Re: [SLUG] Burn .ISO to install USB

[Daniel Pittman]

Kyle  writes:
> Rick Phillips wrote:
>> Kyle,
>>
>>> As I say, I haven't used UNetBootin because it apparently only supports
>>> Debian based distros and I run a RedHat based distro. I'm trying to put
>>> eeeBuntu on the Netbook.
>>
>> Dunno where you got that information from.  I run Mandriva (RPM based ex
>> Red Hat a long time ago) and it works just fine.  Go to their web site
>> and download and run the binary they supply.  Make sure you have
>> syslinux installed.  There was something else it required but it will
>> tell you when you run it.
>>
> Ok. Thanks. It's just that across the top of their website, they list
> the various dist's they have packages for. Namely;
>
> Ubuntu
> Debian
> OpenSUSE
> Gentoo
>
> Which as far as I know are all Debian based.

Um, no.  Ubuntu and Debian (naturally) are Debian based.  OpenSUSE is
RPM based, and Gentoo is ... source based, I guess.

Regards,
Daniel
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Burn .ISO to install USB

[Jeremy Visser]

On Sun, 2009-05-10 at 08:43 +1000, Kyle wrote:
> Ok. Thanks. It's just that across the top of their website, they list 
> the various
> dist's they have packages for. Namely;
> 
> Ubuntu
> Debian
> OpenSUSE
> Gentoo
> 
> Which as far as I know are all Debian based. They don't mention any 
> rpm's, so I just figured.

openSUSE is RPM-based. And from looking at the website,
, it
also supports Fedora and Mandriva, which are RPM-based.

If you want fully-supported hardware on your Eee on Linux, my suggestion
is to go for Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.04. No need for the funky kernels
like in 8.10 and earlier. The official method of installation *is* via
USB.

Once you download the Netbook Remix image, making it bootable on your
flash drive is as simple as:

 # dd if=/path/to/netbook-remix.img of=/dev/sdX bs=20M

Where sdX is your flash drive. After that, it should boot. Don't forget
to type 'sync' before unplugging your flash drive.


signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Burn .ISO to install USB

[Kyle]

Rick Phillips wrote:

Kyle,

  
As I say, I haven't used UNetBootin because it apparently only supports 
Debian based distros and I run a RedHat based distro. I'm trying to put 
eeeBuntu on the Netbook.



Dunno where you got that information from.  I run Mandriva (RPM based ex
Red Hat a long time ago) and it works just fine.  Go to their web site
and download and run the binary they supply.  Make sure you have
syslinux installed.  There was something else it required but it will
tell you when you run it.

  
Ok. Thanks. It's just that across the top of their website, they list 
the various

dist's they have packages for. Namely;

Ubuntu
Debian
OpenSUSE
Gentoo

Which as far as I know are all Debian based. They don't mention any 
rpm's, so I just figured.



Kind Regards

Kyle



--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Burn .ISO to install USB

[Kevin Shackleton]

On Sat, 2009-05-09 at 09:21 +1000, Kyle wrote:
> ARRRGGGH!!!
> 
> I've spent the better part of a couple of days trying to get a .ISO 
> image transferred to a USB stick to install to my netbook.

> Can someone please point in the direction of an idiot-proof howto to 
> transfer a .ISO to .IMG or direct to the USB or whatever?
> 
> Please.

After similar frustrations I found a simple solution was to use the menu
item in Ubuntu/Gnome.  You can install any ISO onto the thumbdrive.  You
might then look at reverse engineering to see what your command-line
efforts were doing wrong - I didn't bother to do that.

Of course that would be a problem for you if it was Ubuntu you were
trying to set up . . 

Regards,

Kevin.

-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Burn .ISO to install USB

[Rick Phillips]

Kyle,

> As I say, I haven't used UNetBootin because it apparently only supports 
> Debian based distros and I run a RedHat based distro. I'm trying to put 
> eeeBuntu on the Netbook.

Dunno where you got that information from.  I run Mandriva (RPM based ex
Red Hat a long time ago) and it works just fine.  Go to their web site
and download and run the binary they supply.  Make sure you have
syslinux installed.  There was something else it required but it will
tell you when you run it.

I usually copy my dvd to the desktop as an ISO and run it with that.
The info about fat 32 below is very valid and the matter of the MBR was
a gotcha for me too.  Otherwise it is just fine and should be linux
agnostic.

