Author Topic: Taking wattOS everywhere I go...  (Read 18658 times)

Dan

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Re: Taking wattOS everywhere I go...
« Reply #15 on: September 05, 2016, 03:22:47 PM »
Let's see if I can answer without writing a 10,000 word thesis.  ;D

This is my understanding...I reserve the right to be wrong.  ;)

The installer wants and expects to assign a Swap partition during installation; therefore, if the user doesn't assign one, it will use one that already exists in the list...even though it's on a separate disk.

So, the portable won't have swap on any other computer other than the host computer that was used to make the portable version anyway.

How is the host computer affected? The first time that I made a portable version of wattOS, the host computer was running wattOS also. I allowed the installer to assign the host computer's swap that time...merely because I didn't catch it. However, there were no bad side effects...I assume it's because it was the same OS...but I'm not sure about that.

Later on...while trying to figure out my grub situation that I referred to in an earlier post, I made another portable with a Debian host computer...again allowing it to assign the host computer's swap. On a subsequent boot of that host computer, and I can't remember the exact "fail" or "warning" message that was listed during the boot process (or the shutdown process)...but the Debian computer's swap was no longer accessible...or something like that.

So, I had a portable with no swap except on one computer, and I had one computer with no swap any longer.

So...to me, there were two options.

1. Don't allow the installer to assign a swap partition.

2. Use gparted to make two partitions on the portable USB...one being around 500 MBs in size (on an 8 GB USB) to assign as swap during the installation.

In my case, the "no swap" option is preferred as I only use the portable version on rare occasions and for short amounts of time. If I were using it more, I would want the swap partition...which is also easily done.  :)
« Last Edit: September 05, 2016, 04:11:45 PM by Dan »

Dan

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Re: Taking wattOS everywhere I go...
« Reply #16 on: September 05, 2016, 04:09:27 PM »
What happens when you boot the Debian 8.5 install ?  Swap space gone or untouched ?

Sorry teejay, I realized that I didn't answer your question when I answered your question!

Using the "no swap" method, the host computer's swap is untouched.

Dan

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Re: Taking wattOS everywhere I go...
« Reply #17 on: September 05, 2016, 06:04:43 PM »
I can understand setting "don't use" for the swap space, but thought the reason was to prevent porta-watt2 looking for sda5 on boot  ie to make it independent of the current box.

Sorry, I didn't respond to this either...

All I can say here is from my experience.

When I allowed the installer to use the host computer's swap on the portable, it booted with no problems on every computer that I used the portable version on.

Likewise, the "no swap" version also boots with no problem on every computer that I've used it on.

As far as I know, the main key is to assign the bootloader to the USB/portable; otherwise, the portable won't boot.

Dan

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Re: Taking wattOS everywhere I go...
« Reply #18 on: September 05, 2016, 11:54:39 PM »
Okay...just in case...I made another video showing how to include Swap on the portable.

Here's the video to the original "No Swap"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-kfuw-9KA4

Here's the video to the new "With Swap"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSijwtrmGHg

teejay

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Re: Taking wattOS everywhere I go...
« Reply #19 on: September 06, 2016, 02:00:06 AM »
Wow, the whole story !
Thanks, Dan - explanatory and empirical.
I read an article somewhere which reckoned that with "large" RAM and "small" Linux demands  the swap space was rarely used, and Linux would survive well without it.     Large/small are not absolutes, obviously, and growth in applications might cause a rethink on that.     Your low-demand use probably fits well with that "no swap" logic.
Again, thanks.

Dan

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Re: Taking wattOS everywhere I go...
« Reply #20 on: September 06, 2016, 03:21:12 AM »
There does seem to be more folks who are saying that Swap isn't necessary any longer; however, I personally disagree...depending on your machine.

Before I upgraded the memory on my old computer, Swap was used quite often on it. It had something like 937 MBs of RAM before the upgrade. If I ever opened Firefox, even though I never maxed out the memory, it would use Swap...and the Swap would still show usage after closing Firefox. The Swap would also continue showing usage until I rebooted the computer.

All of the people that I hear saying that Swap isn't needed...they have like 8 million GBs of RAM on their computer.  ;D  Seriously, they do have a high amount of RAM, so they don't need Swap. Not all of us have a gazillion TBs of RAM. LOL!

