I always like to have a live CD or live USB drive handy for special
situations. The ones that I have had so far have not supported
persistence, the ability to retain configuration changes for example.

On one of the newsgroups (I cannot remember which one) I saw Antix
recommended.

I downloaded antiX-21_x64-full.iso and installed it to a 32Gb SanDisk
drive using live-usb-maker-qt-19.11.02.x86_64.AppImage.

I made sure my BIOS pointed at "removable devices" as its first
bootable source but it immeiately booted from the hard drive.

I tried "burning" it again using dd with no improvements. I tried
another "burner" without success.

When I tried to join the Antixforum I could not register. Subsequent
attempts will not send a link to my email address. I am relectant to
blame the Russians. They've got enough aggravation. :)

Any suggestions?

Alan

--
Mint 20.3, kernel 5.4.0-104-generic, Cinnamon 5.2.7
running on an AMD Phenom II X4 Black edition processor with 16GB of
DRAM.

On 5/19/22 05:34, this is what pinnerite wrote:
> I always like to have a live CD or live USB drive handy for special
> situations. The ones that I have had so far have not supported
> persistence, the ability to retain configuration changes for example.
>
> On one of the newsgroups (I cannot remember which one) I saw Antix
> recommended.
>
> I downloaded antiX-21_x64-full.iso and installed it to a 32Gb SanDisk
> drive using live-usb-maker-qt-19.11.02.x86_64.AppImage.
>
> I made sure my BIOS pointed at "removable devices" as its first
> bootable source but it immeiately booted from the hard drive.
>
> I tried "burning" it again using dd with no improvements. I tried
> another "burner" without success.
>
> When I tried to join the Antixforum I could not register. Subsequent
> attempts will not send a link to my email address. I am relectant to
> blame the Russians. They've got enough aggravation. :)
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Alan
>
>
Rather than rely on the boot order in the BIOS to pick the device, hit whatever key it is on you model of PC that brings
up the boot device list. Not the BIOS editor, but the list of bootable devices. On my computer F2 gives me the BIOS,
F12 the boot menu.

If I didn't burn a USB right it shows as legacy USB other wise it's in the list of EFI devices.

Al

On 2022-05-19 6:36 a.m., Big Al wrote:
> On 5/19/22 05:34, this is what pinnerite wrote:
>> I always like to have a live CD or live USB drive handy for special
>> situations. The ones that I have had so far have not supported
>> persistence, the ability to retain configuration changes for example.
>>
>> On one of the newsgroups (I cannot remember which one) I saw Antix
>> recommended.
>>
>> I downloaded antiX-21_x64-full.iso and installed it to a 32Gb SanDisk
>> drive using live-usb-maker-qt-19.11.02.x86_64.AppImage.
>>
>> I made sure my BIOS pointed at "removable devices" as its first
>> bootable source but it immeiately booted from the hard drive.
>>
>> I tried "burning" it again using dd with no improvements. I tried
>> another "burner" without success.
>>
>> When I tried to join the Antixforum I could not register. Subsequent
>> attempts will not send a link to my email address. I am relectant to
>> blame the Russians. They've got enough aggravation. :)
>>
>> Any suggestions?
>>
>> Alan
>>
>>
> Rather than rely on the boot order in the BIOS to pick the device, hit
> whatever key it is on you model of PC that brings up the boot device
> list.  Not the BIOS editor, but the list of bootable devices.  On my
> computer F2 gives me the BIOS, F12 the boot menu.
>
> If I didn't burn a USB right it shows as legacy USB other wise it's in
> the list of EFI devices.
>
> Al

I agree with Big Al, leave your bios settings as they were, and use the
boot menu key to select the USB drive, on my Asus motherboards it's F8.

I have good success with Rufus or BalenaEtcher for USB stick creators.

If you want a nice easy to use distro that handles persistence properly
and is quick to set up and use, try "Puppy Linux" for those situations.

Rene

On Thu, 19 May 2022 10:34:11 +0100, pinnerite wrote:

> I always like to have a live CD or live USB drive handy for special
> situations. The ones that I have had so far have not supported
> persistence, the ability to retain configuration changes for example.
>
> On one of the newsgroups (I cannot remember which one) I saw Antix
> recommended.
>
> I downloaded antiX-21_x64-full.iso and installed it to a 32Gb SanDisk
> drive using live-usb-maker-qt-19.11.02.x86_64.AppImage.
>
> I made sure my BIOS pointed at "removable devices" as its first bootable
> source but it immeiately booted from the hard drive.
>
> I tried "burning" it again using dd with no improvements. I tried
> another "burner" without success.
>
> When I tried to join the Antixforum I could not register. Subsequent
> attempts will not send a link to my email address. I am relectant to
> blame the Russians. They've got enough aggravation. :)
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Alan

Check if it's a bootable usb.

pinnerite wrote:
> I always like to have a live CD or live USB drive handy for special
> situations. The ones that I have had so far have not supported
> persistence, the ability to retain configuration changes for example.
>
That is a common problem/limitation. I'm a big fan of live USBs, also
persistence, also multiboot live USBs. Presently I do persistence one
way; multi- another.

