torios-dev team mailing list archive

[Nio Wiklund <nio.wiklund@xxxxxxxxx>]

Den 2015-03-28 06:38, Nio Wiklund skrev:
> Den 2015-03-28 00:50, Israel skrev:
...
>> Hi Nio,
>> is this the dltbl you already sent me?  Or do I need another one?
>> If so please send it my way :)
>> Is there a way to choose to save it elsewhere (i.e. usb drive) and link
>> that to /tarballs automatically??
>> Or is there some other way we can make this extremely easy to do for our
>> users?
>>
>> It would be nice to implement zsync in this equation, as a failed md5sum
>> could be remedied by simply running zsync again to finish the download
>> (I have done this a few times), rather than downloading the entire file
>> again.
>> Or, at least offering the option of using zsync if it is installed.
>>
> 
> Hi Israel and Paul,
> 
> 
> In a mail dated 2015-03-27 23:39, I attached dltbl and also showed the
> diff to the previous version. That mail should have reached you too.
> ___________________________________________________________
> 
> zsync would work for tarballs like it does for iso files
> ___________________________________________________________
> 
> 
> The system for tarballs was made for installed systems in USB drives.
> There are several problems with ToriOS,
> 
> 
> 1 - the file system, ISO-9660, is read-only
> 
> This is a problem in CDs and DVDs, and in pendrives, if installed with
> mkusb. If it works with ToriOS to set up the live system with
> persistence, then data will survive reboots, and the amount that can be
> stored depends on the size of the storage.
> 
> 
> 2 - the size of the CD
> 
> This is a well known and severe limit for what can come with the iso
> file. One alternative is to have a small CD sized iso file like it is
> now with a non-pae kernel, and a bigger DVD sized iso file with more
> than one tarball.
> 
> Examples: 3 tarballs targeting different kinds of computers, or a big
> tarball with a lot of installed program packages. Some distros provide
> solutions with big DVD sized installation media.
> 
> 
> 3 - the target computers have low RAM
> 
> As it works now, it is possible to download a tarball into RAM, but
> there might not be enough RAM to store it.
> 
> *. So it would be a solution to use a third drive:
> 
> a. the installer (the live drive)
> b. the target drive (where to install ToriOS)
> c. a storage drive (could be a flash drive or HDD, external or internal,
> any writable mass storage device).
> 
> We could to add an option for dltbl to specify the path to where the
> tarball should be downloaded. It would be possible with a dialog screen
> for it.
> ___________________________
> 
> Persistent live system
> ___________________________
> 
> I think a persistent live system provides the simplest and also the most
> flexible solution. It will automatically increase the drive space, which
> is limited by low RAM, and at the same time make the stored data (in
> this case tarballs) survive rebooting and poweroff.
> 
> 
> A. Create a 'live-rw' partition in a storage drive
> 
> 1. Use gparted and create a linux partition, for example with the ext2
> file system, which is simple and does not wear a pendrive with journaling.
> 
> 2. Set the label 'live-rw' for the partition. (This is debian style and
> different from Ubuntu systems, where the label should be 'casper-rw'.)
> 
> 3. Apply the changes by clicking the green tick.
> 
> 
> B. Boot with the option 'persistent'
> 
> 1. At boot, press the TAB key to get to the boot command line
> 
> 2. Add a space and the word 'persistent'
> 
>> /live/vmlinuz initrd=/live/initrd.lz boot=live persistent
> 
> 3. Press the Enter key
> 
> and the ToriOS live system boots into a persistent live system.
> 
> 
> C. Keep the persistence healthy
> 
> It is very important to wait while buffered data are written to the
> storage drive, particularly if it is a slow USB pendrive. Do not unplug
> the the storage drive before you are sure that the system is completely
> shut down!
> 
> You can force writing the data with the command
> 
> sync
> 
> in a terminal window. Wait until the prompt returns!
> _______________
> 
> Best regards
> Nio
> 

Hi Israel,

I don't think you replied to this mail. Did you get it? What do you
think about recommending a persistent live system for this purpose?

I really think persistence is the best solution [for the current ToriOS
iso file based live system], when people want to download tarballs, and
there is not enough RAM, and/or they want to keep what is downloaded,
installed or changed in live mode:

> I think a persistent live system provides the simplest and also the
> most flexible solution. It will automatically increase the drive
> space, which is limited by low RAM, and at the same time make the
> stored data (in this case tarballs) survive rebooting and poweroff.

-o-

Most computers, even twelve year old computers (made 2003), can boot
from USB. For these computers a good alternative is to make an installed
system with the OBI-installer in ToriOS and create a compressed image
file of it,

ToriOS-xxx.img.xz

Such a system is easily installed with mkusb in linux and with Win32
Disk Imager in Windows

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Win32DiskImager/iso2usb

The ToriOS compressed image file would correspond to my standard One
Button Installer, which comes installed in Lubuntu Trusty when you download

http://phillw.net/isos/one-button-installer/dd_images/dd_blank-obi_7.8GB_27_LubuntuTrusty.img.xz

The obvious and simple alternative is to provide ToriOS tarballs to be
used by the standard One Button Installer. I can prepare and update such
tarballs, but please consider a ToriOS-xxx.img.xz file.

Best regards
Nio