Hi,

I found my old notebook during cleanop of my office:
Celeron 1 core, 1GB RAM, 320GB HD. OS was/is Mandriva 2009.1 32Bit.

Since MGA9 is also available in 32Bit, so, why not re-install and use it
for easier tasks?

I took the advice from

https://wiki.mageia.org/en/
How_to_choose_the_right_Mageia_upgrade_method

to set up the repos via commandline, but I do not know how to interpret

"urpmi.addmedia --distrib --mirrorlist http://mirrors.mageia.org/api/
mageia.<n+1>.$ARCH.list"

What exactly has this line to look like, to get it to work with 32Bit
repos like core, tainted, etc.?

Thanks!

Best regards,

Markus

On Fri, 26 Jan 2024 12:33:35 -0500, Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I found my old notebook during cleanop of my office:
> Celeron 1 core, 1GB RAM, 320GB HD. OS was/is Mandriva 2009.1 32Bit.
>
> Since MGA9 is also available in 32Bit, so, why not re-install and use it
> for easier tasks?
>
> I took the advice from
>
> https://wiki.mageia.org/en/
> How_to_choose_the_right_Mageia_upgrade_method
>
> to set up the repos via commandline, but I do not know how to interpret
>
> "urpmi.addmedia --distrib --mirrorlist http://mirrors.mageia.org/api/
> mageia.<n+1>.$ARCH.list"
>
> What exactly has this line to look like, to get it to work with 32Bit
> repos like core, tainted, etc.?

Upgrading directly from Mandriva to Mageia 9 is not supported. Things in prior
releases such as the move of /bin, /sbin, and /lib to symlinks under /usr would
very likely prevent such an upgrade from working.

Doing it properly would require upgrading from Mandriva to Mageia 1, then 2, etc.,
up to the currently supported Mageia 9.

If you want to try, run "urpmi.removemedia -a" to remove the old repos before
adding the new ones.

I normally specify a mirror rather then using mirrorlist. For example

urpmi.addmedia --distrib http://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/Mageia/distrib/9/i586/

If you want to use mirrorlist ....
urpmi.addmedia --distrib --mirrorlist http://mirrors.mageia.org/api/mageia.9.i586.list

Either way, after that run "drakrpm-edit-media" to ensure nonfree and tainted are
enabled, if desired.

For releases 1 through 7, the only repos still available are under
http://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/Mageia-archive/distrib/
so you would have to specify the mirror. Mirrorlist will not work.

Much easier/faster to just do a fresh install after backing up anything you
want to keep somewhere it will not get deleted or overwritten during the install.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

On Fri, 26 Jan 2024 14:35:18 -0500 David W. Hodgins wrote:

> On Fri, 26 Jan 2024 12:33:35 -0500, Markus Robert Kessler
> <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I found my old notebook during cleanop of my office:
>> Celeron 1 core, 1GB RAM, 320GB HD. OS was/is Mandriva 2009.1 32Bit.
>>
>> Since MGA9 is also available in 32Bit, so, why not re-install and use
>> it for easier tasks?
>>
>> I took the advice from
>>
>> https://wiki.mageia.org/en/
>> How_to_choose_the_right_Mageia_upgrade_method
>>
>> to set up the repos via commandline, but I do not know how to interpret
>>
>> "urpmi.addmedia --distrib --mirrorlist http://mirrors.mageia.org/api/
>> mageia.<n+1>.$ARCH.list"
>>
>> What exactly has this line to look like, to get it to work with 32Bit
>> repos like core, tainted, etc.?
>
> Upgrading directly from Mandriva to Mageia 9 is not supported. Things in
> prior releases such as the move of /bin, /sbin, and /lib to symlinks
> under /usr would very likely prevent such an upgrade from working.
>
> Doing it properly would require upgrading from Mandriva to Mageia 1,
> then 2, etc.,
> up to the currently supported Mageia 9.
>
> If you want to try, run "urpmi.removemedia -a" to remove the old repos
> before adding the new ones.
>
> I normally specify a mirror rather then using mirrorlist. For example
>
> urpmi.addmedia --distrib
> http://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/Mageia/distrib/9/i586/
>
> If you want to use mirrorlist ....
> urpmi.addmedia --distrib --mirrorlist
> http://mirrors.mageia.org/api/mageia.9.i586.list
>
> Either way, after that run "drakrpm-edit-media" to ensure nonfree and
> tainted are enabled, if desired.
>
> For releases 1 through 7, the only repos still available are under
> http://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/Mageia-archive/distrib/
> so you would have to specify the mirror. Mirrorlist will not work.
>
> Much easier/faster to just do a fresh install after backing up anything
> you want to keep somewhere it will not get deleted or overwritten during
> the install.
>
> Regards, Dave Hodgins

Hi, thanks!

