Save MyDSL installation
Forum: DSL Embedded
Topic: Save MyDSL installation
started by: MGDsl
Posted by MGDsl on Feb. 21 2006,12:05
I really like the DSL. I have successfully installed and configurated Sylpheed and others. I can also download new applications with MyDSL.As said in instructions I can see a new menu MyDSL and also a desktop icon.
But I can not figure out how to save it to be there after reboot.
I have tried a couple of tips.
/optional
/home/dsl/optional
to save the downloaded tar.gz files
to use the MyDSL button after having a sign (while shutting down) that there are unsaved extensions, but nothing works. After reboot no downloaded programmes are there.
I must be stupid, but admitting that I would like to have som help with a step to step-guide.
Please.
Posted by doobit on Feb. 21 2006,15:18
How you save them will depend on your installation, or if you are using the live CD. You can, in most cases, copy them as root to the /cdrom directory using copy in Emelfm. You can also tell DSL where they are (if they are in the top of a particular partition) at bootup using the myDSL=hda? cheat code after the boot prompt. Or if you have a grub install, then put myDSL=hda?, (or sda? if it's a usb drive) in the second line after frugal or toram. You can also put the full path to them in the filetool.lst file but make sure to add filetool.lst also on a line in the filetool.lst file< http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/wiki....ings.3F >
Posted by MGDsl on Feb. 21 2006,15:43
I use the embedded version and run it from an usb-stick. I have used MyDSL to download amsn and copied the file, -tar.gz, to /cdrom. Before reboot I have an icon and an extra menu item "MyDSL" under which I can see amsn, and after reboot I can see the file is still in /cdrom. After reading your post I added
.filetool.lst in the .filetool.lst-file and rebooted, but I still do not have the icon or the menu back. I do not need many extra applications but amsn and skype and perhaps open office would make this DSL just perfect for me.
Posted by kenzo on Feb. 21 2006,16:03
mgdsl,i also use embedded dsl on a usb stick, and i have
the same problem.
i dont know how to add new apps.
i especially want to add openoffice, so i can
use this dsl system for my business documents.
i posted this same problem in this forum on february 11,
but i never got any solution.
it would be extremely helpful to be able
to add some apps to the dsl embedded, but
i dont know how to do it.
kenzo
Posted by doobit on Feb. 21 2006,16:33
I don't know if this works with the embedded version. You may also need to add the full path to amsn-0.94.uci and tcltk-8.4.uci in the bootlocal.sh or .xinitrc so they load when you boot up. It's different with the embedded flash drive install, so you will need to search here for what others have done, or experiment for yourself. In a Frugal Hard drive install, I just need to put the extention in the top of a partition and put myDSL=hda [whatever that partition letter is] and it loads automatically at bootup.
Posted by roberts on Feb. 21 2006,17:19
This has been answered so many times!In fact I answered it a couple of days ago!
It makes me wonder when there seems to be so little effort to even read the posts in the section that would obviously apply.
So again < use the virtual drive hdb or make a bigger one! >
Posted by kenzo on Feb. 21 2006,18:03
ok, i have read this stuff as best as i can, andi can honestly say that it is way over my head.
but thanks for the info anyway.
kenzo
Posted by pr0f3550r on Feb. 21 2006,19:18
| Quote (roberts @ Feb. 21 2006,12:19) |
| It makes me wonder when there seems to be so little effort to even read the posts in the section that would obviously apply. |
@Roberts,
I may be lame but I did move the extension (opera) to the root of hdb and I did put the mydsl=hdb option at boot time, but I had a message complaining that the /opt/opera directory was missing.
So I wonder if I have to mount the extension before saving it to hdb, don't know if I make sense?
Posted by roberts on Feb. 21 2006,20:32
You don't need to manually mount anything at boot time.It works the same was as a normal frugal or liveCD dsl boot.
If it is setup as instructed then you will see the
checking for myDSL apps...
... and your saved extensions will be listed as they are mounted/loaded
For example I have xv.dsl, xchat.uci and opera.uci all on hdb
It *does* work as advertised.
Be sure that you use the latest version 2.2b for boot time support of uci type extensions.
But then, you *should* always use the latest version.
Posted by MGDsl on Feb. 21 2006,23:02
I really try to get it, but it seems I will not and I also read as many postings I could find before asking the question, googling and all that. If I follow the startup guide and "mkdir /optional" I must sudo. MyDSL will not accept to save anything there. I went for "mkdir "home/dsl/optional" and saved the amsn in that directory instead.
In .filetool.lst I have entered the full path to /home/dsl/optional and to /home/dsl/.filetool.lst. Following your:
"You don't need to manually mount anything at boot time.
It works the same was as a normal frugal or liveCD dsl boot." I have not changed anything in the dsl-linux.sh.
When closing DSL I get the warning that there are unsaved extensions and automatically the amsn files are showed as well as /mnt/hdb in the emelfm windows. The only thing to do to get pass the "unsaved extensions" warning is to move the amsn-files to /mnt/hdb, but I can understand this is not correct as they are no longer available after reboot. I can see that the prompt signals restore of backup files from hdb but I don't see any list.
So I am still stuck. I got the DSL to work perfectly and I just don't want to leave the MyDSL just because it is not as seamlessly achieved as the other parts, so please have patience. Reading the posts I think we are a few who would like advice as:
1) use the standard boot up script dsl-linux.sh or change it like this:
2) make this directory /?/?
3) download myDSL files to 2)
4) to have the specific programme at hand after reboot do
5)??
