Saving customization?
Forum: USB booting
Topic: Saving customization?
started by: kris108
Posted by kris108 on June 09 2006,03:21
Hi all,I must have badly missed something
: installed DSL on a 128 MB pendrive (tried ZIP-drive and HD install both) and customized DSL by modifying the config, adding a local .Xmodmap and a MyDSL-app /nmap/.
After rebooting all customization was lost. As I understood custom data should been automatically saved on the USB. (Wasn't it the idea with the USB drive).
Or do I have to extra save those infromation somehow (?)
OTHER:
By halting the system it request to eject the CD (?) and as there is none it does not stop the hardware
best regards,
kris *_^O^_*
Posted by kerry on June 09 2006,07:26
There's a dozen or so places where this has been covered start by reading the start page in dillo, then the wiki,then the faq. google is your friend.
Posted by kris108 on June 09 2006,08:49
kerry wrote:| Quote |
| There's a dozen or so places where this has been covered start by reading the start page in dillo, then the wiki,then the faq. google is your friend. |
Dear kerry,
you may not want to waist your time (and mine) with adding a message to this list without substance.
# Remarks:
# I would never post a question without rtfm & google.
# As I see it would also be possible to make a conventional
# install but then I would loose portability and with it
# The Purpose.
best regards,
kris *_^O^_*
Posted by Spice_Boy on June 09 2006,10:57
kris108, I know how you feel about wanting to save the setup and applications. It took me a while to figure out myself, and although people say it's been covered here I couldn't make much sense out of any one particular post. I am going to make a little 'how-to' and keep it in the simplist walk-through terms, because I'm not a Linux guru by any stretch of the immagination. I will let you know when I've done it (no time promises though!). Like everything else, it's not actually hard once you know how, it's just getting to know in the first place that can be a problem! Hang in there.
Posted by kris108 on June 09 2006,11:25
Spice_Boy wrote:| Quote |
| ...I am going to make a little 'how-to'... |
Very nice
, thank you in advance!# In the meantime I will also try to hack around a bit
# on the system.
Best regards,
kris *_^O^_*
Posted by kerry on June 09 2006,12:36
No, i just answered very quickly, but i was on my way out the door at the time.To save .dsl's put them in a folder named " myDSL " exact spelling and they will be found and installed on boot up.
For others make a " optional " folder for stuff you want to load when you need.
For setups you need to add the directory to the .xfiletool.lst either with emelfm's Add2Filetool button or manually, then it will be added to the the backup when you use the Backup/Restore. don't forget to use the cheat. Press F2 at start to see the cheat list.
I'm just going from memory so it might not be exact. The instruction should be in dillo under " saving your configuration "
some where in the middle part. I'll add what ever more i can think of when i switch to DSL, i'm on Xubuntu right now so i can't look.
Posted by kris108 on June 09 2006,14:09
Hi kerry,thank you for your reply, I will check the procedures but I am still unsure whether this was the solution I was looking for, then:
currently I am using my pendrive with windows applications installed on it: system info, backup and recovery (for ex. Northon Ghost) and not at last a web-browser with my own bookmarks and settings, an e-mail client containing my e-mails, Skype etc.
Still, if I don't have to use Windows I am rather on Linux/UNIX. First what I saw was Metropipe-s modified DSL installed in a 108 MB image file, as that is a 'normal' installation it is saving all the settings modified in /etc and my e-mails and so on; but running qemu on top of an other operating system requires a lot of resources and the result will be as would I be on a 75 MHz CPU. For this I came to the original DSL site in the hope of a more appropriate solution.
I am still on checking the possibilities.
Thank you again!
Best regards,
kris *_^O^_*
Posted by Spice_Boy on June 09 2006,15:43
Kris, I think I misunderstood your initial post about the task you are trying acheive. My setup is different, but since I half promised it, here is my 2 cents worth about backing up programs and settings.I use no hard drive. I boot off the CD, and use a USB memory stick to store permanent stuff on. (My BIOS can't boot from USB, which is why I boot off the CD)
When I first booted up, I chose DSL TORAM
As the CD is spinning away loading up the system, that is when I insert the USB memory. If I have it in any earlier, it doesn't seem to detect it. (could just be my laptop though).
Once DSL is running, I mounted the USB memory device (sda1). Any settings that are now made can be saved to the USB memory. You can do this manually in DSLpanel, but if you shutdown properly with the shutdown command, a script will run and do this automatically. (possibly only after you've done it manually the first time to set the default backup device).
I noticed that if I left the USB memory mounted, it was ready mounted the next time I booted up. Saved me from doing it manually again.
Ok, that's the settings part... now the programs. Again, this is just what I did... I'm sure other people have different stories!
