[00:48] <whitepowder> i'm trying to put together a recovery usb stick. It has 2 partitions (fat16 2gb and btrfs 14gb) I've got syslinux, freedos, grub4dos, and my preseed configs on it. I need to be able to install 12.04.4 from this, configured pretty much entirely automatically. I'd like to keep the preseed in the fat16 part, so it can be changed from a windows box if needed. Ideas? So far im having problems with iso being rejected by d-i,
[00:48] <whitepowder> CLosest i had this to working was using the hd-media installer from 12.04 but that gave problems since 12.04.4 uses a newer kernel and it complained modules didnt match. Is there a place to get the hd-media installer for 12.04.4?
[00:49] <whitepowder> I probably should note that im using kubuntu but that doesnt really matter i suppose
[00:51] <whitepowder> Ideally, i could put packages (a partial local mirror) on the second partition and the installer find them there. Could i then use net-install image? Sorry to be so annoying but i really need to get this recovery disk going so i can get home from visiting family
[01:08] <melodie> whitepow1er why fat16 and not fat32?
[01:09] <whitepow1er> melodie: its 2gb partition, easier to work with from other os if keep it fat16
[01:09] <melodie> the main goal for btrfs in usb stick, is what?
[01:10] <whitepow1er> melodie: the second partition could be any fs (ext[234] or btrfs), just used btrfs as the guide i was initially working off of used it. That partition is to store packages, our programs, configs etc that need to be installed
[01:11] <melodie> whitepow1er because the first thing I understood from your demand is "recovery usb stick"
[01:12] <melodie> when I create usb boots, I use either the usb-creator-gtk tool to get a working usb stick with persistency, on Fat32 which allows adding files that can be accessed from other os'es (windows, mac, linux whatever)
[01:12] <melodie> or
[01:12] <whitepow1er> melodie: my end goal is a usb stick that can be stuck in the machine and either booted from as a read-only minimal live system (no GUI and works now) or installing a system using preseed to avoid the user having to be smart
[01:13] <whitepow1er> been having some issues trying to get hd-media working, what i've gathered from google is that it has been broke since 11.x
[01:14] <melodie> if you got such a big usb stick why not do a simple fat32/grub2/iso multiboot thing?
[01:14] <melodie> I have done that recently with a tutorial found at the ubuntu-fr.org wiki, I have 3 isos booted from the grub2 stanza
[01:14] <melodie> I can add other iso images and do the dame
[01:14] <melodie> same
[01:14] <melodie> it boots iso images
[01:14] <whitepow1er> I cant directly use grub2 from usb stick, i've only been able to get things to boot from syslinux, tho i supposei  could chainload grub2
[01:15] <whitepow1er> im not sure how i'd provide the preseed file to the installer then, since it'd be quite a pain to have to remaster the iso every time it needs small changes
[01:15] <melodie> why can't you? If I could (and I just followed a simple tutorial) what is the isse you would meet with?
[01:16] <whitepow1er> melodie: im going to assume bios bug but never have been able to get grub2 to work from usb stick on this machine (same stick worked on others), whereas syslinux just works
[01:16] <melodie> I haven't played with preceed files so far, but I suppose it could be changed directly with file-roller
[01:16] <melodie> you might want to try
[01:16] <melodie> whitepow1er oh yes, bios bugs happen
[01:17] <melodie> have you also tried to boot it using a plop boot manager cd?
[01:17] <whitepow1er> I dont have an optical drive
[01:17] <melodie> so another stick maybe?
[01:17] <melodie> plop holds in a floppy, so even a very small usb stick could be used
[01:17] <whitepow1er> I've got an idea but idk if its any more useful than the hd-media stuff i've been fighting with all day
[01:18] <whitepow1er> booting the net-install image and putting a partial local mirror on the 2nd partition of the usb stick, then point at it as the mirror
[01:20] <melodie> whitepow1er you use 12.04, right?
[01:20] <melodie> and isolinux
[01:20] <whitepow1er> syslinux yea
[01:20] <melodie> or syslinux
[01:21] <melodie> you can use the initrd.lz and vmlinux instead of hd-media
[01:21] <melodie> the ones from your iso image
[01:21] <melodie> and use the content of the txt.cfg to create your syslinux.cfg
[01:21] <whitepow1er> tried those from install/ in the iso, get 'Incorrect CD-ROM' error
[01:22] <melodie> have you extracted them and copied them to the / of the usb stick?
[01:22] <melodie> they usually need to be "close to the surface"
[01:22] <melodie> on a primary partition that is
[01:23] <whitepow1er> Yes to /boot on part 0 of the stick. Now, If i use the hd-media install from 12.04 (couldnt find 12.04.4) i can get a little further, in that it recognizes the iso but fails because different kernel version in the 12.04.4 iso
[01:24] <melodie> whitepow1er I have been using Ubuntu builder since months, with the ubuntu mini remix iso, and this is very fast to make an iso : the program is no longer developed but I continue using it, and hopefully, a buddy who is interested will take on to continue it
[01:24] <melodie> just a few minutes are necessary each time, to make a new one
[01:25] <melodie> I haven't used the products on else than fat32 sticks though, so I don't know how it would go there
[01:25] <whitepow1er> im pretty sure there wouldnt be much difference from fat16 to fat32 honestly
[01:25] <whitepow1er> besides supporting large file system and files
[01:25] <melodie> all I know about fat16 is that I have seen it on cards for numeric cameras
[01:26] <melodie> else than that I didn't know it could support large files
[01:26] <melodie> Fat32 : aren't iso files large files?
[01:26] <whitepow1er> 2gb is the limit
[01:26] <melodie> ok I see
[01:26] <melodie> and what is the limit for fat16?
[01:26] <whitepow1er> fat16 is 2gb file size limit, im not sure what fat32 is
[01:27] <melodie> ok
[01:27] <melodie> 4 GB minus one octet
[01:27] <melodie> http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/FAT32#Limitations_de_FAT32
[01:28] <melodie> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_of_the_FAT_file_system#Size_limits
[01:29] <whitepow1er> i wasnt sure, never got around to adding fat32 support to my kernel, barely used fat at all besides in the boot loader
[01:29] <melodie> what method do you use for remastering?
[01:30] <melodie> just curious
[01:31] <whitepow1er> trying to avoid remastering, honestly
[01:31] <melodie> too much work?
[01:32] <melodie> I mean you have been doing it manually, sort of From Scratch method or so?
[01:32] <whitepow1er> i was trying to get the hd-media installer stuff working, so i could just use a plain old -alternate iso and a preseed config
[01:33] <melodie> kubuntu made lighter?
[01:34] <melodie> you also said you used kde?
[01:34] <whitepow1er> Ideally, updating the stick to a newer ubuntu then would just require replacing the iso image, editing syslinux.cfg to point to the new iso and if something big changed, editing the preseed file
[01:34] <melodie> yes, that sounds nice
[01:35] <melodie> I'll have to have a look at these preceed files more closely
[01:35] <melodie> how do you point to your preceed file? do you change it inside the iso?
[01:35] <whitepow1er> melodie: preseed automates the installation, from what ive gathered from irc and google, you have to use the alternate cd for fully unattended
[01:36] <melodie> I don't really know what is "unattended" as in "Checking for unattended upgrades" shutdown message. :?
[01:37] <whitepow1er> melodie:    append initrd=boot/kubuntu32/initrd.gz preseed/file=/hd-media/preseed/ninja.seed file=/iso/kubuntu-12.04.4-alternate-i386.iso
[01:37] <whitepow1er> melodie: Unattended means without user having to answer questions, its all in the preseed file
[01:38] <melodie> no questions... he does not have to choose from a list of packages: is that so?
[01:38] <melodie> as in the Ubuntu server, you have to choose from lists of meta packages or lists of packages: is that what it is about?
[01:39] <whitepow1er> melodie: Language, host name, pretty much anything that the installer would ask can be put into preseed file
[01:39] <whitepow1er> As little or as much settings as needed
[01:39] <melodie> ok...
[01:39] <whitepow1er> https://help.ubuntu.com/12.04/installation-guide/i386/preseed-intro.html
[01:39] <melodie> thanks, I'll add this to a few pages I need to read
[01:43] <melodie> whitepow1er what about the users you were mentioning just before? are you also doing this to hand over you usb stick to some people who will just use it?
[01:43] <whitepow1er> melodie: Just to the owner of the computer im dealing with
[01:44] <whitepow1er> maybe in the future other friends/family too, when they have more complicated set ups
[01:44] <melodie> will he have to install from that stick?
[01:45] <melodie> or just use in read only mode?
[01:45] <whitepow1er> install from stick, just without all the questions and partitioning and stuff. It's kinda like the recovery disk come with windows computer
[01:45] <whitepow1er> erase computer (except /home) and reinstall things
[01:46] <melodie> except home
[01:46] <melodie> I was thinking about obi, the method provided by sudodu, but this erases the disk fully
[01:47] <melodie> and 9w whatever it is
[01:50] <melodie> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OBI
[01:54] <melodie> ok, good night. whitepow1er good luck!
[06:31] <dholbach> good morning