Posted by roberts on Feb. 21 2006,23:51
| Quote |
| When closing DSL I get the warning that there are unsaved extensions and automatically the amsn files are showed as well as /mnt/hdb in the emelfm windows. The only thing to do to get pass the "unsaved extensions" warning is to move the amsn-files to /mnt/hdb, but I can understand this is not correct as they are no longer available after reboot. I can see that the prompt signals restore of backup files from hdb but I don't see any list. |
Sounds like you don't have mydsl=hdb in the append section of the dsl-windows.bat file.
Posted by MGDsl on Feb. 22 2006,07:43
OK. I use the dsl-linux.sh, but think it's the same. I have changed:-append "qemu frugal quiet modules=hdb mydsl=hdb". What stands before "mydsl" is as it came with the embedded.zip.
I start MyDSL, download amsn-package and save it to /home/dsl/optional, which also is in .filetool.lst. I turn off and get the warning that there are unsaved extenstions and the emelfm window comes up. I have tried
a) not to do anything i.e. to answer "no" to the question or
b) copy the newly added files in optional to /mnt/hdb
c) move the files to /mnt/hdb
The result is always:
After reboot the amsn-packages are in /home/dsl/optional (so I gather the backup worked in a way) but no icons on desktop and no "MyDSL" menu when rightclicking.
I don't want to give up on this, however clumsy I may be. With this solved I think even my most reluctant windowsfriends will be conquered.
Posted by pr0f3550r on Feb. 22 2006,12:48
@Roberts,I have booted the 2.2b.iso (not tthe standard embedded) in Qemu, given the 'mydsl=hdb' from the boot command line and, et voila, Opera has been magically backed up and mounted on the fly. It even auto-configured the proxy server, cool!.
So, the problem was either with wrong append option in the standard dsl-embedded or the fact that I was using 2.0 embedded.
By the way, in my own experience, I notice that DSL embedded runs better with the -cdrom option than the -initrd option...
Posted by roberts on Feb. 22 2006,15:49
1. You will never get agreement on whether to use -iso or -kernel options for qemu. The -kernel option was chosen because the virtual machine can have a premade backup and thus eliminate many of the usual setup questions. Personally I don't care, the -iso is much easier for me to maintain.2. If you boot from linux and wish to use the virtual harddisk it is called harddisk and not hdb because your linux system may already have a real hdb!
3. Mixing and matching, results in a totally confusing situation not only for those who try to offer support but also for others trying to learn the standard way of which things are presented.
4. While asking for support it is always best to fully disclose. My answer was for the typical running DSL insdide windows. I still would not be inclined to run Linux inside of Linux and tyring to use the virtual drive. But I can see the desire to access the virtual drive while booting from DSL natively and that requires the qemu boot option.
5. I don't know how many times, I have said not to store extensions in your home directory, because they are large and static. Yet, still I see this.
Posted by cbagger01 on Feb. 22 2006,17:45
Bottom Line:If you are running DSL embedded NATIVELY from a USB drive, then you need to edit your E:\syslinux.cfg file and add "mydsl=harddisk" to the APPEND statements, or maybe just type
dsl frugal mydsl=harddisk
at the prompt if you prefer to type it in manually every time. I don't remember if the "qemu" cheatcode is required or if it is already provided by default.
However, when running DSL in "Embedded" mode, either from dsl-linux.sh or DSL-Windows.bat, you need to add
mydsl=hdb
to the append statement where the other cheatcodes are listed.
Posted by roberts on Feb. 22 2006,22:59
MGDsl,I have looked into Linux inside Linux and the dsl-linux.bat file. What I find is distressing. Not anything that I can have control over as the internals of DSL is fine.
However, what I did find is that sometimes the append options were honored and sometimes not. Just having the modules=hdb, I could see that cloop was loaded and installed. Then adding mydsl=hdb would be ignored. Removing the modules clause results in the extensions trying to load but errors occured because the cloop module wasn't loaded. Sometimes, on occasion both clauses would work.
The only error I get from the Linux version of Qemu is a suggestion to host on a Linux 2.6 kernel because of timing issues.
So bottom line, DSL, internals and DSL hosted on Windows shows no problems. DSL hosted on Linux is a mixed bag.
I would suggest that you compile a Linux Qemu executeable for your particular target Linux host or possibly obtain a Qemu executeable for your particular Linux distro, or try your append clause failures question on the Qemu support site or finally try the qemu with -cdrom option and forgo having easy access to boot time options that the Qemu -kernel option provides.
Posted by MGDsl on Feb. 23 2006,09:36
Thanks,a bunch of good replies to work with!
Posted by pr0f3550r on Feb. 24 2006,16:40
I have problems with cloop on windows, too.| Code Sample |
dsl@box:~$ mydsl-load /mnt/hdb/opera850.uci /dev/cloop1: No such device or address |
And then a message pops up on screen: "Please mount media containing optional dir and try again".
All this in standard dsl-embedded 2.0.
No problems instead with Qemu + iso2.0
Posted by roberts on Feb. 24 2006,16:58
There are no such problems if you use the latest version.Reposting resolved issues is really boring and not helpful to anyone.
Again, I have to question your motives, you do read the embedded section???
Resolved in the latest release and was discussed on Feb 5 < here >
See Change Log for 2.2 number 12 which states:
12. Qemu version now supports boot time UCI loading
Posted by pr0f3550r on Feb. 25 2006,12:53
Robert, I missed that thread, I was abroad looking for work, I think I may be excused for that. Sorry, sorry, sorry, ok?Now, about my motives, what the hell other motives should I have?
What? Some secret agency paying me to troll on your forum?
I respect you as you are the boss here and for all the good work you do but, for heaven's sake, get a grip!
Besides, I might be older than you, so, mind you language :-)
Posted by MGDsl on Mar. 03 2006,12:01
I've used the embedded windowsversion for a couple of days with good results and understand that my initial problems were due to special problems with the linux-within-linux version. The usb-embedded really is a useful toy when travelling
