PocketHandyBox (Debian 12 "Bookworm" with NVIDIA drivers OOTB)

[gumanzoy]

PocketHandyBox Portable Linux with NVIDIA drivers OOTB (Based on Debian 12 and Porteus Initrd)
(now in active development)

It is continuation of My LiveUSB DogLinux Bookworm build for hardware testing (nvidia-drivers, GPUTest)

Download .iso (Pre release)
github.com/PocketHandyBox/pocket-handybox/releases

Based on Debian 12 and Devuan

Porteus Initrd, overlayfs, sysvinit (build with systemd is possible too), Xfce 4.18

Includes applications such as CPU-X, GSmartControl, GParted, Partimage, Partclone, TestDisk, ddrescue, WHDD.

New build script for 01-filesystem.squashfs github.com/PocketHandyBox/phb-base

Use dpkg path-exclude= to remove unneeded files
Use /usr/local/lib/cleanup in apt2squashfs and changes2sfs
Switch to use zstd instead of xz to compress 01-filesystem.squashfs
Re-create Xfce UI configs from scratch. Use fullcolor numix-icon-theme
yad and gtkdialog updated to gtk3 versions. Xdialog and gtkdialog-splash removed. Updated scripts included to github phb-base
cryptsetup removed, LUKS encrypted changes.dat not supported anymore.

New deb repo (for bookworm) with updated software github.com/PocketHandyBox/phb-deb

Later i will use .github/workflows/ to build .iso.
v0005 Pre release version .iso:
md5sum:
6682252f3a4097bc9089e0a180856fc4 phb_test_x64_12_25_0004_vtgrub2.iso

root and puppy guest passwords not set.

This is 64bit only. I will add 32bit version later. 32+64 will be combined in one .iso (same as in my previous build).
kernels 5.10.223-amd64 / 6.10.12-amd64
mesa-24.2.2-drm-2.4.123.squashfs and mesa-vulkan-drivers-24.2.2.squashfs
nvidia driver 550.120, and two legacy versions 340.108, 390.157
NetSurf 3.11, Chromium 134

It is dd and Ventoy compatible (minimal version 1.0.80). Must keep _vtgrub2.iso at the end of the name of .iso file for Ventoy support.

grub2-only (i will not add other bootloaders). I use new grub.cfg method to boot .iso file with Ventoy from=$vt_chosen_path and disable use of ventoy initrd hook.

And also live folder can be unpacked to USB Ventoy flash drive and boot/grub/grub.cfg copy to ventoy/ventoy_grub.cfg for boot with F6

custom extgrub.cfg support

I can add to boot/grub/grub.cfg in .iso some code to search (on all connected drives) additional grub.cfg and load menu items from it.
Search for live/extgrub.cfg and if it is not found - for phb/extgrub.cfg

For example. To use changes=/phb or changes=EXIT:/phb
Copy extgrub.cfg.example from root of .iso file to some ext4 partition to phb folder and remove .example extension.

And, of course extgrub.cfg is customizable. Edit it as needed.

[fredx181]

Hi @gumanzoy

Tried your test ISO, booting with Ventoy, all seems fine, except that I cannot make use of the Devuan repository:

Code: Select all

W: Failed to fetch http://deb.devuan.org/devuan/dists/daedalus/InRelease  Temporary failure resolving 'deb.devuan.org'
W: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

Same problem I have with the Starter Kit, and reported in the Debian-Live Daedalus Starter Kit topic e.g. here: https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic. ... 54#p130354
Other people (that I asked) do not have this problem, so it's a weird mystery to me.

Just reporting. As I said, easy for me to change to: http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/ , that works fine for me.

[gumanzoy]

Tried your test ISO, booting with Ventoy, all seems fine, except that I cannot make use of the Devuan repository:

Code: Select all

W: Failed to fetch http://deb.devuan.org/devuan/dists/daedalus/InRelease  Temporary failure resolving 'deb.devuan.org'
W: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.

Same problem I have with the Starter Kit, and reported in the Debian-Live Daedalus Starter Kit topic e.g. here: https://forum.puppylinux.com/viewtopic. ... 54#p130354
Other people (that I asked) do not have this problem, so it's a weird mystery to me.

