Re: From "physical install DVD's" to "special install USB flash drive" - HOW?
On Thursday 03 November 2016 16:27:17 Bonno Bloksma wrote: > Hi, > > >On Monday 17 October 2016 20:32:54 Richard Owlett wrote: > >> So I'm looking to near future when >= 128 GB flash drives available. > > > > They already are, and larger. See e.g. > > > > http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/memory-usb/usb3.0/muf-128bb > >eu.html and > > http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/memory-usb/usb3.0/muf-128ba > >eu.html > > > > That was just a quick trawl at my local shop. I am sure that newegg or > > whatever you guys use will have them if we have them in our backwoods. > > ;-) > > > > Going slightly further afield produced this: > > https://www.7dayshop.com/products/sandisk-cruzer-glide-usb-2-0-flash-driv > >e-memory-stick-256gb-sdcz60-256g-b35 > > > > I rest my case. ;-) > > I will let it rest until I have had my this to say, why stop at 256GB? > https://www.google.nl/search?sourceid=navclient=nl=UTF-8=1T4GGHP_ >nlNL671NL671=1TB+usb+drive_rd=ssl#q=1TB+usb+drive=nl=shop :-)) I only said e.g.. ;-) And I just started locally. Lisi
RE: From "physical install DVD's" to "special install USB flash drive" - HOW?
Hi, >On Monday 17 October 2016 20:32:54 Richard Owlett wrote: >> So I'm looking to near future when >= 128 GB flash drives available. > > They already are, and larger. See e.g. > > http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/memory-usb/usb3.0/muf-128bbeu.html > and > http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/memory-usb/usb3.0/muf-128baeu.html > > That was just a quick trawl at my local shop. I am sure that newegg or > whatever you guys use will have them if we have them in our backwoods. ;-) > > Going slightly further afield produced this: > https://www.7dayshop.com/products/sandisk-cruzer-glide-usb-2-0-flash-drive-memory-stick-256gb-sdcz60-256g-b35 > > I rest my case. ;-) I will let it rest until I have had my this to say, why stop at 256GB? https://www.google.nl/search?sourceid=navclient=nl=UTF-8=1T4GGHP_nlNL671NL671=1TB+usb+drive_rd=ssl#q=1TB+usb+drive=nl=shop Bonno
Re: From "physical install DVD's" to "special install USB flash drive" - HOW?
On 11/2/2016 6:49 AM, Lisi Reisz wrote: On Monday 17 October 2016 20:32:54 Richard Owlett wrote: So I'm looking to near future when >= 128 GB flash drives available. They already are, and larger. See e.g. http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/memory-usb/usb3.0/muf-128bbeu.html and http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/memory-usb/usb3.0/muf-128baeu.html That was just a quick trawl at my local shop. I am sure that newegg or whatever you guys use will have them if we have them in our backwoods. ;-) Going slightly further afield produced this: https://www.7dayshop.com/products/sandisk-cruzer-glide-usb-2-0-flash-drive-memory-stick-256gb-sdcz60-256g-b35 I rest my case. ;-) Lisi I'll see your backwoods and raise our wide open prairie, southwest corner of Missouri ;/ I just looked and the national sites for Staples and Office Depot list them. The last time I looked at our local Staples, they only had 64 GB. Hadn't done an exhaustive search as 64 GB can handle my immediate need (as opposed to my dreams).
Re: From "physical install DVD's" to "special install USB flash drive" - HOW?
On Monday 17 October 2016 20:32:54 Richard Owlett wrote: > So I'm looking to near future when >= 128 GB flash drives available. They already are, and larger. See e.g. http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/memory-usb/usb3.0/muf-128bbeu.html and http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/memory-usb/usb3.0/muf-128baeu.html That was just a quick trawl at my local shop. I am sure that newegg or whatever you guys use will have them if we have them in our backwoods. ;-) Going slightly further afield produced this: https://www.7dayshop.com/products/sandisk-cruzer-glide-usb-2-0-flash-drive-memory-stick-256gb-sdcz60-256g-b35 I rest my case. ;-) Lisi
Re: From "physical install DVD's" to "special install USB flash drive" - HOW?
