Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

yvonney · 2009-03-17 02:00:55

Hi... I'll keep it concise as I can here:

Installing now to 20 gig external USB2 or AC powered hard drive. Just a regular install.

I will boot on FOUR different PCs when I need to.
Total of 3 different wireless and 4 different video, all three old to new nvidia and one old intel chipset.

SOoooooo!

I REALLY REALLY need to know what's the smartest most logical way to suffer this together..
I mean: the slickest way to change video setting and wireless setting on boot... or whatever.

Don't really care how much hassle it is as the benefits are great for me. 'doh!' seems likely at some points. hehehe

IDEAS really um, really needed....

thank you!!!!!!!!!!!

Last edited by yvonney (2009-03-17 02:02:33)

archlinuxsagi · 2009-03-17 02:09:25

i have done this..
the trick is to install all the xorg-video drivers and wireless firmware.
You should remove xorg.conf and use x input hotplugging.

My USB hard disk which is used for testing purposes is now my live usb hard disk.

The list is as follows for wireless firmware:
rt2x00-rt71w-fw
rt2x00-rt61-fw
iwlwifi-3945-ucode
iwlwifi-4965-ucode
iwlwifi-5000-ucode

ipw2100-fw
ipw2200-fw
zd1211-firmware
b43-fwcutter

and the list of video drivers is as follows:
xf86-video-amd
xf86-video-apm
xf86-video-ark
xf86-video-ati
xf86-video-chips
xf86-video-cirrus
xf86-video-dummy
xf86-video-fbdev
xf86-video-glint
xf86-video-i128
xf86-video-i740

xf86-video-intel
xf86-video-mga
xf86-video-neomagic
xf86-video-nv
xf86-video-radeonhd
xf86-video-rendition
xf86-video-s3
xf86-video-s3virge
xf86-video-savage
xf86-video-siliconmotion
xf86-video-sis
xf86-video-sisusb
xf86-video-tdfx
xf86-video-trident
xf86-video-tseng
xf86-video-unichrome
xf86-video-v4l
xf86-video-vesa
xf86-video-vga
xf86-video-vmware
xf86-video-voodoo
xf86-input-evdev

yvonney · 2009-03-17 02:19:00

cool cool cool! great start thanks...!!

I've been working with LARCH as well so all the drivers is kinda understood by me better.
I'm not LARCHING this drive obviously. regular install.

THOUGH: [problems after install]

right now I'm booting off the 20 gig external and having a prob.
Getting the:
"failed to parse block device name" then the udev drive number
and "root filesystem cannot be detected"

and

"unable to create detect root device"

wonder if it's kernal related I'm using 2009.02 with FTP install

Also, the external drive's like 5 years old, and the laptop's less than a year...

dunno.

ideas?

will be looking for answer...
FANTASTIC you've done it!

Last edited by yvonney (2009-03-17 02:20:57)

archlinuxsagi · 2009-03-17 02:32:43

this is mkinitcpio related. my mkinitcpio.conf is as follows:
MODULES="pata_acpi ata_generic scsi_mod ata_piix"
HOOKS="base udev autodetect scsi usb usbinput keymap filesystems"

you will need to re-generates your kernel image after altering your mkinitcpio.conf.

It is best that you use the archlinux install CD to know what the modules required. You can issue mkinitcpio -M at the archlinux install CD.

yvonney · 2009-03-17 02:44:55

GREAT!!!!!!

ok, so I'm doing a reinstall with two things different.

I'm using the cd install 2009.02 not ftp. fast as well.

AND.... I'm gonna install grub to the internal drive where ther's already a grub as well.

OR CAN I installl grub to the external???

I'll get back here ASAP! between larch and this idea (thanks!) I'm going to feel really flexible...
horrible to not have the arch system running wherever!!!

many thank youS!!!

Last edited by yvonney (2009-03-17 02:45:57)

yvonney · 2009-03-17 02:57:29

I thought FOR SURE I'd be writing to say..... it works!!!

um, same prob my end.

So: I decided to install grub to sdb the usb esternal again.
AND I thought... of course....2009.02 doesn't ask if you wanna boot from usb etc. so I cloned your modules and hooks THOUGH I left in pata and sata in the hooks..... would that case the problem???

So.... I didn't get how to do the -M thing..I figured I find out how though wouldn't need to rebuild it.

So.... now I'm stuck again.

