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Sorry for the delay, have still been testing and fixing tiny bugs and errors, grammatical and syntax stuff. Doesn't look like anybody much is interested except my buddy Altoid, lol, but that's allright, it works great for me.
@Altoid: protocol:
Install Mintstick from the repo. Its a GUI app, so i'm not sure what you mean by "cmd line version"?
Plug in a USB stick.
Run the "USB Stick Formatter" component of Minstick from menu.
Run the "USB Image Writer" component of Mintstick from menu using any good iso (Vuu-do is a good 'un
)
Run the Fatstick script.
I'm setting it up as a GUI app to be run from the menu with a .desktop added in /usr/share/applications, but for testing purposes running in a terminal will do.
I don't use sudo at all, I su-to-root to run admin tasks, so if you run the script that way, it will give you some chiding about running GUI apps as root, ignore that. But I am curious if you use sudo in terminal to launch it, if it will give those same warnings.
There's a ton of comments in the script, sorry but don't laugh at me, i'm old and I need 'em for easy reference as to what the heck i've done sometimes.
Script, save as "fatstick" and make executable:
#!/bin/bash
# This script is intended for use immediately after using Mintstick to create a
# liveUSB, it creates a 2nd partition for data in FAT32 on the remainder of the
# stick, i.e. if you have a 32 gig stick with a 4 gig iso on it, the script will
# create a 28 gig "DATA" partition in the empty space that follows the iso.
# Copyleft greenjeans 2025, use as you see fit.
# This is free software with NO WARRANTY, use at your own risk!
# Trap to ensure progress dialog is killed on script exit
trap 'kill $PROGRESS_PID 2>/dev/null' EXIT
# Function to display error dialog
error_dialog() {
local error_message="$1"
kill $PROGRESS_PID 2>/dev/null
yad --center --borders=20 --fixed --window-icon=error --title="Error" \
--height=150 --button="OK:0" \
--text="$error_message"
exit 1
}
# Must run with root privileges
if [ "$EUID" -ne 0 ]; then
error_dialog "This script must be run as root (use sudo or su)."
fi
# Display initial dialog
yad --center --borders=20 --title="Fatstick" --window-icon=drive-removable-media \
--fixed --height=325 --button="OK:0" --button="Cancel:1" \
--text="This utility is for use on an existing liveUSB that is using an ISO-9660 filesystem
that takes up the entire stick, i.e. the type made by the Mintstick image writer.
If there is space after the iso, this will create a secondary data partition with
a FAT32 filesystem (for maximum compatibility with all operating systems)
and label it 'DATA'. WARNING: If the stick has existing secondary partition(s),
the utility will overwrite them and you will lose any data stored on them.
Please ensure there is only one liveUSB with an ISO-9660 filesystem plugged
into your computer before using this utility or it will error out and close.
If you have not already plugged in a liveUSB, do so now before continuing.
Click 'OK' to proceed or 'Cancel' to abort."
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
exit 0
fi
# Start progress dialog in the background
yad --window-icon=drive-removable-media --progress --progress-text="working..." \
--no-buttons --fixed --borders=20 --center --pulsate --width=400 --auto-close \
--title="Creating new partition" &
PROGRESS_PID=$!
# Check for multiple USBs with iso9660 filesystems
ISO_COUNT=$(blkid -o device -t TYPE=iso9660 | wc -l)
if [ "$ISO_COUNT" -gt 1 ]; then
error_dialog "Multiple USB devices with ISO-9660 filesystems detected.\n\nPlease unplug all but one USB device with an ISO-9660 filesystem and try again.\n\nRun 'blkid -o list' to identify connected devices."
elif [ "$ISO_COUNT" -eq 0 ]; then
error_dialog "No USB with ISO-9660 filesystem found.\n\nRun 'lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,LABEL' and 'blkid' to diagnose."
