USB Promo / Ubuntu 22.10 updates and notes
written October 27, 2022 by TimeTraveler
Category: BlogEntry Tags: Ubuntu; Ubuntu Studio; USB Promo    #45
 

We've updated our LinuxCollections.com Logo to add a USB symbol, and to celebrate, we are doing a Free USB Promotion - the next 100 orders for Collections and any USB orders will receive a Free 4GB USB Drive! Adding any collection or any USB option will add the Free USB to your Order pad. Free is good! Tell a friend!

Partitions, setup and configuration of the Debian Complete Collection USB
written September 28, 2022 by TimeTraveler
Category: BlogEntry Tags: Debian; USB Partitions; GRUB;    #44
 

We had a few questions on problems booting a Debian USB Complete Collection USB while working with a multi-boot laptop. The following is a bit more information that may help someone trying to configure another layer of booting prior to the USB. Note that the USB is meant to be the boot device, i.e. instead of booting to a hard drive, you would select the boot device to be the USB, NOT the hard drive. Be sure to refer to this first, and for other links on how to configure a system to boot from USB: What NOT to do with a Bootable USB Drive or Collection. The following info is for people that are trying to work with a different boot option and want more details on what is going on with the USB, its partitions, and its configuration. For the average person, you want to make sure you are booting from the USB, and all will be fine.

If you can't boot the USB due to your mutli-boot setup, then you can't view the details embedded in the grub menu. GRUB (for GRand Unified Boot loader) is the first code that runs when the USB boots. It does some simple things, and displays a menu, providing all the choices that can be loaded from the USB. As part of the grub menu, there are details on the partitions on the USB. Here is that info for reference:

==> Notes on Partitions (Volumes on this USB)
   There are 4 primary partitions
   1) EFI Boot partition (Do Not Use)
   2) USB_Boot (100+ GiB) partition - Boot and ISOs (Do Not Use)
   3) DebianInst partition - install DVD and ISO (Do Not Use)
   4) USB_Storage (2+ GiB) partition - user data/compatible format (DOS/FAT)

So the EFI partition is a FAT32 type format, while the second (USB_Boot) is ext4, and the third (DebianInst) & fourth (USB_Storage) are vfat.

When creating the USB, there is a basic grub setup for i386 and x86_64 EFI on the drive/first partition. This uses a grub menu to select/boot the other items - reference grub.cfg. So assuming the USB is /dev/sdb, grub-install is run with the indicated details. The grub-install for i386 is on /dev/sdb, with the boot-directory option pointing to /dev/sdb2/boot/grub. For the x86_64-efi grub install, the efi-directory is /dev/sdb1 with the same /dev/sdb2/boot/grub for the grub config. You will find grub.cfg in the /dev/sdb2/boot/grub location (e.g. /media/user/USB_Boot/boot/grub/grub.cfg). Theoretically, if you are booting to some other grub or menu setup, you can refer to the menu options in grub.cfg to run what you want to run.

This is a side point, but if you want to access the ISOs or use the ISOs to make bootable media, this blog item might be helpful: How to create a separate bootable USB for specific Live version from Debian USB Complete Collection

Some notes on Debian and Firmware
written April 7, 2022 by TimeTraveler
Category: BlogEntry Tags: Debian; Ubuntu; Firmware; non-free;    #43
 

There are hardware companies that do provide firmware drivers & kernel modules, but because they are not released under a "free" license, the Debian project tags them as non-free (and in fact, they may only be available as compiled binaries, i.e. no source available). So this means after you've installed Debian, you may see some warnings, notices, or errors when starting your system (or in /var/log/messages and /var/log/syslog). To resolve these and get the firmware specific software installed, here are some quick notes on the basic steps.

Read only USB (physical write protect switch)
written January 12, 2022 by TimeTraveler
Category: BlogEntry Tags: USB; Physical write protect switch; Read Only    #42
 
We have had several requests for a "Read only" USB option, so have added a few items to our catalog - the Kanguru brand USB drives have a physical write protect switch, so we have added an 8GB option (available on any distro that has a USB option), and a 32GB add-on. These USB drives feature a small slide switch on the side of the USB, and when in the locked position, the USB cannot be written to. It will be seen as "Read only" media. If needed, you can slide to the unlocked position, and then it acts just like any other USB. These do cost more than a regular USB, so the increased price reflects the additional cost required to obtain these. This is another customer requested option that we are glad to offer - if you need something we don't have, please let us know.