Quirky Xerus 8.1.6 won't boot from USB drive (Solved)

[Kafshiel]

Well I created a boot USB pen drive using Unetbootin from Xubuntu 16.04.1 x64 and then, after the bug happened twice, I used Rufus 2.11 in Windows.
The problem is that Xerus 8.1.6 won't complete the boot process on my machine. My PC specs are as follows: Intel Core Duo CPU E7500 (2 cores, 2 threads) @2.93 Ghz, scalable, with 4 GB RAM and Intel Q43/45 integrated GPU.
The boot process says it can't find the /sbin/init folder and when I mounted the ISO in Linux that folder was there. And the /sbin/init folder only has 2 files: "fs-check" and "switch". I took a screenshot of the boot fail and I tried to attach it to this bug report, the problem is that your attachment size limit is 0 bytes (Really? Zero bytes?). So maybe I'll insert the image here from Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_gaqp ... 0oqC9PjTrw The funny part is that, in VirtualBox, Puppy Quirky 8.1.6 X86_64 ISO boots just fine and you can do anything with it. But Puppy is not a VirtualBox distro. I want to carry it in my 8 GB pen drive. I have Puppy Slacko x64 & Puppy Tahr x64 as Live ISO's in 2 USB pen drives and they both work fine. Also they saved many Windows & Linux installations countless times. They're like Army Knives made from Linux. I'm gonna try the Terminal way of putting Xerus ISO on an USB drive, using the dd command. If that fails I don't know how to boot this thing. Please take a look at the screenshot (taken with a mobile phone) and many thanks in advance for any solution for this bug. Best regards, Kafshiel

[bigpup]

Quirky is, well Quirky. It is a play toy for Barry K.

Have you seen this:
http://distro.ibiblio.org/quirky/quirky ... nstall.htm

Could just be a bad install.
Reformat USB flash drive.
Try the install again.

Unetbootin does not know about Puppy modes of operation.

Try this:

Look on the flash drive for the file syslinux.cfg. If it contains the clause "pmedia=cd" or something else, change it to "pmedia=usbflash".

Example:
syslinux.cfg

Code: Select all

default puppy
display boot.msg
prompt 1
timeout 50

F1 boot.msg
F2 help.msg
F3 help2.msg

label puppy
kernel vmlinuz
append initrd=initrd.gz pmedia=cd

[Flash]

Kafshiel, there is already a thread for reporting bugs in Quirky Xerus 8.1.6. You should have posted this there.

[belham2]

Well I created a boot USB pen drive using Unetbootin from Xubuntu 16.04.1 x64 and then, after the bug happened twice, I used Rufus 2.11 in Windows.
The problem is that Xerus 8.1.6 won't complete the boot process on my machine. My PC specs are as follows: Intel Core Duo CPU E7500 (2 cores, 2 threads) @2.93 Ghz, scalable, with 4 GB RAM and Intel Q43/45 integrated GPU.
The boot process says it can't find the /sbin/init folder and when I mounted the ISO in Linux that folder was there. And the /sbin/init folder only has 2 files: "fs-check" and "switch". I took a screenshot of the boot fail and I tried to attach it to this bug report, the problem is that your attachment size limit is 0 bytes (Really? Zero bytes?). So maybe I'll insert the image here from Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1_gaqp ... 0oqC9PjTrw The funny part is that, in VirtualBox, Puppy Quirky 8.1.6 X86_64 ISO boots just fine and you can do anything with it. But Puppy is not a VirtualBox distro. I want to carry it in my 8 GB pen drive. I have Puppy Slacko x64 & Puppy Tahr x64 as Live ISO's in 2 USB pen drives and they both work fine. Also they saved many Windows & Linux installations countless times. They're like Army Knives made from Linux. I'm gonna try the Terminal way of putting Xerus ISO on an USB drive, using the dd command. If that fails I don't know how to boot this thing. Please take a look at the screenshot (taken with a mobile phone) and many thanks in advance for any solution for this bug. Best regards, Kafshiel

Hi Kafshiel,

First, do as Flash says...doing so will help other people. Also, if you're going to boot Barry's creations "frugally", you have to be aware that a 'Q_ID" file is required in whatever folder (or top directory if it is a sole install). Without the 'Q_ID' file, you get the exact boot message your are describing. Read Barry's blog:

http://barryk.org/news/?viewDetailed=00298

ETP said/explained it best in his thread

"Barry first introduced the idea of a new flag (Q_ID) who's location
on a fixed partition or stick when found at boot time, indicates the presence of both the main sfs (q.sfs) and the save file (s.sfs).

This type of frugal install allows for the Pup to load from a fast partition on a HD or SSD but then runs entirely in ZRAM with the option to save at any point during the session and/or the option to save or not at the end of the session."

Here they are, respectively:
Werewolf-7.4.........Q_ID = 201512101229
Quirky8.0..............Q_ID = 201604210401
QuirkySlaq8.1.6.....Q_ID = 201701111649
QuirkyXenial8.1.6...Q_ID = 201701140115


The other way to frugally boot Barry's quirky creations are to use grub4dos and write your boot entry this way:

title QuirkyXenial (or Slaq) 64 8.1.6 (sda1/"your-folder's-name")
kernel /"your-folder's-name"/vmlinuz install_specs=UUID=yoour-install's-device's-uuid-found-by-running-blikidin-terminal":ext4:"your-folder's-name"
initrd /quirkySlaq/initrd.q

Be aware you do your grub4dos entry this way, and have no 'Q_ID' file existing, despite creating a savefile your first time booting, Quirky will always boot into a fresh installation and will not load the savefile no matter what. At least this has been my (and other's) experience---the 'Q_ID' is crucial and needed, Barry's stuff, lol for quite awhile now, is not like normal puppylinux and the woof builds that predominate the puppy world.


[UPDATE]
Added all four Q_ID file numbers. For future reference, Barry places the Q_ID in the initrd.q, just click on it, so it mounts, or you can grab out of a "live-quirky-install-you-re-currently-running" by looking in:

/initrd/q_rw/rw/boot/initrd-tree

[Kafshiel]

First many thanks to belham2 and bigpup that answered my bug. Then my apologies and thanks to Flash, I didn't knew about that thread... Now I don't know if I have the necessary permission to move this thread over there so what do you advise? Copy & paste?
Secondly, I want to say that the bug was solved by using the "dd" method to get the ISO onto an 8 GB USB pen drive. So, from Xubuntu 16.04.1 terminal, I did:

Code: Select all

sudo dd if=xerus-8.1.6-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=1M && sync

and then booted the PC and all worked like a charm.
I never wanted to do a frugal install, I like to have my Puppies in pen drives, so I can take them with me everywhere. They're true Linux army knives and helped me save countless installations from my friends, specially using Gparted to manage partitions, Grub4DOS to rescue many boots and the File Manager to backup data between drives.
I must say that Puppy Xerus is absolutely gorgeous, out of the box, I just installed the PET cursors-1.1 package because I prefer the Obsidian cursors.
So the bug is solved, now I really would like to know how to move this thread to where Flash told me, because indeed it can help others with the same problem. If you guys can help me with that I'll be very grateful.
My best regards to you all, have a great day.

[Flash]

You can't move this thread to the existing one and neither can I. I'll lock this thread and ask you to please post a duplicate of your last message in this thread here,, where it should be, with an explanation of what you're talking about.