Well, now there occurred one more problem:

I tried to do the above remotely, but I see a weird behaviour when trying
to open a connection via ssh from a MGA9-64 box to Mandriva 2009.1:

$ ssh test@linuxnb1
Unable to negotiate with 192.168.2.23 port 22: no matching host key type
found. Their offer: ssh-rsa,ssh-dss
$

Someone know what's going on here, how to solve?

Thanks in advance!

Best regards,

Markus

--
Please reply to group only.
For private email please use http://www.dipl-ing-kessler.de/email.htm

On Sat, 27 Jan 2024 10:56:15 -0500, Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:
> Well, now there occurred one more problem:
>
> I tried to do the above remotely, but I see a weird behaviour when trying
> to open a connection via ssh from a MGA9-64 box to Mandriva 2009.1:
>
> $ ssh test@linuxnb1
> Unable to negotiate with 192.168.2.23 port 22: no matching host key type
> found. Their offer: ssh-rsa,ssh-dss

https://www.zdnet.com/article/openssh-to-deprecate-sha-1-logins-due-to-security-risk/

Probably the easiest way to get around it would be to create a local vb guest
running Mageia 1, and use that to ssh into the mandriva system.
http://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/Mageia-archive/distrib/1/i586/

Note that you can not use mirrorlist during the install. The mirror must be
added using urpmi.addmedia specifying the mirror.

While using an ssh connection to do an upgrade remotely may work, it's very
high risk.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

On 1/27/24 10:27, David W. Hodgins wrote:
> On Sat, 27 Jan 2024 10:56:15 -0500, Markus Robert Kessler
> <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:
>> Well, now there occurred one more problem:
>>
>> I tried to do the above remotely, but I see a weird behaviour when trying
>> to open a connection via ssh from a MGA9-64 box to Mandriva 2009.1:
>>
>> $ ssh test@linuxnb1
>> Unable to negotiate with 192.168.2.23 port 22: no matching host key type
>> found. Their offer: ssh-rsa,ssh-dss
>
> https://www.zdnet.com/article/openssh-to-deprecate-sha-1-logins-due-to-security-risk/
>
> Probably the easiest way to get around it would be to create a local vb
> guest
> running Mageia 1, and use that to ssh into the mandriva system.
> http://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/Mageia-archive/distrib/1/i586/
>
> Note that you can not use mirrorlist during the install. The mirror must be
> added using urpmi.addmedia specifying the mirror.
>
> While using an ssh connection to do an upgrade remotely may work, it's very
> high risk.
>
> Regards, Dave Hodgins

Markus back up your Mandriva 2009.1 then reinstall the latest
Mageia or which ever other distribution takes your fancy. Salix with
Mate is out recently. I would recommend what I use but it does not
support 32 bit CPUs.

bliss- Dell Precision 7730- PCLOS 2024.01- Linux 6.5.13- Plasma 5.27.10

--
bliss dash SF four ever at dsl extreme dot com

You could always try to download a current version of openssh and try to
rebuild it on the mandriva machine. It would then have alternative
versions of the new possible ssh hash types.

I have no idea if this would work of if the newer one woul have
requirements for some newer library.