Just reporting. As I said, easy for me to change to: http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/ , that works fine for me.

Thanks for report it. From my country i have apt update without problem. But mirrors switching random.

Code: Select all

ping -c 1 deb.devuan.org
PING deb.rr.devuan.org (23.169.200.138) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from mirror.akardam.net (23.169.200.138): icmp_seq=1 ttl=54 time=205 ms

--- deb.rr.devuan.org ping statistics ---
1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms

Code: Select all

ping -c 1 deb.devuan.org
PING deb.rr.devuan.org (94.16.114.15) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from host.sedf.de (94.16.114.15): icmp_seq=1 ttl=52 time=73.2 ms

--- deb.rr.devuan.org ping statistics ---
1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms

https://www.devuan.org/os/packages

Devuan has a network of package repository mirrors in place. The recommended default mirror is deb.devuan.org, via http not https. Or, a specific mirror from the list can be accessed using the corresponding BaseURL. Country Codes can also be used e.g.

deb http://us.deb.devuan.org/merged main

Choose whichever method gives the best speed.

http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/mirror_list.txt

pkgmaster.devuan.org
Country: France

You can try nl.deb.devuan.org

EDIT: I have best ping with devuan.keff.org

Code: Select all

ping -c 1 devuan.keff.org
PING devuan.keff.org (45.154.255.98) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 45.154.255.98 (45.154.255.98): icmp_seq=1 ttl=53 time=48.1 ms

--- devuan.keff.org ping statistics ---
1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms

---

EDIT2:

The devuan repository address http://deb.devuan.org/merged is down for sometime already, so installing packages won't work anymore on the Starter Kit, to fix;
Change in /etc/apt/sources.list:
This:
deb http://deb.devuan.org/merged daedalus main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
To this:
deb http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/merged daedalus main contrib non-free non-free-firmware
And it will work again after doing apt update

EDIT 2024-10-03: http://deb.devuan.org/merged seems to be back online again now.

I think better to use http://deb.devuan.org/devuan instead of http://deb.devuan.org/merged

And use http://deb.debian.org/debian for debian packages (much more fast mirrors worldwide) and also https://security.debian.org for stable-security

[gumanzoy]

@Clarity

Hi

The REALLY neat thing about your distro is its boot time ability to discover and bring in my nVidia-HDMI OOTB connection without any need for extra steps to activate use of nvidia driver.

You can try this new .iso designed to Ventoy compatible (minimal version 1.0.80).

[fredx181]

You can try nl.deb.devuan.org

Yes, that works. Also us.deb.devuan.org

deb.devuan.org never works for me, tried many times (also in the recent past).

Code: Select all

ping -c 1 deb.devuan.org
ping: deb.devuan.org: Temporary failure in name resolution

I think better to use http://deb.devuan.org/devuan instead of http://deb.devuan.org/merged

Yes, for your project without the merged as you have also the standard Debian repo in sources list.
The Starter kit has only the Devuan merged repo.

edit: again, for me personally it's not a problem as I know how to fix, but I may not be the only one having the problem accessing http://deb.devuan.org
edit2: weird thing btw is also that when I click http://deb.devuan.org from firefox it says 'can't connect' but from Google-chrome it works ok (edit; also ok with the Brave Browser)

[gumanzoy]

edit: again, for me personally it's not a problem as I know how to fix, but I may not be the only one having the problem accessing http://deb.devuan.org

Yes. Thanks for your report. I will thinking how to fix this.
Maybe add comment about it to /etc/apt/sources.list.d/devuan.sources
Or also replace deb.devuan.org with pkgmaster.devuan.org by default.

edit2: weird thing btw is also that when I click http://deb.devuan.org from firefox it says 'not found' but from Google-chrome it works ok (edit; also ok with the Brave Browser)

Nothing unusual to me. Because it is DNS problem. I think better to contact your internet provider support.
I think DoH enabled in Google-chrome.

[Clarity]

Hello @gumanzoy

Tried to wget/curl this
https://wdho.ru/bTxz/phb_test_12_25_0001_VTGRUB2.iso
but, no ISO

Edit
nevermind: Downloaded via its source webpage utility

[gumanzoy]

Tried to wget/curl this
https://wdho.ru/bTxz/phb_test_12_25_0001_VTGRUB2.iso
but, no ISO

Edit
nevermind: Downloaded via its source webpage utility

Thanks for downloading.

