Hi,

dewaj <dewaj@???> writes:

> On Sun, 22 Dec 2024 17:10:48 +1100
> Steven D'Aprano <steve@???> wrote:
>
>> 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.
>>
>> 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 a Asus Mini-PC PN41 with Celeron N4500 CPU:
>>
>> https://www.asus.com/displays-desktops/mini-pcs/pn-series/mini-pc-pn41/]
>>
>> [.. BIOS fiddling elided ...]
>>
>> The only help the reseller can give me (they can barely spell Linux)
>> is to tell me that the USB stick must be formatted as FAT32.
>
> Windows is ntfs but the boot partition must be FAT32.
>
>> On another Linux box, the USB stick auto-mounts on /dev/sdd1 (but
>> not sdd2) and mount shows me this:
>>

>>     /dev/sdd1 on /run/media/stevend/Devuan 3.1 type iso9660
>> (ro,nosuid,nodev,relatime,nojoliet,check=s,map=n,blocksize=2048,uid=1001,gid=1001,dmode=500,fmode=400,uhelper=udisks2)

>>
>> Some additional details:
>>

>>     $ ls -l /dev/sdd*
>>     brw-rw----. 1 root disk 8, 48 Dec 22 12:41 /dev/sdd
>>     brw-rw----. 1 root disk 8, 49 Dec 22 12:41 /dev/sdd1
>>     brw-rw----. 1 root disk 8, 50 Dec 22 12:41 /dev/sdd2

>>

>>     $ sudo blkid /dev/sdd*
>>     /dev/sdd: UUID="2021-03-15-11-46-46-00" LABEL="Devuan 3.1"
>> TYPE="iso9660" PTUUID="361c3565" PTTYPE="dos" /dev/sdd1:
>> UUID="2021-03-15-11-46-46-00" LABEL="Devuan 3.1" TYPE="iso9660"
>> PTUUID="361c3565" PTTYPE="dos" PARTUUID="361c3565-01" /dev/sdd2:
>> SEC_TYPE="msdos" UUID="922C-067E" TYPE="vfat" PARTUUID="361c3565-02"

>
> That looks odd. If blkid is being honest, then there is
> something wrong with the partitioning.
>
> Why is there a ISO-9660 filesystem on /dev/sdd?
>
> Was an ISO CD/DVD image copied to the USB stick? And is it an image that
> can be used on a USB stick?
>
> if 'cp' was used to tranfer the image to the USB stick it will not
> work. For one thing, the stick must not be mounted when the image is
> created.

Minor correction, `cp` can be used to transfer the downloaded ISO image
to USB stick. I am using that almost exclusively for at least several
years (5+, 10 already, don't remember) now. It goes like this

sudo cp devuan_beowulf_3.1.1_i386_netinstall.iso /dev/sdX

where `X` corresponds to the USB stick. Probably `d` based on the info
above. Just make sure you use the right letter before hitting Enter.

That is, you have to copy it to the stick itself, not to some partition
on the stick, not to a file in a mounted filesystem, to the stick *as a
whole*. Yes, this will clobber anything that was on it.

Side note, you should probably use the current stable release. That's
daedalus. The beowulf release is nearing end-of-life and, IIRC, it's
Debian upstream has reached that already.
I think Anthony Stone mentioned this as well.

> Use 'dd', balena etcher, rufus, linuxlive usb creator,or another util to
> create a bootable disk image.
>
> If 'dd' is chosen, then try:
>
> sudo dd if=devuan-netinstall-blah.iso of=/dev/sdd bs=1M status=progress

These will of course work as well but why bother installing extra stuff
if `cp` (or `dd`) will do the job just fine.

> [...]

Hope this helps,
--
Olaf Meeuwissen