Limine Installer PET version 1.3

[williwaw]

@April did you see this post in a nearby active topic?
viewtopic.php?p=76806#p76806

should you wish to attempt a manual limine.cfg using partition labels

viewtopic.php?p=67377#p67377

[April]

I played about a bit mounting Bionic and Fossa live disks .
GParted in fossa gave me this about the superblock on the Easy USB as I tried to change the UUID Which is usually greyed out in Xenialpup64.
[/code
root# e2fsck -f /dev/sdc1
e2fsck 1.45.5 (07-Jan-2020)
ext2fs_open2: Bad magic number in super-block
e2fsck: Superblock invalid, trying backup blocks...
e2fsck: Bad magic number in super-block while trying to open /dev/sdc1

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a valid ext2/ext3/ext4
filesystem. If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2/ext3/ext4
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
e2fsck -b 8193 <device>
or
e2fsck -b 32768 <device>

/dev/sdc1 contains a vfat file system
root# e2fsck -b 8193 /dev/sdc1
e2fsck 1.45.5 (07-Jan-2020)
e2fsck: Invalid argument while trying to open /dev/sdc1

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a valid ext2/ext3/ext4
filesystem. If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2/ext3/ext4
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
e2fsck -b 8193 <device>
or
e2fsck -b 32768 <device>

root# e2fsck -b 32768 /dev/sdc1
e2fsck 1.45.5 (07-Jan-2020)
e2fsck: Invalid argument while trying to open /dev/sdc1

The superblock could not be read or does not describe a valid ext2/ext3/ext4
filesystem. If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2/ext3/ext4
filesystem (and not swap or ufs or something else), then the superblock
is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate superblock:
e2fsck -b 8193 <device>
or
e2fsck -b 32768 <device>
root#
[/code]

[April]

I think I have a lead on the change UUID problem.
Xenialpup64-7.5 has a 2015 version of GParted.
That has a known bug that did not write Fat 16 and Fat32 partitons correctly, Its discussed on their forum and its a bloody nusiance when you go into BigW with a stick full of pictures you want and all the machines will want to do is format the USB.

Because of that I got a Feb 21 live GParted disk onto CD and I have been able to change the UUID successfully using not time but random number generation. Seemed to work well on the USB stick and I feel the UUID problem I can now fix. The superblock problem seems to have gone too I hope.

If I could just get a live GParted CD to run on my laptop I could format the hard drive and start again. Its been corrupted and conflicts with the pristine DD'd copy of EasyOS. I remembered that stupidly I opened the users file saving area on the hard drive and because they all looked weird I deleted them. A major mistake but I remember doing it. Now a pristine boot keeps asking for the password to decrypt the hard drive with and I enter it right but it does not recognise it and keeps asking again.....That's where I have to shut down. I'm still confused by this though.

So my focus now is getting something on a USB that will format its hard drive first then I am sure EasyOS will load again. GParted is just a mess trying to get it on a USB so I'm looking for another way to get into it.

[April]

Well so much for that.
As per usual ,since 2003 in fact. Barry is pretty reluctant to assist really and fires off 3 second thought out answers and leaves you to it .This is exactly what happened in 2003 and again in 2020 when I try to get his programs working .

I do not recommend anyone give this OS more than a cursory glance . It may work for you but ,if it does not ,don't expect much help from the developer BarryK.

@williwaw was very helpful and spent quite some time looking at this issue. Thank You.

Your Program @BarryK is off all of my disks , never to return for me . What an installation nightmare.
You need to get a failsafe method of installing to modern laptops on the hard drive and USB sticks loading properly.You need to develop that GUI you promised and not leave it to outdated reference pages that don't work anymore.

It actually near destroyed 2 laptops , one old ,one new. The best thing I found about it was you supply an image file for it rather than an outdated iso file. That at least was easy to follow.

[BarryK]

I spend 5 - 10 hours every day working on EasyOS, and also receive a lot of enquiries, including via email.

I only have limited time to allocate to the particular problem of each user, hence my replies might be brief.

If I identify something that is still an issue, such as Limine Installer, it goes into the queue for future attention.

In the case of Limine Installer, it is pretty much at the head of the queue right now, so will be giving it some attention over the next few weeks.