This file hosting is temporary for test .ISO's. Releases will be on github.

---

And i forget to add changes=EXIT:/Sessions/phb or changes=EXIT:/phb to grub.cfg

It is possible to use https://www.ventoy.net/en/plugin_bootconf_replace.html to fix this.
edit: This not supported, sorry.
6. Only support normal boot mode. Will not take affect in memdisk/grub2 mode.

Hi @Clarity

Would you recommend a boot stanza where it will find/save its persistent save session on a disk labeled "Persistence" contained in a folder named "Sessions", please?

If you modify changes=... at the second entry to changes=LABEL:Persistence/Sessions it should work, a folder "changes" will be automatically created in Sessions then.
Also just changes=/Sessions will do if there's no "Sessions" folder on some other partition than your Persistence labeled partition.
(for to save changes only at shutdown or on demand, make it: changes=EXIT:LABEL:Persistence/Sessions)

But the easiest (as I mentioned in first post too, without any need for modification) is to create a folder deb__dog on your Persistence partition and just run the second entry (again, then no other partition should contain deb__dog).

EDIT: FYI, if you also boot other "dog" based distros, with the same changes=LABEL:Persistence/Sessions then it will conflict (as /Sessions/changes is the same), so to avoid that it's best to create a new folder with a unique name in Sessions named after the distro, e.g. in this case "gumanzoy-iso" and modify to changes=LABEL:Persistence/Sessions/gumanzoy-iso

EDIT2:

I think i know what to do.
I can add to boot/grub/grub.cfg in .iso some code to search (on all connected drives) additional grub.cfg and load menu items from it.
Search for live/extgrub.cfg and if it is not found - for phb/extgrub.cfg

[gumanzoy]

@fredx181

Hi

In commit 1ddc4d7. I remove obshutdown package from bookworm-xfce.conf

I replace it with simple script logout-yad

Code: Select all

yad --title Logout --window-icon=system-shutdown --timeout=30 --sticky \
 --fixed --center --on-top --skip-taskbar --close-on-unfocus \
 --button=Exit\ X\!system-logout:'pkill X' --button=Restart\!system-reboot:wmreboot \
 --button=Shutdown\!system-shutdown:wmpoweroff --button=Suspend\!system-suspend:'sudo pm-suspend'

Screenshot_logout-yad.png (8.64 KiB) Viewed 23353 times

I thinking about switch to fresh gtk3 version of yad https://github.com/v1cont/yad/releases
I already build deb's yad_14.1-1_amd64.deb yad_14.1-1_i386.deb with --with-gtk=gtk3 --enable-standalone --disable-icon-browser
and upload it to my repo.
But with new version need to fix button icons and captions in many scripts.

Screenshot_yad_14.1.png (8.22 KiB) Viewed 23353 times

And something else can be broken. Needs testing.
I temporary pin your gtk2 version. /apt/preferences.d/doglinux

Code: Select all

Package: dash
Pin: origin github.com
Pin: release l=DebianDog
Pin-Priority: -1

Package: yad
Pin: origin github.com
Pin: release l=DebianDog
Pin-Priority: 500

Package: *
Pin: origin github.com
Pin: release l=DebianDog
Pin-Priority: 200

[fredx181]

@gumanzoy Yes, fine of course for your project if you make yad GTK3 having priority (if I understood well).
For now I'm hesitating about that because it will break some functionality (not only button display) for the existing yad based scripts in the doglinux repo. (same story, btw, about gtkdialog built with GTK3).
So, call me conservative, yes, I'm not looking forward to the time (it will come) that (basic) GTK2 becomes totally unsupported.

[gumanzoy]

For now I'm hesitating about that because it will break some functionality (not only button display) for the existing yad based scripts in the doglinux repo.

Yes, fine of course for your project if you make yad GTK3 having priority (if I understood well).

Not yet. I keep gtk2 version for now, because, as you say, update can break some other scripts.
But i am thinking about switch to yad gtk3 14.1 or maybe try another 0.42 (gtk3 or gtk2) version https://github.com/step-/yad

(same story, btw, about gtkdialog built with GTK3).