> > How far did you get? Did you get a syslinux boot screen when you tried
> > to boot, or just some "Missing operating system" error?
> >   
> I never even got that. It would just stop at a flashing underscore in 
> the top left corner. So obviously, I'm missing something of vital 
> importance.
> > Did you format the drive as FAT32 or ext2? If you formatted it as ext2,
> > you want to use extlinux, not syslinux (a gotcha when I first started
> > hacking on stuff like that).
> >   
> I tried FAT32, ext2 and finally FAT. The syslinux thing hasn't worked 
> for me yet, despite the drive showing Idsyslinux.whatever. I've copied 
> the ISO, I've dd'ed the ISO across. I've dd'ed direct to the drive. And 
> when I do that and then check again in fdisk, it shows as an invalid 
> partition.
> > Did your drive have an MBR? It's all very well to set up syslinux and
> > flag the partition as bootable, but you still need the MBR. 
> >   
> > The easiest way to do it on my setup is this:
> >
> >   # dd if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdX
> >   
> This is new information.  Will give this a go, thanks.
> > Oh, one other thing. Are you sure the system can actually boot from USB?
> > Have you tried a distro that you know to work (e.g. Ubuntu 8.10 or later
> > with its automatic USB formatter) from USB?
> >   
> Yes, I know it can boot from a USB.
Rick

-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Burn .ISO to install USB

[Kyle]

Jeremy Visser wrote:

On Sat, 2009-05-09 at 09:21 +1000, Kyle wrote:
  
You're asking to be able to surf like a pro without getting wet. There's

no one-size-fits-all method to do that.
  

Not at all.

What distro are you trying to put on? IIRC, UNetbootin supports Fedora
and openSUSE.
  
As I say, I haven't used UNetBootin because it apparently only supports 
Debian based distros and I run a RedHat based distro. I'm trying to put 
eeeBuntu on the Netbook.

How far did you get? Did you get a syslinux boot screen when you tried
to boot, or just some "Missing operating system" error?
  
I never even got that. It would just stop at a flashing underscore in 
the top left corner. So obviously, I'm missing something of vital 
importance.

Did you format the drive as FAT32 or ext2? If you formatted it as ext2,
you want to use extlinux, not syslinux (a gotcha when I first started
hacking on stuff like that).
  
I tried FAT32, ext2 and finally FAT. The syslinux thing hasn't worked 
for me yet, despite the drive showing Idsyslinux.whatever. I've copied 
the ISO, I've dd'ed the ISO across. I've dd'ed direct to the drive. And 
when I do that and then check again in fdisk, it shows as an invalid 
partition.

Did your drive have an MBR? It's all very well to set up syslinux and
flag the partition as bootable, but you still need the MBR. 
  
The easiest way to do it on my setup is this:


  # dd if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdX
  

This is new information.  Will give this a go, thanks.

Oh, one other thing. Are you sure the system can actually boot from USB?
Have you tried a distro that you know to work (e.g. Ubuntu 8.10 or later
with its automatic USB formatter) from USB?
  

Yes, I know it can boot from a USB.


Kind Regards

Kyle


--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

Re: [SLUG] Burn .ISO to install USB

[Jeremy Visser]

On Sat, 2009-05-09 at 09:21 +1000, Kyle wrote:
> Can someone please point in the direction of an idiot-proof howto to 
> transfer a .ISO to .IMG or direct to the USB or whatever?

You're asking to be able to surf like a pro without getting wet. There's
no one-size-fits-all method to do that.

What distro are you trying to put on? IIRC, UNetbootin supports Fedora
and openSUSE.

How far did you get? Did you get a syslinux boot screen when you tried
to boot, or just some "Missing operating system" error?

Did you format the drive as FAT32 or ext2? If you formatted it as ext2,
you want to use extlinux, not syslinux (a gotcha when I first started
hacking on stuff like that).

Did your drive have an MBR? It's all very well to set up syslinux and
flag the partition as bootable, but you still need the MBR. That was
possibly the biggest step that tripped me up when I first started -- and
didn't seem to be documented anywhere.

The easiest way to do it on my setup is this:

  # dd if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdX

(Where sdX is your flash drive. It is not sdX1, sdX2 -- just the raw
drive. Make sure you have syslinux installed to do that, and before you
do that, verify that mbr.bin is less than or equal to 448 bytes,
otherwise it will overwrite your flash drive's partition table.)

Oh, one other thing. Are you sure the system can actually boot from USB?
Have you tried a distro that you know to work (e.g. Ubuntu 8.10 or later
with its automatic USB formatter) from USB?

Jeremy.


signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part
-- 
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html

[SLUG] Burn .ISO to install USB

[Kyle]

ARRRGGGH!!!

I've spent the better part of a couple of days trying to get a .ISO 
image transferred to a USB stick to install to my netbook.


I KNOW, it's NOT supposed to be that difficult. But all the pages on the 
web talk about installing to a USB or running Net Installs from USB.


I just want to transfer the entire setup to a USB stick so I can plug 
that in and install from there. Yes, I know I could download UNetBootin, 
but apparently that doesn't support RedHat based distros.


THERE MUST BE a simple old-fashioned, manual way to do it from the CLI.

I've tried every combination I can think of with fdisk, dd, syslinux. 
I've mounted and copied and formatted and set active and dd'ed and ...


Can someone please point in the direction of an idiot-proof howto to 
transfer a .ISO to .IMG or direct to the USB or whatever?


Please.

--

Kind Regards

Kyle

--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html