Anyone familiar with a package called "Respin"

[dcihon]

I am playing around with this package too see what it can do.
I have been able to create an .iso file with it that works in a Virtualbox but I cannot get the .iso to work as a bootable usb.
Thanks for any help.
I have tried dd and unetbootin

[arochester]

What release of Debian are you using?

Unetbootin is not recommended. Look at e.g. http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=122878 Scroll down to Head_on_a_Stick's post.

What is your ISO named? What DD command did you use?

Etcher might work, rather then Unetbootin.

[Dai_trying]

Another thing to check as it appears to cropping up more often is whether you are using UEFI to boot or standard MBR, this can cause many issues if the iso does not support UEFI properly. By default VB uses MBR so it would be the first thing I would check.

[dcihon]

Debian Version is testing.

ISO is named: custom-live.iso

DD command: dd bs=4M if=custom-live.iso of=/dev/sdb status=progress && sync

I will try your suggestions and then post back here the results.

[dcihon]

I tried using Etcher and it created the Flash drive but I still cannot boot to it.
I think the problem might be with the respin ISO.
I need to do some investigating on respin. Possible that my ISO is not have bootable files in it or something like that.

As far as UEFI is concerned. I am booting in legacy mode so it should see the USB when starting to boot.

I'll post more as I learn more about this.

[Dai_trying]

As far as UEFI is concerned. I am booting in legacy mode so it should see the USB when starting to boot.

If you have enabled legacy mode you might still need to access the boot menu (F12 usually) to select the system (USB) to boot into.

[dcihon]

Yeah that is what I do and I don't see USB.

[Dai_trying]

of course you will need to ensure booting from usb is also enabled.

Sorry if I'm stating the obvious...

[dcihon]

Ok here is where I am at:

I used refracta tools refractasnapshot to create the iso.
I used Etcher to create the USB.
That worked.
I was able to create the iso and boot from the USB.
Also using the refractainstaller was able to install from the USB and create a working system.
Goal accomplished.

But to my Respin problem.

I have now confirmed the problem is not with making the USB it is making the ISO with respin that is not making a bootable system.
Now to figure out what I am doing wrong with respin.
Thanks for everyones help so far.

Just so you know and I know I will get criticism for what I am doing but I am learning things in the process.
I am doing this to make my own distro. An experiment for me. I don't know that I will ever do anything with it but it will be mine.

It will based on Debian "testing".
Using MATE as its DE. (I like it for its simplicity and you can customize it)
This is the fun stuff that I like in my distro:
I will be using compiz and emerald. (I like to play with different themes and I like wobbly windows)
I will be using Variety as a wallpaper changer.
I will be using libreoffice
I haven't decided on a music player yet but am leaning to Clementine for that.
Browsers will be Firefox and Pale Moon
gscan2pdf
Shotwell
Virtualbox will be installed by default
The following might be installed I haven't decided yet
Teamviewer
It will work with iPhones to backup your pictures.
Remmina

So that is my project so far.
Note: comments appreciated.
And thanks to all of those here who have helped getting some of these things working for me.

[orythem27]

Firstly, make sure the iso is actually hybrid. See http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions ... ost5395503

Yeah that is what I do and I don't see USB.

Secondly, your description is not clear enough. Let's confirm some details by making choices:

Which of the following is the case?
A) Your BIOS provide a menu with bootable devices (presumably after pressing F[1-12]) and you couldn't see the USB disk in it;
B) You could see the USB disk in the boot menu, but saw something like 'Unable to boot from device XXX...' after choosing it;
C) You selected USB as the first boot device. Upon reboot it just booted from hard disk(which comes latter in the boot sequence).

[dcihon]

Sorry we crossed posted.
See my post above.
Thanks

[stevepusser]

Why would anyone have an issue with you making your own respin of Debian? I've made respins myself of MX Linux, which has its own "snapshot" tool with a choice of backing up your own install, or creating a generic remaster. I've put them up for public download, and received a lot of compliments about them.

I plan on having a Stretch repository for Pale Moon when the build service adds it, though the Jessie package works just fine in Stretch.

If you have a generic remaster, perhaps you could put your iso up for download so some of us others can see if we can find out what's keeping it from booting. Some systems are quirky with USBs, and need a timeout during the boot.

[dcihon]

Thanks for the words of encouragement.
I just know I don't know everything that I am talking about all the time and learning as I go.
I will find a place to put my iso so others can take a look at it.
I will make one with refracta and one with respin, maybe we can figure out what is missing from respin.
Thanks

[stevepusser]

Archive.org is a good place to upload an ISO with associated files. You should upload a sha256 or sha512 file at the same time, so the downloader can verify the hash of their download with the original. That site also automatically creates a torrent, plus supports zsync, so if you do upgrades of the ISO, and the user has an earlier version, they can use a zsync file you've uploaded with the ISO to just download the changes between the two ISO files and create the new one. That saves a lot of bandwidth.

To use, install zsync.

To create the zsync file:

Code: Select all

zsyncmake -e <file>

To use:

Code: Select all

zsync -i <old-file> <downloaded zsync file or its URL on the server, change to http if https)

[dcihon]

It might take me a couple of days to get the iso where I want it for upload.
To reset some config files to defaults.
I'll let you know when I have done it.

[dcihon]

OK here is the links to my iso's:

https://archive.org/details/refracta
https://archive.org/details/respin

This time for some reason I was able to make USB installs of both of them.
So I think my problem is not a problem anymore.

I have a lot of modifications to make to make this my own.
I want to do some branding of wallpaper and logo of some kind.
I need to write up some how to's for some of the packages like compiz and emerald so you can have themes or figure out how to include some in the iso's.
I am happy though with my first attempt at what I wanted.

If you decide to test it out let me know some things you would suggest I do since I am new to this iso making.
Thanks
Dan

[stevepusser]

There are Debian repositories for compiz-reloaded at tuxfamily.org, if you want to use those for your respins. We ported the packages over to the MX Linux repos and they work well. https://compiz-debian.tuxfamily.org/

In fact, many of your default package inclusions mirror what we decided for MX. MX also has a homebrewed remastering application, which is what I have used for my own respins.