keeping things installedForum: USB booting Topic: keeping things installed started by: wireframewolf Posted by wireframewolf on Aug. 23 2005,06:12
Heyo. I've been having a little trouble with my usb booting Linux. Files save to the pendrive just like they would a harddrive, and when I use the backup function, I can save my resolution and background settings. However, everytime I boot up, I have to reinstall things like GAIM, Samba, and GTK_2. Also, my Firefox favorites do not save. Anyone have any ideas on what I could do to get this OS keeping things installed?Thanks for your time -wireframewolf Posted by mikshaw on Aug. 23 2005,13:44
myDSL applications are installed into ramdisk, which means they disappear when you shut down. If you place the apps in the root of your pendrive they should be automatically installed when you boot.The backup/restore system backs up only what is listed in /home/dsl/.filetool.lst, and ignores what is in .xfiletool.lst. If your bookmarks file is somewhere in /home/dsl I assume it would backup, unless you do not have "home/dsl/" in .filetool.lst. Posted by wireframewolf on Aug. 23 2005,16:18
Well, I tried moving the .dsl files to my root directory, and rebooted, they disappeared. However, when they are in /ramdisk/home/dsl, they actually stay there even after reboot. They're just not staying installed. So now I'm really confused.
Posted by cbagger01 on Aug. 23 2005,16:27
He means,move the *.dsl file into the root directory of your BOOT drive. In other words, if you are using a USBHDD pendrive, you would go to the fluxbox menu and choose "Emelfm as Super User" and then copy the file into the /cdrom folder. Or the thumbdrive is usually the D: or E: drive in MSwindows if you are going to copy the files to the drive while still using windows. Posted by mikshaw on Aug. 23 2005,18:50
I'm going to guess that the myDSL apps in /ramdisk/home/dsl (seem to) stay there because everything in that directory is being backed up, and restored when you reboot. You'll need to have the apps placed somewhere where they will remain before the restoration takes place if you want them to be automatically loaded (myDSL apps get loaded before the restoration occurs). So, yeah...as cbagger said, the root of your pendrive means on the pendrive itself...not the root of the DSL filesystem. The filesystem root (/) is not persistent. Posted by wireframewolf on Aug. 23 2005,20:33
Right. That makes sense now. This is actually the first distro of Linux I've ever used, so I don't know much about the filesystem. But I'll try it. Thanks.
Posted by wireframewolf on Aug. 23 2005,22:16
Well, I did that, and GAIM and GTK do indeed install. But in order for GAIM to work, I have to manually install GTK again, then use the update option in the desktop menu. So, even though it appears to install, is there something I can do to keep in auto updated? The only reason I'm worried is that when I get around to setting up Alsa, I want to make sure everything is going to stay installed and configured.
Posted by mikshaw on Aug. 24 2005,01:14
I haven't used gtk2 in DSL, but i think you can probably run the necessary command(s) from /opt/bootlocal.sh (you might need to add this file to .filetool.lst).Check out what the menu command is to update the system to use gtk2 and put that command in bootlocal.sh. If you need to install the myDSL files in a particular order you could rename them, since they load in alphabetical order. Posted by wireframewolf on Aug. 24 2005,19:30
Sorry to be a nuisance, but I still have another question. Is it possible to install DSL to a USB key along the same format that you would install it to a HD, so that when I have to configure something more complex, I can be dead sure it will stay installed?
Posted by Stoker on Sep. 07 2005,04:31
I'm in the same boat. I want to use a 1GB stick as a Solid State Linux Hard drive/filesystem and then use Synaptic, etc, to grab slightly more disk space hungry stuff like GNU Emacs, GCC, Python, and Gimp. I just want the USB key to behave like a hard disk and have everything on the file system be persistent without worrying about where Synaptic or "make install" or whatever puts stuff. Is there a way to do this using the backup/restore file list using a USB key that's been prepared the easy "linux Noob" way of burning the CD, doing Apps->Tools>USB Install? Add the root to the file list or something? Sorry... still confused. I'm an experienced Unix user but system administration is a new topic more or less. Posted by Jelle on Sep. 12 2005,13:54
My Guess is: Gaim and GTK load in that order, since they load alphabetically. Rename gaim.dsl to zz_gaim.dsl, to make it load after GTK. Let me know if it helped. |