Talk:OSE Linux Persistence - Revision history

Andrewusu: Update

2021-12-12T13:40:24Z

Update

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:40, 12 December 2021
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	--[[User:Andrewusu\|Andrewusu]] ([[User talk:Andrewusu\|talk]]) 06:43, 5 November 2020 (UTC)		--[[User:Andrewusu\|Andrewusu]] ([[User talk:Andrewusu\|talk]]) 06:43, 5 November 2020 (UTC)

			Works well. I hope to make this more user friendly, to write an apt hook which handles live partition and resquashing where appropriate. Also a systemd service which cleans up that which was resquashed, which runs prior to the overlayfs mount at boot, intelligently regenerates /var/cache components, and handles tmpfs bells and whistles. I wrote part of the apt hook. With those things done then there will be no burden on the end-user, but until then this squashfs persistence technique is not production ready.

			--[[User:Andrewusu\|Andrewusu]] ([[User talk:Andrewusu\|talk]]) 13:39, 12 December 2021 (UTC)

Andrewusu: /* Install grub */

2021-01-29T18:29:34Z

Install grub

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:29, 29 January 2021
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	====Install grub====		====Install grub====
	Should go to /media/live/grub		Should go to /media/live/grub

			See appendix: [[Talk:OSE_Linux_Persistence#Prepare_GRUB_on_the_live_partition_and_USB_device]]

	Boot to the USB! It is live!		Boot to the USB! It is live!

	===Make the live USB a persistent USB===		===Make the live USB a persistent USB===
	While you're booted to the live USB, mount the persistence partition, and put a peristence.conf file on it.		While you're booted to the live USB, mount the persistence partition, and put a peristence.conf file on it.

Andrewusu: /* Edit grub.cfg */

2021-01-29T18:27:54Z

Edit grub.cfg

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:27, 29 January 2021
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	Neat, all your files you're using in the live USB, are now saved to the persistence partition. Though, we have to write a few changes to grub.cfg in order to load that stuff on next boot.		Neat, all your files you're using in the live USB, are now saved to the persistence partition. Though, we have to write a few changes to grub.cfg in order to load that stuff on next boot.
	====Edit grub.cfg====		====Edit grub.cfg====

			See appendix: [[Talk:OSE_Linux_Persistence#Either_.281.29_Handcraft_grub.cfg]]

	==Appendix==		==Appendix==

Andrewusu: /* Andrewusu's Thoughts */

2021-01-26T14:57:41Z

Andrewusu's Thoughts

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:57, 26 January 2021
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	I don't use unetbootin, ISOs, or any other setups, just [https://live-team.pages.debian.net/live-manual/html/live-manual/customizing-run-time-behaviours.en.html#547 Debian's live-boot] and a 'persistence' partition.		I don't use unetbootin, ISOs, or any other setups, just [https://live-team.pages.debian.net/live-manual/html/live-manual/customizing-run-time-behaviours.en.html#547 Debian's live-boot] and a 'persistence' partition.

	On Ubuntu an alternative to live-boot is casper, which supports more options ~~such as booting from an ISO file via a kernel parameter~~. The [https://manpages.debian.org/buster/live-boot-doc/live-boot.7.en.html 'boot=live'] kernel parameter results in live-boot being used, while the [http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/bionic/man7/casper.7.html 'boot=casper'] kernel parameter results in casper being used. With casper the default labeling of the persistence partition is 'casper-rw' instead of 'persistence' with live-boot.		On Ubuntu an alternative to live-boot is casper, which supports more options I believe. The [https://manpages.debian.org/buster/live-boot-doc/live-boot.7.en.html 'boot=live'] kernel parameter results in live-boot being used, while the [http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/bionic/man7/casper.7.html 'boot=casper'] kernel parameter results in casper being used. With casper the default labeling of the persistence partition is 'casper-rw' instead of 'persistence' with live-boot.

	It is very simple, you have the second partition labeled 'persistence' with a configuration file, and Debian's live-boot scripts handle everything.		It is very simple, you have the second partition labeled 'persistence' with a configuration file, and Debian's live-boot scripts handle everything.

Andrewusu: /* Andrewusu's Thoughts */

2021-01-26T14:56:52Z

Andrewusu's Thoughts

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:56, 26 January 2021
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	==Andrewusu's Thoughts==		==Andrewusu's Thoughts==
	I've used persistence on USB for over 10 years now as my primary system (4+ hours/day) and will share some thoughts. Way back with USB2 I spent a lot of time investigating performance, ways to speed up boot time and system responsiveness. Keep in mind benchmarks of any flash memory device, where sequential reading is [https://xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/toshiba-transmemory-u365-usb-flash-drive-review/ 10-20x] faster than non-sequential reads (possibly more depending on the device). By following this setup I describe below you take advantage of those fast reads for a quick boot and a very responsive OS.		I've used persistence on USB for over 10 years now as my primary system (4+ hours/day) and will share some thoughts. Way back with USB2 I spent a lot of time investigating performance, ways to speed up boot time and system responsiveness. Keep in mind benchmarks of any flash memory device, where sequential reading is [https://xsreviews.co.uk/reviews/toshiba-transmemory-u365-usb-flash-drive-review/ 10-20x] faster than non-sequential reads (possibly more depending on the device). By following this setup I describe below you take advantage of those fast reads for a quick boot and a very responsive OS.