On 2024-01-27, Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:
> On Fri, 26 Jan 2024 14:35:18 -0500 David W. Hodgins wrote:
>
>> On Fri, 26 Jan 2024 12:33:35 -0500, Markus Robert Kessler
>> <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> I found my old notebook during cleanop of my office:
>>> Celeron 1 core, 1GB RAM, 320GB HD. OS was/is Mandriva 2009.1 32Bit.
>>>
>>> Since MGA9 is also available in 32Bit, so, why not re-install and use
>>> it for easier tasks?
>>>
>>> I took the advice from
>>>
>>> https://wiki.mageia.org/en/
>>> How_to_choose_the_right_Mageia_upgrade_method
>>>
>>> to set up the repos via commandline, but I do not know how to interpret
>>>
>>> "urpmi.addmedia --distrib --mirrorlist http://mirrors.mageia.org/api/
>>> mageia.<n+1>.$ARCH.list"
>>>
>>> What exactly has this line to look like, to get it to work with 32Bit
>>> repos like core, tainted, etc.?
>>
>> Upgrading directly from Mandriva to Mageia 9 is not supported. Things in
>> prior releases such as the move of /bin, /sbin, and /lib to symlinks
>> under /usr would very likely prevent such an upgrade from working.
>>
>> Doing it properly would require upgrading from Mandriva to Mageia 1,
>> then 2, etc.,
>> up to the currently supported Mageia 9.
>>
>> If you want to try, run "urpmi.removemedia -a" to remove the old repos
>> before adding the new ones.
>>
>> I normally specify a mirror rather then using mirrorlist. For example
>>
>> urpmi.addmedia --distrib
>> http://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/Mageia/distrib/9/i586/
>>
>> If you want to use mirrorlist ....
>> urpmi.addmedia --distrib --mirrorlist
>> http://mirrors.mageia.org/api/mageia.9.i586.list
>>
>> Either way, after that run "drakrpm-edit-media" to ensure nonfree and
>> tainted are enabled, if desired.
>>
>> For releases 1 through 7, the only repos still available are under
>> http://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/Mageia-archive/distrib/
>> so you would have to specify the mirror. Mirrorlist will not work.
>>
>> Much easier/faster to just do a fresh install after backing up anything
>> you want to keep somewhere it will not get deleted or overwritten during
>> the install.
>>
>> Regards, Dave Hodgins
>
> Hi, thanks!
>
> Well, now there occurred one more problem:
>
> I tried to do the above remotely, but I see a weird behaviour when trying
> to open a connection via ssh from a MGA9-64 box to Mandriva 2009.1:
>
> $ ssh test@linuxnb1
> Unable to negotiate with 192.168.2.23 port 22: no matching host key type
> found. Their offer: ssh-rsa,ssh-dss
> $
>
> Someone know what's going on here, how to solve?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>
> Best regards,
>
> Markus
>
>

On Sat, 27 Jan 2024 22:59:07 -0000 (UTC) William Unruh wrote:

> You could always try to download a current version of openssh and try to
> rebuild it on the mandriva machine. It would then have alternative
> versions of the new possible ssh hash types.
>
> I have no idea if this would work of if the newer one woul have
> requirements for some newer library.

The funny thing is, that I can connect from MGA9 to a MGA6 box via ssh,
and use this as a relay station to connect to such an acient one like
Mandriva 9. Ssh in MGA6 seems to be somehow both, up- and downward
compatible.

BR,
Markus

On Sat, 27 Jan 2024 13:27:14 -0500 David W. Hodgins wrote:

> On Sat, 27 Jan 2024 10:56:15 -0500, Markus Robert Kessler
> <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:
>> Well, now there occurred one more problem:
>>
>> I tried to do the above remotely, but I see a weird behaviour when
>> trying to open a connection via ssh from a MGA9-64 box to Mandriva
>> 2009.1:
>>
>> $ ssh test@linuxnb1 Unable to negotiate with 192.168.2.23 port 22: no
>> matching host key type found. Their offer: ssh-rsa,ssh-dss
>
> https://www.zdnet.com/article/openssh-to-deprecate-sha-1-logins-due-to-
security-risk/
>
> Probably the easiest way to get around it would be to create a local vb
> guest running Mageia 1, and use that to ssh into the mandriva system.
> http://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/Mageia-archive/distrib/
1/i586/
>
> Note that you can not use mirrorlist during the install. The mirror must
> be added using urpmi.addmedia specifying the mirror.
>
> While using an ssh connection to do an upgrade remotely may work, it's
> very high risk.
>
> Regards, Dave Hodgins

Hi, thanks!

Well, as an experiment, I tried to upgrade from Mandriva2009 to MGA5 and,
as far as I've seen, there were /bin and /usr/bin (and /sbin and /usr/
sbin) there as real directories instead of symlinks, and both filled with
different content. So, no chance to just create a link.

No surprise that finally the upgrade exited with unspecified failure.
At least, I cann fully confirm what you have predicted :-)

B.t.w., thanks for the link:

> https://www.zdnet.com/article/openssh-to-deprecate-sha-1-logins-due-to-
security-risk/

This explains why no optional parameters given to ssh could make this
work. Sha1 seems to be removed from the list.

