HDD Live Install ...... Poorman's Install

[Just17]

That scheme might be the best of the lot o-p.  Thank you!   

I haven't played about with Grub2 in that regard ..... might have a look soon. ......  now why didn't I think of that .... ?     

Either just too young... or... just too dam-old!

Well I can't claim to be older than thee, oh ancient one, so I guess I will have to settle for being too darn young, at just 19       

[Old-Polack]

That scheme might be the best of the lot o-p.  Thank you!   

I haven't played about with Grub2 in that regard ..... might have a look soon. ......  now why didn't I think of that .... ?     

Either just too young... or... just too dam-old!

Well I can't claim to be older than thee, oh ancient one, so I guess I will have to settle for being too darn young, at just 19       

Yup, I was right. Senility can be a canine of the female persuasion when you can't remember the last 40+ years.

[Just17]

That scheme might be the best of the lot o-p.  Thank you!   

I haven't played about with Grub2 in that regard ..... might have a look soon. ......  now why didn't I think of that .... ?     

Either just too young... or... just too dam-old!

Well I can't claim to be older than thee, oh ancient one, so I guess I will have to settle for being too darn young, at just 19       

Yup, I was right. Senility can be a canine of the female persuasion when you can't remember the last 40+ years.

That lack of recall, can I am told, be very helpful in certain circumstances.    ....  not that it applies here of course 

[Vorteggs]

I tried gtk-liveinstall but it didn't add a stanza to menu.lst.
Well I copied it from the dialog and added it manually. But it won't boot stopping at the very first step without error output.
The stanza is

title LXDE_mini_Live Live
kernel (hd0,4)/isolinux/vmlinuz bootfrom=/dev/sda5
initrd=initrd.gz root=/dev/rd/3 vga=788 splash=silent
fstab=rw,auto changes=/dev/sda5 (hd0,4) noeject
initrd /dev/sda5/isolinux/initrd.gz

and the partition address is correct.

[Just17]

I tried gtk-liveinstall but it didn't add a stanza to menu.lst.
Well I copied it from the dialog and added it manually. But it won't boot stopping at the very first step without error output.
The stanza is

title LXDE_mini_Live Live
kernel (hd0,4)/isolinux/vmlinuz bootfrom=/dev/sda5
initrd=initrd.gz root=/dev/rd/3 vga=788 splash=silent
fstab=rw,auto changes=/dev/sda5 (hd0,4) noeject
initrd /dev/sda5/isolinux/initrd.gz

and the partition address is correct.

That package (gtk-liveinstall) is old and unmaintained (2008).
IMO it could be deleted from the repo.

If using a removable device I suggest you use

PCLinuxOS-liveUSB creator

[Vorteggs]

Thanks.
I tried it just out of curiosity as a poorman's install of the iso file on a hard-disk partition.

[wedgetail]

 
When testing Just19 script I have a test partition for using LiveHDD installs only, and have had up to 12 OS installed. When I have the ISO's they install here in less than 1 minute it seems. When you get thorougly confused it is very easy to delete them one by one as each one is contained in one directory.

I don't stick to the rules, I will install LiveHDD from any of my OS, meaning I will have to manhandle the stanza to the booting directory (part of the fun)

The test partition needs to be an ext3, unless you are really adventurous trying to solve problems.

[Vorteggs]

I scanned the thread for a link to d/l the script but didn't find one.
How can I get the script to try it?

[djohnston]

I scanned the thread for a link to d/l the script but didn't find one.
How can I get the script to try it?

If anyone would like to test it as it is developing please PM me.   

regards.

[Just17]

I scanned the thread for a link to d/l the script but didn't find one.
How can I get the script to try it?

If anyone would like to test it as it is developing please PM me.   

regards.

Also please see reply #31

I expect to get back to this in about a week or two if things pan out as I hope.

I will post here asap.

regards.

[and then..]

I scanned the thread for a link to d/l the script but didn't find one.
How can I get the script to try it?

For your reference:
http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Poor-mans_install,_grub,_PDI

Code: [Select]

# set environment variables
drive=/dev/hda
partition=/dev/hda1
mountpoint=/mnt/hda1
grub_partition="(hd0,0)"  # hda1 = hd0,0 -- format is (device,partition)

# clear the entire drive - yes, all information will be lost
{ seq -f d$'\n'%g 64 -1 1
  echo "w"
} | fdisk ${drive} >& /dev/null                                                       
fdisk -l ${drive}

# Partition drive, creating a 1 GB partition that has the bootable flag set
echo -e "n\np\n1\n1\n+1G\na\n1\np\nw" | fdisk ${drive}
fdisk -l ${drive}

# create filesystem
 mkfs.ext2 ${partition}

# rebuild /etc/fstab
 rebuildfstab -r

# mount the partition
 mount ${mountpoint}

# install grub
 grub-install --root-directory=${mountpoint} ${drive}

# copy the files from the CD to ${partition}
 cp -a /cdrom/ ${mountpoint}/knx402
 ls -la ${mountpoint}/knx402/KNOPPIX/KNOPPIX

# create /mnt/hda1/boot/grub/menu.lst
cat <<eof > ${mountpoint}/boot/grub/menu.lst
timeout=5
default=0
title Knoppix 4.0.2 from ext2 hda1 ISO scan ramdisk=32MB
  kernel ${grub_partition}/knx402/boot/isolinux/linux \\
    ramdisk_size=100000 init=/etc/init lang=us \\
    apm=power-off vga=0 nomce quiet fromhd=${partition} \\
    knoppix_dir=knx402/KNOPPIX config=scan home=scan \\
    ramdisk=32768 noprompt noeject -b 1
  initrd ${grub_partition}/knx402/boot/isolinux/minirt.gz
  boot
title Memory test
  kernel ${grub_partition}/knx402/boot/isolinux/memtest
eof
wc -l ${mountpoint}/boot/grub/menu.lst

# unmount hda1
 umount ${mountpoint}

# boot from the HDD

 reboot


[Vorteggs]

Thank you djohnston, Just19 and darkages.

[Vorteggs]

Proud to announce I am posting from the Poorman's Install made by Just19's script. Not a glitch!
Hehe I am happy.

Thank you, Just19!

Now going to see if I'll survive a reboot

P.S. Reboot survived successfully!

[Just17]

Once everyone is aware of the dangers of leaving a partition in an 'unclean' state when rebooting from a live session I am happy.

So, if possible, use a separate partition for the live installs with nothing else - or anything of importance - on it.

Better to be sure then sorry 


regards

[Vorteggs]

Once everyone is aware of the dangers of leaving a partition in an 'unclean' state when rebooting from a live session I am happy.

I can't understand quite well what does this mean but as I use a separate dedicated partition for Poor Man's install don't waste your time for explaining to me. I'll try to find it myself.

Once again thanks for the script.
I was trying several times to implement manually the Poor Man's installation but with no success.