The Debian-Live Daedalus Starter Kit

[rcrsn51]

Some users may have acquired a recent System-on-Chip PC, like a budget laptop with a Celeron N4020 CPU and emmc storage. While these units make excellent Linux machines, audio can be a problem. Intel has replaced their traditional snd_hda_intel driver with the Sound Open Firmware system. It requires the Debian package firmware-sof-signed plus additional drivers compiled into the kernel.

Each processor family (Geminilake, Stoneyridge, etc.) uses its own drivers. The Linux 6.1 kernel contains the source code for these kernel modules, but Debian has only enabled some of them (possibly because the other drivers are incomplete - speakers work but headphones do not). Depending on your model, you may or may not have working audio OOTB.

This is not a deal-breaker situation. Audio on these machines may be simpler with a USB headset or USB sound card adapter and analog headphones, particularly for video chatting with a mic. But it would be nice to also have the internal speakers working.

Luckily, some platforms like Void Linux have enabled more of these drivers. By incorporating the Void 6.1.4_1 kernel into Debian Live, you may get basic audio.

The package here contains three files: vmlinuz1, initrd1.xz, k-6.1.4_1.squashfs

1. Drop these into the "live" folder of your Deblive install along with the usual 01-filesystem.squashfs.
2. Reboot.
3. Make a network connection and get the package: firmware-sof-signed
4. Reboot.
5. Run the Sound Card Selector. You should see a card with a name like sof-glkda7219max. Make it the 0-0-0 ALSA default.
6. Test with an audio player.

[rcrsn51]

This is PeasyScale v2.3 with two new transformations. Grayscale converts a colour image to grayscale and Saturation increases the colour saturation of an image.

As usual, these transformations are handled by the command-line tool image-changer which is part of the package. Image-changer is a small, fast C program that uses builtin GTK functions.

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[dcung]

I have posted here a new hplip-print-scan package. It supports HP models up to Nov 2022.

First of all, thanks for this @rcrsn51.
I just downloaded it.

I visited my sister last weekend. I'm their 'support' as far as computer goes.
Last time I rebuilt their PC was Jan 2019 and refreshed it with Windows 10.
They said the PC crashed often lately, so I took the CPU home.

It's time to ditch Windows (due to the PC age). I already rebuilt it with Bullseye DDOG.
Last time (2019), I added an SSD for OS, so this time, I didn't have to spend time sorting/backing up their data. I taught them to put their stuff in "D drive" and re-pointed all Windows default accordingly. Also got them an external 1TB USB for extra backup/redundancy and showed them how to periodical backup. Well, safe to say, they 'ignored' it...

So, it's painless this time. Just format the SSD and loaded Bullseye with software that they used. I regret not taking the printer home. It's an HP Deskjet 3520.

Apart from 'short linux training', I don't want to spend time too long when I drop the PC back next weekend. Hence, I'm doing my homework now. My printer is Epson, I wish they have the same brand, but...what do you do. Anyway, if I can't get the HP working in one hour, I'll take it back home to experiment.

During my test installing @rcrsn51's .deb, it seems to search the network and will auto configure the setting? At least for the scanning sw? I hope so anyway. I saw that in CUPS, the printer is listed after I installed the .deb.

For direct USB connection, what do you have to do?
For IP connection, what do you have to do?

I suppose, I'll find out next weekend.

[rcrsn51]

This is Daedalus running on an Acer AspireRevo R1600 "nettop" box, circa 2009. It has a single-core Atom 230 CPU, 3GB DDR2 RAM and nVIDIA ION graphics. Video+audio output is over HDMI with the nouveau modesetting driver. Despite these limitations, it can easily play Youtube clips at 240p without overheating or excessive fan noise. The modern k6.1.0-9-amd64 kernel works fine with this old hardware.

Installation was routine. Start with an ISObooter USB drive. Format the hard drive. Run the Multi Installer. Install GRUB2. Install Daedalus. Set up the audio with Sound Card Selector.

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[rcrsn51]

PeasyKey is a simple password manager/secrets keeper. The basic idea is to put your passwords, account numbers, PINs, etc. in a single text file which is encrypted by ccrypt. When you supply the valid master password, ccrypt will display the plaintext contents of the file in a text box. You can then copy/paste items into other apps.

The data file can be stored anywhere in your filesystem or in an external location (like a different mounted partition) where it would be available to other platforms that use ccrypt.

I have posted several DEB packages below. These can also be installed into some Puppies, provided that you get ccrypt from the PPM.

PeasyKey runs from an icon in the system tray.

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[rcrsn51]

Here is a 64bit-GTK3 version for newer platforms like Daedalus.

Download and remove the fake .gz extension.

[one]

Hi @rcrsn51,

this is a nice addition to isobooter, good to use with many isos on the stick.

