SliTaz Forum
You are not logged in.
Hi,
I'm trying to create a bootable usb pen drive with slitaz on linux.
I have trouble since unetbootin doesn't seem to make the usb bootable.
When I try to boot from usb I get "This is not a bootable disk" and asks me to put a bootable floppy.
I am using the slitaz-4.0-core.iso.
I am using unetbootin as the guide I found here suggested: http://doc.slitaz.org/en:guides:liveusb
The computer is an old laptop, with 64MB ram. I recon being able to install slitaz on this machine some time ago, but it was probably with a frugal install. I'd like to be able to do it with the usb mode.
I tried to boot another small distro (tiny core linux) with unetbootin but it gives me the same error, so this looks like a unetbootin issue, BUT I then tried mkusb (I tried several ways tbh..) and i could boot Tiny core linux, however with slitaz it just gives me a blinking cursor without even showing me an installation menu.
P.s. To be able to boot through usb, I use the plop boot manager.
Offline
Hi _Gianni,
Is your pen FAT32 formated?
Offline
Hi Ceel,
Yes it is. Sometimes I even tried to recreate the partition table and reformat the entire key with GParted, in case some strange things went wrong in that context between my attempts to obtain a bootable usb key. No luck.
Ok I have an update: I managed to get to a slitaz box using mkusb and slitaz-4.0-isohybrid.iso.
With that combination I get to a menù, however, I still had issues because it would block with a black screen and a blinking cursor after the kmap selection wizard (text based).
I somewhat solved that by going on the bios and discovering that 16MB of that 64MB ram was dedicated to the video, so I set it to 8MB instead, and it finally managed to get me to a slitaz box.
Now I would like to have a graphical interface, since I clearly remember that in my previous installation (have no idea how it went so smooth that time..) I had openbox avaiable and on boot it would display a login square, all of this out of the box.
I would like to emphasize the fact that unetbootin (linux version) never gave me a bootable usb key.
Offline
I did the following:
[*]run Linux (last rolling ISO) in frugal mode on a computer;
[*]downloaded UNetBootin (647) from the link of the http://doc.slitaz.org/en:guides:liveusb page;
[*]downloaded slitaz-4.0-core.iso;
[*]installed mtools and p7zip-full packages;
[*]make the unetbootin-linux-647.bin file executable;
[*]inserted a USB key (FAT32);
[*]launched unetbootin and installed SliTaz from the ISO;
[*]inserted the LiveUSB in my old acer that uses PlopBoot Manager to boot from USB;
[*]and... post this :-p
You wrote
I recon being able to install slitaz on this machine some time ago
Was it SliTaz 4.0 or a previous version?
You can try this: at boot after having highlighted SliTaz, hit the [TAB] key and add [c]nomodeset[/c] at the end of the command line; hope it'll work but I don't believe you can run your LiveUSB with 64MB...
I can start a LiveUSB SliTaz 4.0 on the acer (256MB RAM) but I'm not able to run Midori or even recharge the packages list without a swap partition.
It could also be a problem with your graphic card. If you know what it is, as you boot in console mode, become root and type [c]tazx[/c].
The Configure X window opens; select Install or reconfigure Xorg (you must have an ethernet connection).
Some packages will be loaded and then, a list of drivers will display; select your graphic card and hit [Enter].
Type [c]exit[/c] and login as [c]tux[/c] then type [c]startx[/c].
Offline
Hi _Gianni
Food for thought...
I am using the slitaz-4.0-core.iso.
I am using unetbootin as the guide I found here suggested: http://doc.slitaz.org/en:guides:liveusb
The computer is an old laptop, with 64MB ram. I recon being able to install slitaz on this machine some time ago, but it was probably with a frugal install. I'd like to be able to do it with the usb mode.
slitaz-4.0-core.iso requires >=160MB ram reference FRUGAL_RAM in flavor receipt:
http://hg.slitaz.org/flavors-stable/file/d5d5a8608a2d/core/receipt
# SliTaz flavor receipt.
FLAVOR="core"
SHORT_DESC="Core system with a full featured desktop."
VERSION="20110328"
MAINTAINER="pankso@slitaz.org"
FRUGAL_RAM="160M"
ROOTFS_SIZE="121.3M"
INITRAMFS_SIZE="29.2M"
ISO_SIZE="35.0M"
The minimum graphical interface justx flavor FRUGAL_RAM="96M"
Since you have 64MB RAM consider slitaz-lowram.iso:
http://doc.slitaz.org/en:guides:lowramcd
Live CD for Low-RAM Systems
The minimum RAM requirement for the SliTaz core Live CD is 160MB (128MB for 1.0). Many graphical applications won't run with such a low amount of memory; so, using the text-mode screen=text boot option is recommended.
