Hi there,

I really like Navigatrix. I am even considering using it as main OS, instead of a regular Ubunto flavour.

One thing is missing to make it perfect for my particular application, and maybe someone out there can help.

I managed to install Ubuntu 13.10 32 bits from a USB drive created with Linux Live USB creator into another USB drive on my machine that does not have a Hard Drive on it ( the whole issue of using Navigatrix for me is to get rid og troublesome Hard Drives. Even a SSD broke recently ). The USB drive I am using as HD substiture is very small, resembling a wireless mouse transmitter, and it fits perfectly without overhanging parts.

When I decided that I would use Navigatrix instead of a regular Ubuntu, I decided to to the same, and Navigatrix Install to Hard Drive option does not allow me to do the installation to the other USB drive. It does allow to do that onto a SD card, which I did, working fine now, but I want to have the SD card free for pictures handling etc.

So, could someone help with a fix for this. Maybe I can achieve the result with some command line instructions.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
Luis
SY Green Nomad
http://www.greennomadsail.com

If I understand you correctly, the hard drive installer (ubiquity) doesn't understand that it a bootable device.

Using the Partition Editor (gparted) select a partition, right click> Manage Flags> Tick 'boot' and then close.

Fire up the installer and and see if that does the trick.

Or.... select "Something Else" and select the drive from the list.

Be careful where you put the boot loader.

(I just tried it with an unformatted 'scraped clean' external drive and "Something Else" does it in all instances as other methods require pre-conditions to be met.)

Hi Moe,

Thanks for taking the time to answer!

I just tried that and the fact is that I am using a 8Gb usb drive but the installer requests at least 8.6 Gb, so that must be the reason it does not work. I will try with a bigger USB drive to confirm that.

Should have paid more attention to the numbers, but I did not expect to need so much space.

I will inform you of thr results.

Thanks again,
Luis

Hi again,

Is there a way to manipulate that Harddisk Install Option in order to lower that 8.1 Gb limit? I really would like to use this very USB drive, as it is very compact and makes the computer mobile, with no risk of snags, and I cannot get a bigger capacity one of the same type in this small island.

It has the size of a wireless mouse transmitter.

Thanks,
Luis

Confirmed, If I use a 32 Gb USB drive the installer lets me use it. Sorry for missing the detail.

But still, if there is a way to use the 8 Gb one I would like to.

Thanks,
Luis

As we say, you can't put 2 tonnes of fertiliser in a one tonne truck.

Therefore your options are:

• You could unpack the ISO and squashfile; delete whatever you don't want/need; pack it back up and install...
• use it a LiveCD,
• ou dá-lo como um presente para um amigo

.

Thanks Moe,

I will keep the third option in mind.

Se um dia nos encontrarmos sera seu como presente.

Obrigado!

Ha ha!....if you want to get two tonnes of fertiliser on an 8GB stick...here's how:

N.B. I did this with the July Release....before the addition of (~50MB) German language packs. (I was 1/2 hour into it before I realised...and still the prospect of failure.)

Use the Partition Editor to create an EXT2 filesystem on the stick.

Open a terminal:

sudo mke2fs -b 1024 /dev/sdb1 ...because you know the location of that newly created partition.

This makes the block size 1KB rather than a default 4KB...smaller boxes for the gazillion tiny files.

Let it grind away.

When done, open the Hard Drive Installer and go to town. It squeezes in at 5.1GB leaving 2GB on an 8GB stick...because computers can't do maths.

Word of caution...be careful where you put your boot loader. I stuffed it up and had to verbally abuse the computer to fix it.

I did not test everything; but everything I tested works.

Hi Moe,
Thanks for that. I will try it.

Thanks for your help again.

All the best,
Luis

Hi Moe,

I just formatted the USB drive as you suggested, but the Harddisk install option still does not run past the 8.6Gb requirement. There must be a way to tweak that, so the installer will go ahead. Probably a way to invoke the installer from the command line.

I will keep trying.

Thanks,
Luis

I'm wondering if it worked, in my experiment, because I had the capacity in the machine (internal HD>8.6GB) and when I selected "Something Else" the installer didn't know I would pull a switcheroo...

It's just a guess. I'll give that a try at the end of the week.

