On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 13:14, Caroline Meeks <solutiongr...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > On Tue, Apr 14, 2009 at 4:16 AM, Tomeu Vizoso <to...@sugarlabs.org> wrote: >> >> [cc'ing fedora-olpc because we are using unmodified fedora tools] >> >> On Mon, Apr 13, 2009 at 23:33, Walter Bender <walter.ben...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> > Thanks. This is all helpful. I wonder what the Fedora USB Creator does >> > when it runs under Windows? >> >> AFAIK, what Mitch says is what we currently do when using both >> livecd-iso-to-disk.sh and the Fedora Live USB creator. >> >> For flashing a big number of sticks with a port replicator, we could >> first use livecd-iso-to-disk.sh to copy the partition files to one >> stick and set the bootable flag, then use dd to read into an image and >> then dd again to write it to the rest of the sticks, provided they are >> actually identical inside. > > I don't think they are actually identical inside. They show up as all > different sizes.
Ouch, that's good to know. Tomeu > I used dd to make an image then zcat to write it to new sticks. > > zcat ./SoaS-Beta-4-9.img.Z > /dev/disk2 > > I got a fairly high failure rate so I'm not saying this is a good method. > >> >> Regards, >> >> Tomeu >> >> > -walter >> > >> > On Mon, Apr 13, 2009 at 3:53 PM, Mitch Bradley <w...@laptop.org> wrote: >> >> My first order recommendation is "don't use dd to blast an image over >> >> the >> >> existing partition map". >> >> >> >> The problem with doing so is that it wrecks the factory partition >> >> layout. I >> >> strongly suspect that said factory layout is, on many sticks, optimized >> >> for >> >> the characteristics of the stick's internal firmware and the hardware >> >> block >> >> sizes of the NAND Flash chips. >> >> >> >> Unfortunately, the alternative is rather more complicated procedurally >> >> than >> >> "dd and pray". But given the indifferent results from dd&pray, I think >> >> it >> >> may be worthwhile to go for a more elaborate procedure. >> >> >> >> Here is an outline of what I think really should be done: >> >> >> >> a) Ensure that your filesystem image is somewhat smaller than 1G (or 2G >> >> or >> >> whatever your base size) so it will fit on "all" 1G devices. >> >> >> >> b) The image is just the partition contents, excluding the partition >> >> block >> >> and master boot record. >> >> >> >> c) The installation procedure involves >> >> >> >> c1) Editing (not replacing) the existing partition map, setting the >> >> first >> >> partition's "boot flag" byte and changing its filesystem type to ext2 >> >> or >> >> whatever. (Ideally it would better not to change the filesystem type, >> >> instead sticking with the factory FAT partition, but I understand what >> >> a >> >> hard nut that is to swallow for Linux enthusiasts.) >> >> >> >> c2) Copying the image into the partition >> >> >> >> c3) Installing your bootloader using an installation program instead of >> >> dd, >> >> thus replacing the first sector's Master Boot Record and doing whatever >> >> else >> >> is necessary to complete the bootloader's installation. I have had the >> >> best >> >> results with syslinux. >> >> >> >> There is, of course, a chicken-and-egg problem of how do you run the >> >> bootloader's installer. On the other hand, you have the same problem >> >> with >> >> "dd" - in principle, on any machine that can run "dd", you can also run >> >> syslinux. >> >> >> >> If you want to talk more about this issue, please feel free to keep the >> >> conversation going. It is a topic that has been much on mind recently. >> >> >> >> Mitch >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> Walter Bender wrote: >> >>> >> >>> I was wondering if you have any words of wisdom to share with us re >> >>> USB stick compatibility, given your experience with the XO. There >> >>> seems to be a lot of variability in terms of which sticks boot which >> >>> machines in our Sugar-on-a-Stick experiments, e.g., using the same >> >>> machine (a Classmate running XP) to burn the same image (the Beta SoaS >> >>> iso) onto USB storage media from three different vendors, I cannot >> >>> predict which one(s) will be bootable on any particular piece of >> >>> hardware. Is there any deterministic way to proceed, or is trail and >> >>> error our only recourse? >> >>> >> >>> thanks. >> >>> >> >>> -walter >> >>> >> >>> >> >> >> > >> > >> > >> > -- >> > Walter Bender >> > Sugar Labs >> > http://www.sugarlabs.org >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Sugar-devel mailing list >> > Sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org >> > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel >> > >> _______________________________________________ >> Sugar-devel mailing list >> Sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel > > > > -- > Caroline Meeks > Solution Grove > carol...@solutiongrove.com > > 617-500-3488 - Office > 505-213-3268 - Fax > _______________________________________________ Sugar-devel mailing list Sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel