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User:Pnoecker/Undead USB Install
A linux nomadbsd alternative
This is an install strategy to target a USB flash stick as / instead of a traditional hard drive or internal solid state drive. this isn't a live cd, this is a persistent root funtoo install that changes will keep living on. Since were treating a USB stick as a root partition, it requires much more space than a live usb like area31. 32gb minimum for gnome, 16gb are ok for xfce, lxde, lxqt, & server only type builds. get a fast usb3 drive even if you don't have usb3 ports as the flash memory on them is much faster than the flash memory on usb2 keys which will improve usability.
- List the device to be partitioned, mine is on /dev/sdc
root # lsblk -o name,size,label,partlabel
root # cgdisk /dev/sdc
Command: o ↵ This option deletes all partitions and creates a new protective MBR. Proceed? (Y/N): y ↵
Command: n ↵ Partition Number: 1 ↵ First sector: ↵ Last sector: +1M ↵ Hex Code: EF02 ↵ Command: c ↵ Partition number: 1 Enter name: BIOS Boot
Command: n ↵ Partition Number: 2 ↵ First sector: ↵ Last sector: +128M ↵ Hex Code: EF00 ↵ Command: c ↵ Partition number: 2 Enter name: BOOT
Command: n ↵ Partition Number: 3 ↵ First sector: ↵ Last sector: ↵ Hex Code: ↵ Command: c ↵ Partition number: 3 Enter name: FUNTOO
Command: w ↵ Do you want to proceed? (Y/N): Y ↵
root # mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sdc2 root # fatlabel /dev/sdc2 "BOOT"
root # mkfs.jfs /dev/sdc3 root # jfs_tune -L "FUNTOO" /dev/sdc3
root # mount /dev/sdc3 /mnt/funtoo root # mkdir /mnt/funtoo/boot root # mount /dev/sdc2 /mnt/funtoo/boot
You can pull your Subarches gnome tarball if you're installing to specific hardware, not moving the disk between systems, or installing to a SSD/nvme. Use generic 64 so your USB os can roam on strange hardware.
root # cd /mnt/funtoo root # wget https://build.funtoo.org/1.4-release-std/x86-64bit/generic_64/gnome-latest.tar.xz root # tar --numeric-owner -xpf *gnome* && rm -f *gnome*
- expand your run tmpfs to be half of your ram:
root # mount -t tmpfs tmpfs /run
- mount up:
root # cd /mnt/funtoo && mount -t proc none proc mount --rbind /sys sys mount --rbind /dev dev mount --rbind /run run
- chroot in:
root # cd /mnt/funtoo && env -i HOME=/root TERM=$TERM chroot . bash -l
- Set yo password:
- set cloudflare dns resolution for installing:
- Set yo time zone:
root # passwd root # echo "nameserver 1.1.1.1" > /etc/resolv.conf root # ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Detroit /etc/localtime
- Deploy your fstab:
root # cat > /etc/fstab << "EOF" LABEL=BOOT /boot vfat noauto,noatime 1 2 LABEL=FUNTOO / jfs noatime 0 1 tmpfs /run tmpfs rw,nodev,nosuid 0 0 EOF
- compile in ram:
root # echo 'PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/run"' > /etc/portage/make.conf
- set the host name:
- merge stuff:
root # echo 'hostname="undead"' > /etc/conf.d/hostname root # ego sync && emerge jfsutils grub haveged linux-firmware eix discord-bin firefox-bin media-fonts/noto
you can also install Package:Brave or other browsers.
- funtoo's official chat:
- Set your startup services:
root # rc-update del swap boot && rc-update add haveged && rc-update add gpm && rc-update add busybox-ntpd
- Install grub in legacy mode:
root # grub-install /dev/sdc root # ego boot update
- manually mount efi & install efi images:
root # mkdir /boot/efi root # mount /dev/sdc2 /boot/efi root # grub-install --target=x86_64-efi /boot/efi
this produces a hybrid GPT boot that will boot on legacy computers, and uefi computers when secure boot is disabled in bios.
Now is a good time to install Package:Fchroot so you can install to raspberry pi's from your undead media when you reboot into it.
final install size is around 14,500MB gnome can fit in a 16gb usb stick, but it's a tight squeeze and unix file systems degrade in performance at around 80%-90% full. 32gb keys are good, 64gb are excellent, 128gb keys can emerge the world.
rebuild the kernel video drivers modules.
root # emerge -1 x11-drivers/nvidia-kernel-modules
DONE!
If you used a generic stage3 now would be a good time to merge in a DE: Install/Stage3_Desktop
When you boot into your new system use nmtui to setup networking:
root # nmtui
to not run nvidia:
root # ego profile mix-in gfxcard-nouveau root # ego profile mix-in -gfxcard-nvidia
remove the nouveau blacklist so it grabs the screen.
root # rm /etc/modprobe.d/nouveau* root # rm /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia*
If you're having problems with nouveau not playing sound over HDMI restart pulse audio:
root # pkill pulseaudio
The magic words to update:
root # emerge -avuND @world root # emerge -av --depclean root # ego boot update
every so often you will want to purge sources to keep the stick as low memory usage as possible
root # rm /var/cache/portage/distfiles/*.tar.bz2 root # rm /var/cache/portage/distfiles/*.tar.xz root # rm /var/cache/portage/distfiles/*.tar.gz
further securing
i use Package:Sudo, and disable root login.
i use Package:Dnsmasq to block advertising, and cache DNS traffic to accelerate web browsing.
i use Package:Dnscrypt to encrypt all dns requests so the vast majority of the web traffic from my undead usb is encrypted.
Admining
use Package:Eix to browse portage to see packages you can emerge.
use Package:Eselect to set various system options.
Branding
root # echo "www.funtoo.org" > /etc/motd
add fortunes piped through cowsay to the shells
root # emerge fortune-mod cowsay root # cd && echo "fortune | cowsay" >> .bashrc
Disable DPMS
dpms disrespects screen blanking settings, so you can't watch movies in VLC without the screen turning off.
root # xset s off -dpms
root # cat > /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-monitor.conf << "EOF" Section "Extensions" Option "DPMS" "Disable" EndSection EOF
Alternate Drives
avoid adding fstab entries for drives that will not be present on other computers. JFS will mount read only if fsck fails!
I have a jfs home drive labeled HOME. This is the fstab entry to have funtoo use my rotating hard drive as /home
root # echo "LABEL=HOME /home jfs noatime 0 2" >> /etc/fstab
Swapping by file
For a swap file on $HOME:
root # dd if=/dev/zero of=/home/swapfile bs=1M count=4096 status=progress chmod 600 /home/swapfile mkswap /home/swapfile swapon /home/swapfile echo "/home/swapfile none swap defaults 0 0" >> /etc/fstab rc-update add swap boot echo 'rc_need="localmount"' >> /etc/conf.d/swap
For a swap file on $VAR:
root # dd if=/dev/zero of=/var/swapfile bs=1M count=4096 status=progress chmod 600 /var/swapfile mkswap /var/swapfile swapon /var/swapfile echo "/var/swapfile none swap defaults 0 0" >> /etc/fstab rc-update add swap boot echo 'rc_need="localmount"' >> /etc/conf.d/swap
windows 10 utc
if you're running ntp on undead usb you will want to set any dual booting windows clocks to be universal. in an administrator run command prompt run this:
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\TimeZoneInformation" /v RealTimeIsUniversal /d 1 /t REG_QWORD /f
Remote Help
Package:Logmein-hamachi is a easy to setup VPN allowing friends easy access to SSH should you run into trouble.
Install Video
coming soon.