Thank you

[williwaw]

If you have a large ISObooter flash drive and are adding another ISO, you probably don't want to bother rebuilding the entire GRUB menu. ISObooter2 to the rescue!

This one works a bit differently - it is NOT a clickable script.

Run it from the command line with: isobooter2 xxx.iso

It adds xxx.iso to the existing menu.lst and grub.cfg files. Hint: Select the ISO file with Tab-completion.

Note: ISObooter2 assumes that you have already made the drive bootable with ISObooter.

----------------

rcrsn51, would you be kind enough to point to the latest version of isobooter and most recent documentation of installation and usage?
tx

[rcrsn51]

rcrsn51, would you be kind enough to point to the latest version of isobooter and most recent documentation of installation and usage?

Board Index > House Training > Instructional HowTo Section > Boot > Post #13

[dcung]

For direct USB connection, what do you have to do?
For IP connection, what do you have to do?

I suppose, I'll find out next weekend.

I dropped off the PC, connected the printer thru USB.
Installed @rcrsn51's hplip-print-scan_3.22.10_amd64.deb.
CUPS picked up the printer right away.
PeasyScan also picked up the scanner right away.

I didn't stick around long enough for investigating IP connection.
Left after a short 'how to' session.

[rcrsn51]

Provided that the printer can acquire an IP address on the network, CUPS should auto-detect it and use the hplip-print-scan driver just like it did over USB.

But for running the scanner over the network, you will need the additional package avahi-daemon. Install it anyway, in case CUPS also needs it for printing.

[dcung]

... additional package avahi-daemon. Install it anyway, in case CUPS also needs it for printing.

I'll install this, next time I go there. Thank you.

[rcrsn51]

The package here contains the 6.3.0-2-amd64 kernel components taken from Sid and modified for the Daedalus Starter Kit. Use it if you have bleeding-edge hardware that demands the newest kernel.

You may also need some extra firmware. Check with the usual: dmesg | grep -i firmware

[dancytron]

I installed the newest starter kit on my "problem AMD/Radeon bargain bin laptop" and booted it to both kernels. Both booted to the desktop successfully with no freeze up and the correct resolution.

The only Bookworm or Devuan that doesn't work on it now is Radky's bookworm puppy, but that works fine with the alternate 5.x kernel Radky provides.

[dancytron]

See Page 1 for an update to the Multi Installer. It adds support for Fatdog.

Great. I'll test it today. I wanted to see how the new Fatdog does in my "does my $100 Ebay computer run it" test.

[dancytron]

I followed the instructions and made an Isobooter disk with the Starter Kit on a 4 gig usb stick.

Then I used basic bash commands to make an image of it.

Code: Select all

root@LaptopDog:/live/image# dd if=/dev/sdb of=isobooter.img bs=4M979+1 records in
979+1 records out
4110228480 bytes (4.1 GB, 3.8 GiB) copied, 240.423 s, 17.1 MB/s

Wrote the image back to the same stick using EasyDD and it worked and booted. For personal use, this is pretty handy by itself.

Tried to compress it with xz. It didn't do much and made my computer run hot.

How would you make one small enough to reasonably share?

[dancytron]

Just installed the latest fatdog on sdb2 of my Isobooter disk with the multi-installer. Multi-installer worked exactly as it should. Fatdog booted fine and graphics were correct.

[rcrsn51]

When you run a dd operation on a 4GB flash drive, all 4GB are written to the image file even though most of them are not actually in use by the filesystem on the drive. When you write the image back to a drive, most of the time is spent writing unused garbage bytes. If you write the image back to a larger drive, there will be a mismatch in the partition information that must be corrected.

If you want to make something sharable, it would be better to emulate Ventoy. Make a tarball with the required tools - bootlace.com, grldr, EFI folder, etc. Write some scripting that formats the target flash drive and installs the boot stuff. Then the user can load on whatever ISOs they want.

[rcrsn51]

Just installed the latest fatdog on sdb2 of my Isobooter disk with the multi-installer. Multi-installer worked exactly as it should. Fatdog booted fine and graphics were correct.

Excellent. Did you also try putting the Fatdog ISO on sdb1 and setting it up with ISObooter? In that scenario, you need to put the big initrd file on sdb2 so Fatdog can find it when it boots (because Fatdog can't find the file when it's hiding inside the ISO). The GRUB menus that ISObooter generates expect that the file is located in a folder on sdb2 named Fatdog.

[dancytron]

Just installed the latest fatdog on sdb2 of my Isobooter disk with the multi-installer. Multi-installer worked exactly as it should. Fatdog booted fine and graphics were correct.

