Skywave Linux 4.1

[Mopar44084]

I am having troubles installing Skywave Linux on my old laptop. When I load the image to the flash drive it's real slow loading.
Here is the Specs:
Compaq CQ56-109WM

Original OS - Windows 7

Processor - 2.20 GHZ / 800MHz FSB/ 1M Cache) Intel Celeron Processor 900

Ram - 8GB

Video Graphics - Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M

Hard Drive - 250 GB Seagate Barracuda SSD

(https://support.hp.com/us-en/document/c02481139)

It runs good on the old skywave Linux 3.1.1 I really liked this platform ever since the V4 I couldn't do anything.

Thanks a lot for your help!

[AB9IL]

Hi @Mopar44084 ,

Just a couple of questions to start troubleshooting -
1.. Does the sha256sum match the checksum from the authentication document? If not, it may be a corrupted iso.
2.. Which kind of installation are you trying (dd, cat, or a bootable usb utility)?

If you use dd or cat to directly write the image to the flash drive, it may take slightly longer in time, but not by a large amount. It has been a while since I have used YUMI or any of the Windows-based image writers, so I cannot comment on the situation there. Results with them are not consistent, but YUMI should work.

Ventoy is really the best tool, as you can save one or many iso files to the flashdrive without dedicating the whole device to one image, and it boots better than grub. Although here, I use grub on my machines, all with a 50 Gb partition to hold a few bootable isos.

There is a third installation option (after you can boot the iso or live USB):
Are you running the other installer, named linux-clone? That one really is slow, though it will create a normal, uncompressed, persistent Linux file system based on your configuration at the moment you execute the script. Linux-clone copies your running system, so you would need to have the image booted and functioning normally.

In a worst case scenario, you could get a regular Ubuntu / Mint / Debian system running and use scripts or configs from these repos. Nearly all of Skywave Linux is here, except for a few cosmetic tweaks. There's probably someone out there scooping up ACARS messages or streaming the BBC on their own Ubuntu set up, with these scripts.

[Mopar44084]

I am using ventoy, I downloaded a new iso from skywavelinux.com. I copied the iso to ventoy disk. I tried to boot and it hangs up. It is still real slow loading

[AB9IL]

The OS appears to have a conflict with hardware - possibly the graphics driver vs chipset. You may have improved luck trying to boot with different graphics tweaks, or perhaps use a different Linux to install grub2 and then try settings like these (except set the proper drive, partition, and iso file name:
menuentry 'Skywave Linux (ISO File)' {
insmod ext2
set isofile="/isofiles/skywavelinux-4.2.iso"
loopback loop $isofile
linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=$isofile ignore_uuid
fsck.mode=skip threadirqs --
initrd (loop)/casper/initrd
}

Other Options:
-- Version 4.3-flashback is a bit fresher, with a different kernel.
-- Install some Linux which works, then add the Skywave parts which work.

Last, but not least, if you can find a config which works, I can build you a special iso file based on v4.2 or 4.3-flashback. Your machine is old, but not too old. I often run a dual core Turion CPU with 4 GB of RAM, with an SSD and the system runs okay (though nowhere near the speed of any recent multicore CPU / high RAM machine). I still find reasons to not throw that Turion system into a dumpster and light it up.

[Mopar44084]

I did try 4.3.0 and it was slow also, I let it to boot overnight and it worked good. The only thing I can't figure out is how to install it to the hdd. How hard is it to make a different version?

[AB9IL]

For an uncompressed, persistent hdd install, there is a script named "linux-clone" located in the path, at /usr/local/sbin/linux-clone.

To use it, format the target drive first. Then execute the command: sudo linux-clone
What it does is use rsync to copy your running filesystem to the target drive, installs grub2, and sets up some of the files which cannot be directly copied. It verifies the data for each file, so it is pretty slow (takes all day...)