fi
# Find the USB device with an iso9660 filesystem (Mintstick’s LiveUSB)
USB_PART=$(blkid -o device -t TYPE=iso9660 | head -n 1)
if [ -n "$USB_PART" ]; then
USB_DEV=$(echo "$USB_PART" | sed 's/[0-9]*$//')
fi
# Fallback to lsblk if blkid fails
if [ -z "$USB_DEV" ]; then
USB_PART=$(lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE | grep iso9660 | awk '{print $1}' | head -n 1)
USB_DEV=$(echo "$USB_PART" | sed 's/[0-9]*$//' | head -n 1)
USB_DEV="/dev/${USB_DEV}"
fi
if [ -z "$USB_DEV" ] || [ ! -b "$USB_DEV" ]; then
error_dialog "No USB with ISO-9660 filesystem found.\n\nRun 'lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,LABEL' and 'blkid' to diagnose."
fi
# Unmount any mounted partitions on the USB
umount "${USB_DEV}"* 2>/dev/null
# Get the partition table and disk info
FDISK_OUT=$(fdisk -l "$USB_DEV" 2>/dev/null)
if [ -z "$FDISK_OUT" ]; then
error_dialog "Failed to read disk info with fdisk."
fi
# Extract the end sector of the iso9660 partition
ISO_END=$(echo "$FDISK_OUT" | grep "^${USB_PART}" | awk '{print $4}')
if [ -z "$ISO_END" ]; then
error_dialog "Could not determine end sector of iso9660 partition."
fi
# Extract total sectors
TOTAL_SECTORS=$(echo "$FDISK_OUT" | grep "^Disk $USB_DEV" | grep -o '[0-9]\+ sectors' | awk '{print $1}')
if [ -z "$TOTAL_SECTORS" ]; then
error_dialog "Could not determine total disk sectors."
fi
# Calculate start and size of the new partition
PART_START=$((ISO_END + 1))
PART_SIZE=$((TOTAL_SECTORS - PART_START))
# Check space (needs at least 1 MB = 2048 sectors)
if [ "$PART_SIZE" -lt 2048 ]; then
error_dialog "Not enough free space to create a new partition (need at least 1 MB)."
fi
# Proactively wipe ISO-9660 signatures to prevent Gparted detection issues
wipefs -a -t iso9660 "$USB_DEV" 2>/dev/null || {
error_dialog "Failed to wipe ISO-9660 signatures on $USB_DEV."
}
# Remove any existing secondary partitions
sfdisk --delete "$USB_DEV" 2 2>/dev/null
# Create a new partition using sfdisk
echo "start=$PART_START, size=$PART_SIZE, type=c" | sfdisk --append "$USB_DEV"
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
error_dialog "Failed to create partition on $USB_DEV."
fi
# Check if the new partition was created
NEW_PART="${USB_DEV}2"
if [ ! -b "$NEW_PART" ]; then
error_dialog "Failed to create partition $NEW_PART."
fi
# Refresh the partition table and wait for kernel to recognize new partition
partprobe "$USB_DEV"
sleep 2 # Give kernel time to update device nodes
for i in {1..3}; do
if [ -b "$NEW_PART" ]; then
break
fi
sleep 1
done
if [ ! -b "$NEW_PART" ]; then
error_dialog "New partition $NEW_PART not detected by kernel."
fi
# Format the new partition as FAT32
mkfs.vfat -n "DATA" "$NEW_PART" 2>/dev/null
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
error_dialog "Failed to format $NEW_PART as FAT32."
fi
# Verification of FAT32, 3 tries
for i in {1..3}; do
if blkid -o device -t TYPE=vfat | grep "$NEW_PART" >/dev/null; then
break
fi
sleep 1
done
if ! blkid -o device -t TYPE=vfat | grep "$NEW_PART" >/dev/null; then
error_dialog "Could not verify FAT32 filesystem on $NEW_PART, but partition was created.\n\nCheck with 'lsblk -o NAME,FSTYPE,LABEL'."
fi
# Close progress dialog before showing success dialog
kill $PROGRESS_PID 2>/dev/null
# Display success dialog
yad --center --borders=20 --timeout=5 --fixed --height=100 \
--window-icon=drive-removable-media --no-buttons --title="Fatstick" \
--text="Success! New partition $NEW_PART created with FAT32 filesystem, labeled 'DATA'."EDIT: here's the .desktop i'm using on my machine:
[Desktop Entry]
Name=Fatstick
Comment=Create a FAT32 data partition on a liveUSB
Exec=gksu.sh /usr/local/bin/fatstick
Type=Application
Icon=drive-removable-media
Terminal=false
Categories=Utility;'kits in excalibur desktop-live iso.