I did the install from the CD files... though was there some reason I would wanna use the CD files and not FTP. just interested as I get the same options? interesting. um,

So.... maybe I missed something...

Do you think grub installed to the internal drive where there's already a grub?

Or remove the pata sata from hooks?

um, so can I ask how I would now rebuild using the -M ??

in any event.... it's been a FANTASTIC tip..

just a bit unlucky here I guess.
that can be good too for learning.

ok, here I go to try fallback though it won't work i guess.

archlinuxsagi · 2009-03-17 02:58:34

actually.. you can just copy your current installation on your hard disk to your USB hard disk and then install grub on the external hard disk. You don't need to install from scratch again.

yvonney · 2009-03-17 03:04:21

well that why I'm reinstalling. i mangled the internal drive install somehow. and wanna do it again.
So... At the end of the output when it crashes there's that
klibc contains no ls binary use echo instead...

there was one other post I saw about this.

So, do you think it's an incompatibility, or who knows I should check to see the mkinitcpio.conf is like you said.
Guess it doesn't matter ifd I remove the sata pata from hooks.
And probably not about grub being on the external drive WHEN there's already a grub on internal.

maybe it looks at the internal drive for something and gets confused.
the can't find filesystem is weird as it's booting from ext2

So.... can I ask if there's a way to do the mkinitcpio -M from where I now sit...
reinstall is easy of course.

or some other idea for a reinstall.. gonna have to try writing the grub info to the internal drive I think.
Really wanna do it fresh to thin down even more on packages etc.

don't need to do a legacy IDE no sata do I due to drive age... hope not. it's usb2

Last edited by yvonney (2009-03-17 03:06:11)

archlinuxsagi · 2009-03-17 03:05:42

yvonney wrote:

I thought FOR SURE I'd be writing to say..... it works!!!
um, same prob my end.
So: I decided to install grub to sdb the usb esternal again.
AND I thought... of course....2009.02 doesn't ask if you wanna boot from usb etc. so I cloned your modules and hooks THOUGH I left in pata and sata in the hooks..... would that case the problem???
So.... I didn't get how to do the -M thing..I figured I find out how though wouldn't need to rebuild it.

You can use any pc that is able to boot up archlinux and you don't need the arch installer to re-generate the image.
You will need to chroot to the USB hard disk partition to re-create the kernel image.

The below tip is retrieved from:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ins … her_distro

mount /dev/ /newarch/dev/ --bind
mount /sys/ /newarch/sys/ --bind
mount /proc/ /newarch/proc/ --bind

Chroot into the new system
chroot /newarch

After chroot, you can create the kernel image using the following tip:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Mkinitcpio

yvonney · 2009-03-17 04:33:50

Great to have detailed ... really really nice. I'm back now, was out for 1 hour.

So.. I'm reinstalling now as I think I will learn 'again' (as I did it once) the chroot thing.

So... this time I will remove pata and sata from hooks doing your lines exactly.
I'm WONDERING.... even though I install usbtools from base on cd is something else needed.
When I do the configure I look carefully and wonder if a line for fstab is needed for the usb drive???

yvonney · 2009-03-17 04:51:29

I was hoping it would have been a simple error and that MAYBE I had put the hooks in a commented out line.

Nope. tried. Though I still left in sata
and I still installed grub to sdb usb drive.
I'll try on a lesser PC

yvonney · 2009-03-17 05:12:56

On an older P4 it stops immediately. after boot screen where I chose obviously arch linux and then tried arch linux fallback

Message is:

Filesystem type unknown partition type 0x7
kenel /boot/vmlinuz/etc etc etc udev stuff
Error 17 cannot mount selected partition

archlinuxsagi · 2009-03-17 05:27:05

yvonney wrote:

On an older P4 it stops immediately. after boot screen where I chose obviously arch linux and then tried arch linux fallback
Message is:
Filesystem type unknown partition type 0x7
kenel /boot/vmlinuz/etc etc etc udev stuff
Error 17 cannot mount selected partition

This means your menu.lst is incorrect.
check your root and kernel line.

also, you should use UUID method..

Last edited by archlinuxsagi (2009-03-17 05:27:52)

yvonney · 2009-03-17 06:18:00

THANK YOU
!!!!!

I CAN install to an ext2 formatted external USB can't i ??? doesn't have to be fat32?

