Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Will 'burn' an image to a USB-Key. Following the links from this posts viewtopic.php?p=21506#p21506 and the one below it will lead to applications which can be used under Window, Macs, and other operating systems, including Grey's pet for Fossapup64 and (untested) perhaps other 64-Bit Puppies. Thanks, again, Grey.

Does Barry's Easydd do the same thing?

I just complained that the program is not included in the major versions of Puppy But the theme has already been raised on the forum:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2294

Using USBImager results in the USB-Stick being formatted as an ISO9660 device: you won't be able to create a SaveFile or SaveFolder on it.
Fortunately, at least if your working from Windows, Rufus can again be used. Just follow the instructions on this post: viewtopic.php?p=40522#p40522

The only two USB installers I've used that doesn't format the drive as ISO9660 are Rufus (Windows) and fossa64 9.5 - Stickpup v20

wizard

mikeslr wrote: ↑Tue Nov 02, 2021 9:26 pm

Using USBImager results in the USB-Stick being formatted as an ISO9660 device: you won't be able to create a SaveFile or SaveFolder on it.
Fortunately, at least if your working from Windows, Rufus can again be used. Just follow the instructions on this post: viewtopic.php?p=40522#p40522

This is not a problem, but rather a sign of a simple utility tailored to a specific action If I'm not mistaken, the utilities built into Mint and MX Linux work in the same way.

Add Unetbootin v702 to the list of USB imaging programs that don't create a ISO9660 formated drive. Unetbootin for linux is a single .bin file, it does require mtools which is available from the ppm.

Also, as an experiment I downloaded Stickpup v20 from the fossa64 9.5 ppm and installed it in both Bionic32 and 64. Both were then able to create a fat32 formatted, bootable usb from an ISO. Looks like Stickpup is -noarch and can be installed on other puppies.

wizard

I think it needs to be made clear about how these tools operate.

While Stickpup is a great tool, it is quite specific to making Puppy Linux FRUGAL installations with persistence by extracting the contents of the ISO. In addition it makes the USB bootable by installing GRUB. All of this in a single FAT32 partition.

EasyDD, Etcher and Rufus (the latter of which can only be used in Windows) will write a prepared, complete disk image, with boot, OS, home and swap partitions (if present) as per the original image file. The prepared image can be a LIVE ISO or a disk image (.img file) of a complete system (see below).

I have never used Etcher, but can confidently say that EasyDD in Puppy Linux and RUFUS in Windows work very well and are easy to use. Of these two I prefer EasyDD as I dont need to access a Windows OS, and its fairly foolproof.

Interestingly, there seem to be few if any SIMPLE disc image backup-to-disc writer GUIs, so I use the command line to generate a compressed image file:
dd if=/dev/INPUT_DEVICE_(eg_sda) conv=sync,noerror bs=64K | gzip -c > /path/to/name_of_disk.img.gz

@Grey :-

Grey wrote: ↑Wed Nov 03, 2021 3:24 pm

mikeslr wrote: ↑Tue Nov 02, 2021 9:26 pm

Using USBImager results in the USB-Stick being formatted as an ISO9660 device: you won't be able to create a SaveFile or SaveFolder on it.
Fortunately, at least if you're working from Windows, Rufus can again be used. Just follow the instructions on this post: viewtopic.php?p=40522#p40522

This is not a problem, but rather a sign of a simple utility tailored to a specific action If I'm not mistaken, the utilities built into Mint and MX Linux work in the same way.

I suspect Grey has hit the nail on the head. I believe Rosa Image Writer falls into this same category as well. I've used it a couple of times, and it, too, has produced a USB stick formatted to ISO9660.....which to me suggests it's dd-based.

I also used it to install one of Barry's EasyOS versions - v2.6.2 Buster - to a USB stick. In this case, it produced a stick with an FAT32-formatted first partition, and a "normal", much larger, second EXT4-formatted partition. Doubtless because Barry set the image up to work this way, despite being dd-based.

(If I understand it correctly, the OS is copied from the first partition to the second one at boot, and 'amalgamated' with the 'save' layer that already exists there from previous sessions? Something along those lines, anyway; I'll be happy to accept correction on this point, since the EasyOS documentation doesn't make it that clear.....)

Mike.