Ahh, so lxpolkit. Was thinking about trying that in my Openbox stuff, but the mate-polkit dropped right in without any extra configging for the most part. I did have to go in and delete the current ~/.config/dconf/user file to stop some errors in .xsession-errors every time I used authentication, then re-boot but those are gone now, just the main complaint at the top now that mate-polkit can't find org.gnome.session-manager.whatever.hoo-ha.
I am using the xfce power-manager in the max versions, and whoa-boy does it ever like to complain that it can't find stuff. Does it do that in an xfce session?
Chatter for months is that Tint2 would be going bye-bye, but it's in the testing repo again, which makes me very happy.
Hey all, just wondering if anyone uses Mintstick for making quickie liveUSB's, I could really use some extra eyeballs and some testing if anyone would be willing.
Here's the gist of it: Mintstick works great for making a quick liveUSB, there's no options for persistence or additional partitions or multi-boot, if you want that I recommend and use Refracta2USB. But that's okay, it's fast and simple when you need to make one and test, doing what I do I literally use it multiple times in a day.
But it does take up the entire USB stick regardless of size, one giant ISO-9660 file when viewed in Gparted or your file-manager. Which is fine for everyday production use. But I also like to make for myself and family and friends a liveUSB that has a second partition purely for data, in FAT32 so any machine can read it, to carry files with you or if you're using it to do a rescue of files from a machine that's acting badly, you have a place to easily at least save important files right there on the stick. My iso's are typically 1.2 gb or less, so you can see the issue when I write one to a 32 or 64 gb stick, lotsa wasted space.
The gnome-disk-utility (GDU) comes in handy to do this, unlike Gparted it can "see" that there's a tremendous amount of empty space following the iso, and using it you can convert that space to a 2nd partition. It works fine and creates/formats the partition. But.....
1. GDU uses some CSD, and the result is a superfluous set of min-max-close buttons in addition to some other artifacts, and just looks silly.
2. It doesn't do it quite right, it's perfectly functional, but in Gparted it will still show one giant ISO-9660 partition as GDU omits an important step.
So i've been writing a one-trick-pony script that does the same thing, but does it right, purely a companion app to be run right after using the Mintstick image writer, that auto-detects the USB and makes a second partition in FAT32 and labels it "DATA".
It's working perfectly for me currently with the machines I have here and a small variety of different USB sticks, but USB can be very finicky, and USB sticks can vary greatly in how they're made and work, so I could really use some input and testing as I think this is a great small utility.
I just don't know if there's any folks here who would be interested, it's a pretty small niche app. But if I get a few replies i'll post the script, if not then I won't take up anymore space on the forum with this project.
Thanks!
~greenjeans
It's Nitrogen, that's what I use, and you have to add it to the Openbox autostart menu to get a bg applied at login. There's several things that need to be added to autostart to make everything happen, Tint2 for one. I also start the authentication daemon that way.
Which brings me to another question, what's going to be the default authentication for Devuan going forward? Since policykit-1-gnome is deprecated and not in the testing repo.
I just switched today to using the mate-polkit and dropped gnome, seems to work fine since they're both just front-end authentication agents for polkitd. I guess the gnome version hasn't been maintained in like 10 years, so they are dropping it in trixie.
Just a quick note of curiousity:
I don't have an installed version of excalibur, what I do have is a hybrid iso of vanilla using the mate desktop, that I built from a daedalus netinstall, then upgraded to excalibur, it's the same iso I have on my sourceforge for testing purposes.
1. It does NOT have the memtest86+ package installed. No memtest files of any kind in /boot.
2. My machine's BIOS does not have any kind of built-in memtest.
I booted the liveUSB, and at the live grub screen it offers a memtest entry, so I chose that, and it immediately took me to a bright blue screen with all kinds of info going on and began running memtest. In the upper left corner of the screen in large letters was "Memtest86" with a flashing plus (+) sign after it.