The packages slitaz-loram, slitaz-loram-http or slitaz-loram-cdrom can be used to build a LiveCD for systems with RAM larger than 64MB, 32Mb or 24MB respectively. These can be installed directly on the host system, rather than specified in the packages list for the LiveCD you are building.
slitaz-loram will compress the /usr tree and the system will still run in RAM. It will not use a cdrom, harddisk or USB key
You can download the pre-built core loram version(not isohybrid) here:
http://mirror.switch.ch/ftp/mirror/slitaz/iso/4.0/flavors/slitaz-4.0-loram.iso
Package list: http://hg.slitaz.org/flavors-stable/file/d5d5a8608a2d/loram/packages.list
Due to increased size rolling lowram is gtkonly with no web browser.
All the other rolling iso's are isohybrid,there is no log for slitaz-rolling-loram to confirm.
http://mirror.switch.ch/ftp/mirror/slitaz/iso/rolling/slitaz-rolling-loram.iso
Package list: http://hg.slitaz.org/flavors/file/7d83e52e48b4/loram/packages.list
slitaz-rolling-loram.iso
Full desktop with 32 bits kernel, with gtkonly, justx, base and non-live
(needs the CD-ROM) alternatives (5x). Spare 30% of RAM size.
The default boot selects the best flavor according the RAM size.
Built with the following command line :
# tazlito build-loram slitaz-rolling.iso slitaz-rolling-loram.iso ram
Offline
Hi Ceel, mojo
Based on your suggestions i tried several different things.
First off, I booted a working distro and created a 200MB swap space, althought I don't really get if I can count on that for "FRUGAL_RAM" values (I mean: does FRUGAL_RAM values mean the amount of ram + swap space or just ram?).
Anyway I created this swap partition, it can't hurt.
After that I followed Ceel instructions and installed mtools, after that the unetbootin.bin program was able to give me a bootable usb key, however when I proceeded with "Slitaz Live" using boot options "nomodeset screen=text" (and sometimes also noapic nolapic, 'cause whatever..) I get to an error:
VFS: Cannot open root device null or unknown-block(0,0)
Please append a correct "root=" boot option: here are the avaiable partitions:
..and proceeds to show me the two partitions on my laptop hard drive and the cd-rom. Then kernel panic and I have to manually power off.
I don't really get why it doesn't work with the "screen=text" parameter. What differences has it got from slitaz base?
@mojo
I've put slitaz-loram on the usb key and
"The default boot selects the best flavor according the RAM size."
well that's not true. i tried the base mode and it worked, but when I tried the "default mode" it showed up and error followed by kernel panic. The error was similar to the one above (VFS blahblah..)
I don't even know what is this thing in bios where I can dedicate from 2MB to 32MB of those 64MB to the video card. i don't know what that means in relation to X. How many MB of video memory does X need to go?
I think I am making confusion, it's just that there are too many variables in play.
Even if I yet didn't solve the issue, I want to say thank you for your support so far.
P.s. I don't remember what version of slitaz I installed some time ago.. I just remember this slitaz that would bring me to a graphical login and then give me a terminal window without a desktop environment, but was able to open other windows like leafpad.
P.p.s. I also tried unetbootin downloaded from the ubuntu packages. It had a slightly more eye-candy look but it didn't work. And also, the unetbootin.bin in order to work for me has to be executed with sudo. kdesudo doesn't show the files when I go look for the iso. But I guess that's a separate issue.
Offline
THIS IS A DRAG & DROP METHOD FOR WINDOWS!!
I once came across Xboot from pendrivelinux.com when I was trying to find something that would help me create multiboot USB or DVD easily
https://www.pendrivelinux.com/xboot-multiboot-iso-usb-creator/
One can create multiboot or a single OS, bootable USB flash drive with simple drag & drop
I have tested & found it working for Slitaz 5 rolling release.
Slitaz 4 didn't work for me but you might be luckier!!
Hope someone finds this helpful!
(The bootloader selection screenshot is taken from pendrivelinux.com, I captured the other)
[attachment=44907,2519] [attachment=44907,2520]
Offline
[ Generated in 0.016 seconds, 7 queries executed - Memory usage: 1.55 MiB (Peak: 1.77 MiB) ]