Talk:OSE Linux

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How to Implement and Support?

  • Since providing tech support is important for OSE user efficiency keeping to a LTS version of Ubuntu as a standard package may be desirable. IT support can test new versions of OS and apps and upgrade the ISO and recommend planned upgrades for existing users to maintain software consistency across the OSE users.
  • Creating a single version of OSE Linux will minimize support issues, but may be difficult with global users with diverse hardware. Staying with older LTS versions longer may be desirable for broader compatibility as long as it doesn't impede performance and productivity.
  • Collaborative Doc

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Software Platform

Creating and a single monolithic software platform should help keep learning and workflow optimized for users and minimizes support issues.

Existing Application bugs and Support concerns

New Application Recommendations

Media Library File Inclusion and Versioning

  • How to determine what working media files (CAD, documentation etc.) get included in a distro?


Implementation Issues and Common User Support Difficulties

  • There are numerous hardware testing and spec pages to help users find optimal storage devices for persistent live booting.

After having issues with a VM install the pure Live boot from USB looks better. Some of my issues were due to testing installing the VM to a large fast USB stick since I did not have a fast extra SSD/HD to use immediately. While NAND Flash storage is known for good latency most recent (2017 and prior) USB sticks are optimized more for fast sequential reads for copying files and not file system I/O. So users should be aware performance may not be optimal on some older devices. In my test case I realized the host OS was probably doing paging/caching to the USB while the VM was RAM starving the system so maybe I/O was so heavy the guest was timing out (solution don't use windows). So I expect using the UEFI/BIOS to boot a clean device will perform ok and with newer hardware with SSD like USB sticks performance should not impede user productivity.


  • Versioning Plan based on existing OSE guidelines.
  • Ideal method for syncing latest media files uploaded to the wiki to the ISO

Files can be searched for on the wiki and downloaded individually. They are versioned automatically by the wiki, which is ideal, but difficult to download and transfer as an aggregate collection into a Linux image. http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Special:ListFiles?limit=50&ilsearch=.fcstd&user=

  • The current ISO still needs updating with the list of apps and files so I'm testing package manager scripts from synaptic et cetera. As far as just adding data files I think most compression/archive tools can edit ISO's so I'm testing with 7zip and ubuntu archive manager. Looking for command line methods worth a try as well.
  • Running from a Live USB stick may have speed limitations that reduce user productivity so encouraging or offering a Virtual Box Disk may be useful if some users are unable to install directly.
  • If there are no impediments to running the apps in a VM it could offer a further layer of standardization by shifting some compatibility issues to the VM software layer, but may also add tech support complexity if it fails.
  • VM's may be useful for IT suypport in testing new software for implementation without disturbing existing installations.
  • Proprietary wireless device drivers are required by some hardware that may not have other connection options. Users desiring to use such hardware will need to manually transfer and install these packages into their Live boot system for network access on that hardware system.

How to Distribute?

  • Bandwidth/data costs? For wiki or OSE servers.
  • What about the related distribution and sync of other more frequently generated data in files made by dev teams using the OS within the persistence partition? Can it be automated in case of frequent persistence storage errors?
  • Open Source P2P Global CDN?
  • Torrent Files

Downloading and Syncing Methods?

Different methods of distribution are possible and it may be desirable for users to help provide some bandwidth with P2P bit torrent sync distribution.

  • Google Drive has some built in versioning and possibly download tracking? (with scripts?).
  • OSE wiki server? tracking with scripts?
  • Bit Torrent sync is now proprietary, but open source alternatives exist for Linux. Security and privacy with encryption may not be concerns with open source development, but authentication is useful for verifying any data transfer. If it is like other torrent platforms it may meet some other requirements like tracking downloads.

https://syncthing.net/

Download Tracking

Looks like javascript in the arduino example. I think it increments and saves a number to a text file. Searching for HTML download link click tracking returns some interesting info about google analytics, but I doubt that is relevant. http://www.blastam.com/blog/how-to-track-downloads-in-google-analytics-v2

Also comments at the bottom of that page say it won't work with iframes. NM the gdrive links are not in iframes.

