remastering

[sledgehammer]

I don't know if this has been asked and answered already, but if so, the answer has not been implemented.

Our Cigar Lions Club's project is handing out computers to Reno area students, usually elementary students.  We recently received 43 donated Lenovo T60s (1951).  Our goal is to load the latest stable Sparky linux 32 bit on them. However we also have several games and  other programs that we add.  So, to avoid having to do this for each machine (very time consuming) we tried to take a copy of our system, once we got it right, and then load that system on a bootable usb stick.  Our plan was to then use that stick to quickly load the other machines. Everything seemed to work fine, with one exception: the usb stick would not load on the other machines.  We tried everything.  We give out the computers once a month, so, for the June giveaway we loaded lubuntu instead and got our system on a loadable usb stick with systemback.  For our July giveaway, we would like to use Sparky as it runs faster on these old machines.

Basically, we used sparky's backup system to make an .iso and mkusb to copy it to the usbstick.

In short, though the Sparky instructions say we should be able to do this kind of remastering we cannot.  Any suggestions are appreciated.

Sledgehammer

[pavroo]

Try to run your Sparky remastered iso in a virtual machine, such as VirtualBox or WMware or so to test it out.

If :

1. doesn't work: the iso is broken - can be a few possible problems:
a1: iso generated with an issue, can't help until you will not provide iso building log file, so - enclose log file (located in your working directory)
a2: copping iso from one disk to other, or from virtual machine to na external disk, or so, with no properly unmounted an external disk can break the iso file, so - make sure the usb disk is unmounted after
a3: after creating live usb disk, without properly umounted the usb disk can break the live system too, so - make sure the usb disk is unmounted after

2. works: the iso is fine, so - don't use mkusb or other, external appliacations; format your USB stick with fat32/vfat file system using Sparky's USB Formatter or GParted, then copy the iso to usb using 'dd' command or Sparky's "Live USB Creator" tool from Sparky's System's menu; it uses dd command with no additional, custom configurations.

Let me know does it help, please.

Edit
Just ot make sure, the Lenovo machnes have BIOS not UEFI?

[sledgehammer]

Thanks pavroo.

Its BIOS. I will post the log soon as I can find the attachment button. The log shows "ready to burn."  Meanwhile, though busy today, I will try the other stuff very soon.

John

[sledgehammer]

None of the suggestions worked.

Here is the log file:

Code Select Expand


INFO: 
INFO: Distribution Mode Selected
DEBUG: ------------------------------------------------------
DEBUG: df information before starting new build:
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            476M     0  476M   0% /dev
tmpfs           100M  4.9M   95M   5% /run
/dev/sda1        53G  6.3G   44G  13% /
tmpfs           498M   17M  481M   4% /dev/shm
tmpfs           5.0M  4.0K  5.0M   1% /run/lock
tmpfs           498M     0  498M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs           100M  8.0K  100M   1% /run/user/1000
DEBUG: ------------------------------------------------------
INFO: Creating sparkylinux-ver-arch-desktop.iso.package-list.txt in /home/sparkybackup-sys/sparkybackup-sys
DEBUG: ------------------------------------------------------
DEBUG: ------------------------------------------------------
DEBUG: df information after creating squashfs:
Filesystem      Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
udev            476M     0  476M   0% /dev
tmpfs           100M  4.9M   95M   5% /run
/dev/sda1        53G  6.3G   44G  13% /
tmpfs           498M   17M  481M   4% /dev/shm
tmpfs           5.0M  4.0K  5.0M   1% /run/lock
tmpfs           498M     0  498M   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs           100M  8.0K  100M   1% /run/user/1000
DEBUG: ------------------------------------------------------
INFO: Checking if the /home/sparkybackup-sys/sparkybackup-sys folder has been created
INFO: Copying /var and /etc to temp area...
INFO: Setting up live options for dist mode
INFO: Copying your kernel and initrd for the livecd
INFO: Creating filesystem.squashfs... This will take a while so be patient.
DEBUG: ------------------------------------------------------
DEBUG: Mount information
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
udev on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,nosuid,relatime,size=486976k,nr_inodes=121744,mode=755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,gid=5,mode=620,ptmxmode=000)
tmpfs on /run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,size=101960k,mode=755)
/dev/sda1 on / type ext4 (rw,noatime,data=ordered)
securityfs on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
tmpfs on /run/lock type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,size=5120k)
tmpfs on /sys/fs/cgroup type tmpfs (ro,nosuid,nodev,noexec,mode=755)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/systemd type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,xattr,release_agent=/lib/systemd/systemd-cgroups-agent,name=systemd)
pstore on /sys/fs/pstore type pstore (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/cpuset type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,cpuset)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/net_cls,net_prio type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,net_cls,net_prio)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/memory type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,memory)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/pids type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,pids)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/blkio type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,blkio)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/cpu,cpuacct type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,cpu,cpuacct)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/perf_event type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,perf_event)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/freezer type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,freezer)
cgroup on /sys/fs/cgroup/devices type cgroup (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,devices)
systemd-1 on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type autofs (rw,relatime,fd=35,pgrp=1,timeout=0,minproto=5,maxproto=5,direct,pipe_ino=10416)
mqueue on /dev/mqueue type mqueue (rw,relatime)
hugetlbfs on /dev/hugepages type hugetlbfs (rw,relatime)
debugfs on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw,relatime)
sunrpc on /run/rpc_pipefs type rpc_pipefs (rw,relatime)
tmpfs on /run/user/1000 type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,size=101956k,mode=700,uid=1000,gid=1001)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw,relatime)
gvfsd-fuse on /run/user/1000/gvfs type fuse.gvfsd-fuse (rw,nosuid,nodev,relatime,user_id=1000,group_id=1001)
DEBUG: ------------------------------------------------------
DEBUG: /etc/sparkybackup/sparkybackup.conf info
###SparkyBackup-System Global Configuration File###