Anyway, April, good luck on whatever distro you move to.

EDIT:
Well, not every day. Do take days off -- family gatherings, camping adventures, trips to the beach, etc.

[Maybe]

Hello!

I've tried installing a few puppies on my hard drive, Limine is great at finding all installed distributions on my hard drive, whether it's a full install or a frugal. However, distribution kits of the KLA and KLV Limine series did not see. I tried to correct the situation and manually corrected the bootloader config file as a template, took the auto-generated fossapup entry and vanilladpup to make KLV work. But it don't work. The kernel loads and then throws an error.

Please tell me how to correctly write the Limine bootloader configuration file for KLV and KLA distributions.

From Dmitry (Russia)

[Caramel]

@Maybe

I have tested the stanza

:KLV-Airedale (partition sdaXX, path ****)
PROTOCOL=linux
KERNEL_CMDLINE=w_bootfrom=UUID=$$$$=/****
KERNEL_PATH=guid://%%%%/****/vmlinuz
MODULE_PATH=guid://%%%%/****/initrd.gz

where
sdaXX is the partition where KLV is installed,
**** the directory of the frugal install
$$$$ is the UUID of /dev/sdaXX (obtained via blkid /dev/sdaXX)
%%%% is the PARTUUID of /dev/sdaXX (obtained via blkid /dev/sdaXX)

for a old installation of KLV-Airedale (not updated since the installation) and it worked

[Caramel]

I have watched the file grub.cfg in KLA-OT2baseCE-1.2.iso
The option w_changes in line KERNEL_CMDLINE of my limine stanza is missing
There are too the option net.ifnames=0

Extract of grub.cfg :

menuentry "${distname}-${revision} (${bootlabel} RAM0 no persistence)" {
linux /vmlinuz w_bootfrom=/${distname}-${revision}.iso w_changes=RAM0 net.ifnames=0
initrd /initrd.gz
}

menuentry "${distname}-${revision} (${bootlabel} RAM2 save on demand to ${savepart}_${savedir})" {
linux /vmlinuz w_bootfrom=/${distname}-${revision}.iso w_changes=LABEL=${savepart}=/${savedir}/${distname}-${revision} w_changes1=RAM2 net.ifnames=0
initrd /initrd.gz
}

menuentry "${distname}-${revision} (${bootlabel} direct saves to ${savepart}_${savedir})" {
linux /vmlinuz w_bootfrom=/${distname}-${revision}.iso w_changes=LABEL=${savepart}=/${savedir}/${distname}-${revision} net.ifnames=0
initrd /initrd.gz
}

Need of more reflection and tests

Edit : Entry RAM2 save on demand to savedir (a subdirectory of the installation directory) tested with "w_changes=LABEL=..." in KERNEL_CMDLINE without sucess.
Worked with

w_changes=UUID=$$$$=/****/savedir w_changes1=RAM2 net.ifnames=0

[SteveS]

Hello everyone,

I have updated Limine Installer PET using its latest version, the one included in EasyOS Scarthgap version 6.3.1.

Here is the reason:

When I install EasyOS, I usually install Limine manually by copying the necessary bootloader files from the EasyOS image.

The limine.cfg file included with the OS image starts like this:

Code: Select all

VERBOSE=no
TIMEOUT=10
DEFAULT_ENTRY=1
INTERFACE_BRANDING=EasyOS Limine Boot Manager
INTERFACE_RESOLUTION=800x600

:EasyOS Scarthgap
    COMMENT=EasyOS Scarthgap bootup
[...]

These options are perfectly fine.

And when I install Puppy Linux, I rather use Limine Installer from an EasyOS session.

But the generated limine.cfg file no longer starts the same way:

Code: Select all

QUIET=no
TIMEOUT=20
GRAPHICS=no
DEFAULT_ENTRY=1
EDITOR_ENABLED=yes
INTERFACE_BRANDING=EasyOS Limine Boot Manager


:EasyOS Scarthgap64 (partition sda2, path easyos)
    COMMENT=EasyOS bootup
[...]

These options are probably from an older Limine.

And if Limine was installed manually before, Limine Installer always replaces the first lines of the limine.cfg provided with EasyOS.

