Running SR6.1 on Linux. Correct procedure?

[ThePythonicCow]

For the record, in case someone else finds something here worth pursuing further, the 32 and 64 bit ELF executable's in Easy2Boot's Linux variant are apparently recompilations of Tinybit's bootlace and UltraDefrag's udefrag. Both are open or public source, with variants discoverable with easy Web searches, and have been around for perhaps 10 or 15 years.

Bootlace installs grub4dos to a MBR or PBR (Master or Partition Boot Record), and udefrag defragments files on over a dozen file system types. Creating such bootable images for CD's and USB thumb drives requires writing such boot records, and will require having the data in certain bootable file images on the drive to be contiguous (a single extent, hence defrag'd).

I've wandered too far off the topic of this thread, and too far off the tasks I should be doing. So I should stop looking into Easy2Boot on Linux now.

 

[xplora1a]

I'm not a technical person, I only know the basics. My only computer is an AMD Ryzen laptop running Linux Opensuse Tumbleweed. It has no dual boot and no Windows. Earlier I was able to get ReadSpeed running on my laptop using the ReadSpeed image ISO and Legacy mode. I have downloaded sr61.exe onto my laptop. Here's my guess at the steps to get SR6.1 running on my system:

* Use a Linux based Image Burning Tool to convert sr61.exe to an image ISO.
* Use a Linux based Image Burner to burn this image ISO onto a USB drive.
* Change my boot mode to "Legacy".
* Turn off laptop and insert USB drive. Then power on and hit key to trigger boot from USB.
* SR6.1 starts up and I'm all set.

Am I missing something? Anything incorrect?

UPDATE: I ran the above steps and didn't work. Just got a black screen with a single flashing cursor. Anyone have a link to the correct steps to do this? Can only Steve G successfully convert his sr61.exe file into an ISO image that's bootable?

If you get one of the release candidate releases, then these are DOS executables, so with an DOS image on an ISO you can boot into DOS and then run the .exe dos program while Steve gets the direct iso image sorted on his side.

 

[m3110w]

If you get one of the release candidate releases, then these are DOS executables, so with an DOS image on an ISO you can boot into DOS and then run the .exe dos program while Steve gets the direct iso image sorted on his side.

I was able to borrow a Windows computer and create some bootable SR6.1 USB drives. I'm all set.

 

[Steve]

I am currently working to create an ".IMG" file that can simply be transferred (with 'dd' or Ubuntu's writing tool) to ANY USB thumb drive and then booted. That will be online soon.

 

[DaveQB]

I am currently working to create an ".IMG" file that can simply be transferred (with 'dd' or Ubuntu's writing tool) to ANY USB thumb drive and then booted. That will be online soon.

Just a quick question one on this. The now downloadable IMG file, does this contain a partition table (and thus should be written to the USB drive entirely) or is it a partition (and thus written to an existing partition)?

Thanks again for all of the fantastic work you do Steve (utils, Spinrite and Security Now).

 

[ColbyBouma]

The now downloadable IMG file, does this contain a partition table (and thus should be written to the USB drive entirely) or is it a partition (and thus written to an existing partition)?

It should be written to the drive. Something like:

sudo dd if=spinrite.img of=/dev/sdb

Make SURE sdb is your USB drive! dd will happily overwrite any drive you tell it to.

 

[0x6A7232]

It should be written to the drive. Something like:

sudo dd if=spinrite.img of=/dev/sdb

Make SURE sdb is your USB drive! dd will happily overwrite any drive you tell it to.

You can check your current layout with

lsblk

- keep in mind your layout may change between boots, so be sure to check each time before using dd.

Alternatively pull up GParted and look at the drives in the drop-down at the top right.

 

[0x6A7232]

I forgot to add: IIRC Easy2Boot uses imgptn files or somesuch. You may be able to use the .img file as a drop-in for E2B, or be able to with some small bit of work.

Then you won't have to have a dedicated flash drive containing only SR.