How To: Run SpinRite on a UEFI-only machine (Part 3A of 5 - Linux as base OS)

[PotatoCakes]

Hi @Scott ,
Thank you for these directions.

I had a couple of questions for you:
1. Was there anything special about Kubuntu that led you to use it?
2. What is the significance of setting the Persistent Partition Size to at least 12 GB, when VirtualBox only requires ~300MB?

Like @pakal , I've been enjoying tinkering with Linux. I created a streamlined guide for preparing a UEFI-only USB drive based on your work here that can use a smaller USB drive because it uses smaller Linux distro, which surprisingly also has wider hardware support than kubuntu in my tests.

 

[Scott]

I had a couple of questions for you:
1. Was there anything special about Kubuntu that led you to use it?
2. What is the significance of setting the Persistent Partition Size to at least 12 GB, when VirtualBox only requires ~300MB?

1. I was used to Debian based distros and I thought Kubuntu had the most intuitive UI. Additionally the persistent partition setup from Rufus doesn’t work with every distro’s Live CD, but it does with Ubuntu and its offshoots.
2. The persistent partition also holds OS updates in addition to installed apps.

 

[PotatoCakes]

Thanks for your response, @Scott. I was going to post my Linux-only setup guide, but the lack of markdown and text formatting support here really made me second guess the ROI on reformatting my notes.

The TLDR is that I found the ParrotOS Live Home ISO to be smaller than Kubuntu (2.4GB vs 4.4GB) and seems to have wider hardware support, enabling the possibility of doing more with less. ParrotOS also published a helpful illustrated Persistent partition guide, which eliminates the need for a Windows PC and Rufus and covers pretty much the first half of the operation. Most of the remaining steps are the same. ParrotOS's MATE Desktop Environment has a few minor differences that cut out several extra steps that kubuntu seems to require and you don't have to upgrade all of the packages to get it operational.

In my testing, I was able to do everything from an 8GB thumb drive, although the recommendation to use a proper SSD makes a lot of sense from a speed perspective. All told, my ISO partition only needed 2.4GB and my persistence partition only needed 592MB. It wasn't until I upgraded all of the packages that my persistence partition needs ballooned up to 2.4GB and I really felt the pain of operating off of a thumb drive.

I tried several other lightweight distros (PuppyLinux, DSL, Q4OS Aquarius, Trinity (1GB), antiX-base (1.2GB), Bodhi Linux (1.3GB), Q4OS Aquarius, Plasma (1.4GB), Peppermint OS (1.5GB), MX Linux (2.1GB)) and found ParrotOS had the best range of hardware support (particularly WiFi, but also as it relates to actually booting).

I had initially tried to do everything from the CLI, but ran into complications with the ISOHYBRID ISO format, which seemed to cause problems when manually-configuring partition tables. I noticed the dus app encounters many of the same errors I did, but it somehow gets everything working.

I hope this helps.

 

[PHolder]

post my Linux-only setup guide

Github handles markdown, and you can create an account there to host content. Post it there, then post a link to that here...

 

[pakal]

Thanks for your response, @Scott. I was going to post my Linux-only setup guide, but the lack of markdown and text formatting support here really made me second guess the ROI on reformatting my notes.

The TLDR is that I found the ParrotOS Live Home ISO to be smaller than Kubuntu (2.4GB vs 4.4GB) and seems to have wider hardware support, enabling the possibility of doing more with less. ParrotOS also published a helpful illustrated Persistent partition guide, which eliminates the need for a Windows PC and Rufus and covers pretty much the first half of the operation. Most of the remaining steps are the same. ParrotOS's MATE Desktop Environment has a few minor differences that cut out several extra steps that kubuntu seems to require and you don't have to upgrade all of the packages to get it operational.

In my testing, I was able to do everything from an 8GB thumb drive, although the recommendation to use a proper SSD makes a lot of sense from a speed perspective. All told, my ISO partition only needed 2.4GB and my persistence partition only needed 592MB. It wasn't until I upgraded all of the packages that my persistence partition needs ballooned up to 2.4GB and I really felt the pain of operating off of a thumb drive.

I tried several other lightweight distros (PuppyLinux, DSL, Q4OS Aquarius, Trinity (1GB), antiX-base (1.2GB), Bodhi Linux (1.3GB), Q4OS Aquarius, Plasma (1.4GB), Peppermint OS (1.5GB), MX Linux (2.1GB)) and found ParrotOS had the best range of hardware support (particularly WiFi, but also as it relates to actually booting).

I had initially tried to do everything from the CLI, but ran into complications with the ISOHYBRID ISO format, which seemed to cause problems when manually-configuring partition tables. I noticed the dus app encounters many of the same errors I did, but it somehow gets everything working.

I hope this helps.

Hi @PotatoCakes:
I am very interested in seeing your "Linux-only setup guide", hopefully I can deal with the formating issue, if you have not already posted it on Github. Thanks.

 

[msquared6]

Thank you for these instructions. I think I found a new way to mess them up.

BLUF: Where can I read about resetting/changing MOK keys?

On a UEFI Dell Latitude I got as far as the MOK key step. kubuntu no longer gets to the desktop - it starts, and then hangs with a _ cursor forlornly blinking upper left in the screen and the pointer showing, and that's it.

• The window provided for the MOK key entry confused me and I may have inserted a tab in my key trying to get in that window (there is no feedback showing you are typing in that window) and thus it could be my MOK key in kubuntu doesn't match what is in the BIOS.
• the kubuntu does boot another non-UEFI machine (a Lenovo), and while it didn't remember the WiFi, it did show the correct language and time zone. So maybe I don't have to start from scratch?

I think maybe kubuntu on the Dell now is blocked from the screen drivers by the wrong MOK key? And I have a bad MOK key in the BIOS now. So the question is, where to go from here? Have I assessed the situation correctly? Questions are:

• Do I just start over completely? But what happens to the key int he BIOS? Is that still a problem?
• Do I try to wipe the MOK keys? But then I'd lose windows, too?
• Can I wipe/change the MOK key in the kubuntu?

And meanwhile, it seems from reading above, I could just go ahead and install Virtualbox & spinrite using the Lenovo that does boot. Thankfully I have done a fair amount of setup of Virtualbox VMs and Guest additions.

 

[Scott]

Thank you for these instructions. I think I found a new way to mess them up.

BLUF: Where can I read about resetting/changing MOK keys?

The short answer is, I don’t know. It worked for me on 4 different systems and that’s the extent of my system inventory.

If you’re unable to proceed with VirtualBox you can check out the instructions for QEMU that I wrote up for Apple silicon and try and adapt them for kubuntu

 

[msquared6]

The short answer is, I don’t know. It worked for me on 4 different systems and that’s the extent of my system inventory.

If you’re unable to proceed with VirtualBox you can check out the instructions for QEMU that I wrote up for Apple silicon and try and adapt them for kubuntu

Well this is very interesting. Today, after the laptop I was trying to get going as the drive examination machine (and which wouldn't boot kubuntu yesterday) booted just fine this morning after being fully shut down last night. What draining capacitors might have to do with this stumps me. Spinrite is now running and confirming bad sectors on a drive I was suspicious about.