Dan

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Re: Taking wattOS everywhere I go...
« Reply #21 on: September 07, 2016, 02:07:24 AM »
Later on...while trying to figure out my grub situation that I referred to in an earlier post,

Speaking of which, I found a solution. Sadly, there's no way around it during installation (as far as I know). However, you can disable OS Prober on the portable, and that will stop the portable from searching for other OSs thereafter.

Open the file manager as root, and go to /etc/default/grub

Add this to the file (under all of the similar looking entries)...

Code: [Select]
GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=true
Close and save the file.

Open your terminal, and enter...

Code: [Select]
sudo update-grub
...and the next time you reboot, only wattOS will show in the grub screen.

Mike

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Re: Taking wattOS everywhere I go...
« Reply #22 on: September 20, 2016, 06:39:45 PM »
Thanks for the tips, Dan! I installed WattOS on a new 32 GB Cruzer Fit (3.0) and it runs excellent on my Acer C720P (chromebook). I've used other portable distros before but I'm not sure why I didn't consider installing WattOS on a USB stick.

Dan

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Re: Taking wattOS everywhere I go...
« Reply #23 on: September 20, 2016, 08:55:13 PM »
Thanks for the tips, Dan! I installed WattOS on a new 32 GB Cruzer Fit (3.0) and it runs excellent on my Acer C720P (chromebook). I've used other portable distros before but I'm not sure why I didn't consider installing WattOS on a USB stick.

Good deal!

bob

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Re: Taking wattOS everywhere I go...
« Reply #24 on: September 28, 2016, 03:27:42 PM »
I tried this too, took a while to install on the USB but once it was done, awesome. Microwatt has saved me a few times being portable. :)

berliner

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Re: Taking wattOS everywhere I go...
« Reply #25 on: October 05, 2016, 09:57:23 PM »
Dan,
just today I thought about having a live-linux-USB-stick with my personalized distro.

There is a "Pinguybuilder" something which does the job.
Only thing about it:  I have no idea how to use it.

Downloaded it from the author-website and installed it with GDebi , but it says it is installed already.
Yes, I see it in Synaptics.

But how to start and use it ?
« Last Edit: October 05, 2016, 11:47:08 PM by berliner »

Dan

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Re: Taking wattOS everywhere I go...
« Reply #26 on: October 06, 2016, 12:40:23 AM »
Dan,
just today I thought about having a live-linux-USB-stick with my personalized distro.

There is a "Pinguybuilder" something which does the job.
Only thing about it:  I have no idea how to use it.

Downloaded it from the author-website and installed it with GDebi , but it says it is installed already.
Yes, I see it in Synaptics.

But how to start and use it ?

Scroll down this page for a few basic instructions...

https://sourceforge.net/projects/pinguy-os/files/ISO_Builder/

berliner

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Re: Taking wattOS everywhere I go...
« Reply #27 on: October 06, 2016, 05:38:24 PM »
Thank you, Dan.

There I found instructions for starting PinguyBuilder from the Terminal.
I now have my whatOS on USB.
skype worked, firefox worked, only Opera did not load because of some authorization. I will re-install it when using the personal whatOS .

I saw screenshots of PinguyBuilder. Looks like there is a GUI. Maybe I will find somewhere how to start it.

Dan

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Re: Taking wattOS everywhere I go...
« Reply #28 on: October 06, 2016, 06:02:44 PM »
Looks like there is a GUI. Maybe I will find somewhere how to start it.

If you're using wattOS LXDE,

1. Go to the main menu, and click the Run command
2. In the window that pops up, enter ---> PinguyBuilder-gtk
3. Click OK

If you're using Microwatt, (this is just a guess)

1. Click mod + g

and follow the remaining instructions above for LXDE.

berliner

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Re: Taking wattOS everywhere I go...
« Reply #29 on: October 06, 2016, 07:08:06 PM »
Dan,
thanks again.  :)

It works.

I have whatOS R10  with LXDE desktop.
Will put the info about it and my PC in my signature, but first have to find out how to get the essential facts.
I know there are terminal commands for it and I know that there are apps, but first have to find and install them.