So I updated Limine Installer PET so that the options at the beginning of the limine.cfg generated by Limine Installer are identical to those of the more recent limine.cfg included with EasyOS

Not knowing what version number to put, I just added the modification date "20241004" after the "1.3".
There were just 3 modifications in the limine-installer file and I commented the code.

1.
Before:

Code: Select all

[...]
#20230626 new sudo-sh replaces sudo.
#20240722 v7 limine.sys now limine-bios.sys

#20230626
if [ "$(whoami)" != "root" ];then
[...]

After:

Code: Select all

[...]
#20230626 new sudo-sh replaces sudo.
#20240722 v7 limine.sys now limine-bios.sys
# modified version by SteveS
#20241004 version 0.1.3.20241004
#20241004 replace old limine.cfg options with EasyOS Scarthgap's limine.cfg options.

#20230626
if [ "$(whoami)" != "root" ];then
[...]

2.
Before:

Code: Select all

[...]
  mkdir -p ${MOUNTPOINT}${EFIpath}
  cp -a -f /usr/share/limine/${EFIname}.EFI ${MOUNTPOINT}${EFIpath}/
  echo "QUIET=no
TIMEOUT=20
GRAPHICS=no
DEFAULT_ENTRY=1
EDITOR_ENABLED=yes
INTERFACE_BRANDING=EasyOS Limine Boot Manager
" > ${MOUNTPOINT}/limine.cfg
  cat /tmp/limine-installer/generated-entries >> ${MOUNTPOINT}/limine.cfg
[...]

After:

Code: Select all

[...]
  mkdir -p ${MOUNTPOINT}${EFIpath}
  cp -a -f /usr/share/limine/${EFIname}.EFI ${MOUNTPOINT}${EFIpath}/
  #20241004 replace old limine.cfg options with EasyOS Scarthgap's limine.cfg options...
#  echo "QUIET=no
#TIMEOUT=20
#GRAPHICS=no
#DEFAULT_ENTRY=1
#EDITOR_ENABLED=yes
#INTERFACE_BRANDING=EasyOS Limine Boot Manager
#20241004 do not create a second blank line...
#" > ${MOUNTPOINT}/limine.cfg
  echo "VERBOSE=no
TIMEOUT=10
DEFAULT_ENTRY=1
INTERFACE_BRANDING=EasyOS Limine Boot Manager
INTERFACE_RESOLUTION=800x600" > ${MOUNTPOINT}/limine.cfg
  cat /tmp/limine-installer/generated-entries >> ${MOUNTPOINT}/limine.cfg
[...]

3.
Before:

Code: Select all

[...]
 #20220721 copy limine.cfg
 echo "QUIET=no
TIMEOUT=20
GRAPHICS=no
DEFAULT_ENTRY=1
EDITOR_ENABLED=yes
INTERFACE_BRANDING=EasyOS Limine Boot Manager
" > /mnt/${DEVdest}/limine.cfg
 cat /tmp/limine-installer/generated-entries >> /mnt/${DEVdest}/limine.cfg
[...]

After:

Code: Select all

[...]
 #20220721 copy limine.cfg
 #20241004 replace old limine.cfg options with EasyOS Scarthgap's limine.cfg options...
# echo "QUIET=no
#TIMEOUT=20
#GRAPHICS=no
#DEFAULT_ENTRY=1
#EDITOR_ENABLED=yes
#INTERFACE_BRANDING=EasyOS Limine Boot Manager
#20241004 do not create a second blank line...
#" > /mnt/${DEVdest}/limine.cfg
 echo "VERBOSE=no
TIMEOUT=10
DEFAULT_ENTRY=1
INTERFACE_BRANDING=EasyOS Limine Boot Manager
INTERFACE_RESOLUTION=800x600" > /mnt/${DEVdest}/limine.cfg
 cat /tmp/limine-installer/generated-entries >> /mnt/${DEVdest}/limine.cfg
[...]

I installed and tested it in Puppy Linux and it adds the OSes correctly with the wanted configuration.

@BarryK
I didn’t want to waste your time asking you to do something, so I did it myself. But if I wasn’t allowed to do it or if you don’t like it, feel free to edit or delete everything you want, of course

Anyway I hope you find this useful!