On Sat 22 Oct 2016 at 13:54:28 -0500, Richard Owlett wrote: > >On 10/17/2016 10:22 AM, Brian wrote: > >> > >> https://wiki.debian.org/Installation+Archive+USBStick > >> > >>looks to be right up your street and capable of adapting to > >>your needs. > > > >I'd seen it and caused me to think what I wanted might be reasonable. > > I tried to follow it but got tangled up. Perhaps should try again > >after a good night's sleep. > > That was one major problem. Another is the author's style was not suitable > for me. You leave your "major problem" unexpressed (will we ever know?) but have focussed on concerns about the style on the wiki page at https://wiki.debian.org/Installation+Archive+USBStick If the author had known his efforts were not suitable for Richard Owlett I'm sure he would have written differently. He should be reprimanded for not tailoring his advice to your needs. Get in touch and badger him to amend his ways. From all accounts, he is a very reasonable and pleasant chap. It's a wiki, of course. Guess what? You can make it better. > It probably would fine someone whose goal was identical to the author's. I > believe it has all the pieces. I will attempt to follow a dictum I heard > decades ago - Plan the Work. Work the Plan. By God! I wish I had said that. -- Brian.
Re: From "physical install DVD's" to "special install USB flash drive" - HOW?
On 10/17/2016 10:33 AM, Richard Owlett wrote: On 10/17/2016 10:22 AM, Brian wrote: On Mon 17 Oct 2016 at 09:40:31 -0500, Richard Owlett wrote: [snip Due to limited bandwidth *EVERYTHING SHALL* be done from a physical set of purchased DVD's [Jessie 8.6]. I explicitly want a flash drive that functions as an install medium. I *DO NOT* wish to install to the flash drive (not 'Debian to Go'). It shall be bootable It shall be able to install Debian on any machine which can boot from a USB device. It shall have a repository with contents on all 13 DVD's. It shall have multiple multiple editable preseed.cfg files. https://wiki.debian.org/Installation+Archive+USBStick looks to be right up your street and capable of adapting to your needs. I'd seen it and caused me to think what I wanted might be reasonable. I tried to follow it but got tangled up. Perhaps should try again after a good night's sleep. That was one major problem. Another is the author's style was not suitable for me. It probably would fine someone whose goal was identical to the author's. I believe it has all the pieces. I will attempt to follow a dictum I heard decades ago - Plan the Work. Work the Plan. I envision a file structure of /dev/sdX /alphaoptional partition for GRUB or LILO /betabootable installer - essentially DVD 1 of 13 /gammarepository - contents of DVD 2 -> DVD 13 /deltacollection of preseed.cfg files That too looks like it could be accommodated but the need to partitionisn't necessary. It is necessary to match goals and constraints I haven't described in detail. I'll try to demonstrate something in a week or so. Some thought is needed on the "Plan the Work" step.
Re: From "physical install DVD's" to "special install USB flash drive" - HOW?
On 10/17/2016 1:08 PM, Andrew M.A. Cater wrote: [SNIP] Double layer Blu-Ray disk image. Use dd to write this to a single stick. That will give you virtually everything you need to install. "virtually everything" <> "everything" by *DEFINITION* A second USB stick to hold preseed files and the .iso files for dlbd1 and dlbd 2 in case you really need it (chances are you won't - since the first DL-BD will be the first 10 DVDs in one directly bootable image) "2 flash drives" <> "1 flash drive" THEREFORE *UNACCEPTABLE* by specification ;/ So I'm looking to near future when >= 128 GB flash drives available. [currently commercially available 1 TB USB connected rotating medium is acceptable ;] One USB stick will be bootable and install almost all of Debian (50G or 10 or 11 DVDs). Optionally, you can use the second large stick and apt-cdrom add to add in any packages which aren't on the dl-bd image you use to install. One 64G stick might hold both .iso files and any preseeds you write - so 2 x 64G sticks might work. Project specification *IS* : 13 DVD's in --> *1* device out ! ;/ Hope this helps, AndyC
Re: From "physical install DVD's" to "special install USB flash drive" - HOW?