Well it';s getting weirder and weirder.....
I have checked the menu.lst and changed it cause the last PC I installed on had more drives

I'vew gone from uuid to old style naming nothing works

I've found a lot of stuff on google though I'm really stumped now.
it started to boot nicely then fails to parse block device name
unable to create detect root device

I just wonder If I'd have samne prob with installing to internal

could be something with the new kernel

dunno

Last edited by yvonney (2009-03-17 06:19:16)

archlinuxsagi · 2009-03-17 08:03:48

yvonney wrote:

Well it';s getting weirder and weirder.....
I have checked the menu.lst and changed it cause the last PC I installed on had more drives

The USB hard disk should be the first hard disk to boot up.. this is changed at the bios setting. The menu.lst should be permanent, no changes is needed.

OK. This is the steps i make the USB booting works.

1)Install Archlinux to internal hard disk.
2)Copy archlinux installation to internal hard disk to USB hard disk
3)Install grub to external hard disk MBR
4)Changed UUID used at /etc/fstab and /boot/grub/menu.lst
5)re-create kernel image for USB hard disk by chroot to external hard disk partition.
The only difference between my internal hard and USB hard disk in mkinticpio is
HOOKS=usb

If your internal hard disk is able to boot up, your external hard disk should be able to boot up based on the above method.

gradgrind · 2009-03-17 08:23:05

If you're playing with larch anyway, you could try using larchin to do the installation - I'm glad of any feedback.

yvonney · 2009-03-17 17:16:07

Larchify would be a treat to try. Spent 8 hours on the install attempt to ext usb yesterday so I'm loking to speedily do this install as I need to have it running. Larchify at some point though today looks not possible time-wise.... larchify and I are overdue though I'd say... hehehe

On the instlal to internal then copy. VERY interesting as I've tried two drives and two machines now same... can't find filesystem, ramfs thing and there tons of comments about this all over the place.

So... why couldn't I install to internal AND have the usb in the hooks line already.
the chroot, remake mkinticpio is a technique not in my skillset yet. I would of course learn it better if I need to.

So, why can't the usb line already be in the hooks line of the internal install.

am going to try now.!!!

best wishes, thank you

yvonney · 2009-03-17 17:49:19

Ahhh.... I see why mkinitcpio and kernel redo is important at end I think.

I have now done a no grub - no usb hook base install to internal drive partition.
Am trying live larch cd and will attempt to copy to usb drive from live cd boot.

Fine though there's better way > I did a drag copy after mounting sdb1 and sda4 ( sda4 part with grubless install on it)

I could REALLY use some finer detail on a few of those moves.

OK. This is the steps i make the USB booting works.

archlinuxsagi wrote:

1)Install Archlinux to internal hard disk.
2)Copy archlinux installation to internal hard disk to USB hard disk
3)Install grub to external hard disk MBR
4)Changed UUID used at /etc/fstab and /boot/grub/menu.lst
5)re-create kernel image for USB hard disk by chroot to external hard disk partition.
The only difference between my internal hard and USB hard disk in mkinticpio is
HOOKS=usb

1) I have used a primary partition on the interal and am now installing to it. FTP install. 2009.02

2) [?] What are the best ways to copy to the USB drive? I just did a mount and a drag copy to usb drive.

3) I booted my LARCH live cd and mounted /dev/sdb1 [usb drive] then installed grub as described in the GREAT WIKI...hehehe The Great Wiki !

4) Change UUID in menu.lst and fstab after doing blkid ...ON the USB drive.

5) here's the hard one though I've chroot'd before once or twice. I will look this up though if you have any finer points/tips I could certainly use them.... hehehe

I will look up chroot rebuild mkinitcpio

Last edited by yvonney (2009-03-17 20:31:59)

yvonney · 2009-03-17 23:11:31

i've become quite good at the chroot.

i have tried EVERYTHING I can.

old style device naming, all the tips from everywhere I could find.
still same problems.

I did this install from installing to internal and copying with live cd, as mentioned.

I am now doing again straight to USB drive.
did the rootdelay rootfstype
even put a delay in rc.local
still get:
ramfs , can't find filesystem etc etc.
This is on a 1 year old laptop all intel. I would love to turn OFF the internal drive though don't think the bios can do that.

Last edited by yvonney (2009-03-17 23:14:13)

yvonney · 2009-03-18 01:10:40

FIXED....

