FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

raymano · 2007-05-20 09:15:39

Hi Everyone,

FaunOS (http://www.faunos.com) is a new live USB distribution based on Arch Linux.
With over 500 packages, FaunOS fits on a 1G USB key with an additional 100Megs for user storage.

FaunOS is a work in progress so I'd appreciate your feedback.

Thanks,
Raymano

rayjgu3 · 2007-05-20 10:27:13

wow
looks good
downloading now
will be back in a bit tell my experience
thanks

rayjgu3 · 2007-05-20 13:45:28

it wont boot for me i get boot error 99 99 99 99 99 ....
i have corsair flash voyager 2gb
i tried booting from asus k8v-x se & inspiron 5150 both machines boot usb
i also noticed that as you said 1gb drive leaves the rest of the drive unuseable i was unable to partition it nor resize the 2nd patition
i may have time to play with this later today ?
if you have any suggestions ill try them
im thinking trying to reinstall syslinux or use grub maybe lilo ? dont know when though

raymano · 2007-05-20 15:08:50

Thanks for trying this out.

When you wrote the image to the USB key did you dd to the entire drive like:

dd if=faunos01c.img of=/dev/sdb

Notice the "of" parameter has to be the entire drive (of=/dev/sdb) not a particular partition. In other words of=/dev/sdb1 would be wrong and wouldn't transfer the boot sector correctly.

Also some USB key drives themselves have problems booting.
Have you tried the combination CD/USB approach?

Raymano

Last edited by raymano (2007-05-20 15:17:04)

rayjgu3 · 2007-05-20 17:57:22

dd if=/path/to/faunos01c.img of=/dev/sde
sde is my usb drive

raymano · 2007-05-20 18:24:30

I will have a new image for you to download shortly.

lilsirecho · 2007-05-20 18:59:09

I assume the drive must be fat16?

raymano · 2007-05-20 19:00:14

OK. It had to do with how I had setup the partitions on the image.

I have updated the links on the site. You can download it directly at:

http://www.faunos.com/download.php?f=faunos01d.img
md5sum: 1d2cfba33247140dd915b9292ab45ea8

I have successfully tried the new image here on both a 1 gig and a 2 gig usb key.

raymano · 2007-05-20 19:03:46

lilsirecho wrote:

I assume the drive must be fat16?

You don't need to partition your USB key. The image contains the partition table.

lilsirecho · 2007-05-21 02:07:31

Downloaded faunOS in 2 hours 45 mins...

Performed the .img install to 1GB flash in 3minutes 10.7 seconds.

Attempted boot...received "boot error" message at boot time.

Examined contents of 1GB flash.......appears to be Larch related 856.1MB size reported....eleven elements including memtest.

Bkg.jpg is a faun......

Items included...base.sqf,bkgd.jpg , etc,sqf,larch.img, idlinux.sys, memtest,overlay.sqf,syslinux.cfg,system.sqf,vesamenu.c32, vmlinuz

Qtparted reports two partitions, partition 2 is 133.44MB (hidden)...Partition 1 is reported as active and identified as fat32 (I think it is reported incorrectly as fat 32 because my Larch device also says fat32 but it is fat16).

End of message....

Raymond

raymano · 2007-05-21 02:37:01

lilsirecho wrote:

Downloaded faunOS in 2 hours 45 mins...
Performed the .img install to 1GB flash in 3minutes 10.7 seconds.
Attempted boot...received "boot error" message at boot time.
Examined contents of 1GB flash.......appears to be Larch related 856.1MB size reported....eleven elements including memtest.
Bkg.jpg is a faun......
Items included...base.sqf,bkgd.jpg , etc,sqf,larch.img, idlinux.sys, memtest,overlay.sqf,syslinux.cfg,system.sqf,vesamenu.c32, vmlinuz
Qtparted reports two partitions, partition 2 is 133.44MB (hidden)...Partition 1 is reported as active and identified as fat32 (I think it is reported incorrectly as fat 32 because my Larch device also says fat32 but it is fat16).
End of message....
Raymond

Thanks. Unfortunately the image you have downloaded is the older one which had the multiple partitions that was causing the boot error. If you download the latest one, faunos01d.img (http://www.faunos.com/download.php?f=faunos01d.img), the problem should be fixed.

Thanks for baring with me and trying this out.

lilsirecho · 2007-05-21 02:37:12

Perhaps the larch.img is causing boot error?

raymano · 2007-05-21 02:44:49

lilsirecho wrote:

Perhaps the larch.img is causing boot error?

I don't think it's larch.img because the boot error is happening before it is even loaded. What file did you download?

Last edited by raymano (2007-05-21 02:46:40)

lilsirecho · 2007-05-21 02:51:11

Downloaded from your site as listed in first post...

Received many disconnects when trying to download from the later posting you provided.

raymano · 2007-05-21 03:04:13

lilsirecho wrote:

Downloaded from your site as listed in first post...
Received many disconnects when trying to download from the later posting you provided.

Yes then. The problem is you downloaded the buggy image from my first post. The bug should be fixed in the second download. I can also give you a small download and instructions on how to patch the image you downloaded originally. I'll be back...