On 10/17/2016 10:26 AM, Richard Owlett wrote: On 10/17/2016 9:51 AM, Hans wrote: Am Montag, 17. Oktober 2016, 09:40:31 CEST schrieb Richard Owlett: [SNIP} Maybe you might want to look at Fully Automatical Installatio (FAI). I'd come across that but the references were for a distro other than Debian. If there are Debian oriented tools/instructions, that could be viable. Will do some web searches. Did a web search. Search string was "fully automated install" +debian -ubuntu Eventually weeded it down to http://fai-project.org/ . I'll assume that to be *THE* authoritative site. After surveying multiple pages, it is apparent it presumes: networked machines multiple identical installs no per install customizations My use case *FAILS* all assumptions ;/ You can create an ISO for every architecture, Not an issue as I only use the version labeled "i386". then put in on the USB-drive. I suggest "XBOOT" for this, it is a multiboot tool. Will investigate. https://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=XBOOT=names=stable=all lists 4 packages. *ALL* descriptions include the string "tool to test and create graphical boot logos". Don't see how that is relevant. Using duckduckgo.com I searched for: XBOOT +debian All hits referenced YUMI and/or "LIVE" ISO -- neither are in my "universe of discourse". As you can preconfigure everything, you can point the installer iso's to the repo on your usb drive. I'm not sure we're on the same path here. My procedure is to: choose "Automated install" from menu press ESC to edit command line append "preseed/file=/mnt/preseed.cfg" continue I generally have at least 3 preseed.cfg files available: 1. full install 2. a very minimal GUI install with only tools I routinely use 3. one for whatever I'm currently experimenting with On the other hand, IMO, an image server might be more usefull. Take a look at "clonezilla" project, especially "cloinezilla se". Will investigate. I am *NOT 'cloning' systems. [ E.G. I create 'fraternal twins' *NOT* 'identical twins'] http://clonezilla.org/ explicitly counters my use case. Just my ideas. Happy hacking1 Hans Thank you.
Re: From "physical install DVD's" to "special install USB flash drive" - HOW?
On Mon, Oct 17, 2016 at 10:33:32AM -0500, Richard Owlett wrote: > On 10/17/2016 10:22 AM, Brian wrote: > >On Mon 17 Oct 2016 at 09:40:31 -0500, Richard Owlett wrote: > > > >>If some of this sounds familiar, I have asked related questions in the past. > >>[I do have copies of previous posts for reference. > >> I've re-read most but may have missed reading some due to how I sorted > >>them.] > >>I think I can give a better description of what I wish to accomplish. > >>The laptop I used for previous experiment is now classed as unreliable, > >>which may have been cause of some previous problems. I have a healthy > >>desktop machine now. > >> > >>Due to limited bandwidth *EVERYTHING SHALL* be done from a physical set of > >>purchased DVD's [Jessie 8.6]. > >> > >>I explicitly want a flash drive that functions as an install medium. > >>I DO NOT wish to install to the flash drive (one person called that 'Debian > >>to Go'] > >>It shall be bootable > >>It shall be able to install Debian on any machine which can boot from a USB > >>device. > >>It shall have a repository equivalent to the contents on all 13 DVD's. > >>It shall have multiple multiple editable preseed.cfg files. > > > > https://wiki.debian.org/Installation+Archive+USBStick > > > >looks to be right up your street and capable of adapting to your needs. > > I'd seen it and caused me to think what I wanted might be reasonable. > I tried to follow it but got tangled up. Perhaps should try again after a > good night's sleep. > > > > >>I envision a file structure of > >>/dev/sdX > >>/alpha optional partition for GRUB or LILO > >>/beta bootable installer - essentially DVD 1 of 13 > >>/gamma repository - contents of DVD 2 -> DVD 13 > >>/delta collection of preseed.cfg files > > > >That too looks like it could be accomodated but the need to partition > >isn't necessary. > > > Double layer Blu-Ray disk image. Use dd to write this to a single stick. That will give you virtually everything you need to install. A second USB stick to hold preseed files and the .iso files for dlbd1 and dlbd 2 in case you really need it (chances are you won't - since the first DL-BD will be the first 10 DVDs in one directly bootable image) One USB stick will be bootable and install almost all of Debian (50G or 10 or 11 DVDs). Otionally, you can use the second large stick and apt-cdrom add to add in any packages which aren't on the dl-bd image you use to install. One 64G stick might hold both .iso files and any preseeds you write - so 2 x 64G sticks might work. Hope this helps, AndyC
Re: From "physical install DVD's" to "special install USB flash drive" - HOW?