			[https://youtu.be/JdnA6LblqOE Here] is a video of a minimal Debian distro on a live-boot persistence USB booting. By 35s system uptime I have launched both the terminal and filesystem browser.

	It has been great, I can move my programs, data, and OS from workstation to workstation with a breeze. From a desktop to a laptop, a library computer, or computer at work at times even. I'll never going back to installing Linux on a HDD. I use HDDs on workstations for storing data, or even making a ~8GB swap file if I need more system memory for some big task (e.g. big FreeCAD model).		It has been great, I can move my programs, data, and OS from workstation to workstation with a breeze. From a desktop to a laptop, a library computer, or computer at work at times even. I'll never going back to installing Linux on a HDD. I use HDDs on workstations for storing data, or even making a ~8GB swap file if I need more system memory for some big task (e.g. big FreeCAD model).

Andrewusu: /* Performance tips */

2021-01-04T21:28:35Z

Performance tips

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:28, 4 January 2021
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	</pre>		</pre>

	vlc's default lookahead is too short, leads to music cutting out. 'Tools->Preferences', toggle 'Show all settings', click 'Input/Codecs' in tree view, scroll down to 'Advanced' section and look at caching settings. Increase them to at least 600ms.		vlc's default lookahead is too short, leads to music cutting out. 'Tools->Preferences', toggle 'Show all settings', click 'Input/Codecs' in tree view, scroll down to 'Advanced' section and look at caching settings. Increase them to at least 600ms. This should largely mitigate problems with music/video stopping momentarily due to I/O delays.

	====Pruning tips====		====Pruning tips====

Andrewusu: /* Performance tips */

2021-01-04T21:25:59Z

Performance tips

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:25, 4 January 2021
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	EOF		EOF
	</pre>		</pre>

			vlc's default lookahead is too short, leads to music cutting out. 'Tools->Preferences', toggle 'Show all settings', click 'Input/Codecs' in tree view, scroll down to 'Advanced' section and look at caching settings. Increase them to at least 600ms.

	====Pruning tips====		====Pruning tips====

Andrewusu: /* GUIDE */

2021-01-02T23:48:35Z

GUIDE

@@ Line 69: / Line 69: @@
 ===Make live USB===
 ====Partition the USB====
 ====Mount the ISO, and copy select files to the USB's live partition====
 ====Install grub====
 ===Make the live USB a persistent USB===
-====Boot to live USB & Setup persistence====
+While you're booted to the live USB, mount the persistence partition, and put a peristence.conf file on it.
 ==Appendix==

Andrewusu: /* Hardening tips */

2021-01-02T23:36:57Z

Hardening tips

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:36, 2 January 2021
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	Switching between the administration account and browser account X11 servers can be done with ctrl+alt+F7 or F8 (or F1/F2 or whatever).		Switching between the administration account and browser account X11 servers can be done with ctrl+alt+F7 or F8 (or F1/F2 or whatever).

			Or just have the desktop load with the browser account instead of the administrative account, and do administrative tasks on a virtual terminal (ctrl+alt+F1 through F6).

			Set up the [https://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/securing-debian-manual/ch04s11.en.html#id-1.5.14.17 shell history file], .bash_history better. An easy way a bad actor can circumvent the stock configuration from logging his evil deeds is to proceed those evil things with a space, this guide will fix that!
			<pre>
			lsattr /home/browser/.bash_history #See what attributes are set
			sudo chattr +a /home/browser/.bash_history #Only root user can chattr
			sudo chattr +a /home/user/.bash_history
			</pre>

	====Make filesystem.packages and filesystem.squashfs====		====Make filesystem.packages and filesystem.squashfs====

Andrewusu: /* Performance tips */

2020-12-26T20:37:51Z

Performance tips

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:37, 26 December 2020
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	<pre>		<pre>
	apt-get install profile-sync-damon		apt-get install profile-sync-damon
			</pre>

			For SD card longevity, consider mounting a tmpfs on /var/log. But perhaps only after you've booted to the system a few times and verify the system is stable, as putting log files in RAM means they can't be read offline to diagnose a problem. So disable this feature if needed.
			<pre>
			echo "tmpfs /var/log tmpfs nosuid,nodev,noexec 0 0" >> /etc/fstab
			cat<<-EOF > /etc/tmpfiles.d/varlog.conf
			d /var/log/apt 755 root root
			d /var/log/lightdm 711 root root
			EOF
	</pre>		</pre>