EasyOS and Grub4Dos

[MochiMoppel]

My first attempt to test EasyOS. I admit that I didn't well understand the installation instructions. Writing the image to a spare 4-8GB stick is not possible for me as I don't have one. So I tried what I always do: Add EasyOS to my small collection of test distros on a 4GB stick.
1) Extracted the contents of easy-3.4.7-amd64.img using UExtract. This produced an error:

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Partition_2:
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/loop2,
       missing codepage or helper program, or other error
       In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
       dmesg | tail  or so

Failed!

Nevertheless a folder Partition_1 was extracted and this folder seems to contain all files needed for boot

2) Copied files easy.sfs, initrd and vmlinuz to a newly created folder /pup_easyos of a my bootable test stick and created new entry in grub4dos menu.lst:

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title EasyOS
kernel /pup_easyos/vmlinuz pmedia=usbflash  psubdir=/pup_easyos
initrd /pup_easyos/initrd

When trying to boot I didn't get very far:

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Finding drives................
ERROR: Boot partition not found

Is there any way to fix this or is my approach completely wrong?

[BarryK]

You are using Puppy kernel parameters, such as psubdir, which EasyOS doesn't understand.

I presume that you have already seen this:

https://easyos.org/install/easy-frugal- ... ation.html

...I updated that page a few days ago. See also, for kernel parameters that Easy does understand:

https://bkhome.org/news/202203/easier-f ... asyos.html

...boot_dev and boot_dir would be wherever you have those 3 files. wkg_dev and wkg_dir can be anywhere in a Linux partition, where you want to have the working files -- this is equivalent to the Puppy "save folder".

Note, working-partition prefer ext4, and if you want encryption, then it has to be enabled. Say that the working-partition is sdb2:

# tune2fs -O encrypt /dev/sdb2

...this has to be done before first bootup of Easy. ext4 encryption works on a per-folder basis, and it shouldn't affect anything else already in that partition.

The problem for you may be, do you have a ext4 partition on the usb stick, that can be used as working-partition? If not, you can use some other ext4 partition, such as in internal hard drive.

[MochiMoppel]

@BarryK Thanks for the explanation. I'm not sure if I understood them correctly.

I presume that you have already seen this:
https://easyos.org/install/easy-frugal- ... ation.html

Following the instructions I change my menu.lst to

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title EasyOS
find --set-root uuid () A4FB-2EC4
kernel /pup_easyos/vmlinuz
initrd /pup_easyos/initrd

On boot I received the same error ("Boot partition not found"). Entering "exit" generates a new one:

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ERROR: BOOT_FS=''
Boot filesystem is incorrect

Can't make sense of this message. My boot fs is vfat.

Reading on in your webpage I realize that I might have to edit 'BOOT_SPECS' in initrd. Following the instructions I get this:

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# mkdir initrd-tree          
# cd initrd-tree     
# cat ../initrd | cpio -i -d -m
cpio: ../bin/busybox: Cannot symlink to `sbin/init': Operation not permitted
cpio: ../bin/busybox: Cannot symlink to `sbin/poweroff': Operation not permitted
...

Unfortunately makes sense. initrd is on vfat so symlinks are not supported. Will surely effect the repackaging, but at least BOOT_SPECS is extracted and I change it to

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BOOT_UUID='A4FB-2EC4'
BOOT_DIR=''
WKG_UUID='A4FB-2EC4'
WKG_DIR=''

Repacked and rebooted. The "Boot partition not found" error is gone. That's good.
Instead I get

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Kernel panic - not syncing:
No working init found

That's bad. I checked contents of intitrd: The init file was repacked and seems to be unharmed, the /sbin/init symlink to busybox - not surprisingly - is missing. So in any case my new initrd is faulty.

The problem for you may be, do you have a ext4 partition on the usb stick, that can be used as working-partition?

No. The stick is vfat and is not partitioned. I also have no use for a working-partition since I have no intention to save settings. I may load additional files after boot, for which I need read access but in my understanding the fs of such files don't need to be ext4.

If not, you can use some other ext4 partition, such as in internal hard drive.

The internal HD is off-limits for me. Not mounted and not even running. No other ext4 partition available. All I have is the vfat boot partiton. The instructions state "Note that the boot-partition does not have to be a Linux filesystem, it can be vfat or ntfs." , so in my case I can't see the need for ext4.

Seems I reached the end of the road

[LateAdopter]

You could try the trick used for OpenElec/LibreElec that requires a storage partition with Unix filesystem:
You create a blank file, format it as extX and mount it as the storage partition.
That way you can run LibreElec in a single FAT partition. It does work!

It depends how much a challenge you want!

[BarryK]

Seems I reached the end of the road

Perhaps it is time to buy another usb-stick!

I recommend get a good quality one, such as SanDisk Ultra, or, if you can pay more, the SanDisk Extreme.

[Philh]

Boots ok on fat32 with grub4dos with my uuid
title easy frugal
uuid B1CD-F68B
kernel /vmlinuz
initrd /initrd

The BOOT_SPECS in the initrd needs to be set to your uuid
Its easy if you are running EASY because you just click on initrd.
I dont know how to open and close initrd ffrom the commandline.
BOOT_UUID='B1CD-F68B'
BOOT_DIR=''
WKG_UUID=''
WKG_DIR='

[BarryK]

Boots ok on fat32 with grub4dos with my uuid
title easy frugal
uuid B1CD-F68B
kernel /vmlinuz
initrd /initrd

The BOOT_SPECS in the initrd needs to be set to your uuid
Its easy if you are running EASY because you just click on initrd.
I dont know how to open and close initrd ffrom the commandline.
BOOT_UUID='B1CD-F68B'
BOOT_DIR=''
WKG_UUID=''
WKG_DIR=''

Um, yes, from my memory of how the 'init' script works in the initrd, if it cannot find any working-partition, it falls back to just running in RAM.