On 10/17/2016 10:22 AM, Brian wrote: On Mon 17 Oct 2016 at 09:40:31 -0500, Richard Owlett wrote: If some of this sounds familiar, I have asked related questions in the past. [I do have copies of previous posts for reference. I've re-read most but may have missed reading some due to how I sorted them.] I think I can give a better description of what I wish to accomplish. The laptop I used for previous experiment is now classed as unreliable, which may have been cause of some previous problems. I have a healthy desktop machine now. Due to limited bandwidth *EVERYTHING SHALL* be done from a physical set of purchased DVD's [Jessie 8.6]. I explicitly want a flash drive that functions as an install medium. I DO NOT wish to install to the flash drive (one person called that 'Debian to Go'] It shall be bootable It shall be able to install Debian on any machine which can boot from a USB device. It shall have a repository equivalent to the contents on all 13 DVD's. It shall have multiple multiple editable preseed.cfg files. https://wiki.debian.org/Installation+Archive+USBStick looks to be right up your street and capable of adapting to your needs. I'd seen it and caused me to think what I wanted might be reasonable. I tried to follow it but got tangled up. Perhaps should try again after a good night's sleep. I envision a file structure of /dev/sdX /alpha optional partition for GRUB or LILO /beta bootable installer - essentially DVD 1 of 13 /gamma repository - contents of DVD 2 -> DVD 13 /delta collection of preseed.cfg files That too looks like it could be accomodated but the need to partition isn't necessary.
Re: From "physical install DVD's" to "special install USB flash drive" - HOW?
On 10/17/2016 9:51 AM, Hans wrote: Am Montag, 17. Oktober 2016, 09:40:31 CEST schrieb Richard Owlett: If some of this sounds familiar, I have asked related questions in the past. [I do have copies of previous posts for reference. I've re-read most but may have missed reading some due to how I sorted them.] I think I can give a better description of what I wish to accomplish. The laptop I used for previous experiment is now classed as unreliable, which may have been cause of some previous problems. I have a healthy desktop machine now. Due to limited bandwidth *EVERYTHING SHALL* be done from a physical set of purchased DVD's [Jessie 8.6]. I explicitly want a flash drive that functions as an install medium. I DO NOT wish to install to the flash drive (one person called that 'Debian to Go'] It shall be bootable It shall be able to install Debian on any machine which can boot from a USB device. It shall have a repository equivalent to the contents on all 13 DVD's. It shall have multiple multiple editable preseed.cfg files. I envision a file structure of /dev/sdX /alpha optional partition for GRUB or LILO /beta bootable installer - essentially DVD 1 of 13 /gamma repository - contents of DVD 2 -> DVD 13 /delta collection of preseed.cfg files Comments/suggestions? TIA So it looks like you want to do many installations and often. YES I have two general use cases: 1. experimenting with configuration on a test-bed machine. I routinely multi-boot with as many as 5 choices. I have been known to wipe the hard drive multiple times in one week in order to start from scratch. 2. portable install media. Maybe you might want to look at Fully Automatical Installatio (FAI). I'd come across that but the references were for a distro other than Debian. If there are Debian oriented tools/instructions, that could be viable. Will do some web searches. You can create an ISO for every architecture, Not an issue as I only use the version labeled "i386". then put in on the USB-drive. I suggest "XBOOT" for this, it is a multiboot tool. Will investigate. As you can preconfigure everything, you can point the installer iso's to the repo on your usb drive. I'm not sure we're on the same path here. My procedure is to: choose "Automated install" from menu press ESC to edit command line append "preseed/file=/mnt/preseed.cfg" continue I generally have at least 3 preseed.cfg files available: 1. full install 2. a very minimal GUI install with only tools I routinely use 3. one for whatever I'm currently experimenting with On the other hand, IMO, an image server might be more usefull. Take a look at "clonezilla" project, especially "cloinezilla se". Will investigate. Just my ideas. Happy hacking1 Hans Thank you.