Another question about package gtkdialog_0.8.9-wiak-B-1_amd64.deb it is gtkwialog (fork by wiak).
I can not find sources of this version.
On github have only https://github.com/puppylinux-woof-CE/gtkdialog 0.8.5e

[fredx181]

...
Another question about package gtkdialog_0.8.9-wiak-B-1_amd64.deb it is gtkwialog (fork by wiak).
I can not find sources of this version.
On github have only https://github.com/puppylinux-woof-CE/gtkdialog 0.8.5e

It's here: https://github.com/DebianDog/Gtkwialog

[gumanzoy]

...
Another question about package gtkdialog_0.8.9-wiak-B-1_amd64.deb it is gtkwialog (fork by wiak).
I can not find sources of this version.
On github have only https://github.com/puppylinux-woof-CE/gtkdialog 0.8.5e

It's here: https://github.com/DebianDog/Gtkwialog

Thanks. I saw this but i think it is outdated. Because it not have any version number.
And this not have /debian/ folder.

Here https://mxrepo.com/mx/repo/pool/main/g/gtkdialog/ have gtkdialog_0.8.3-2mx23+1.debian.tar.xz
But old sources gtkdialog_0.8.3.orig.tar.xz from 2013

Maybe i try to rebuild really debian package from some fresher sources later.

Have some differences between this version and https://github.com/puppylinux-woof-CE/gtkdialog ?

I saw this also https://github.com/01micko/gtk3dialog but it is marked as WIP

EDIT: Maybe use this deb better https://github.com/minios-linux/debian/ ... /gtkdialog

[Clarity]

On one of my nvidia test platforms, Initial bare-metal test taking the "copy2ram" boot menu option: Success to desktop.

Screenshot_2025-01-21_04-08-12.jpg (203.89 KiB) Viewed 23256 times

More boot-tests reporting to follow at later time.

[Clarity]

Initial run SPM (Synaptic's PM) from desktop menu; Click Reload and this message

Code: Select all

The repository 'http://deb.devuan.org/devuan daedalus Release' no longer has a Release file.

Then used same SPM to install neofetch, btop, and tldr, initially to review system

Screenshot_2025-01-21_04-32-34.jpg (173.73 KiB) Viewed 23252 times

[Clarity]

@gumanzoy if you have a preference to what you want to see in a Neofetch/Fastfetch display, send me its config (versus its OOTB config) and I will use in future reports to you. Or build it in.

The other admin tool, Hardinfo2, I use for reporting forum distros testing is installed via SPM.

Screenshot_2025-01-21_04-39-07.jpg (76.61 KiB) Viewed 23250 times

[gumanzoy]

@Clarity

Hi

What do you think about make possible to user add items to extend grub menu without edit .iso file?

I think i know what to do.
I can add to boot/grub/grub.cfg in .iso some code to search (on all connected drives) additional grub.cfg and load menu items from it.
Search for live/extgrub.cfg and if it is not found - for phb/extgrub.cfg

---

The repository 'http://deb.devuan.org/devuan daedalus Release' no longer has a Release file.

I have same message yesterday when i run apt update
But i repeat command apt update and it is updated ok.

I think i do switch to pkgmaster.devuan.org as fredx181 suggest.

---

if you have a preference to what you want to see in a Neofetch/Fastfetch display, send me its config (versus its OOTB config) and I will use in future reports to you. Or build it in.

The other admin tool, Hardinfo2, I use for reporting forum distros testing is installed via SPM.Screenshot_2025-01-21_04-39-07.jpg

I never use *fetch and Hardinfo2.

edit: i don't see nvidia driver version used on your screenshots.
nvidia-smi show it.

I use cpu-x to see hardware config.

EDIT: but CPU-X is lazy method. Console method is:

Code: Select all

lscpu
lspci -v
lsusb
dmidecode | less
dmesg -Ht

---

I don't expect some hardware problems with this phb_test version because kernel, firmware, mesa, nvidia drivers a same versions as in last my doglinux build.

You can test scripts to make modules apt2squashfs changes2sfs

Later i will do modify initrd to make possible to load additional modules from USB flash (folders phb/modules phb/optional), while system booted from .ISO.

[Clarity]

@Clarity

Hi

What do you think about make possible to user add items to extend grub menu without edit .iso file?