> On one of the newsgroups (I cannot remember which one) I saw Antix
> recommended.
>
What I like about antix persistence is its power and flexibility; I'm
not fond of its 'complexity', but I'm trying to learn more about that.

> I downloaded antiX-21_x64-full.iso and installed it to a 32Gb SanDisk
> drive using live-usb-maker-qt-19.11.02.x86_64.AppImage.
>
I generally check a particular distro's recommendations about how to
make a USB; I was interested to see their rec about the above. Since I
wasn't familiar w/ that and since I like to know as much about live usb
makers as possible I looked around for more info. Normally I do NOT
like YTs for info, but it turned out that one was <4 min and it was
informative, incl the comments.

When I watched the YT and comments, I understood why mx/antix rec that
app; it is available for my different distro/s, it is NOT snap, and
perhaps most importantly for antix/mx who are big fans of persistence,
it can make the usb persistent from the gitgo with the option: "full
featured mode - writable USB".

Personally I've never used it; I usually take a live USB (of a -ub or
Mint) and add mkusb from a .ppa and use the mkusb to make a persistent
usb. But, since antix/mx are so strong on persistent usb and since they
like that app, I'm going to give it a shot.

> I made sure my BIOS pointed at "removable devices" as its first
> bootable source but it immeiately booted from the hard drive.
>
I agree w/ others who recommend that you figure out how to access your
computer's boot menu. The computers I use use F9 or F11, but there are
many different options for that function.

> I tried "burning" it again using dd with no improvements. I tried
> another "burner" without success.
>
We don't yet have a diagnosis for your problem.

> When I tried to join the Antixforum I could not register. Subsequent
> attempts will not send a link to my email address.

I went to the antix reg page but it didn't give me any info on restrictions.
>
> Any suggestions?
>
I rec to find out how to get to the boot menu and go back to the first
usb maker in your msg above.

You might also like this 4 m vid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTMCEGFIhLM Create Live USB from any
Linux OS - MX Linux Live USB Maker AppImage

https://mxlinux.org/blog/live-usb-maker-tool-now-available-as-an-appimage/
live-usb-maker tool now available as an AppImage

--
Mike Easter

Mike Easter wrote:
> pinnerite wrote:
>
>> I downloaded antiX-21_x64-full.iso and installed it to a 32Gb SanDisk
>> drive using live-usb-maker-qt-19.11.02.x86_64.AppImage.
>>
> When I watched the YT and comments, I understood why mx/antix rec that
> app; it is available for my different distro/s, it is NOT snap, and
> perhaps most importantly for antix/mx who are big fans of persistence,
> it can make the usb persistent from the gitgo with the option: "full
> featured mode - writable USB".
>
Now that I've watched the rest of the vid, I find that this
full-featured mode is ONLY available if the .iso is antix/mx.
Apparently it is the usb maker from 'inside' antix/mx.

So; that provides me another similar way to make a persistent usb; use a
live -ub/mint + mkusb .ppa OR use a live mx-antix and its usb -maker.

There are also 'lesser' persistent usb makers which only allow for
persistent data and not persistent system changes which is a very
important diff.

--
Mike Easter

On 5/19/2022 5:34 AM, pinnerite wrote:
> I always like to have a live CD or live USB drive handy for special
> situations. The ones that I have had so far have not supported
> persistence, the ability to retain configuration changes for example.
>
> On one of the newsgroups (I cannot remember which one) I saw Antix
> recommended.
>
> I downloaded antiX-21_x64-full.iso and installed it to a 32Gb SanDisk
> drive using live-usb-maker-qt-19.11.02.x86_64.AppImage.
>
> I made sure my BIOS pointed at "removable devices" as its first
> bootable source but it immeiately booted from the hard drive.
>
> I tried "burning" it again using dd with no improvements. I tried
> another "burner" without success.
>
> When I tried to join the Antixforum I could not register. Subsequent
> attempts will not send a link to my email address. I am relectant to
> blame the Russians. They've got enough aggravation. :)
>
> Any suggestions?
>
> Alan
>
>

Looks like a hybrid. Should have worked.

