Difficulties with CorePlus installation to a pendrive

[Juanito]

All of them - this will allow you to start again from a totally clean, known state.

[Mike7]

coreplayer2-

I've watched that video many times. It's more confusing than helpful. Because there's no sound, you can't tell what the person is doing. And none of the choices made in it are obvious ones.

With what I now believe to be true, I agree that the only necessary and recommendable boot codes are probably waitusb and tce=sxx, which are already added by default. The Installer shouldn't even have that boot code page. It's confusing and can lead to installation errors, like in my case.

After all, what's needed for a CorePlus installation? The requisite CorePlus files, a bootloader, an mbr, and waitusb. Anything else? It could all be automated.

For example, what's the point in having a CorePlus version of TCL if you're not going to install wireless and firmware? There's no need for any Installer selection there.

Choose between Frugal and USB-HDD? I did a frugal install (for the partition feature), and it worked. In the video, the USB-HDD is chosen for a pendrive, so that apparently works too. Why have any choice at all, then?

And all the other choices can be (and probably should be) made later, once there's an installation.

I'll bet that if someone thought it through, they could re-write the Installer so that it was totally automatic. That's what a person installing TCL for the first time needs, not a lot of confusing choices.

Don't you agree?

Mike

[Mike7]

Juanito-

Okay, I'll delete all four compressed data files and edit extlinux.conf with your revision of coreplayer2's code.

What about the duplicate tce directories? Will the unnecessary one be eliminated by the extlinux.conf edit?

M.

[coreplayer2]

...

Don't you agree?

Mike

I wished I could, honestly not on any point sorry

For example,  for almost as long as we've been able to boot a USB drive,  there has been greater support for USB-HDD.   Most BIOS provide support for USB-HDD geometry detection.

Maybe I'm showing my age?

[curaga]

And if they can all be added or removed later, as I suspect is the case, why doesn't it just say so on this page of the Installer so we can skip it and get on with the installation process, without having to double-guess a list of confusing boot options?

Added such a label. Hopefully that makes the page a bit clearer.

[Juanito]

What about the duplicate tce directories? Will the unnecessary one be eliminated by the extlinux.conf edit?

Once you've rebooted, we can check if there are still two and delete one of them if required.

[Mike7]

coreplayer2-

for almost as long as we've been able to boot a USB drive,  there has been greater support for USB-HDD. Most BIOS provide support for USB-HDD geometry detection.

According to curaga my Frugal install was okay, and it boots correctly. (My eeePC is from 2008, and it will boot anything plugged into a USB or flash drive socket.) So why have to choose between Frugal and USB-HDD? Does the USB-HDD choice do something to the installation or the boot process that Frugal doesn't? I don't see it. (Although the Frugal option to install to a partition makes sense to me.)

Regarding the Installer page with the choices of Wireless, Firmware, Remastering, and Foreign-Language keyboard Support, some of these are intrinsic to CorePlus and others may be wanted later. So why not just install them all? Any unused ones can be uninstalled.

Wasn't the whole point to CorePlus to include in the installation some things that are commonly wanted, so that they needn't be downloaded and installed separately? So why have a page where you have to choose them? It seems to me to defeat the purpose of CorePlus, as well as make things unnecessarily complicated for a newbie installation.

Maybe I'm showing my age?

Nah. . . I'm 70, how old are you?

Mike

[Mike7]

curaga-

Added such a label. Hopefully that makes the page a bit clearer.

It will make it clearer. But why not just leave in the default boot codes (waitusb= and tce=UUID...) and eliminate the page entirely?

Newbies like me using the Installer app (who else is going to use it?) haven't the experience yet to make any other boot code choices. Look what happened to me. Wouldn't it be better to leave them for later?

Mike

[Mike7]

Juanito-

Once you've rebooted, we can check if there are still two and delete one of them if required.

Okay, I'll make the agreed changes, reboot, and report back. May take a day or two, as I'm having back problems and can't sit at the computer for a while.

Mike

[gerald_clark]

The installer isn't just for beginners that have not  read the documentation.
It is intended to install Core, providing those methods and options that may be needed during installation.
Many of those boot options are best defined during installation, as adding them later requires more than just changing the boot codes.
The default boot codes should work in most cases, but others may be required and should not be disallowed just because you don't know what they mean.

[Mike7]

Gerald-

Many of those boot options are best defined during installation, as adding them later requires more than just changing the boot codes.

What boot codes besides waitusb= and tce= should be added in the Installer?

Mike

[gerald_clark]

The ones you know you need.
Since you don't know that you need any, none.

When I install there are specific options I know I need, so I include them.

Remember, Core is not an install and run distribution.  It is a tool kit.
Craftsmen need good tools.  Would you tell your carpenter that he should not have a screwdriver in his tool kit because a hammer and nails are easier for a beginner?

[Mike7]

Gerald-

Okay, I think I understand a little better now. And thanks for explaining.

Still, isn't the Installer app really for beginners? I thought that experienced users didn't install CorePlus in any case. Maybe I had it all wrong.

Mike

[Mike7]

Juanito, Coreplayer2, and all-

I made the changes you suggested. Here's what I did:
- Deleted all mydata.gz and mydatabk.gz files.
- Edited extlinux.conf as suggested.
- Shut down allowing default "Safe" backup.
- Re-booted; then:
tc@box:~$ showbootcodes
initrd=/tce/boot/core.gz loglevel=3 waitusb=10:UUID="6065ad4c-d216-48bb-a7c1-c538c02a42ed" tce=UUID="6065ad4c-d216-48bb-a7c1-c538c02a42ed" BOOT_IMAGE=/tce/boot/vmlinuz

So the boot codes are now as suggested.

I also found the following:
- New mydata.gz file in /mnt/sdb1/tce/
- New mydata.gz file in /etc/sysconfig/tcedir/
- An empty directory /mnt/sdb1/tce/tce/
- An empty directory /etc/sysconfig/tcedir/tce/

When I shut down again, the backup default was "Backup", and I went with that. But I really don't understand how the backup choices at shutdown work.

As a possibly helpful diagnostic tool I ran tree.tcz, which I had previously downloaded from the app respository, and printed the output to a file. However, the file is 1.4m (7439 directories, 30017 files) and the attachment limit here is 192k. So I cut it down to essentials and am attaching that here (trying to, anyway). Maybe one of you experienced guys can check it out and see if it looks okay.

Cheers.

Mike

[Juanito]

You need to shut down and reboot without a backup so that a clean, known state is reached.

Could you try deleting the mydata files again and rebooting without backup? Note that you can also achieve this by entering "norestore" at the boot prompt.