Archiso-live 20090528 Release
Changes since last release:
* Add archiso-installer. This is based on chaox-installer based on archlinux-installer. EDIT: To install do ‘sudo /arch/archiso-setup’ without the single quote in shell.
* Unetbootin support now. You shouldn’t have problems with installing iso to usb stick using unetbootin. Just make sure you use the default menu option. The other options may not work at all.
Everything is up2date as of 4:00PM EST on 20090528.
root password is ArchLinux
arch password is arch
Here is the iso, md5, and package list.
Package changes are here.
Godane's Development Blog 
There’s always a typo in your posts:
“Everything is up2date has of” should read “Everything is up2date AS of”.
Anyways, thanks for your great work.
Awesome! Been waiting for a working installer. Thanks for pushing a new iso out so quickly. I was still seeding your last one!
Thanks! Just tried it and it worked perfectly.
Wish to confirm that I didn’t have problems with installing iso to usb stick using unetbootin. My usb-stick containing Archiso-live 20090528 (through unetbootin) is working up to now.
One word : GREAT!
Thank you very much.
Will try the HD installer this evening.
Once more : thank you!
How do you call the new installer? I clicked in the main menu and it did not show up. What should I type in the command line?
sudo /arch/archiso-setup
I got it to work but it said the it could not find the grub installer. My computer had kernel panic and was unable to re-boot.
Any idea?
For some reason the only way to make grub work i think was with customizing settings. You don’t have to change anything. It makes the the kernel26.img and kernel26-fallback.img when you get to the end of it. Just cancel though the customize setting option to get that stuff made.
I had the grub just be a command line on boot in vbox. Did you just have no grub menu but grub command line?
‘sudo /arch/archiso-setup’ did the job, Problems with ‘Package installation’
Maybe because I was trying to install on an external USB HDD. When booting, the HDD was not recognised.
Am writing now from Arhiso installed on usb-stich with unetbootin. This works fine!
Once more : thank you.
I’ve been using ArchLive with Unetbootin for a long time now. But it is not easy to set for persistent mode and actually I never got it working right.
Is it possible now?
@joji
Package Installation was made for the official when there are packages on the cd. Best not to use that. I will try to maybe rewrite the script later this week.
@NiX
You should be able to get changes to work by adding changes=/dev/sdaX or by adding a changes folder to your usb stick and doing changes=changes. The last one will look up the changes folder on all hard drives. So make sure you only have changes folder on your usb stick.
i hope this helps.
Great work, I might give this a go next week 🙂
The liveCD works 100% on my notebook (FS Amilo M4348G). I had to set up only two things: keyboard-layout (HU) and wifi password. Amazing. Thank you. Keep on your work.
…you deleted my previous comment 😦
it was favorable to you and your work, no one wrong word. why did you do it??
read, then please delete this one, too…
oh, sorry. I was wrong, it is still awaiting for moderation…
is this 64bit?
@brad
There is only 32-bit version. I tried making a 64-bit version but the text was all squares.
I’m able to burn a CD from this ISO and boot from it without difficulty. I’m able to use unetbootin to install from that ISO file to a USB key. But I can’t manage to boot from the USB key…can you post step-by-step directions about the proper way to get a archiso-live install onto a USB key (with or without unetbootin, I don’t care, I just want to get it to work). I don’t mind nuking the whole USB key.
I was able to install the Arch Core .img file to the USB key and boot from that. Now I’m booted from the Archiso-live cD as root. I tried (1) rm -r /mnt/myusbkey/*, then unetbootin, then click the Diskimage ISO choice and select the Archiso-live ISO file, and say to install to /dev/sdX1 with appropriate X for myusbkey. I also tried (2) repartitioning the usb key as ext2, mounting it, then continuing as in (1).
Either way, when I reboot, the machine boots from the Archiso-live CD rather than the USB key. My BIOS is set to choose the USB key before the CD, and it does so when I have the Arch CORE .img installed on the USB key. So I think this is a matter of my not having a bootloader properly installed on the usb key.
Letting the CD boot up again, I tried following the directions here: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Grub#Installing_or_Restoring_GRUB_to_the_Master_Boot_Record,
however there’s no grub directory in the boot directory of EITHER the Archiso=live CD or the usbkey. I guessed which X to use for “root (hdX, 0)” but “setup (hdX)” doesn’t work because there’s no grub/stage1 in the boot directory.
What am I doing wrong? Am I doing the unetbootin install incorrectly? Should I be piggybacking off of the /boot/grub directory of my hard drive, rather than trying to do this from the Archiso-live CD?
Thanks for any advice—and for making this project available in the first place!
@Profjim
When i boot up my usb stick i use the boot menu to do it. Also i’m using syslinux for the bootloader on cd and usb. Grub is only used if you do a real install. You may want to eject the cd before booting up the usb stick cause it may just be going for the cd drive just cause there is disc there.