So there's some kinda memtest onboard somewhere already, where it is I don't have a clue.
Openbox now includes an applications menu that uses the .desktop files in /usr/share/applications. I added a few items to the main menu, but everything expanded from "Applications" was automatically added.
https://get.refracta.org/files/misc/ope … s-menu.png
That's cool, did not know that! If it were me i'd still use obmenu-generator, you can make a really pretty menu with it.
So a vanilla Devuan Openbox version, I guess Openbox can use the current desktop-base for artwork? That may be a dumb question, but I haven't tried it myself, I run my own artwork in my projects.
And what file manager? PcmanFM s the classic choice, it's still available, and despite multiple attempts to drop development, it lingers on, lol, new version in excalibur is now gtk3. But it has that one big bug about how it handles thumbnailing and caching, doesn't seem like anybody is going to fix it anytime soon. I do have a nice script that bandaids it to work a LOT better.
It was a mistake to have posted that nonsense
Pshaw, it provoked some interesting dialog, and with Altoid who's one of my favorite people to dialog with, so win/win. ![]()
I could dig making an Openbox setup as a meta-package that could be chosen as the DE during the install software section of the installer, alongside XFCE, Mate, KDE etc. That might be a fun project. Probably be easier to just build a basic live iso and offer it like that with the Refracta installer. Really needs a dynamic menu to be useable and obmenu-generator is still not in the repo.
Well a new thread would probably be better, but since we don't have the full context of golinux's somewhat cryptic message, it may be a little premature.
HOAS is a brilliant guy, he hangs out a fair bit on the Bunsenlabs forum and has helped me several times, he's also a cat guy like me, so obviously he's a good person. ![]()
Miyolinux had a short tutorial on doing a basic OB system on an installed cli-only system, it's really pretty easy, only about a dozen packages or so to get a working desktop. But it's all the configging needed after that to get anything other than a blank black screen when you log in that makes it a PITA. It would have to be a pretty large script.
^^^I used waldorf myself for a couple years, lol ironically I wrote the tutorial on their site that explained how to install Mate successfully on #!. Crunchbang was where I first really started enjoying Openbox.
It would be a ballsy choice for Devuan, I could sure help with implementation, but it would add a lot of complexity to building the iso's and users would need to be somewhat proficient already in Linux to use it. I think Mate's really the best choice at this point, it would be a nice shot in the arm for Mate development too, I could see it being very symbiotic. Mate is usually very nice and stable, intuitive and predictable for even very new users, it's what I use every time I re-hab an old computer for a windows-refugee, and they all pick it up fast and wind up really enjoying the experience.
I've managed to get most of it working
I hear that comment a lot when it comes to wayland, doesn't inspire much confidence.
I don't know what issues xfce might have, but if Devuan is considering using a different default desktop, my vote goes to MATE. The vanilla test iso's i've been making of excalibur with mate are very nice and seem to run really well. And it uses the theme elements properly. It's simple and stable, no CSD shenanigans with it's native apps, and they have been pretty fast to fix any bugs despite being over-worked, underpaid, and short-staffed (kinda like us here, lol).
There is ALWAYS hope. Nil desperandum.
^^^ yeah I have the gnome-disk-utility too, handy program but just really a one-trick pony for me, and doesn't even do that right. That's what i've spent the last couple days on, writing a script so I can get rid of it.
I typically use it after using Mintstick to create a liveUSB, only thing bad about it is that it creates one single ISO-9660 partition that takes up the entire stick regardless of size. The disk utility however can be used to create a secondary partition in whatever flavor you choose, I use FAT32 and just make it a data partition to store files I want to carry along with the liveUSB.
But it still doesn't do that right, it leaves ISO-9660 signatures on the new partition, therefore if you try to view the stick in Gparted it won't show your new partition, it still thinks it's one gigantic ISO-9660 partition. It still works, no issues there, but it's been bugging me, so I fixed it. So now I have a nice quick script to run after using Mintstick that takes the empty space and creates the partition I want.