If you "dd" that, chances are it'll work to boot on USB.

If you use some other tool for USB stick preparation,
a tool with persistence, it might just copy the files
and not the exact structure. In which case the stick
could be UEFI, or the stick could be MBR, but maybe not both.

Your popup boot menu will tell you, via how many
entries are created. For example, if I burned that
as an ISO to a DVD, I would end up with two popup boot entries
(one for UEFI, one for MBR).

*******

disktype antiX-21_x64-full.iso

--- antiX-21_x64-full.iso
Regular file, size 1.354 GiB (1454374912 bytes)
DOS/MBR partition map
Partition 2: 4.070 MiB (4268032 bytes, 8336 sectors from 1240)
Type 0xEF (EFI System (FAT))
FAT12 file system (hints score 4 of 5)
Volume size 4.045 MiB (4241408 bytes, 2071 clusters of 2 KiB)
Volume name "EFI-LIVE"
GPT partition map, 128 entries
Disk size 1.354 GiB (1454374912 bytes, 2840576 sectors)
Disk GUID F0F83CB5-2471-B647-A545-26EAA05F8DB8
Partition 1: 1.354 GiB (1453916160 bytes, 2839680 sectors from 0)
Type Basic Data (GUID A2A0D0EB-E5B9-3344-87C0-68B6B72699C7)
Partition Name "ISOHybrid ISO"
Partition GUID 7E628AD1-D0FA-6848-BD3B-C15BFACC6F6B
Partition 2: 4.070 MiB (4268032 bytes, 8336 sectors from 1240)
Type Basic Data (GUID A2A0D0EB-E5B9-3344-87C0-68B6B72699C7)
Partition Name "ISOHybrid"
Partition GUID D9E304F4-0F54-CA4B-825C-DE99907E25DA
FAT12 file system (hints score 4 of 5)
Volume size 4.045 MiB (4241408 bytes, 2071 clusters of 2 KiB)
Volume name "EFI-LIVE"
Partition 3: unused
ISO9660 file system
Volume name "antiX-Live"
Preparer "XORRISO-1.5.0 2018.09.15.133001, LIBISOBURN-1.5.0, LIBISOFS-1.5.0, LIBBURN-1.5.0"
Data size 1.354 GiB (1453916160 bytes, 709920 blocks of 2 KiB)
El Torito boot record, catalog at 309
Bootable non-emulated image, starts at 2394, preloads 2 KiB
Platform 0x00 (x86), System Type 0x00 (Empty)
ISOLINUX boot loader
Bootable non-emulated image, starts at 310, preloads 4.070 MiB (4268032 bytes)
Platform 0xEF (EFI), System Type 0x00 (Empty)
FAT12 file system (hints score 4 of 5)
Volume size 4.045 MiB (4241408 bytes, 2071 clusters of 2 KiB)
Volume name "EFI-LIVE"
Joliet extension, volume name "antiX-Live"

*******

Booted in a VM.

https://i.postimg.cc/9fqtSy0V/antix.gif

Paul

On 5/19/22 11:24, this is what Rene Lamontagne wrote:
> On 2022-05-19 6:36 a.m., Big Al wrote:
>> On 5/19/22 05:34, this is what pinnerite wrote:
>>> I always like to have a live CD or live USB drive handy for special
>>> situations. The ones that I have had so far have not supported
>>> persistence, the ability to retain configuration changes for example.
>>>
>>> On one of the newsgroups (I cannot remember which one) I saw Antix
>>> recommended.
>>>
>>> I downloaded antiX-21_x64-full.iso and installed it to a 32Gb SanDisk
>>> drive using live-usb-maker-qt-19.11.02.x86_64.AppImage.
>>>
>>> I made sure my BIOS pointed at "removable devices" as its first
>>> bootable source but it immeiately booted from the hard drive.
>>>
>>> I tried "burning" it again using dd with no improvements. I tried
>>> another "burner" without success.
>>>
>>> When I tried to join the Antixforum I could not register. Subsequent
>>> attempts will not send a link to my email address. I am relectant to
>>> blame the Russians. They've got enough aggravation. :)
>>>
>>> Any suggestions?
>>>
>>> Alan
>>>
>>>
>> Rather than rely on the boot order in the BIOS to pick the device, hit whatever key it is on you model of PC that
>> brings up the boot device list.  Not the BIOS editor, but the list of bootable devices.  On my computer F2 gives me
>> the BIOS, F12 the boot menu.
>>
>> If I didn't burn a USB right it shows as legacy USB other wise it's in the list of EFI devices.
>>
>> Al
>
> I agree with Big Al, leave your bios settings as they were, and use the boot menu key to select the USB drive, on my
> Asus motherboards it's F8.
>
> I have good success with Rufus or BalenaEtcher for USB stick creators.
>
> If you want a nice easy to use distro that handles persistence properly and is quick to set up and use, try "Puppy
> Linux"  for those situations.
>
> Rene
>
>
I took a different route. I installed Linux Mint 20.3 right onto the thumb drive just like I would any other drive. So
there is no limit to storage other than the size of the drive. Works like a charm. I put it on a 32G drive, one that
I found had good throughput on 3.0 USB. Works almost as good a what's on my hard drive.