I think i know what to do.
I can add to boot/grub/grub.cfg in .iso some code to search (on all connected drives) additional grub.cfg and load menu items from it.
Search for live/extgrub.cfg and if it is not found - for phb/extgrub.cfg

... I've never made modifications to the shipped ISO files because since 2019, I never install distros taking up my system drive's space. In fact, I have ONLY done 1 remaster of any from the forum since 2019. My use of all forum distros is to boot the ISO file and use Persistence partition to maintain my session changes to its operations. All of the test and work I do is within Live session use booted from an ISO file launched from Ventoy for every non-WoofCE distro or SG2D for forum WoofCE because of a boot problem with ISOs they exhibit.

If the boot-menu or its parms afford a necessary change to boot a distro to desktop, that the approach I have taken rather than modifications to the developer's shipment.

If there is something I can do to test for you, I will do so to help.

[Clarity]

I have found Hardinfo (now Hardinfo2) to be extremely easy to read. And its layout, for me, is meaningful for the admin purposes I use.

And YES, I have noticed and used the utilities you provide for nvidia. Your work in this area is phenomenal with hope other developers notice and adopt. At boot-time, I see it grab of my adapter and its setup is seen during the distro's boot AND I see it in use of the nvidia utility, you mention, upon desktop.

In Hardinfo2, the Display element (left column) shows the driver loaded, IIRC.

Thanks for the great effort you bring to this forum!

[gumanzoy]

What do you think about make possible to user add items to extend grub menu without edit .iso file?

I think i know what to do.
I can add to boot/grub/grub.cfg in .iso some code to search (on all connected drives) additional grub.cfg and load menu items from it.
Search for live/extgrub.cfg and if it is not found - for phb/extgrub.cfg

My use of all forum distros is to boot the ISO file and use Persistence partition to maintain my session changes to its operations. All of the test and work I do is within Live session use booted from an ISO file launched from Ventoy for every non-WoofCE distro

If the boot-menu or its parms afford a necessary change to boot a distro to desktop, that the approach I have taken rather than modifications to the developer's shipment.

If there is something I can do to test for you, I will do so to help.

I talking about Persistence

I want to add possibility to edit changes= param options (as fredx181 described) without need to modify shipped .iso file.

[Clarity]

Give me the tests you want me to perform, and I will report.

[Clarity]

BTW: I think you know how WoofCE handles persistence outside of use of a boot-time parm (PSAVE parm). WoofCE at boot in the absence of PSAVE exercises a search in the ISO's directory for a SAVESPEC file telling it where the folder exist containing or to place sessions.

DOGs and KLs don't have a similar approach (and I am not asking for a change). DOGs/KLs have a parm (changes=) for control which is similar in scope to WoofCE's PSAVE. All DOGs, including @fatdog do not, currently, employ a file to provide persistence path in the absence of a ''directing' parm.

And I am sure you already know of these similarities.

[fredx181]

I saw this also https://github.com/01micko/gtk3dialog but it is marked as WIP

Just saying (perhaps you didn't find yet) here's a gtkdialog-gtk3 .deb https://github.com/doglinux/book-worm/r ... _amd64.deb (not dpkg registered in my repo, btw)
If I remember well it was rcrsn51 who compiled and packaged it, but I don't know from which source.

[gumanzoy]

I saw this also https://github.com/01micko/gtk3dialog but it is marked as WIP

Just saying (perhaps you didn't find yet) here's a gtkdialog-gtk3 .deb https://github.com/doglinux/book-worm/r ... _amd64.deb (not dpkg registered in my repo, btw)
If I remember well it was rcrsn51 who compiled and packaged it, but I don't know from which source.

I think i will try this https://github.com/minios-linux/debian/ ... /gtkdialog
It is debianized https://github.com/puppylinux-woof-CE/gtkdialog

[gumanzoy]

BTW: I think you know how WoofCE handles persistence outside of use of a boot-time parm (PSAVE parm). WoofCE at boot in the absence of PSAVE exercises a search in the ISO's directory for a SAVESPEC file telling it where the folder exist containing or to place sessions.