I could actually tell the gnomers how to fix their app now, but I doubt they'd even admit there's a flaw, probably blame it on Gparted. Not that Gparted doesn't need a little work too, it does.
But the worst thing about the disk utility, is it refuses to use SSD properly, and so looks just ridiculous with it's superfluous set of min-max-close buttons and such. Their gtk4 apps are even worse, they don't even use the basic colors from your theme, and don't allow a titlebar at all, it's really bizarre how bad their designs are when it comes to look-and-feel.
Dumping a lot of their crap from my projects this week.
I'm sorry but this makes me very happy.
Me too! I freakin LOVE Devuan, best parent distro on the planet.
So maybe the solution is getting rid of gnome-keyring.
Q: how do I know if it actually being used?
It doesn't do squat, I ran for months on a system where the password for gnome-keyring (which SHOULD be the users password) was in fact not the correct users password, but an artifact left over because I didn't delete the keyring files before/after running a snapshot. I still don't know what password it was using.
But during all that time, no issues with the system whatsoever. It was in fact, not doing a damn thing except for generating a "User's keyring did not get unlocked on login" message whenever I opened the browser. And that warning didn't mean anything because all you have to do is hit cancel and ignore it, then browse normally. Or add an extra command to the browser exec command to stop the warnings (which is what most people do).
It was supposed to be securely storing the users passwords that you save when browsing, but even if configged with the right password it did not in fact do that either, they were being stored still by the browser in it's section in config.
I un-installed it, and no issues in several months since I did so. Only issue I had was I tried uninstalling the pkcs package too, but my music player Exaile (a gnome app of course) refused to connect to internet radio until I re-installed it.
Yeah, brilliant that, everybody should have to have permission from gnome before they are allowed to listen to the f*****g radio. derp.
But on the bright side, i've spent the last 3 days creating an app that will allow me to dump even more buggy gnome crap from my machine, so i'm pretty stoked about that. ![]()
I've never seen anything in ~/.cache that couldn't be deleted. There's zero keyring files in mine, but I clear my cache regularly with Bleachbit which basically wipes everything out in there.
I actually uninstalled the gnome-keyring in my stuff, it's badly broken, really doesn't do squat except occasionally cause errors when opening a browser.
@golinux, while snaps and flatpaks are just crap, I have had some success using Appimages, they work pretty well for us "pointy-clicky" folk. ![]()
Palemoon is a good browser, but their terms of redistribution are why they aren't in anybody's repo I think.
Brave works pretty well all by itself as a daily browser, it's own adblocker seems to work good enough.
The whole CSD thing really shows the childlike hubris, narcissism, and arrogance. Many of those people do NOT belong in Linux as the things they do and their attitude does not belong in the open-source community.
Bottom line: If it's open-source, i'm gonna mess with it. If you don't want people messing with it, go work for Microsoft or Apple, where you can get paid to write lousy buggy code and make ugly-as-s**t interfaces.
I spent a good chunk of yesterday working on a script to do the one thing I was previously using a gnome program to do, yet another program that refuses to abide by the system theme and looks pants-on-head retarded with it's superfluous min-max-close controls and such. Thankfully with some help I now have a working script, just need to add some dialogs to make it GUI friendly, and i'll be flushing that gnome program from my projects for good.
Hell, maybe gnome is actually doing some good....they got me to get up off my butt the last couple days and fix some nonsense they did, lol.
Love me some real Linux I tell ya, Devuan really is one of the keepers of the flame, can't thank y'all enough for keeping it rolling!
(That's a total of three computers - one of them can be switched easily between uefi and legacy at boot).
When you get a sec, would love to hear how you did that!
Having spent a fair chunk of yesterday trying to fix yet another one of gnome's really stupid mistakes, I can safely say i'm not a fan either.
It sucks because now and then they do have some good ideas. Their deployment however, even of the things that have merit, tend to just be crap.
So here I am again, doing stuff I shouldn't have to do...it's like working a stinky onion that's bad on the outside, peeling off layer after layer of stupid and stinky trying to get to the core which is still fresh and useful, then taking that core and combining with other fresh ingredients to make a nice tasty meal.
