Multiple MX's on one LiveUSB Stick

[Antediluvian]

Here is a link to an article that provides an overview for 5 Apps to Create Multiboot USB – Linux and Windows ISOs Supported.

[fehlix]

Today I ran across this when I was searching for info on using my LiveUSB on a Windows computer:
https://download.tuxfamily.org/antix/do ... e_usb.html
..
Is this still possible?

Yes, we can. The information on the page in general is still valid. The grub part would need some updates.

Here in three simple steps how to create a MX / antiX Live Multi USB Stick.

To demonstrate with two iso's for preparing BIOS-booting.
MX-18.1_x64.iso
antiX-17.4_x64-full.iso

First create with live-usb-maker from with MX or antiX using MX-18.1_x64.iso a full featured MX-LIve USB. When ready with the LiveUSB, do this on the LiveUSB.

Step1: Rename /antiX folder to MX181x64 in the LiveUSB

Step 2: Mount / open or extract antiX-17.4_x64-full.iso and copy the whole /antiX directory onto the USB Stick and name it antiX174x64 onto the LiveUSBstick

Step 3: Open to edit the file /boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg on LiveUSB
Change original first part with the first menuentry from this
original syslinux.cfg

Code: Select all

default live

MENU TITLE Welcome to MX-18.1_x64 (Continuum)

LABEL live
    MENU LABEL  MX-18.1_x64 (Feb 9, 2019)
    KERNEL /antiX/vmlinuz
    APPEND quiet
    INITRD /antiX/initrd.gz

to the new MX/antiX mulitboot syslinux.cfg

Code: Select all

default MX181x64

MENU TITLE Welcome to MX / antiX Live

LABEL MX181x64
    MENU LABEL  MX-18.1_x64 (Feb 9, 2019)
    KERNEL /MX181x64/vmlinuz
    APPEND quiet bdir=MX181x64 lang=de_DE kbd=de tz=Europe/Berlin
    INITRD /MX181x64/initrd.gz

LABEL antiX174x64
    MENU LABEL antiX-17.4_x64-full (6 March 2019)
    KERNEL /antiX174x64/vmlinuz
    APPEND quiet splash=v disable=lx bdir=antiX174x64 lang=de_DE kbd=de tz=Europe/Berlin
    INITRD /antiX174x64/initrd.gz

Note the new bootdir bdir parameter used. Also adjust language, keyboards and timezone accordingly.
The above change would now provide two new boot menuentries for booting in BIOS-mode.
Similar simple changes has to be done with /boot/grub/grub.cfg for UEFI-system/boots.

Happy booting.

[seaken64]

Have you seen the MultiBootUSB guide? It may answer many of your present and future questions.

No, thank you. I will look at that. But I read a post on the antiX forum where it was stated that MultiBoot does not boot antiX. I do want antiX also, not just MX. So maybe that won't work.

Seaken64

[seaken64]

Yes, we can. The information on the page in general is still valid. The grub part would need some updates.

Here in three simple steps how to create a MX / antiX Live Multi USB Stick.

To demonstrate with two iso's for preparing BIOS-booting.
MX-18.1_x64.iso
antiX-17.4_x64-full.iso

First create with live-usb-maker from with MX or antiX using MX-18.1_x64.iso a full featured MX-LIve USB. When ready with the LiveUSB, do this on the LiveUSB.

Step1: Rename /antiX folder to MX181x64 in the LiveUSB

Step 2: Mount / open or extract antiX-17.4_x64-full.iso and copy the whole /antiX directory onto the USB Stick and name it antiX174x64 onto the LiveUSBstick

Step 3: Open to edit the file /boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg on LiveUSB
Change original first part with the first menuentry from this
original syslinux.cfg

Ahhh! Now we're getting somewhere! Thanks Fehlix! I can follow this. I'll play around a little and get back to you.

Seaken64

[seaken64]

Before the tips from Fehlix, above, I did some experiments. I could not understand from the wiki so I wanted to see the screens from the frugal install script. I put in my working antiX LiveUSB in one port and another fresh USB in another port. (I know now that this won't work from what Fehlix said but this is what I did while I was experimenting). I rebooted from the antiX LiveUSB and selected F5=frugal-only.

The frugal script looked for a antiX-Frugal and did not find it. It then asked me to select from a list of partitions or drive IDs. I selected the new USB and hit Enter. The script asked if I wanted to name the new install antiX-Frugal. I said "No" and hit Enter. The script proceeded to create the frugal install and gave it a long name starting with "antix-frugal..."

After the frugal install was done I was booted into the new frugal system. I rebooted and took a look at the drive with Thunar under my main OS (Xubuntu on this rig). I could see the newly created folder and the frugal files inside. I also could see the default folders that were already setup on this USB drive for use with Windows. The drive is still in FAT32, which is what I want if I am going to use this drive in Windows.

Next, I loaded another LiveUSB in one of the usb ports, this time a MX-17 setup. I rebooted from the MX-17 LiveUSB and again chose F5=frugal-only. The same thing happened as before and I chose the new FAT32 USB as the target and I said "No" to the label question. The script proceeded to install the frugal MX on the USB in it's own folder, again with a long name starting with "anti-frugal...". I was again booted into the new frugal install.

I rebooted into Xubuntu again and took a look at the file structure. Sure enough, I now have two frugal installs, each in their own folder. And the USB is still in FAT32 and I can read it in my Windows machine.

But now I can't figure out how to boot the USB and have a grub or isolinux menu. I think Fehlix has pointed me in the right direction for solving that. I will follow his instructions for first making a LiveUSB and then renaming the files and changing the boot codes.

I think I will try using a Windows tool for the Live USB so I can preserve the FAT32 file format. Then I'll proceed with the frugal installs. I'll let you know what happens. If anyone sees a glaring problem with my approach let me know.

