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#1 Yesterday 00:13:10

Altoid
Member
Registered: 2017-05-07
Posts: 1,764  

Installer *.iso problems - again ...

Hello:

Wanted to try Devuan in the RPi3B+ I have gathering dust in a drawer.

As I am planning to use it as a headless device, I downloaded the netinstall-arm64.iso available here.

Checked the sha256sum, burned it to a new 64Gb USB stick proceeded to boot it from my BIOS only Sun Ultra 24 WS.

TL;RD
It boots, gets to the screen to select the type of installation and that is it.
Any selection made freezes the screen for maybe 5' and then unfreezes but nothing else.
The only selection that goes an additional step is Expert Install but then freezes and like the other options, after ~ 5', unfreezes.

I will try and see what happens with the desktop image and report back, maybe tomorrow.

Any one else has this problem?

Best,

A.

Last edited by Altoid (Yesterday 00:13:57)

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#2 Yesterday 02:29:22

ralph.ronnquist
Administrator
From: Battery Point, Tasmania, AUS
Registered: 2016-11-30
Posts: 1,407  

Re: Installer *.iso problems - again ...

Are you trying to boot an arm64 installer on your Sun Ultra 24 WS ?

That netinstall iso has some isolinux software residue for i386 but in general it's intended to run a grub boot system for arm64. In particular, the linux kernel is an arm64 kernel. Whomever that put that iso together didn't conscientiously remove irrelevant but (normally) unused files, and in particular it does seem to have some dangling i386 boot loaders.

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#3 Yesterday 05:05:08

steve_v
Member
Registered: 2018-01-11
Posts: 434  

Re: Installer *.iso problems - again ...

arm64.iso

Sun Ultra 24

The Ultra 24 is amd64, what on earth made you think an arm kernel would boot on it? They're completely different architectures.

Last edited by steve_v (Yesterday 05:05:49)


Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. Four times is Official GNOME Policy.

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#4 Yesterday 13:48:16

Altoid
Member
Registered: 2017-05-07
Posts: 1,764  

Re: Installer *.iso problems - again ...

Hello:

ralph.ronnquist wrote:

... boot an arm64 installer on your Sun Ultra 24 WS ?

Hmm ...
Yeees?

I downloaded both the netinstall-arm64.iso and the desktop-arm64.iso, wrote them to a 32Gb SD card with the Mintstick software at some time suggested by greenjeans and attempted to boot the RPi3B+ first with the netinstall and later with the desktop *.iso.     

When nothing* happened I checked the sha256sum files again but found no discrepancy.
* not even a blink from the activity on-board led or the GbE port.

Then I thought* ...
* not really, please bear with me

"This absolute-waste-of-money™ boots from a MicroSD card.
Could it be the that the *.isos are used to install Devuan arm64 'on' the MicroSD cards?
Lets give it a try
"

Granted, a dumb idea when seen in retrospective, not with a glass of scotch by my kb.
But when the installer screen appeared on my monitor it suddenly seemed to make sense.

Till it did not.   8^°

Like I mentioned, the idea is to install a headless Devuan to the RPi3B+ to see what can be done with it, if anything (useful) at all.
I have already been able to install the latest OpenWRT but I would like to install some Devuan version.
RaspberryOS works OOTB, but it is systemd crippled, so ...

ralph.ronnquist wrote:

That netinstall iso has some isolinux software residue ...

Now I understand what was going on.
An 'unrecognised whatever' would have been nice.
And avoided me some embarrassment.

I recall that I once managed to install a Devuan (Chimaera?) desktop version and kept an image somewhere.
I'll see if I can find it and get rid of the excess baggage.

That said, I don't think I'll get too far with 1Gb RAM and a GbE port on the same bus as the 4xUSB 2.0 ports.
The Ethernet throughput will probably be lower than what I get with the WD-MBL via FTP.

Ideas / suggestions welcome.

As always, thanks for your input.

Best,

A.

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#5 Yesterday 15:29:35

Altoid
Member
Registered: 2017-05-07
Posts: 1,764  

Re: Installer *.iso problems - again ...

Hello:

Altoid wrote:

... see if I can find it ...

Found the image, booted in an instant.

# uname -a
Linux devuan 4.16.14-v8+ #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Jun 5 18:50:10 CEST 2018 aarch64 GNU/Linux
#

This is ascii, archived but not a problem for the time being.
And the image as seen by gnome-disks dos not show any &%$#" UEFI/EFI partition.
Probably the reason why it boots without any problems.

I can SSH as root and user but I need to install a few packages.

The /etc/sources.list from the image I saved is this:

## package repositories
deb http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/merged ascii main contrib non-free
deb http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/merged ascii-updates main contrib non-free
deb http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/merged ascii-security main contrib non-free
#deb http://pkgmaster.devuan.org/merged ascii-backports main contrib non-free

Which would be the new list to use for the archived ascii?
Using http://archive.devuan.org/merged/dists ascii/main gets me a "does not have a Release file" error.

Best,

A.

Last edited by Altoid (Yesterday 15:31:18)

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#6 Yesterday 15:45:08

yurimodin
Member
Registered: 2025-06-09
Posts: 17  

Re: Installer *.iso problems - again ...

Isn't Chimera EOL?.......the repos might not even still be active.

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#7 Yesterday 15:45:58

rbit
Member
Registered: 2018-06-12
Posts: 60  

Re: Installer *.iso problems - again ...