5-16-2025
New versions of the ob-max and mini, updated packages and a lot of work. Added
support for flac to the max, added support for thumbnailing, caching, and viewing
JPEG-XL (.jxl) image files to both with some updated packages from the libjxl
author on github, these are much newer than the old libjxl that's in daedalus,
but still made specifically for this version. Can't add them to the right-click
image re-sizing and rotating scripts as the version 6 of Imagemagick that's onboard
doesn't support the format, that will come in version 7 (excalibur-trixie).
Tons of small fixes and optimizations, and fixed a longstanding bug in the
"Open folder as root" extension that was offering to open more than just the
inode/directory folders. Made a new .desktop in /usr/share/applications that works
correctly on only folders, only difference is it's higher towards the top of the
right-click context menu.
Will work on the Vuu-do mate-mini next, should be up in a few days.
Have a great weekend!
~greenjeans
Cleaning: I let Bleachbit do the heavy lifting, but I also do a lot of manual cleaning of things it misses.
/var/anything and /usr/share/things are the worst offenders. One of these days I need to write a list.
^^Is kinda what it sounds like, OP did mention that he had "a couple of gb" left, if he's only got a couple GB left on any kind of modern drive, then he has a LOT of files on that drive. Even my my ancient laptop from 2012 has a 350 gb hard-drive.
@Altoid, FWIW:
Downloaded the same iso you linked to.
Installed to a USB 2 stick (circa 2021, 2 gig stick) via Mintstick
Works perfectly in my 2012 Compaq CQ58 machine, booted up a nice live-session.
Thoughts:
1. Using a USB 3 stick in an interface for USB 2 should technically be no issue, but USB 3 does expect a slightly higher level of power than USB 2 does. I got my degree in electronics back in 1985 and one thing i've learned in all those years is that nature always sides with the hidden flaw, this could be an issue regardless of documentation saying otherwise.
2. Using dd is not for the faint of heart, many ways to screw that up, that's why I leave it to Refracta2usb or Mintstick.
3. This is not an issue with the iso. It works perfectly even on old hardware like mine.
4. Ventoy is not doing something magical, if it is then Mintstick does it too. Most likely issues are either an error when dd'ing, or a USB 3 issue of some sort.
JMHO, hope this helps!
It's all actually a hella lot easier using Synaptic instead of typing sudo over and over again.
Synaptic
reload
mark all upgrades, apply
search for usrmerge, mark for installation, apply
close and reboot
alter sources.list
Synaptic
reload
mark all upgrades, apply
close and reboot
done.
Enabling .jxl support in Devuan (daedalus)
Devuan already supports Jpeg-XL (.jxl) image files in the form of libjxl 0.7.0
which is brought in with gimp, but this is not enough to enable thumbnailing of
.jxl files or viewing with your pic-viewer, what's needed is updated packages to
version 0.11.1 currently for bookworm. This adds thumbnailing and viewing support
when I tested at least in Mate/Caja/EOM-pic-viewer and Openbox/PcmanFM/Gpicview.
-Seems to be very quick and working well.-
Edit: The current Imagemagick 6 doesn't have support for the format, it is added in the next version in excalibur,
but unfortunately the right-click re-size and rotate functions in Caja and the ones I use in Openbox won't work
on this format until then. Perhaps it will get back-ported at some point. But this at least gives you
thumbnails and viewing ability without having to open gimp every time.
In general you should be wary about any software outside a stable Devuan repo, and
of guys who recommend using stuff from them in forum posts. You have been warned. lol.
This is all experimental stuff, the format itself is still new. This will not give
browsers the ability to view online .jxl images, only the google/mozilla overlords
can do that. Personally I believe in giving folks functionality whenever possible.
Latest packages:
https://github.com/libjxl/libjxl/releases?page=1
Archive package I chose:
jxl-debs-amd64-debian-bookworm-v0.11.1.tar.gz
Extract archive, and install just these three:
libjxl_0.11.1_amd64.deb
libjxl-gdk-pixbuf_0.11.1_amd64.deb
libjxl-gimp-plugin_0.11.1_amd64.deb