[Edit - anticapitalista pointed out to me on the antiX forum the feature for limiting the amount of the drive to use in LUM. I will use that instead of the Windows tool for the LiveUSB. I had not noticed that before, duh! ]
Seaken64

[fehlix]

[Edit - anticapitalista pointed out to me on the antiX forum the feature for limiting the amount of the drive to use in LUM. I will use that instead of the Windows tool for the LiveUSB. I had not noticed that before, duh! ]

LUM creates 2 partitions and let you choose free space after those two.
The main ext4 partition is the first, and this is normally not accessible from WinOS (except you use
some ext4 drivers for winOS.) WinOS is designed only to try to access the first partition., which fails as ext4 is not supported. So a 3rd fat32 or NTFS partition would still not be accessible from winos.
In another thread BitJam has pointed out an idea to sort this. If you choose to create the USB-stick in LUM with GPT part.-table-scheme, within this thread was shown how to renumber those partitions, so WinOS sees the 3rd as the 1st. Need to search/find this thread, as I have proven that it would work.
You can use with rufus-made FAT32, but be warned, if you use persistence, the FAT32 does not provide any means of repairing filesystem. So you might quickly be locked out. That's the reason we highly recommend ext4, as it magically can recover the filesystem failures due to it's journaled filesystem feature.
HTH

[BitJam]

The script proceeded to create the frugal install and gave it a long name starting with "antix-frugal..."

The rest of the name is the version of the kernel currently running. This acts as a simple lockout mechanism so we will only boot into frugal systems that match our kernel.

I rebooted into Xubuntu again and took a look at the file structure. Sure enough, I now have two frugal installs, each in their own folder. And the USB is still in FAT32 and I can read it in my Windows machine.

We only frugal install to an existing partition. I strongly suggest that you start with a partition with an ext4 file system for this unless you really need to have Windows see the live-usb stuff.

But now I can't figure out how to boot the USB and have a grub or isolinux menu. I think Fehlix has pointed me in the right direction for solving that. I will follow his instructions for first making a LiveUSB and then renaming the files and changing the boot codes.

This is a bit more tricky because you will need to install a bootloader on the new usb you are creating.

The easiest way by far, is to start with a live-usb made by live-usb-maker and then add directories just like fehlix originally suggested. Each directory needs to contain 3 files from an iso or live-usb:

/antiX/linuxfs
/antiX/vmlinuz
/antiX/initrd.gz

Of course you need to copy these 3 to a new directory with another name. Then edit /boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg and /boot/grub/grub.cfg just as fehlix suggested.

I think I could add a feature in live-usb-maker to do all of this for you automatically. But I have my hands full ATM (getting my stuff ready for antiX-19) and there has been little demand. If you do follow the advice fehlix gave, please let us know how it goes. If I have some free time in the next few weeks then I could add this feature to live-usb-maker. It was always part of my plan but there has been zero demand for it up until now.

[seaken64]

I think I could add a feature in live-usb-maker to do all of this for you automatically. But I have my hands full ATM (getting my stuff ready for antiX-19) and there has been little demand. If you do follow the advice fehlix gave, please let us know how it goes. If I have some free time in the next few weeks then I could add this feature to live-usb-maker. It was always part of my plan but there has been zero demand for it up until now.

Thanks BitJam. You needn't worry about putting it the gui on my account. I'm fine working thru the excercises by myself. It's no surprise there is little demand. I just carry two USB keys with me now. A blue one for MX-64-bit and a red one for antiX-32-bit. I just thought it would be cool to have them both on one drive.

Seaken64

[BitJam]

I just thought it would be cool to have them both on one drive.

I agree! Our live system was designed from the ground up to make this as easy as possible. Even without automation it should be easy. Start with a live-usb made by live-usb-maker. You can make the changes running it live or you can plug it into another system. If it is plugged into a host then mount then main ext4 partition. If you are running it live then it is already mounted at /live/boot-dev/.

For each iso file or live-usb system you want to add:

1)Mount the iso file or live-usb ext4 partition. Example:

Code: Select all

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/iso
sudo mount $ISO_FILE /mnt/iso

2) Copy the antiX directory:

Code: Select all

 sudo cp -r $ISO_MNTPNT/antiX  $LIVE_USB_MNTPNT/antiX-2

Note: you need to use a name other than "antiX" for the destination.

3) Edit the config files just like fehlix suggested:

Code: Select all

sudo $EDITOR $LIVE_USB_MNTPNT/boot/syslinux/syslinux.cfg
sudo $EDITOR $LIVE_USB_MNTPNT/boot/grub/grub.cfg

I used :
$EDITOR to represent the editor of your choice
$ISO_MNTPNT as the location where the iso file or live-usb you copy from is mount
$LIVE_USB_MNTPNT the mountpoint where the live-usb you are adding to is mounted

By doing the frugal installs you are making the simple copy command easier but you make everything else much more difficult. There are a bunch of extra steps that you don't need to do if you start with a live-usb. Starting with a live-usb made by a live-usb-maker tool is by far the easiest way to do what you want. Bite the bullet and use the copy command in step (2) instead of doing frugal installs.

[seaken64]

So, I'm a little confused now about the value of limiting the space used on the USB drive for the Live system. Since Windows won't read past the first partition on the USB maybe I should be using the entire drive for the Live system in the ext4 file format.

If I do the copy operation as explained by Fehlix and BitJam I will be using the same space as the main Live system, right? What will I use the extra unused space for if not a frugal install?

I already made the Live USB and used 50% of the 16GB drive, thinking I would use the rest as a Windows accessible drive. Can I reclaim the unused space now for the LiveUSB? Or do I have to start over? I think I am not going to worry about reading from Windows and just go with ext4.

Seaken64