You can also put "WKG_DEV='zram0'" to specifically choose to run in RAM.

In the case of using kernel boot parameters instead of editing BOOT_SPECS file inside initrd:

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boot_uuid=B1CD-F68B boot_dir=/ wkg_dev=zram0 wkg_dir=/

...that should just bootup in RAM, no session saving.

[MochiMoppel]

You could try the trick used for OpenElec/LibreElec that requires a storage partition with Unix filesystem:
You create a blank file, format it as extX and mount it as the storage partition.

Thanks. IIRC I did this long time ago and it worked, but the thing is that as far as I understand EasyOS does not require a storage partition, at least not one specified by the user.

Perhaps it is time to buy another usb-stick!

Yeah, could definitely speed up the error messages
I fixed my problems by changing BOOT_DIR from BOOT_DIR='' to BOOT_DIR='pup_easyos/'
Reading your "Editing 'BOOT_SPECS'" instruction (and later the example given by @Philh ), I was under the impression that BOOT_DIR='' means that BOOT_DIR can be left empty. Made sense to me since I had already specified my boot directory in menu.lst ("kernel /pup_easyos/vmlinuz") .

It appears now that assigning an empty string to BOOT_DIR will be interpreted as '/' since a leading slash seems not mandatory. Wasn't something I expected.

So I'm able to boot at last.
I'm informed that everything will be in RAM and that my Boot partition is "sdb1" and my Working partition "zram0" - whatever that means.

Next I'm asked for my keyboard layout. Would it be possible to boot straight to a desktop and call the ask_kb() function only if qfix=nox ? Or creating a boot parameter for the kb layout? Sorry, just my idea, not my business.

The next boot step I don't understand. Some message telling me that a "snapshot of EasyOS" is created and that it is "populating /mnt/zram0". This takes quite a while. Why would I need a "snapshot of EasyOS" when everything is in RAM? When I want to revert to the original state I just reboot. I would prefer to skip this "populating" step.

Finally I see a desktop, and it looks really nice. Playing with the apps comes later, but first my deal breaker test: Suspend and Personal storage and free space.
1) Suspend and wake up work. Good.
2) Personal storage/free space can be a problem on 64bit distros. Most leave me only 400MB free space, the better ones about 1G . Now comes EasyOS and beats them all: 2,7G personal storage, free space 2.0G. I'm delighted!
But wait a minute: Everything in RAM, USB and HD not mounted ... and my laptop has only 2G RAM Something is fishy. Looks like a bug.

[BarryK]

Nothing fishy.
/dev/zram0 is a compressed storage device in RAM.

[mouldy]

Seems I reached the end of the road

Perhaps it is time to buy another usb-stick!

I recommend get a good quality one, such as SanDisk Ultra, or, if you can pay more, the SanDisk Extreme.

Been a while since I played with thumb drive, only one still in my possession is maybe 4GB and usb2. This post got me looking. Honest all the name brand usb3 thumb drives seem to start at 16GB and not much more expensive to get 32GB or even 64GB. Sometimes wonder if better to get smaller capacity used SSD and use it with usb adapter. Can Etcher or Rufus or whatever handle the bigger drives or do I have to search for an older 8GB usb2 drive? I know Rufus used to have limit of like 16GB. But maybe not anymore. I have just done iso burned to dvd for last few years. Its slow but cheap and works.

I will give anybody reading this thread a heads up, an older linux program with gui, called peazip can handle img files with no error. Its 32bit only so you need to meet its 32bit dependencies. I havent seen anything else that does as well. And see lot more img files rather than iso files anymore.

[Clarity]

Etcher (favorite), Rufus, or Barry's Easydd should all work. The 'dd' command in a terminal should work as well but is slightly more complex.

Hope this helps

[MochiMoppel]

@mouldy I did't understand BK's response, he didn't explain. For me the quality/speed/size of the USB stick had no apparent relation to my boot issues or my intended use (working-partition only in RAM - in Puppy speak this would be PUPMODE 5). In this scenario any decent stick should do.

[mouldy]

I ordered a new Sandisk Ultra stick off ebay since I am down to one very old stick that I can still find. But kept beating my head on rock trying to get frugal current version to boot from a SSD partition (its sharing with Slacko). I finally relented and downloaded the old 1.3 iso version and burned to dvd. Figured I should at least be able to get it installed and working. It took while to get Grub4dos and initrd settings to jive. But finally did. Its ok, very Puppy-like to use, no surprise there though I do understand its lot different under the hood. I suppose now can just substitute newer files to update and remodify the newer initrd. The big trick wasnt installing it (just three files), was getting Grub4dos to boot it. Like most things, once you have done it, its whole lot easier next time. Had to pull out all the tricks to get easytether working. But like in the Puppies, the deb version will install and with some effort work. Tired, wait until tomorrow to try upgrading to newer version. Having that old dvd version available makes changing settings in initrd lot easier.

[mouldy]

▶—— Distro Specifications ——◀

Distro: Easy Dunfell64 3.4.7
Window Manager: JWM v2.4.1
Desktop Start: xwin jwm

Well yes, Virginia, you can update to current from v. 1.3. Barry made it pretty simple, once I manually copied the three files overwriting old ones, then clicked on initrd, it updated the settings in initrd automatically. Rebooted and here I am. I see it has an automated download and update option in this version. Though always good to know how to update manually. The new icons look bit odd with the skateboarding bulldog but sure there are options.