I recall reading somewhere on the wiki little security limits on HTML and script use are enabled not sure what security issues or backend access various scripts might need. Any script type needs to store the value to a text file or a db. PHP has to be installed on the server and it is along with MySQL.

See Special:Version for current server apps config.

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:DownloadCounter

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:ClickCounter

Live USB Creator

Since this might be the end user's first experience with Linux and .ISO images, it might be good to steamline the jump from Windows as much as possible. The github page listed above mentions including the .iso in the live usb creator exe. Does this seem worth the trouble? --Dorkmo (talk) 01:40, 18 July 2018 (UTC)

Methods and Tools for Customization of Linux Images

Guides

  • There are various guides with different methods and software to create Linux Live USB devices for different versions of Linux.

https://www.howtogeek.com/109736/how-to-create-a-custom-ubuntu-live-cd-or-usb/

https://www.pendrivelinux.com/create-your-own-live-linux-cd-or-usb-distribution/

  • Many of these Linux live tools, guides and ubuntu pages appear outdated and discontinued (like Ubuntu Customization Kit) relative to 16.04 LTS and many only target users switching from windows like LiLi. Even LiLi https://www.linuxliveusb.com/ currently only lists support for 15.04.

Tools

https://etcher.io/ converts and copies data, which is what dd already does good using the command line.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_USB Lists a variety of compatibility considerations. More modern UEFI boot systems use GRUB.


  • Synaptic Package Manager makes it easy to create lists of marked packages that can be loaded and further edited to a particular users needs. Loading the list is not as clear as searches, but saves time and creates a re-usable log. Searching for the apps listed using Synaptic did not create a complete list due to repo defaults et cetera. It did, however, create a list totaling ~2.7GB. Mostly from KiCAD it appeared. With the list and package manager users can eliminate already installed packages and choose what they need.
  • How to Customize an Ubuntu Installation Disc – The Right Way (16.04 Compatible!)

https://nathanpfry.com/how-to-customize-an-ubuntu-installation-disc/#comment-30033

  • Cubic is a more recent and featured ubuntu live customization tool with a GUI.

http://askubuntu.com/questions/741753/how-to-use-cubic-to-create-a-custom-ubuntu-live-cd-image

Maintenance

What implementation methods and software support is ideal for long-term versioning and likely future changes to more open source software platforms for OSE Linux?

Isn't PPA [1] the best way to maintain and distribute a variation for linux ? In this way should be possible to include all necessary software, and the installation may depend on the needs. In the other side no matter what *ubuntu you are using. Just need to setup a team that constantly work on maintaining this huge amount of software that will change every 2 years. User:adexmont (3 dec 2018)

Size Tracking

  • Also since the installer or live USB device includes at least some libraries and OSE documents how big is it currently?

~2.9GB.

  • A full boot image/ISO may be larger than a 4GB or even an 8GB USB device as more software is added despite file system compression.

Misc

Should we add OpenShot Video Editor? here is a link to their website if intrested: http://www.openshot.org/


Download Tracking

Need to track the number of downloads just like Arduino does - see this nice example:

Downloadtracking.jpg

Once created, this data should be posted at the OSE Stats Page.

Old Install error notes

Step 1: Download the Ubuntu iso to customize. Remember the directory where it is saved, because we would need to move it later.

Where do I go to download ubuntu.iso? I originally use a USB drive to install Ubuntu 14 onto my computer (recently ran the upgrade to get version 16). The ISO image is on that USB drive?

Doc with detailed Walkthrough

I followed the instructions below and received the error listed here.

2.a. sudo apt-get install squashfs-tools genisoimage

3.a. mkdir oseimage

4.a. cp /path/to/saved/ubuntu.iso ~/where/to/save/custom-img

Error -> cp: cannot stat '/path/to/saved/ubuntu.iso': No such file or directory

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