Re: From "physical install DVD's" to "special install USB flash drive" - HOW?
On Mon 17 Oct 2016 at 09:40:31 -0500, Richard Owlett wrote: > If some of this sounds familiar, I have asked related questions in the past. > [I do have copies of previous posts for reference. > I've re-read most but may have missed reading some due to how I sorted > them.] > I think I can give a better description of what I wish to accomplish. > The laptop I used for previous experiment is now classed as unreliable, > which may have been cause of some previous problems. I have a healthy > desktop machine now. > > Due to limited bandwidth *EVERYTHING SHALL* be done from a physical set of > purchased DVD's [Jessie 8.6]. > > I explicitly want a flash drive that functions as an install medium. > I DO NOT wish to install to the flash drive (one person called that 'Debian > to Go'] > It shall be bootable > It shall be able to install Debian on any machine which can boot from a USB > device. > It shall have a repository equivalent to the contents on all 13 DVD's. > It shall have multiple multiple editable preseed.cfg files. https://wiki.debian.org/Installation+Archive+USBStick looks to be right up your street and capable of adapting to your needs. > I envision a file structure of > /dev/sdX > /alpha optional partition for GRUB or LILO > /beta bootable installer - essentially DVD 1 of 13 > /gamma repository - contents of DVD 2 -> DVD 13 > /delta collection of preseed.cfg files That too looks like it could be accomodated but the need to partition isn't necessary. -- Brian.
Re: From "physical install DVD's" to "special install USB flash drive" - HOW?
Am Montag, 17. Oktober 2016, 09:40:31 CEST schrieb Richard Owlett: > If some of this sounds familiar, I have asked related questions > in the past. > [I do have copies of previous posts for reference. > I've re-read most but may have missed reading some due to how I > sorted them.] > I think I can give a better description of what I wish to accomplish. > The laptop I used for previous experiment is now classed as > unreliable, which may have been cause of some previous problems. > I have a healthy desktop machine now. > > Due to limited bandwidth *EVERYTHING SHALL* be done from a > physical set of purchased DVD's [Jessie 8.6]. > > I explicitly want a flash drive that functions as an install medium. > I DO NOT wish to install to the flash drive (one person called > that 'Debian to Go'] > It shall be bootable > It shall be able to install Debian on any machine which can boot > from a USB device. > It shall have a repository equivalent to the contents on all 13 > DVD's. > It shall have multiple multiple editable preseed.cfg files. > > I envision a file structure of > /dev/sdX > /alpha optional partition for GRUB or LILO > /beta bootable installer - essentially DVD 1 of 13 > /gamma repository - contents of DVD 2 -> DVD 13 > /delta collection of preseed.cfg files > > Comments/suggestions? > TIA So it looks like you want to do many installations and often. Maybe you might want to look at Fully Automatical Installatio (FAI). You can create an ISO for every architecture, then put in on the USB-drive. I suggest "XBOOT" for this, it is a multiboot tool. As you can preconfigure everything, you can point the installer iso's to the repo on your usb drive. On the other hand, IMO, an image server might be more usefull. Take a look at "clonezilla" project, especially "cloinezilla se". Just my ideas. Happy hacking1 Hans