OK. Here are the instructions:

1) Download only 1 meg: http://www.faunos.com/download.php?f=head.img

2) Assuming faunos01c.img was the image you originally downloaded, do the following to create tail.img:

dd if=faunos01c.img of=tail.img bs=1024 skip=1024 count=868996

3) Create faunos01d.img:

cat head.img tail.img > faunos01d.img

4) dd faunos01d.img to your usb device like you did previously. if /dev/sdb is your usb key then:

dd if=faunos01d.img of=/dev/sdb

5) Boot your new USB key. It should work.

Last edited by raymano (2007-05-21 03:13:06)

lilsirecho · 2007-05-21 03:27:26

Must move to another boot but shouldn'take very long...

lilsirecho · 2007-05-21 03:34:59

I verify that the downloaded image was file:///home/faunos01d.img.

Therefore I await further comments.

raymano · 2007-05-21 03:43:44

lilsirecho wrote:

I verify that the downloaded image was file:///home/faunos01d.img.
Therefore I await further comments.

Did you try the CD/USB key combo? The boot cd is only 4.5 megs. You can find instructions at http://faunos.com/?page_id=22 (see step 3).

I'm really curious to see if it's your USB key's booting capability or something else.

Last edited by raymano (2007-05-21 03:45:45)

lilsirecho · 2007-05-21 03:52:11

No attempt to try CD boot...

Patriot 1GB booted Larch every time. I know it is compatible with USB booting. All of my units boot Larch, even SD units from my camera , and those have pictures as well!!!!

I have a PQi 4GB flash with Larch boot and 3GB of linux swap which I use every day in c2r to boot.

The patriot reports 849.6MB in properties. Does that check with your expectations?

raymano · 2007-05-21 04:06:11

lilsirecho wrote:

No attempt to try CD boot...
Patriot 1GB booted Larch every time. I know it is compatible with USB booting. All of my units boot Larch, even SD units from my camera , and those have pictures as well!!!!
I have a PQi 4GB flash with Larch boot and 3GB of linux swap which I use every day in c2r to boot.
The patriot reports 849.6MB in properties. Does that check with your expectations?

The 849.6 is correct. But what has me puzzled is that you said earlier that there is an additional 130 meg partition on your USB drive. That should not be the case with the faunos01d.img because I set it to have only one ~850meg 0e partition. So the file you have is faunos01d.img with md5 checksum of 1d2cfba33247140dd915b9292ab45ea8 ?

lilsirecho · 2007-05-21 04:26:09

In QTparted, partition 01 is windows icon fat16 with size ~851mb win95 oe fat16, active

The partition numbered 02 is a free partition with no windows icon associated with it. It provides for the accounting of 1GB on the patriot flash device and is the result of the loading procedure you outlined for the faunos.img. It has no functional part in the active booting of faunos. I assume that QTparted assigns the number to permit ID of that portion of the flash device

If you have qtparted, it will show same.

Fdisk -l shows the following.....

[root@n6re ~]# fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 1040 MB, 1040187392 bytes
32 heads, 61 sectors/track, 1040 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 1952 * 512 = 999424 bytes

Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sda1 * 1 900 878369+ e W95 FAT16 (LBA)
[root@n6re ~]#

I hope this is not confusing.......

lilsirecho · 2007-05-21 04:43:39

Raymano;

Gradgrind found that the latest init caused Larch to fail boot and has upgraded Larch to handle the change.

Perhaps this has an impact in faun as well...but perhaps not since you are able to utilize flash boot at your computer.

raymano · 2007-05-21 06:27:39

lilsirecho wrote:

Raymano;
Gradgrind found that the latest init caused Larch to fail boot and has upgraded Larch to handle the change.
Perhaps this has an impact in faun as well...but perhaps not since you are able to utilize flash boot at your computer.

lilsirecho,

Thanks for the info. Based on your feedback and what I'm seeing here I think it has to do with isolinux and the way the boot sector has to be updated when the filesystem is laid on the USB key. I am currently working on a grub version that should fix the problem. I will hopefully have one ready by tomorrow.

I really appreciate all your help on this.

rayjgu3 · 2007-05-21 20:35:47

grabbed that 2nd linke .img did work for me either
waiting for grub version

raymano · 2007-05-21 21:56:42

rayjgu3 wrote:

grabbed that 2nd linke .img did work for me either
waiting for grub version

Thanks rayjgu3. I should have it ready later tonight. I will post here when it's ready.

Arch Linux

#1 2007-05-20 09:15:39

FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#2 2007-05-20 10:27:13

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#3 2007-05-20 13:45:28

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#4 2007-05-20 15:08:50

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#5 2007-05-20 17:57:22

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#6 2007-05-20 18:24:30

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#7 2007-05-20 18:59:09

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#8 2007-05-20 19:00:14

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#9 2007-05-20 19:03:46

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#10 2007-05-21 02:07:31

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#11 2007-05-21 02:37:01

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#12 2007-05-21 02:37:12

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#13 2007-05-21 02:44:49

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#14 2007-05-21 02:51:11

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#15 2007-05-21 03:04:13

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#16 2007-05-21 03:27:26

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#17 2007-05-21 03:34:59

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#18 2007-05-21 03:43:44

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#19 2007-05-21 03:52:11

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#20 2007-05-21 04:06:11

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#21 2007-05-21 04:26:09

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#22 2007-05-21 04:43:39

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#23 2007-05-21 06:27:39

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#24 2007-05-21 20:35:47

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

#25 2007-05-21 21:56:42

Re: FaunOS: New USB Key Distro Based on Arch

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