I have a RPi3b+ running devuan.  (actually, 2- one of them I manage remotely but can gain physical access to it if needed).  Like you, I believe I started with ascii on it, some image obtained from https://arm-files.devuan.org/ written directly to SD card (since then, I've moved to external USB storage).  Never tried an installer (don't think it was around then for arm).
Is there any particular reason for staying on ascii?  I've upgraded mine, one to chimaera the other to daedalus.  The first upgrade I think I had to resize the boot partition because the original one was too small.  If you're setting it up new and don't have anything important already set up that you need to keep, it's probably easiest to download a more current image and dd it to your RPi media.

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#8 Yesterday 17:02:43

Altoid
Member
Registered: 2017-05-07
Posts: 1,764  

Re: Installer *.iso problems - again ...

Hello:

rbit wrote:

... a RPi3b+ running devuan.

Nice to know someone else is doing it.
What use do you give it?

rbit wrote:

... started with ascii on it, some image obtained from ...

Cannot remember but it is probably the same in my case.

bit wrote:

... reason for staying on ascii?

No.
It was the image I had made as a backup and stored away before starting to try to do things with the actual installation.
It still had the PW for root (toor) and no UserID.

As I posted earlier, I downloaded two images but neither of them will boot my RPi. (see my previous two posts)
Can you boot from any one of them?
I'd appreciate it if you could verify that for me when you have a minute to spare.

bit wrote:

... upgraded mine, one to chimaera the other to daedalus.

Ahh ...
An upgrade.

Methinks that it is another matter altogether.
ie: uprading from an ascii image you were able to boot from to Chimaera or Daedalus vis-à-vis booting from a fresh Chimaera, Beowulf or Daedalus image.

My money is on the UEFI/EFI shit screwing things up.
My backed up image does not have any of that.
The downloaded images do but you can only see them with gnome-disks, gparted does not show them.

bit wrote:

... resize the boot partition ...

Not a problem, mount the MicroSD on any Linux box and go at it with gparted.

bit wrote:

... setting it up new ...
... a more current image ...

I think it depends on the use given to the RPi.
ie: this hardware was already old and rather crippled when it was released and unless a newer kernel or specific package versions can really make a difference,
I don't see any advantage.

Linux releases gather more and more bloat with each release and this is just a 1Gb rig with 4xUSB 2.0 ports sharing the bus with the GbE port.
Not precisely cutting edge, lean and mean is of the greatest import.

Same goes for my ca. 2011 Asus 1000HE.
I cannot come up with a justification for moving from Beowulf with a backported kernel to a newer release.

Thanks for your input.

Best,

A.

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#9 Yesterday 18:35:23

rbit
Member
Registered: 2018-06-12
Posts: 60  

Re: Installer *.iso problems - again ...

What use do you give it?

I run a postfix mail server on it, as well as pihole.  my local network uses it for dns. that's pretty much it.  sometimes I'll use it as backup or to transfer files when it's convenient.

As I posted earlier, I downloaded two images but neither of them will boot my RPi. (see my previous two posts)
Can you boot from any one of them?

I have not tried either of the installer files you listed (from https://arm-files.devuan.org/Devuan-Arm64-Installer/ ?)
I had been able to boot an image from https://arm-files.devuan.org/RaspberryP … %20Builds/  and that was what I was recommending to use (since I knew they had worked for me previously).
I can give one of the installer images a try and see what happens here, but if the hardware's the same the result will probably be the same.

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#10 Yesterday 18:47:57

fsmithred
Administrator
Registered: 2016-11-25
Posts: 2,650  

Re: Installer *.iso problems - again ...

Maybe you need to try again. It's working here. This is on a 2.1 desktop-live iso.

root@devuan:~# apt update
Get:1 http://archive.devuan.org/merged ascii InRelease [29.4 kB]
Get:2 http://archive.devuan.org/merged ascii/main amd64 Packages [7,193 kB]
Get:3 http://archive.devuan.org/merged ascii/main Translation-en [5,652 kB]    
Fetched 12.9 MB in 9s (1,369 kB/s)                                             
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
134 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.

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#11 Yesterday 20:29:38

Altoid
Member
Registered: 2017-05-07
Posts: 1,764  

Re: Installer *.iso problems - again ...

Hello:

rbit wrote:

... postfix mail server ...
... pihole.
... local network uses it for dns.

Thanks.

rbit wrote:

... not tried either of the installer files you listed ...
... give one of the installer images a try and see what happens ...

That would be great, more than anything to get a user sample number greater than 1.

I have been able to solve the /etc/apt/sources.list problem (wrong syntax) and was able to update/upgrade everything.
Of all the packages to upgrade, 75 were security fixes

I expanded the /ext4 partition from 1.75 to 3.0Gb, installed mc and purged all the vim stuff. 
Once I get all the rest done, I will see about upgrading.

Q: does the the FAT16 partition need resizing?

Thanks for your input.

Best,

A.

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#12 Yesterday 20:43:49

Altoid
Member
Registered: 2017-05-07
Posts: 1,764  

Re: Installer *.iso problems - again ...

Hello:

fsmithred wrote:

... need to try again.

Indeed ...
And while at it check the sources.list syntax.  8^°
Done.

My RPi3B+ ascii installation is now fully updated/upgraded.
Thanks for your input.

Best,

A.

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#13 Today 12:27:38

dzz
Member
From: Exmouth, South West England
Registered: 2016-12-01
Posts: 73  

Re: Installer *.iso problems - again ...

Here's the way forward (IMO) for rpi 3b+:

https://github.com/pftf/RPi3

No need for dd images or installer iso's. Ditch the uboot for grub.

3b+ here runs (headless) multiboot daedalus, excalibur and ceres, selectable from grub menu. All done at first with debootstrap (mmdebstrap is better IMO) and chroot, with the sdcard temporarily in another (amd64) devuan machine.

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