There's one more thing which may help: remove the screen scaling from ~/.xinitrc
1. .xinitrc is in your hidden files, sitting in the home directory.
2. Open a terminal and execute "vim .xinitrc" or "nano .xinitrc"

Around lines 5 - 8 there is code like this, which forces a specific screen resolution on all machines:

my_dpi="140"
res="1920x1080"
primary="$(xrandr | egrep " connected primary " | cut -d' ' -f1)"
xrandr --output ${primary} --scale-from ${res} --panning ${res} --fb ${res} --dpi ${my_dpi}

Here are the remaining steps:
3. Delete all of the above code.
4. Save and close (Ctrl-x and "yes" to save the modified file in nano or ESC and :wq if in vim).
5. Exit the terminal
6. Restart your session with keyboard entries "Ctrl - Alt - Backspace"

That key sequence will kick you out of your user session, and you'll be automatically logged back in, but with without a forced 1920 x 1080 screen resolution.

[Mopar44084]

I am having troubles now using sudo linux-clone, it comes back with an error. I formatted the drive using ext4. The location of the drive is /dev/sda1

Comes back with
Writing the file system, please stand by...
mount: /mnt: /dev/sda1 already mounted on /mnt.
/usr/local/sbin/linux-clone: line 68: syntax error near unexpected token '2'
/usr/local/sbin/linux-clone: line 68 '. / $MYMOUNT/ >> ~/rsync.err

[AB9IL]

That's a good catch. I made the correction here in the Github repos:
https://github.com/AB9IL/linux-clone/blob/main/linux-clone

Instead of...
> 2>>
There should only be...
2>>

Here is a way to remove the extra character causing the error:
Edit the script in Neovim:

sudo vim /usr/local/sbin/linux-clone

Or edit in Nano:

sudo nano /usr/local/sbin/linux-clone

Remove the lone ">" on line 68. The whole line should read:

/ $MYMOUNT/ 2>> ~/rsync.err

To remove the character in vim, stay in normal mode. Place the cursor over the character and remove it by hitting the "x" key. Exit with :wq from normal mode.

In Nano, remove it by backspacing over it. Save with Ctrl-o or exit with Ctrl-x. When there are unsaved changes, Nano will throw some questions - give it a "y" and verify the filename to save.

After the edit is made, linux-clone should run without errors. Hope I didn't bore anyone here with the details. I went into the methods of those editors to make sure anyone who finds this in the future can do it.

[Mopar44084]

Last question, on the commands that you want me to run where to input them?

menuentry 'Skywave Linux (ISO File)' {
insmod ext2
set isofile="/isofiles/skywavelinux-4.2.iso"
loopback loop $isofile
linux (loop)/casper/vmlinuz boot=casper iso-scan/filename=$isofile ignore_uuid
fsck.mode=skip threadirqs --
initrd (loop)/casper/initrd
}

[Mopar44084]

Is there a way you could make this into a installer like 3.1.1?

[Mopar44084]

I tried to use ventoy, I tried to use win32 imager and put the image directly into the USB drive and I tried to make a live cd. All methods were real slow or ended up freezing

…

On Apr 3, 2022 at 3:18 AM, Philip Colllier ***@***.***> wrote: Hi @Mopar44084 , Just a couple of questions to start troubleshooting - 1.. Does the sha256sum match the checksum from the authentication document? If not, it may be a corrupted iso. 2.. Which kind of installation are you trying (dd, cat, or a bootable usb utility)? If you use dd or cat to directly write the image to the flash drive, it may take slightly longer in time, but not by a large amount. It has been a while since I have used YUMI or any of the Windows-based image writers, so I cannot comment on the situation there. Results with them are not consistent, but YUMI should work. Ventoy is really the best tool, as you can save one or many iso files to the flashdrive without dedicating the whole device to one image, and it boots better than grub. Although here, I use grub on my machines, all with a 50 Gb partition to hold a few bootable isos. There is a third installation option (after you can boot the iso or live USB): Are you running the other installer, named linux-clone? That one really is slow, though it will create a normal, uncompressed, persistent Linux file system based on your configuration at the moment you execute the script. Linux-clone copies your running system, so you would need to have the image booted and functioning normally. In a worst case scenario, you could get a regular Ubuntu / Mint / Debian system running and use scripts or configs from these repos. Nearly all of Skywave Linux is here, except for a few cosmetic tweaks. There's probably someone out there scooping up ACARS messages or streaming the BBC on their own Ubuntu set up, with these scripts. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe. You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>