MX Linux Forum

Well done Dolphin, a tutorial on a topic that is well deserving of coverage. I will review your video later.

Dolphin, I reviewed your video and hope you can bear with me with these questions:
1. I use the snapshot and live-usb as a backup routine. Is remastering a live usb a superior way to make such backups do you think?
2. Is the primary intention of remastering to just have a "system on the go" as-it-were and therefore used chiefly/only on machines where you don't have/need or want a permanent installation?

linexer2016 wrote:Dolphin, I reviewed your video and hope you can bear with me with these questions:
1. I use the snapshot and live-usb as a backup routine. Is remastering a live usb a superior way to make such backups do you think?
2. Is the primary intention of remastering to just have a "system on the go" as-it-were and therefore used chiefly/only on machines where you don't have/need or want a permanent installation?

I know they were not addressed to me but let me try to give me my understading:
1. remastering is used to move stuff from rootfs to read-only file linuxfs, It doesn't create a backup, it just consolidates your files to one linuxfs file. Like D_O explained you might have same files on linuxfs and rootfs (also if you remove a program if you run the remaster it will resize the linuxfs, otherwise the space will still be used by that program because it's still in linuxfs, only that in rootfs it will be marked as removed). Snapshot tool is used to create an ISO file, it's a different use case. For example you could use snapshot file on your installed system to save it, remastering tool doesn't even show up or run because it needs a Live system.
2. Remastering is a tool for consolidating file systems on your Live system, it won't even run on installed systems as I explained.

Thanks D_O for the video I think it clarifies some things for users because this is complex issue for people who are not used with the internals of the system.

A snapshot can be treated as a Live USB and remastered (as RAM and space demands will be reduced by consolidating recent changes into the linixfs....deleting old and outdated files once satisfied).

This is a good way to modify your system without changing the HDD install.

I like to duplicate my HDD install on a Live USB, in a manual sense, mirroring my HDD install, importing bookmarks etc, so as to have a working replacement and potentially an installer on hand should hardware fail. Some applications could be left out to save space but VirtualBox and Wine installed on a Live USB are examples that work fine for me.

You might even use a Live USB to open HDD snapshots in VirtualBox, or come up with other strategies that allow for hardware and HDD failure. There are a few ways you can work with a Live USB, apart from just testing the latest MX, once you get your head around things.

I have found Conky is best installed direct to a Live USB, as user paths or the like seem confused, when working from a snapshot of a HDD install. Otherwise, find your own Live USB uses and enjoy.

Dolphin, I reviewed your video and hope you can bear with me with these questions:

(grabbed this quoted bit just to serve as a generic example)

After watching the "dualpane file managers" video, I wanted to comment but, alas, I surf youtube anonymnously so can't post there. D_O's in-video invites already steer folks to the forum, but howabout a creating a separate topic here for each video, with an exact link provided on each YT video page? As is, stuff getting asked/answered winds up buried, and probably asked again later. IMO, a central "announcement" topic here should stand locked, as a Table of Contents.

Adrian wrote:

linexer2016 wrote:Dolphin, I reviewed your video and hope you can bear with me with these questions:
1. I use the snapshot and live-usb as a backup routine. Is remastering a live usb a superior way to make such backups do you think?
2. Is the primary intention of remastering to just have a "system on the go" as-it-were and therefore used chiefly/only on machines where you don't have/need or want a permanent installation?

I know they were not addressed to me but let me try to give me my understading:
1. remastering is used to move stuff from rootfs to read-only file linuxfs, It doesn't create a backup, it just consolidates your files to one linuxfs file. Like D_O explained you might have same files on linuxfs and rootfs (also if you remove a program if you run the remaster it will resize the linuxfs, otherwise the space will still be used by that program because it's still in linuxfs, only that in rootfs it will be marked as removed). Snapshot tool is used to create an ISO file, it's a different use case. For example you could use snapshot file on your installed system to save it, remastering tool doesn't even show up or run because it needs a Live system.
2. Remastering is a tool for consolidating file systems on your Live system, it won't even run on installed systems as I explained.

Thanks D_O for the video I think it clarifies some things for users because this is complex issue for people who are not used with the internals of the system.

Sounds good to me!

I didn't mention it in the video, but remaster also allows some very interesting uses of the "toram" cheatcode, where by you can load the entire customized linuxfs system into ram. This takes alonger to boot (loading a 2gb linuxfs into ram takes time, limited by the io speed of the boot device), but if you've got the ram, its pretty speedy to operate. and it can be more ram friendly than loading both a linuxfs AND a rootfs file into ram.

You can also run a remaster on a live-usb without persistence. say you boot live, then install a app (simplescreenrecorder for instance). The app is installed in the running live filesystem and can be used, but the app won't be saved upon shutdown because without persistence, there is no way to save changes to the file system. but you can remaster this hypothetical live-usb and retain the app, as long as you don't shutdown first.

Its probably clear as mud.

skidoo wrote:

Dolphin, I reviewed your video and hope you can bear with me with these questions:

(grabbed this quoted bit just to serve as a generic example)

After watching the "dualpane file managers" video, I wanted to comment but, alas, I surf youtube anonymnously so can't post there. D_O's in-video invites already steer folks to the forum, but howabout a creating a separate topic here for each video, with an exact link provided on each YT video page? As is, stuff getting asked/answered winds up buried, and probably asked again later. IMO, a central "announcement" topic here should stand locked, as a Table of Contents.

I'm starting to think you are right :)

That's a good idea, skidoo.

It'll be helpful in discussing, for instance, the selection of dual-paned FMs that D_O discussed. After his video, I tried installing Nemo on my Apricity partition (easy to install Arch+modified Gnome3). You're right about it taking over the desktop. When I clicked on the Trash shortcut link on the desktop, Nemo opened instead of Files (the Gnome3 Nautilus). 0_o

Anyway I already had PCManFM and Sunflower installed in Apricity, I was just curious.

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