Al

On Thu, 19 May 2022 10:24:25 -0500
Rene Lamontagne <rlamont@shaw.ca> wrote:

> On 2022-05-19 6:36 a.m., Big Al wrote:
> > On 5/19/22 05:34, this is what pinnerite wrote:
> >> I always like to have a live CD or live USB drive handy for special
> >> situations. The ones that I have had so far have not supported
> >> persistence, the ability to retain configuration changes for example.
> >>
> >> On one of the newsgroups (I cannot remember which one) I saw Antix
> >> recommended.
> >>
> >> I downloaded antiX-21_x64-full.iso and installed it to a 32Gb SanDisk
> >> drive using live-usb-maker-qt-19.11.02.x86_64.AppImage.
> >>
> >> I made sure my BIOS pointed at "removable devices" as its first
> >> bootable source but it immeiately booted from the hard drive.
> >>
> >> I tried "burning" it again using dd with no improvements. I tried
> >> another "burner" without success.
> >>
> >> When I tried to join the Antixforum I could not register. Subsequent
> >> attempts will not send a link to my email address. I am relectant to
> >> blame the Russians. They've got enough aggravation. :)
> >>
> >> Any suggestions?
> >>
> >> Alan
> >>
> >>
> > Rather than rely on the boot order in the BIOS to pick the device, hit
> > whatever key it is on you model of PC that brings up the boot device
> > list.  Not the BIOS editor, but the list of bootable devices.  On my
> > computer F2 gives me the BIOS, F12 the boot menu.
> >
> > If I didn't burn a USB right it shows as legacy USB other wise it's in
> > the list of EFI devices.
> >
> > Al
>
> I agree with Big Al, leave your bios settings as they were, and use the
> boot menu key to select the USB drive, on my Asus motherboards it's F8.
>
> I have good success with Rufus or BalenaEtcher for USB stick creators.
>
> If you want a nice easy to use distro that handles persistence properly
> and is quick to set up and use, try "Puppy Linux" for those situations.
>
> Rene
>
>
I have an Asus motherboard too but I couldn't find any reference to F8
in the manual.

I tried it anyway and bingo! I have yet to test the Antix system for
persistence.

Can I just save stuff or do I have to mutter incantations first?

Alan

--
Mint 20.3, kernel 5.4.0-104-generic, Cinnamon 5.2.7
running on an AMD Phenom II X4 Black edition processor with 16GB of
DRAM.

On 5/19/2022 3:20 PM, pinnerite wrote:
> On Thu, 19 May 2022 10:24:25 -0500
> Rene Lamontagne <rlamont@shaw.ca> wrote:
>
>> On 2022-05-19 6:36 a.m., Big Al wrote:
>>> On 5/19/22 05:34, this is what pinnerite wrote:
>>>> I always like to have a live CD or live USB drive handy for special
>>>> situations. The ones that I have had so far have not supported
>>>> persistence, the ability to retain configuration changes for example.
>>>>
>>>> On one of the newsgroups (I cannot remember which one) I saw Antix
>>>> recommended.
>>>>
>>>> I downloaded antiX-21_x64-full.iso and installed it to a 32Gb SanDisk
>>>> drive using live-usb-maker-qt-19.11.02.x86_64.AppImage.
>>>>
>>>> I made sure my BIOS pointed at "removable devices" as its first
>>>> bootable source but it immeiately booted from the hard drive.
>>>>
>>>> I tried "burning" it again using dd with no improvements. I tried
>>>> another "burner" without success.
>>>>
>>>> When I tried to join the Antixforum I could not register. Subsequent
>>>> attempts will not send a link to my email address. I am relectant to
>>>> blame the Russians. They've got enough aggravation. :)
>>>>
>>>> Any suggestions?
>>>>
>>>> Alan
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Rather than rely on the boot order in the BIOS to pick the device, hit
>>> whatever key it is on you model of PC that brings up the boot device
>>> list.  Not the BIOS editor, but the list of bootable devices.  On my
>>> computer F2 gives me the BIOS, F12 the boot menu.
>>>
>>> If I didn't burn a USB right it shows as legacy USB other wise it's in
>>> the list of EFI devices.
>>>
>>> Al
>>
>> I agree with Big Al, leave your bios settings as they were, and use the
>> boot menu key to select the USB drive, on my Asus motherboards it's F8.
>>
>> I have good success with Rufus or BalenaEtcher for USB stick creators.
>>
>> If you want a nice easy to use distro that handles persistence properly
>> and is quick to set up and use, try "Puppy Linux" for those situations.
>>
>> Rene
>>
>>
> I have an Asus motherboard too but I couldn't find any reference to F8
> in the manual.
>
> I tried it anyway and bingo! I have yet to test the Antix system for
> persistence.
>
> Can I just save stuff or do I have to mutter incantations first?
>
> Alan
>