I hope this helps.
@godane
Thanks for the reply. I guessed you were using some bootloader other than grub. What do I need to do then to make the usbkey bootable?
Even if I boot with no cd, my machine ignores the usbkey with your iso installed to it. As I mentioned before, when I instead dd the Arch core .img file to the usb key, I am able to boot from it, so I don’t think the problem is with my hardware or BIOS. I think I must be doing the unetbootin copy wrongly, or that there’s some other step I’m omitting.
I am able to mount the usbkey when booted from another medium, and it looks superficially the same as the mounted CD (from which I can boot). unetbootin tells me the installation is successful. My problem just seems to be with making the usbkey bootable.
I don’t understand what you mean by this:
> When i boot up my usb stick i use the boot menu to do it.
Do you mean a boot menu provided by your BIOS? If so, then I think my problem is elsewhere, because I have the BIOS configured alright to boot from the usbkey when Arch core is installed on it. If on the other hand, you mean your grub boot menu, then I have two questions: (1) in that case, you’re relying on the bootloader installed on your hard drive’s MBR, no? So this wouldn’t worked if you screwed up your hard drive, no? I’m hoping to make the usbkey bootable so that I can rely on it even if the hard drive is maximally uncooperative. (2) To use the grub boot menu to boot from the usbkey, I’m guessing you’d edit the boot parameters (or have an entry pre-specified in your menu.lst file). But I can’t figure out what the right entries should be because there isn’t a complete grub machinery available on the usbkey.
I think I’m probably not understanding what you mean by “use the boot menu”. As I said before, I expect there’s just some step that is obvious to others, which I’m omitting, or there’s a different way to do the unetbootin install than I could see.
Thanks for any further advice you could give me.
@Profjim
Since your having problems using unetbootin you can use dd with my iso. This only cause my iso is a hybrid iso. I hope this help.
PS When i a said ‘boot menu to do it’ I mean BIOS boot menu. Sorry about the confusing.
Thanks again for your reply. I did not realize one could dd from an ISO file. I just did “sudo dd if=/path/to/archiso-live-2009-05-28.iso of=/dev/sdc” where /dev/sdc is my usbkey device. This completes successfully and if I reboot I then do get the bootloader menu from my usbkey! Partial success!
However, only partial. As the boot process continues, I encounter the following errors…
* Loading initramfs
* Running Hook [archiso-early]
* Running Hook [udev]
* Loading udev … done
* Running Hook [archiso]
* Mounting tmpfs, size=15M… done
* Waiting for devices to settle…
* Waiting 6s for USB devices
* Scanning cd drives: uhm
<>: * Failed to mount /dev/sr0
* Scanning usb drives: <>* Failed to mount /dev/sda2
<>
* Failed to mount /dev/sda3
* Failed to mount /dev/sdb1
* ERROR: cannot find boot device, cannot continue…
* Falling back to interactive prompt
ramfs$
Now what could be going on here? I had a /dev/sdb1 mounted when I did the dd command, but no devices are attached—and no CDs are loaded—when I’m attempting to boot from the usbkey. All that’s present are my internal hard drive and the usbkey. I think the /dev/sda2 and /dev/sda3 references are to something other than my own equipment, since my /dev/sda2 is a swap partition, and my /dev/sda3 is an extended partition (i.e. a container for other partitions, it isn’t itself ever mounted or mountable).
What’s strange is that when I burn the same ISO to a CD and then mount from the CD, I don’t see these same error messages.
Sadly still stuck…
What steps do you—and others who are able to create bootable usbkeys—do to generate them? Am I doing anything different than you?
@Profjim
I never try it with dd. It was just a last resort cause my iso was not working with unetbootin before last week release. You maybe able to get it to work with unetbootin if the usb stick is fat32. Thats just a guess since thats what i have on my usb stick.
PS The dd method will make a iso9660 format partition on your usb stick. You may have to use the BIOS boot menu to choose the iso partition. I just don’t known whats wrong anymore. Sorry.
Am afraid that Archiso-live 20090528 Release is not a hybrid iso. Boots only from a CD not from iso put on usbstick with ‘dd’. To have a bootable usbstick you need unetbootin.
Wish to repeat that both Archiso-live 20090528 and its successor are nice pieces of work. Very, very nice.
The only thing I regret is not to be able to install the xfce4 version on hard disk with larchin. ’sudo /arch/archiso-setup’ is not working on my machine and with ‘larchin’ I can only install the base lxde version.
OK, thanks for your suggestions so far. If I get it working I’ll post back.
@godane – take a look at Debris Linux (http://debrislinux.org/index.php?cat=6), based on Ubuntu and about 180mb. Just FYI.
You can install xfce from the previous version. Actually, I tried lxde and it was ok but went back to xfce since offers better features. I did /arch/archiso-setup and followed the instructions. I also did a “clean-up” and got rid of all the unnecessary apps that I don’t use.
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