Sun, 22 Dec 2024 17:10:48 +1100 - Steven D'Aprano <steve@???>:

> Hi,
>
> First time Devuan user here, I have some limited experience with Linux
> but I am out of practice, so please excuse any silly questions or
> errors.

Hi Steven
Welcome to Devuan-land :-)

> Executive summary:
>
> I am trying to install Devuan Beoulf on an Asus Mini-PC that will only
> boot from a USB stick formatted as FAT32, please help me.
>
> I have installed the devuan_beowulf_3.1.1_i386_netinstall.iso image onto
> a USB stick, and verified the SHA256 checksum is correct.
>
> [...]


I have an Asus Vivo PC VM42, which I installed some time ago (using Devuan
Daedalus) without any problem.


First of all, check all the BIOS settings. In my Asus Vivo I have set:

- In the ‘Boot’ menu, be sure ‘Fast Boot’ is set to ‘Enabled’ (this is to
boot faster) and ‘Fast boot - USB support’ is set on ‘Full Initialization’
(this is to enable using a USB memory stick for the system installation).

But your Asus machine might have a different BIOS or different settings...


Then, you should be sure about the ISO image and the USB media.

Here below my notes about the install media preparation:

- Open a terminal in a Linux machine, and cd to a "dedicated" directory
(say ~/AsusDevuan):
$ cd ~/AsusDevuan

- Download Devuan 5.0.1 Daedalus netinst hybrid ISO
(key fingerprint: 6199 33B4 CD8A 9740 8A3C 47E2 680B 5A1F 661E CDBC):

$ wget
https://files.devuan.org/devuan_daedalus/installer-iso/devuan_daedalus_5.0.1_amd64_netinstall.iso

$ wget https://files.devuan.org/devuan_daedalus/installer-iso/SHA256SUMS.txt

$ wget
https://files.devuan.org/devuan_daedalus/installer-iso/SHA256SUMS.txt.asc

- Do the checks:

$ gpg --verify SHA256SUMS.txt.asc SHA256SUMS.txt

output should show "Good signature from ..." with primary key fingerprint:
6199 33B4 CD8A 9740 8A3C 47E2 680B 5A1F 661E CDBC

$ sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS.txt

output should show:
devuan_daedalus_5.0.1_amd64_netinstall.iso: OK


- Dump the netinst hybrid ISO on a clean USB drive:

Be sure about where you are:

$ cd ~/AsusDevuan

Put in the USB stick. Then you can use df or lsblk (or a graphical tool like
gnome-disks) to identify the device where in /dev/ the USB drive is.

Say /dev/sd<X> is the device where the USB drive is plugged --

CAUTION:
The following dd command will completely wipe out all data in
/dev/sd<X>!!! So double-check the /dev/sd<X> is the right device where the
USB drive is plugged!!!

Run the following, replacing /dev/sd<X> with the actual path (DOUBLE
CHECK AGAIN!!!).

$ dd if=dd if=./devuan_daedalus_5.0.1_amd64_netinstall.iso
of=/dev/sd<X> bs=1024 conv=sync && sync $ sudo eject /dev/sd<X>

- Try to boot...

In a USB 3.0 port of the Asus, plug the USB stick containing the bootable
netinst hybrid ISO.

Remember to provide a Internet connection by connecting the system through an
Ethernet cable.

Then to turn my Asus Vivo I did the following (but your Asus could be
different!!!):

- turn the system ON entering BIOS; go to the ‘Boot’ menu and:

- change BIOS setting for ‘USB support’ to ‘Full Initialization’.

- Look at the ‘Boot override’ section and select the item corresponding to
the USB stick containing the bootable netinst hybrid ISO: the system should
reboot running the Devuan installer.


Regards
alexus


--
The only way humans have learned to survive brings them to extinction.
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Public GPG/PGP key: 8FC2 3121 2803 86E9 F7D8 B624 DA50 835B 2624 A36B