Go to the DSL download extension panel and download your favorite apps. (I'm sure you've done this). Notice how it asks you if you want to save them in the /tmp directory. When it's finished downloading you can go to that /tmp directory and see the .gz , .dsl , .uci files. Copy the applications you want into the root (top level) directory of the USB memory. (I have read people say make a mydsl directory, but that didn't work for me... this did). Anyway, once you've copied those applications into the USB memory they will be loaded automatically next time you boot if you do this:
Insert the cd and at the prompt type:
DSL TORAM MYDSL=SDA1
(don't forget to put the USB memory in as the CD is loading the image, at least that's what I do as it seems to be a nice time for the system to recognise it.
Good luck :-)
Posted by kris108 on June 09 2006,15:51
OK, that was what I have 'badly missed':| Quote |
How do I save my settings? When booting from the CD or a frugal install your application settings, bookmarks, etc can be saved to separate file on a hard drive partition/usb key/floppy called backup.tar.gz. To create this file choose on System, Backup/Restore in the desktop menu, type in the name of the device to save to (e.g. hda1/sda1/floppy) and hit backup. Then when you reboot your settings can be restored using the cheatcode restore={hda1/sda1/floppy}. To change which files are saved edit /home/dsl/.filetool.lst (list of files to backup) and /home/dsl/.xfiletool.lst (list of files to exclude from the backup process). Adding files to .filetool.lst can be easily done by choosing the file/dir in emelfm and clicking the 'Add2Filetool" button. The default files/dir saved at backup are: opt/ppp opt/bootlocal.sh opt/powerdown.sh opt/.dslrc opt/.mydsl_dir home/dsl/ If you decide you only want to save certain files in home/dsl/ and not the entire directory, you would want to remove home/dsl/ from .filetool.lst but add .filetool.lst and .xfiletool.lst to the .filetool.lst file. Here is how it might look in this situation adding just the /home/dsl/.fluxbox directory opt/ppp opt/bootlocal.sh opt/powerdown.sh opt/.dslrc opt/.mydsl_dir home/dsl/.fluxbox home/dsl/.filetool.lst home/dsl/.xfiletool.lst |
I made an USB-ZIP pendrive install creating two partitions:
/dev/sda1 (for the system)
/dev/sda2 (convenient for backups)
I added
| Code Sample |
| dsl restore=/dev/sda2 |
Remarks:
- As the whole /home/dsl directory is backed up (by default) my questions related to e-mails, bookmarks etc. are solved at once!
- Being able to set what is backed up I hope I can solve further questions without spamming this forum :-)
Best regards,
kris *_^O^_*
Posted by kris108 on June 09 2006,16:19
Hi Spice_Boy,thank you again for your reply! The procedure described above works for me. So this topic may be closed.
Anyway: Thank you for your help!
OTHER:
you wrote:
| Quote |
| I use no hard drive. I boot off the CD, and use a USB memory stick to store permanent stuff on. (My BIOS can't boot from USB, which is why I boot off the CD) |
This is also a convenient solution, most HW-s I meet are either able to boot from an USB, for this I boot the USB-drive with a boot floppy. The reason I hold to USB is that this way the optical drive remains free for burning CD-s (there is mostly only one) for recovering datas (from dead or at least halfway-dead M$ systems at my office and by friends [though I am NOT a sysadmin
]).Best regards,
kris *_^O^_*
Posted by Spice_Boy on June 09 2006,16:47
No worries :-)BTW, once I boot up using the TORAM, my cd drive is then free anyway ;-)
Posted by kris108 on June 09 2006,17:18
Sure kris *_^O^_*
Posted by bostonvaulter on Sep. 03 2006,21:14
I think this post by kris, shows how the help page in DSL needs to be changed. It should explicitly tell you that you need to go to the control panel first and then click backup/restore to save your settings the first time.Or it should tell you that if you simply include the bootcode to restore settings, that it will create the files to save your settings if it does indeed work that way which would not make much sense.
Posted by amablue on Sep. 11 2006,04:45
I'm still having trouble saving my stuff. Here's what I've tried:I start up DSL regularly from my thumbdrive. I mount hda2 (which is my linux partition on my laptop) and then transfer a few files. For example, I get a few songs and create a /home/dsl/music/ folder and put a few songs in there, I add a new image to use as my background to the /.fluxbox/Backgrounds/ folder, and I put a random test text file in the /home/dsl/ directory.
Then I go to backup/restore and type sda1, my thumbdrive.
Then next time I start up I type dsl restore={sda1}, though I've also tried just plane restore={sda1} without the dsl, and that didn't work either.
When I start up, it's just a like the first time. Nothing I've saved, not matter where it is is restored. If I'm understanding correctly, everything in the /home/dsl folder should've been saved.
Posted by humpty on Sep. 11 2006,10:32
tell us what msgs turn up during boot.e.g restoring from /dev/sda1 .. \
also,
check backup.tar.gz exists in /mnt/sda1/
after you press 'backup'