# This is the temporary working directory and won't be included on the cd/dvd
WORKDIR="/home/sparkybackup-sys"


# Here you can change the livecd/dvd username
LIVEUSER="live"


# Here you can change the name of the livecd/dvd label
LIVECDLABEL="SparkyLinux"


# Here you can change the name of the ISO file that is created
CUSTOMISO="sparkylinux-ver-arch-desktop.iso"


# Here you can change the 'volid' option of the ISO file
VOLID64BIT="SPARKY_64bit"
VOLID32BIT="SPARKY_32bit"


# Options for mksquashfs
# Default is -no-recovery -always-use-fragments -b 1M
SQUASHFSOPTS="-no-recovery -comp xz -always-use-fragments -b 1M"


DEBUG: ------------------------------------------------------
DEBUG: /etc/live/config.conf info
export LIVE_USERNAME="live"
export LIVE_USER_FULLNAME="Live session user"
export LIVE_HOSTNAME="live"
export LIVE_NOCONFIGS="xinit"
DEBUG: ------------------------------------------------------
DEBUG: /etc/passwd info
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
daemon:x:1:1:daemon:/usr/sbin:/usr/sbin/nologin
bin:x:2:2:bin:/bin:/usr/sbin/nologin
sys:x:3:3:sys:/dev:/usr/sbin/nologin
sync:x:4:65534:sync:/bin:/bin/sync
games:x:5:60:games:/usr/games:/usr/sbin/nologin
man:x:6:12:man:/var/cache/man:/usr/sbin/nologin
lp:x:7:7:lp:/var/spool/lpd:/usr/sbin/nologin
mail:x:8:8:mail:/var/mail:/usr/sbin/nologin
news:x:9:9:news:/var/spool/news:/usr/sbin/nologin
uucp:x:10:10:uucp:/var/spool/uucp:/usr/sbin/nologin
proxy:x:13:13:proxy:/bin:/usr/sbin/nologin
www-data:x:33:33:www-data:/var/www:/usr/sbin/nologin
backup:x:34:34:backup:/var/backups:/usr/sbin/nologin
list:x:38:38:Mailing List Manager:/var/list:/usr/sbin/nologin
irc:x:39:39:ircd:/var/run/ircd:/usr/sbin/nologin
gnats:x:41:41:Gnats Bug-Reporting System (admin):/var/lib/gnats:/usr/sbin/nologin
avahi-autoipd:x:101:104:Avahi autoip daemon,,,:/var/lib/avahi-autoipd:/bin/false
messagebus:x:102:106::/var/run/dbus:/bin/false
colord:x:103:107:colord colour management daemon,,,:/var/lib/colord:/bin/false
usbmux:x:104:46:usbmux daemon,,,:/home/usbmux:/bin/false
Debian-exim:x:105:111::/var/spool/exim4:/bin/false
statd:x:106:65534::/var/lib/nfs:/bin/false
avahi:x:107:114:Avahi mDNS daemon,,,:/var/run/avahi-daemon:/bin/false
hplip:x:108:7:HPLIP system user,,,:/var/run/hplip:/bin/false
pulse:x:109:117:PulseAudio daemon,,,:/var/run/pulse:/bin/false
rtkit:x:110:119:RealtimeKit,,,:/proc:/bin/false
saned:x:111:120::/var/lib/saned:/bin/false
lightdm:x:112:121:Light Display Manager:/var/lib/lightdm:/bin/false
dnsmasq:x:114:65534:dnsmasq,,,:/var/lib/misc:/bin/false
firebird:x:115:124:Firebird Database Administator,,,:/var/lib/firebird:/bin/false
geoclue:x:116:125::/var/lib/geoclue:/bin/false
systemd-timesync:x:113:122:systemd Time Synchronization,,,:/run/systemd:/bin/false
systemd-network:x:117:126:systemd Network Management,,,:/run/systemd/netif:/bin/false
systemd-resolve:x:118:127:systemd Resolver,,,:/run/systemd/resolve:/bin/false
systemd-bus-proxy:x:119:128:systemd Bus Proxy,,,:/run/systemd:/bin/false
uuidd:x:100:101::/run/uuidd:/bin/false
ntp:x:120:131::/home/ntp:/bin/false
_apt:x:121:65534::/nonexistent:/bin/false
nobody:x:65534:65534:nobody:/nonexistent:/usr/sbin/nologin
DEBUG: ------------------------------------------------------
DEBUG: /etc/group info
root:x:0:
daemon:x:1:
bin:x:2:
sys:x:3:
adm:x:4:
tty:x:5:
disk:x:6:
lp:x:7:
mail:x:8:
news:x:9:
uucp:x:10:
man:x:12:
proxy:x:13:
kmem:x:15:
dialout:x:20:
fax:x:21:
voice:x:22:
cdrom:x:24:
floppy:x:25:
tape:x:26:
sudo:x:27:
audio:x:29:pulse
dip:x:30:
www-data:x:33:
backup:x:34:
operator:x:37:
list:x:38:
irc:x:39:
src:x:40:
gnats:x:41:
shadow:x:42:
utmp:x:43:
video:x:44:
sasl:x:45:
plugdev:x:46:
staff:x:50:
games:x:60:
users:x:100:
crontab:x:102:
fuse:x:103:
avahi-autoipd:x:104:
scanner:x:105:saned
messagebus:x:106:
colord:x:107:
lpadmin:x:108:
ssl-cert:x:109:
Debian-exim:x:111:
mlocate:x:112:
ssh:x:113:
avahi:x:114:
netdev:x:115:
bluetooth:x:116:
pulse:x:117:
pulse-access:x:118:
rtkit:x:119:
saned:x:120:
lightdm:x:121:
systemd-journal:x:123:
firebird:x:124:
geoclue:x:125:
systemd-timesync:x:122:
systemd-network:x:126:
systemd-resolve:x:127:
systemd-bus-proxy:x:128:
input:x:129:
uuidd:x:101:
utempter:x:110:
ntp:x:131:
systemd-journal-remote:x:132:
nogroup:x:65534:
DEBUG: ------------------------------------------------------
DEBUG: /etc/skel info
/etc/skel/
/etc/skel/.bashrc
/etc/skel/.bash_logout
/etc/skel/Desktop
/etc/skel/.config
/etc/skel/.config/menus
/etc/skel/.config/menus/lxde-applications.menu
/etc/skel/.config/openbox
/etc/skel/.config/openbox/lxde-rc.xml
/etc/skel/.config/fontconfig
/etc/skel/.config/fontconfig/fonts.conf
/etc/skel/.config/lxpanel
/etc/skel/.config/lxpanel/launchtaskbar.cfg
/etc/skel/.config/lxpanel/LXDE
/etc/skel/.config/lxpanel/LXDE/config
/etc/skel/.config/lxpanel/LXDE/panels
/etc/skel/.config/lxpanel/LXDE/panels/panel
/etc/skel/.config/lxsession
/etc/skel/.config/lxsession/LXDE
/etc/skel/.config/lxsession/LXDE/desktop.conf
/etc/skel/.config/lxsession/LXDE/autostart
/etc/skel/.config/Trolltech.conf
/etc/skel/.config/gtk-3.0
/etc/skel/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini
/etc/skel/.config/pcmanfm
/etc/skel/.config/pcmanfm/default
/etc/skel/.config/pcmanfm/default/pcmanfm.conf
/etc/skel/.config/pcmanfm/LXDE
/etc/skel/.config/pcmanfm/LXDE/desktop-items-0.conf
/etc/skel/.config/pcmanfm/LXDE/pcmanfm.conf
/etc/skel/.config/autostart
/etc/skel/.dmrc
/etc/skel/.su-to-rootrc
/etc/skel/.profile
/etc/skel/.gtkrc-2.0
DEBUG: ------------------------------------------------------
DEBUG: /etc/X11/default-display-manager info
/usr/sbin/lightdm
DEBUG: ------------------------------------------------------
DEBUG: SparkyBackup Version info
SPARKYBACKUPVERSION="20190506"

