrd=/isolinux/initrd.gz livecd=livecd  root=/dev/rd/3 acpi=off vga=normal keyb=us vmalloc=256M noapic nolapic nopinit fbdev

label ubnentry4
menu label Console
kernel /isolinux/vmlinuz
append initrd=/isolinux/initrd.gz livecd=livecd 3  root=/dev/rd/3 acpi=on vga=788 keyb=us vmalloc=256M nokmsboot splash=silent

label ubnentry5
menu label Copy to RAM
kernel /isolinux/vmlinuz
append initrd=/isolinux/initrd.gz livecd=livecd copy2ram  root=/dev/rd/3 acpi=on vga=788 keyb=us vmalloc=256M nokmsboot splash=verbose

label ubnentry6
menu label Install PCLinuxOS
kernel /isolinux/vmlinuz
append initrd=/isolinux/initrd.gz livecd=livecd  root=/dev/rd/3 acpi=on vga=788 keyb=us vmalloc=256M nokmsboot splash=silent install
The modified one:
Code: [Select]
default menu.c32
prompt 0
menu title PCLinuxOS 2012.11 KDE NL remaster
timeout 100

label unetbootindefault
menu label Default
kernel /ubnkern
append initrd=/ubninit livecd=livecd root=/dev/rd/3 acpi=on vga=788 keyb=us vmalloc=256M nokmsboot splash=silent fromusb

label ubnentry0
menu label LiveCD
kernel /isolinux/vmlinuz
append initrd=/isolinux/initrd.gz livecd=livecd  root=/dev/rd/3 acpi=on vga=788 keyb=us vmalloc=256M nokmsboot splash=silent fromusb

label ubnentry1
menu label LiveCD - No Boot Splash
kernel /isolinux/vmlinuz
append initrd=/isolinux/initrd.gz livecd=livecd  root=/dev/rd/3 acpi=on vga=788 keyb=us vmalloc=256M nokmsboot splash=verbose fromusb

label ubnentry2
menu label Video safe mode - FBDEV
kernel /isolinux/vmlinuz
append initrd=/isolinux/initrd.gz livecd=livecd  root=/dev/rd/3 acpi=on vga=788 keyb=us vmalloc=256M nokmsboot splash=silent fbdev fromusb

label ubnentry3
menu label Safe boot
kernel /isolinux/vmlinuz
append initrd=/isolinux/initrd.gz livecd=livecd  root=/dev/rd/3 acpi=off vga=normal keyb=us vmalloc=256M noapic nolapic nopinit fbdev fromusb

label ubnentry4
menu label Console
kernel /isolinux/vmlinuz
append initrd=/isolinux/initrd.gz livecd=livecd 3  root=/dev/rd/3 acpi=on vga=788 keyb=us vmalloc=256M nokmsboot splash=silent fromusb

# label ubnentry5
# menu label Copy to RAM
# kernel /isolinux/vmlinuz
# append initrd=/isolinux/initrd.gz livecd=livecd copy2ram  root=/dev/rd/3 acpi=on vga=788 keyb=us vmalloc=256M nokmsboot splash=verbose

label ubnentry6
menu label Install PCLinuxOS
kernel /isolinux/vmlinuz
append initrd=/isolinux/initrd.gz livecd=livecd  root=/dev/rd/3 acpi=on vga=788 keyb=us vmalloc=256M nokmsboot splash=silent install fromusb
Print them both and compare ;)

When you boot with the original syslinux.cfg you find strange signs instead of spaces in the text of the menulabel,
something like
LiveCD|_ -|_ No|_ Boot|_ Splash
Easy, edit/remove the spaces in the new file and replace with a new, real space.

fromusb is added for a proper shutdown.
Copy to RAM commented out to prevent overloading machines with lesser RAM,
my homebrew NL version is about 1.4G ;)

Ed
« Last Edit: November 25, 2012, 03:42:44 PM by DeBaas »

Offline zorlac

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Re: can I install from pendrive made with unetbootin?
« Reply #6 on: November 26, 2012, 07:48:28 AM »
Thanks!

Offline sir_herrbatka

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Re: can I install from pendrive made with unetbootin?
« Reply #7 on: November 26, 2012, 08:14:39 AM »
ok, unetbootin created pendrive with pclinuxos but it hangs on the netbook (acer aspire one 722) and i can't install. Trying live usb creator right now. It want's ext2 on pendrive, right?

Offline agmg

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Re: can I install from pendrive made with unetbootin?
« Reply #8 on: November 26, 2012, 08:16:38 AM »
Any ext filesystem should work...
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Offline sir_herrbatka

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Re: can I install from pendrive made with unetbootin?
« Reply #9 on: November 26, 2012, 09:09:11 AM »
mother of mercy…

the acer aspire one 722 has a bizzare hardware bug: any linux will freeze if you won't set network boot before everything else. That was the problem :/

Offline pclinmike

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Re: can I install from pendrive made with unetbootin?
« Reply #10 on: December 22, 2012, 10:45:17 AM »
mother of mercy…

the acer aspire one 722 has a bizzare hardware bug: any linux will freeze if you won't set network boot before everything else. That was the problem :/
Can you expand your findings a bit more please.
You are not doing it over the network are you ?.
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Offline CaptainSarcastic

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Re: can I install from pendrive made with unetbootin?
« Reply #11 on: December 23, 2012, 02:41:43 AM »
mother of mercy…

the acer aspire one 722 has a bizzare hardware bug: any linux will freeze if you won't set network boot before everything else. That was the problem :/
Can you expand your findings a bit more please.
You are not doing it over the network are you ?.

No, it is a known workaround to a bug on this laptop (I am typing this on an AO722 running PCLOS right now).  You have to set the BIOS to try PXE boot first in the boot order, or the system will hang.  I can confirm both the bug, and that setting PXE boot first in the boot order gets around the bug.

Offline pclinmike

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Re: can I install from pendrive made with unetbootin?
« Reply #12 on: December 23, 2012, 05:10:08 PM »
mother of mercy…

the acer aspire one 722 has a bizzare hardware bug: any linux will freeze if you won't set network boot before everything else. That was the problem :/
Can you expand your findings a bit more please.
You are not doing it over the network are you ?.

No, it is a known workaround to a bug on this laptop (I am typing this on an AO722 running PCLOS right now).  You have to set the BIOS to try PXE boot first in the boot order, or the system will hang.  I can confirm both the bug, and that setting PXE boot first in the boot order gets around the bug.
Interesting Thanks.
Michael.
From South-Derbyshire, England.U.K.Earth.

I Normally Do A Search Before I Post A New Question !.

Thanks to all who replied to my posts.