On my live Navigatrix usb session, the only option that I get is clicking on the desktop icon for "hard disd install" or similar words, then a language selection screen and after that the screen telling me that the 8.6 Gb condition is not met. there is no "something else" option as on a regular ubuntu live session usb installer.

Maybe I am missing a way to acess this instalar from a different place than the desktop icon.

I will search for it better.

Thanks
,
Luis

No, you're not missing anything...except something larger than 8.6GB to get past this first test.

By chance, do you have 3 USB slots?

• LiveCD to install
• Your 32GB stick to fool the installer
• Your 8GB stick for installation.

If not, try your 32GB; to install the installer....and then execute ubiquity to install the ISO onto the 8GB.

...and you're saying to yourself, "I didn't know computers could be this much fun."

Hey Moe,

It is installing as I type.

The 3 USB slots did the trick.

I only miss not having the option to encrypt the whole disk when choosing "something else".

Will I loose a lot of speed having a 1kb allocation size instead of the default?

Because I have the feeling the installer would have let me use the USB drive with the default format. The only thing stopping must have been the arbitraty 8.6Gb limit. Maybe not.

When finished I will let you know of the results.

Today I spent the day having fun. Managed to make another computer using Ububtu Studio 13.10 to find my Edgeport USB to Serial converter. The trick was to copy the module file form Navigatrix, he he.

Then of course learning all the tricks on how to get to write into the lib/kernel/drives etc.

Thanks again,
Luis

I wondered about the 'speed' thing...and I really don't know.

There are +/- 180,000 files (+/- 260K files and directories) on a fresh install. A fair share of them are tiny and do not fill a 4K block. Making the blocks smaller just means less space is wasted.

Reading the small files is the same activity in 1K chunks or in 4K chunks. The only difference is when the file would be larger than 1K and require multiple reads.

...but you are not spinning a platter on hard drive so the 'seek' time is negligible.

But, I'm speculating, talking through my hat...I don't really know.

Never trust assumptions based on what you don't see, and be sceptical of assumptions based on what you do.

I'm also torn on the idea of a swap partition; size; dis/advantages, etc..

You can try a 'normal' format. It might work. What's the worse that could happen if it didn't? 1/2 hour spent getting an education?

Let us know.

Boa sorte.

Here is the result:

with the original formatting (the one I did using 1kb allocation blokcs) the Installation proceeded normally to hte end, but on restart the computer did not run. There was a message sasying giving upmwaiting for booth device.

I then re-run install and formatted the 8Gb USB drive in the file system suggested as default by the installer, and now it runs. Only 1.1Gb free, so I will see if there is some items I can get rid off inmorder to copy a CM93 folder to the USB drive and use it for some general computing also.

But it works. It seems faster than the SD card.

When I can I will get another USB of the same manufacturer (sandisk) and form with 16 Gb or more and I will have a really net and secure computer.

Obrigado outra vez pela sua ajuda.

Tenha um bom dia,
Luis

Update.

It works, so far the only problem is the file manager.

In the GUI the tree view shows the folders, but when you clik in one like documents, it says it was not possible to open etc.

In terminal with Dir command the folders are there. It looks the path was written wrong into the file manager GUI application.

I did not have time to look more into it Will do it later and try to find out what is wrong.

May try with a different file system format. What would be the best overall in your opinion?

Thanks,
Luis

When I have trouble accessing things through a GUI it's generally a permission problem.
Either I don't own the file, or I am not in the group that can access the data.Sometime the permission problems are with the client (e.g., pcmanfm) itself. It might not be aware you, as user, can do what you should be able.

And then sometimes something is just stuffed up. The command line generally barks back.

Even if it's trivial errors....Look at output of to see if all appears in order. This will give a long listing for your home directory.

It's a start....another filesystem would be the same. Difference between systems is taste, use and purpose. Armed conflict has not broken out between camps, but clashes tend to be personal.

Hi Moe,

I did the install again, but did not choose the option encript my home folder, and now all works. It was probably a permission issue. But I did notice that the previous installation had a nx on the path which was creating the problems, for example, home/green, which was the actual path, appeared on the GUI file manager as home/nx/green.

My drive has only 800 Mb free after installation, not enough for CM93 2011, so in the end I will use the SD card. Unless I could get rid of some 800 Mb of unnecessary things on Navigatrix, which I don't think I will be able to.

Thanks,
Luis