Excellent. Did you also try putting the Fatdog ISO on sdb1 and setting it up with ISObooter? In that scenario, you need to put the big initrd file on sdb2 so Fatdog can find it when it boots (because Fatdog can't find the file when it's hiding inside the ISO). The GRUB menus that ISObooter generates expect that the file is in a folder named Fatdog.

No, not yet. I usually just do one ISO on sdb1 and then put the rest on sdb2 with the multiinstaller, but I'll try it.

[dancytron]

When you run a dd operation on a 4GB flash drive, all 4GB are written to the image file even though most of them are not actually in use by the filesystem on the drive. When you write the image back to a drive, most of the time is spent writing unused garbage bytes. If you write the image back to a larger drive, there will be a mismatch in the partition information that must be corrected.

If you want to make something sharable, it would be better to emulate Ventoy. Make a tarball with the required tools - bootlace.com, grldr, EFI folder, etc. Write some scripting that formats the target flash drive and installs the boot stuff. Then the user can load on whatever ISOs they want.

That sounds like a learning project for another day.

Being able to make isobooter sticks in EasyDD is pretty useful by itself for home use.

[rcrsn51]

No, not yet. I usually just do one ISO on sdb1 and then put the rest on sdb2 with the multiinstaller, but I'll try it.

There is an advantage to doing it that way - you never have to worry about sdb1 becoming dis-contiguous.

[dancytron]

Just installed the latest fatdog on sdb2 of my Isobooter disk with the multi-installer. Multi-installer worked exactly as it should. Fatdog booted fine and graphics were correct.

Excellent. Did you also try putting the Fatdog ISO on sdb1 and setting it up with ISObooter? In that scenario, you need to put the big initrd file on sdb2 so Fatdog can find it when it boots (because Fatdog can't find the file when it's hiding inside the ISO). The GRUB menus that ISObooter generates expect that the file is located in a folder on sdb2 named Fatdog.

And it's booting on an EFI laptop as locked down as you can make it without actually putting extra passwords on it with your key "enrolled" or whatever you call it.

[dancytron]

Just installed the latest fatdog on sdb2 of my Isobooter disk with the multi-installer. Multi-installer worked exactly as it should. Fatdog booted fine and graphics were correct.

Excellent. Did you also try putting the Fatdog ISO on sdb1 and setting it up with ISObooter? In that scenario, you need to put the big initrd file on sdb2 so Fatdog can find it when it boots (because Fatdog can't find the file when it's hiding inside the ISO). The GRUB menus that ISObooter generates expect that the file is located in a folder on sdb2 named Fatdog.

I already installed Fatdog to sdb2/Fatdog, so we'll see how it likes that.

Never mind, that's not true...

[rcrsn51]

Some people are terrified by the idea of Secure Boot, but it's a non-issue once you've gone through the key-enrollment process as part of ISObooter.

I believe that Ventoy uses the same EFI stuff as ISObooter. So if you have registered a Secure Boot machine with ISObooter, it should automatically work in Ventoy.

[rcrsn51]

Never mind, that's not true...

If the folder on sdb2 has a different name, just edit your grub.cfg entry and insert the correct name.

[dancytron]

Duty calls. Hopefully I'll try later tonight.

[dancytron]

No, not yet. I usually just do one ISO on sdb1 and then put the rest on sdb2 with the multiinstaller, but I'll try it.

There is an advantage to doing it that way - you never have to worry about sdb1 becoming dis-contiguous.

I use them as backup disks. I just use ISO booter to put your starter kit or my minimal chromeless whatever on sdb1, then I rsync my main DD /live install on each computer to sdb2 and write the menu.1st and grub entries by hand. Then I have a back up of my main system I can boot anywhere.

Getting multiple extents presumably from copying ISOs around, when I try later I'll get a bigger stick and gpart it from scratch.

[dancytron]

Some people are terrified by the idea of Secure Boot, but it's a non-issue once you've gone through the key-enrollment process as part of ISObooter.

I believe that Ventoy uses the same EFI stuff as ISObooter. So if you have registered a Secure Boot machine with ISObooter, it should automatically work in Ventoy.

I'm certainly not terrified, but it's always a pia to have to learn something new for what seems like no good reason. But EFI seems to just work.

[dancytron]

No, not yet. I usually just do one ISO on sdb1 and then put the rest on sdb2 with the multiinstaller, but I'll try it.

There is an advantage to doing it that way - you never have to worry about sdb1 becoming dis-contiguous.

This morning I took my 16 Gig usb stick and made a Fatdog 900 based Isobooter from scratch with a 4 Gig Fat32 Drive and 12 Gig Ext4 drive.

Followed the instructions. It worked as expected.

Not really interested in more than one ISO for the isobooter script.

I'll install some stuff with the multi-installer later and report if anything doesn't work.