DOGs and KLs don't have a similar approach (and I am not asking for a change). DOGs/KLs have a parm (changes=) for control which is similar in scope to WoofCE's PSAVE. All DOGs, including @fatdog do not, currently, employ a file to provide persistence path in the absence of a ''directing' parm.

And I am sure you already know of these similarities.

I know very little bit about other Puppy derivatives.

And i never use persistence. That's why i ask about it to make better options to users who want to use persistence.

[fredx181]

BTW: I think you know how WoofCE handles persistence outside of use of a boot-time parm (PSAVE parm). WoofCE at boot in the absence of PSAVE exercises a search in the ISO's directory for a SAVESPEC file telling it where the folder exist containing or to place sessions.

DOGs and KLs don't have a similar approach (and I am not asking for a change). DOGs/KLs have a parm (changes=) for control which is similar in scope to WoofCE's PSAVE. All DOGs, including @fatdog do not, currently, employ a file to provide persistence path in the absence of a ''directing' parm.

And I am sure you already know of these similarities.

I know very little bit about other Puppy derivatives.

And i never use persistence. That's why i ask about it to make better options to users who want to use persistence.

I think one of the best ways is how it's handled in KLV-Airedale, the '/Sessions/KLV-Airedale-sr16" directory is automatically created when booting the ISO (using save option) with Ventoy.

2025-01-21_10-43-03.png (9.84 KiB) Viewed 23187 times

The /boot/grub/grub.cfg from the KLV-Airedale-sr16.iso (fake .gz):

grub.cfg.gz

(2.55 KiB) Downloaded 13 times

Method like that probably needs changes in the initrd1.xz, will be complicated, I guess.

[gumanzoy]

I think one of the best ways is how it's handled in KLV-Airedale, the '/Sessions/KLV-Airedale-sr16" directory is automatically created when booting the ISO (using save option) with Ventoy.
2025-01-21_10-43-03.png
The /boot/grub/grub.cfg from the KLV-Airedale-sr16.iso (fake .gz):
grub.cfg.gz
Method like that probably needs changes in the initrd1.xz, will be complicated, I guess.

I think changes=EXIT:/Sessions/phb or changes=EXIT:LABEL:Ventoy/Sessions/phb will do the same for initrd1.xz

But (if use :LABEL:) user can change label of USB Drive with Ventoy to another and it will stop working,

---

And another note about this KLV-Airedale-sr16.iso grub.cfg

Code: Select all

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

If user rename .iso file - this will stop working.

edit: This new method i found - very useful i think.
I found better option to boot with Ventoy (GRUB2 mode required) from=$vt_chosen_path

More info Boot DogLinux Porteus Initrd with Ventoy from=$vt_chosen_path

Already used in boot/grub/grub.cfg grub.cfg in phb_test_12_25_0001_VTGRUB2.iso

[fredx181]

And another note about this KLV-Airedale-sr16.iso grub.cfg

Code: Select all

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

If user rename .iso file - this will stop working.

FYI, just tested renaming the ISO, deleted 'Sessions' folder, booted, and still works ok (/Sessions/KLV-Airedale-sr16 created and save works)
EDIT: It turned out that the renamed ISO did not boot, see: viewtopic.php?p=140884#p140884

[gumanzoy]

And another note about this KLV-Airedale-sr16.iso grub.cfg

Code: Select all

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

If user rename .iso file - this will stop working.

FYI, just tested renaming the ISO, deleted 'Sessions' folder, booted, and still works ok (/Sessions/KLV-Airedale-sr16 created and save works)

Maybe ventoy hook used. Check rdinit=/vtoy/vtoy in /proc/cmdline

And this w_bootfrom=/${distname}-${revision}.iso just ignored.
Because at line 2 and 3 of grub.cfg
set distname=KLV-Airedale
set revision=sr16

This about boot from .iso file not about 'Sessions'

[fredx181]

And another note about this KLV-Airedale-sr16.iso grub.cfg

Code: Select all

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

If user rename .iso file - this will stop working.

FYI, just tested renaming the ISO, deleted 'Sessions' folder, booted, and still works ok (/Sessions/KLV-Airedale-sr16 created and save works)

You were correct, the renamed iso doesn't boot.
The reason that it worked earlier was because I had another KLV iso (named as original: KLV-Airedale-sr16) on another partition, so it found and booted that one .