DEBUG: ------------------------------------------------------
DEBUG: Command-line options = dist
DEBUG: ------------------------------------------------------
DEBUG: ------------------------------------------------------
DEBUG: memtest info
DEBUG: memtest not copied
DEBUG: ------------------------------------------------------
DEBUG: User's default locale info
LC_NUMERIC=en_US.UTF-8
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8
LC_PAPER=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MONETARY=en_US.UTF-8
LC_IDENTIFICATION=en_US.UTF-8
LC_TELEPHONE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ADDRESS=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8
LC_NAME=en_US.UTF-8
DEBUG: ------------------------------------------------------
INFO: The squashfs size is 1573880 (3999999 maximum)
INFO: Creating sparkylinux-ver-arch-desktop.iso in /home/sparkybackup-sys/sparkybackup-sys using /usr/bin/xorriso
INFO: Creating 32bit iso image
INFO: Creating iso into a hybrid image so it can be imaged to a usb key or burned to optical media
DEBUG: iso size: 1623816
INFO: Creating sparkylinux-ver-arch-desktop.iso.allsums.txt in /home/sparkybackup-sys/sparkybackup-sys
INFO: md5sum done
INFO: sha1sum done
INFO: sha256sum done
INFO: sha512sum done
INFO: /home/sparkybackup-sys/sparkybackup-sys/sparkylinux-ver-arch-desktop.iso is ready to be burned or tested in a virtual machine.
INFO: Check the size and if it is larger than 700MB you will need to burn it to a dvd
1.6G /home/sparkybackup-sys/sparkybackup-sys/sparkylinux-ver-arch-desktop.iso
INFO: It is recommended to run 'sudo sparkybackup clean' once you have burned and tested the sparkylinux-ver-arch-desktop.iso

[pavroo]

The log is clear, nothing bad, but it is unusual situation, never happen before for me.
So I have to ask you a few more questions.
1. What happend when you tried to run the iso in a virtual machine? What started, where stopped?
2. What is your machine cpu and what is other machine cpu? means is the same (32bit)? 'lscpu' and 'uname -a' from both machines should help.
3. How did you create your iso? via the GUI or from a text line?
4. If you made an iso not first time, did you clean up the working directory before creating a new iso?
5. Did you created your iso on a virtual or psyhical machine?

I will add a few more options to log file so will be update of the tool soon.

[sledgehammer]

I downloaded 32 bit virtual box but am not smart enough to get it to run.  I have virtualbox on my 64 bit office computer and suppose I can try it in that, but it will probably be a few days as we are busy loading machines for this Saturday's giveaway.  I guess my "tried everything" was inaccurate.  Sorry for the error.

John

[sledgehammer]

Sort of did per your request:  Did not load virtual box on the sparky t60, but instead loaded virtualbox on a more powerful 64 bit machine, and created a 32 bit client on the 64 bit host machine.  Added some our our Lions club programs to Sparky and made an iso usuing Sparky system backup on the virtualbox machine (32 bit client). Took the image that was created and used it to install on a second 32 bit client and it loaded fine and seemed to work fine (Sparky advanced installer-user name live, etc). I appears to work correctly.

Then took the iso image that had just been installed fine on virtualbox and made (tried to make) a bootable USB drive of that image.  No luck. Made sure the usb stick was formatted to fat 32.  Used several different methods of creating the bootable usb image (usbcreator, mkusb, and dd).  Nothing worked.

[paxmark1]

please post the exact usage of "dd"

[sledgehammer]

dd if=pathtoisoimage of=/dev/sdx  where x is usb drive

Its writing something to the usb drive. It just won't boot.

[sledgehammer]

In case this helps, I moved the image with our Lions club programs to my debian 64 bit machine (couldn't do it with the Sparky 32 bit as it is DVD read only) and, with k3b, copied the image to a DVD and loaded it to Sparky from the DVD.  That worksed just fine but takes longer than with a usb stick.

pavroo, if you still need some of the stuff you requested in your June 9 post, please let me know.  Both machines have 1  gig memory and both have Intel Core Duo T2400 CPU, 1.83 ghz

John 

[armakolas]

The only tool that has always worked for me and still works is unetbootin. I am not proud to say that. I wish I had good results with sparky-live-usb-creator, mintstick, gnome-disk-utility and dd but that has not happened yet. Do not let yourself easily believe that the remastered images you created with sparky have something wrong, until you give it a try. Download the latest deb file from the web, as it is not in debian's repository, and install it.

Steps: Format the usb stick to fat32 by using Gparted. Remove the usb from the usb port and insert it again. Execute unetbootin, ignore the message that is shown when you start Unetbootin and continue.

If you enjoy Sparky, consider donating to the project.

[sledgehammer]

Thank you armakolas,

I can't try your suggestion on the Lenovo T60s (32 bit OS) as our Cigar Lions clu we gave the last of them away at yesterday's giveaway.  They were loaded with lubuntu, which worked fairly well though not as fast as Sparky.  I am not ready to give up on Sparky quite yet and plan to try it on a 64 bit machine soon.  If its remastering program works on that, we still might switch to Sparky.  We give away many machines and just don't have time to load each machine separately and then load all our programs. 

I had understood that development of unetbootin, program I was quite fond of, has ceased.  I am most happy to learn that I was wrong.

John