Funny as this one one of my VERY first ARCH lessons way back when I was really into getting an external USB drive to boot ARCH.... hahahaha READ: I knew'd this all along..... doh!!!!!!!!!

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=63033 see a little over half way down I think in that post.

the bios and grub simply conflict.

Setting the drive as the HD in the laptop bios MAKES it grub (hd0.0) !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heck, I learn SO SO SO much and am SOSoSoSoSo grateful for all the help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

um, now ... to do yesterday, today!

archlinuxsagi · 2009-03-18 05:05:49

congrats yvonney.
finally you done it.

yvonney · 2009-03-18 18:14:04

YES.. and I had some ESSENTIAL help... hehehe
you had it totally right with the grub comment!!!!

It was cool actually, going round in circles I got to understand a bunch of things about mounting, chroot etc. You know how it goes... eventually I started to get it at a deeper, for me, LEVEL...! :--)
Well, back to the original post's subject... hehehe

Thinking to start a new post at some point. Something like "TIPS for USB external system running on MULTIPLE PCs"

There seems to be a lot of ways to smarten the system up for tdoing that. I REALLY like it even though there's a speed penalty, um, etc.! AND with USB 3 coming out next year it could be a COOL way to go...

I've got two observations so far.

1) nvidia card drivers would conflict if on the same machine I think. So, running on 3 differently aged machines woudl need some clever way to swap.... OR, except for my newish laptop I don't mind if the other machines run vesa or something. I WOULD like to get 1280x1024 though! So that's one though.... must be some cool ways to use a USB external. That's what the new thread would be about maybe.

2) I noticed that on one PC when I plugged in a flash stick next to the usb external, I shortly there-after got a whole bunch of inode, can't read ext2 filesystem errors and it couldn't even find /bin/shutdown it said when I tried.
COuld thins be that the drive gets renamed WHEN I plugin the usb key ON the same buss? Lot's of little things are of interest like this.

3) I have two external drives one 40 gig 7200 rpm and one 20gig 5400 I'm thinking clonezilla and have the same system on both as one's needs AC power and the other doesn't. Do you know a good way to go from the 40 gig to the 20 gig as a full clone? I guess I'd have do an image as the drives geometries have to be identical to do drive to drive... [??]

4) I like ext2 though I sometimes think ext3 might have some benefit for recovering after crashes etc. Like the inode thing I just had as mentioned in 2) above. Do you think it's WAY better to run a journaling fs on an external usb boot drive???

I bet you've applied a lot of clever mods to get the USB external to be more solid.

best wishes

Last edited by yvonney (2009-03-18 18:41:37)

archlinuxsagi · 2009-03-20 11:45:11

yvonney wrote:

YES.. and I had some ESSENTIAL help... hehehe
4) I like ext2 though I sometimes think ext3 might have some benefit for recovering after crashes etc. Like the inode thing I just had as mentioned in 2) above. Do you think it's WAY better to run a journaling fs on an external usb boot drive???

I have been using ext3 for quite sometime and it does help me to recover.. I don't recommend using ext2 unless u wish the partition to be writable by windows.

yvonney wrote:

I bet you've applied a lot of clever mods to get the USB external to be more solid.

Nah. for nvidia cards, I just install the nv drivers, no additional drivers was installed as I don't need 3D stuff on my USB hard disk.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-03-17 02:00:55

Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#2 2009-03-17 02:09:25

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#3 2009-03-17 02:19:00

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#4 2009-03-17 02:32:43

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#5 2009-03-17 02:44:55

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#6 2009-03-17 02:57:29

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#7 2009-03-17 02:58:34

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#8 2009-03-17 03:04:21

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#9 2009-03-17 03:05:42

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#10 2009-03-17 04:33:50

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#11 2009-03-17 04:51:29

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#12 2009-03-17 05:12:56

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#13 2009-03-17 05:27:05

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#14 2009-03-17 06:18:00

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#15 2009-03-17 08:03:48

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#16 2009-03-17 08:23:05

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#17 2009-03-17 17:16:07

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#18 2009-03-17 17:49:19

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#19 2009-03-17 23:11:31

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#20 2009-03-18 01:10:40

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#21 2009-03-18 05:05:49

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#22 2009-03-18 18:14:04

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

#23 2009-03-20 11:45:11

Re: Installing on ext. HARD drive- use 4 PCs- w.diff.wireless/video IDEAS?

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