You can save stuff.

https://download.tuxfamily.org/antix/docs-antiX-19/FAQ/persistence.html

Once you understand the mechanism, you may need to resize something...

Paul

pinnerite wrote:
> Can I just save stuff or do I have to mutter incantations first?

When you boot antiX, there is a boot option F5 which provides a complex
persistence options lineup.

<graphics & persistence info>
https://antixlinux.com/the-most-extensive-live-usb-on-the-planet/ The
Most Extensive Live-usb on the Planet!

That will provide the environment for your persistence.

--
Mike Easter

Mike Easter wrote:
> since antix/mx are so strong on persistent usb and since they like that
> app, I'm going to give it a shot.

A weakness/ deficiency of the 'lum' as they like to call live-usb-maker
is that its 'file finder' function does not provide a wide range (some
file managers have an 'other' function) of navigation; you can only
navigate to your own device.

And the other limitation is that mentioned of only being able to provide
the full featured mode to antix/mx.

I would say that mkusb is a stronger persistence maker. I'm curious
about whether mkusb will function w/ numerous antix/mx persistence
options. When you try to use mkusb w/ anything other than a -buntu, it
squawks, but of course it works w/ 'buntu deriv like Mint and the mkusb
docs talk about being able to work for Debians, which antix/mx are,
except not exactly, since they don't systemd unless activated.

--
Mike Easter

Mike Easter wrote:
> I would say that mkusb is a stronger persistence maker.  I'm curious
> about whether mkusb will function w/ numerous antix/mx persistence
> options.  When you try to use mkusb w/ anything other than a -buntu, it
> squawks, but of course it works w/ 'buntu deriv like Mint and the mkusb
> docs talk about being able to work for Debians, which antix/mx are,
> except not exactly, since they don't systemd unless activated.

mkusb can work w/ MX

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/mkusb/gui#Linux_distros_where_mkusb_works

That page is older; since then mkusb-plug has been integrated into the
mkusb package.
> (last edited 2021-08-27

But, the proof is in the pudding; actually successfully making a
persistent MX using mkusb that has all of the complex features of the
antix/mx persistent options.

--
Mike Easter

pinnerite wrote:
> I tried it anyway and bingo! I have yet to test the Antix system for
> persistence.
>
> Can I just save stuff or do I have to mutter incantations first?

There are two things to do here; when you use the lum live usb maker,
you must use the 'full-featured mode' to create space for the
persistence AND when you boot the antix you must use its boot menu F5
function to bring out the persistence sub-menu to describe which of the
several persistent options to use.

--
Mike Easter

Mike Easter wrote:
> since antix/mx are so strong on persistent usb and since they like that
> app, I'm going to give it a shot.

In MX Linux, the usb-maker is named MX Live USB Maker and its v. is 22.1.01.

My method: I booted a live mx linux 21.1 which I had copied to a ventoy
multiboot usb. Since the LUM can't navigate to other drives/devices, I
copied the/a mx linux 21.1 .iso from its dir on a hdd to a directory on
the live.

Then I formatted a usb using MX's usb formatter, since I didn't know
whether or not the LUM was able to do its own formatting, and ran the MX
LUM which interface is identical to what I've seen in the antiX appimage
LUM I experimented earlier.

I could have alternatively just used the running live system, since the
LUM offers several options, 2 of which are: 'clone an existing live
system' and 'clone running live system'.

I investigated the possibility of using mkusb in MX Linux since there
was some info that it might be possible to do so from the mkusb dev, but
trying to add the mkusb ubuntu .ppa to the MX Linux wasn't going the way
I expected.

I'll use this usb to experiment w/ some of the MX/AntiX modes of
persistence.

--
Mike Easter