Best regards,

Markus

On Sat, 27 Jan 2024 11:28:50 -0800 Bobbie Sellers wrote:

> On 1/27/24 10:27, David W. Hodgins wrote:
>> On Sat, 27 Jan 2024 10:56:15 -0500, Markus Robert Kessler
>> <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:
>>> Well, now there occurred one more problem:
>>>
>>> I tried to do the above remotely, but I see a weird behaviour when
>>> trying to open a connection via ssh from a MGA9-64 box to Mandriva
>>> 2009.1:
>>>
>>> $ ssh test@linuxnb1 Unable to negotiate with 192.168.2.23 port 22: no
>>> matching host key type found. Their offer: ssh-rsa,ssh-dss
>>
>> https://www.zdnet.com/article/openssh-to-deprecate-sha-1-logins-due-to-
security-risk/
>>
>> Probably the easiest way to get around it would be to create a local vb
>> guest running Mageia 1, and use that to ssh into the mandriva system.
>> http://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/Mageia-archive/distrib/
1/i586/
>>
>> Note that you can not use mirrorlist during the install. The mirror
>> must be added using urpmi.addmedia specifying the mirror.
>>
>> While using an ssh connection to do an upgrade remotely may work, it's
>> very high risk.
>>
>> Regards, Dave Hodgins
>
> Markus back up your Mandriva 2009.1 then reinstall the latest
> Mageia or which ever other distribution takes your fancy. Salix with
> Mate is out recently. I would recommend what I use but it does not
> support 32 bit CPUs.
>
> bliss- Dell Precision 7730- PCLOS 2024.01- Linux 6.5.13- Plasma 5.27.10

Hi Bobbie, hi everyone,

in the meantime I tried to insall MGA9-32 directly, reformatting the disk
and booting from USB stick.

- I got Mageia-9-i586.iso
- I took a 32GB USB stick and created one fullsize Ext3 partition
- I started unetbootin (unetbootin-702-3.mga9) on a MGA9-64 box
- in unetbootin I loaded above ISO and clicked on start
- unetbootin claimed to do all necessary things automatically

After unetbootin reported to have finished, I unmounted the stick and
plugged it into the target machine.

The stick was shown in the list of boot devices and could be selected.

After a while, the BIOS terminated with "OS not found".

This is the same behaviour I saw, when testing PCLinux and afterwards
Ubuntu. Done on different target machines.

Has someone already successfully used unetbootin out of MGA9?

Thanks,
best regards,

Markus

On 1/28/24 07:59, Markus Robert Kessler wrote:
> On Sat, 27 Jan 2024 11:28:50 -0800 Bobbie Sellers wrote:
>
>> On 1/27/24 10:27, David W. Hodgins wrote:
>>> On Sat, 27 Jan 2024 10:56:15 -0500, Markus Robert Kessler
>>> <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:
>>>> Well, now there occurred one more problem:
>>>>
>>>> I tried to do the above remotely, but I see a weird behaviour when
>>>> trying to open a connection via ssh from a MGA9-64 box to Mandriva
>>>> 2009.1:
>>>>
>>>> $ ssh test@linuxnb1 Unable to negotiate with 192.168.2.23 port 22: no
>>>> matching host key type found. Their offer: ssh-rsa,ssh-dss
>>>
>>> https://www.zdnet.com/article/openssh-to-deprecate-sha-1-logins-due-to-
> security-risk/
>>>
>>> Probably the easiest way to get around it would be to create a local vb
>>> guest running Mageia 1, and use that to ssh into the mandriva system.
>>> http://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/Mageia-archive/distrib/
> 1/i586/
>>>
>>> Note that you can not use mirrorlist during the install. The mirror
>>> must be added using urpmi.addmedia specifying the mirror.
>>>
>>> While using an ssh connection to do an upgrade remotely may work, it's
>>> very high risk.
>>>
>>> Regards, Dave Hodgins
>>
>> Markus back up your Mandriva 2009.1 then reinstall the latest
>> Mageia or which ever other distribution takes your fancy. Salix with
>> Mate is out recently. I would recommend what I use but it does not
>> support 32 bit CPUs.
>>
>> bliss- Dell Precision 7730- PCLOS 2024.01- Linux 6.5.13- Plasma 5.27.10
>
> Hi Bobbie, hi everyone,
>
> in the meantime I tried to insall MGA9-32 directly, reformatting the disk
> and booting from USB stick.
>
> - I got Mageia-9-i586.iso
Did you run a checksum?

> - I took a 32GB USB stick and created one fullsize Ext3 partition

I think that may have been your error. FAT and a old fashioned
boot sector is the general arrangement.

> - I started unetbootin (unetbootin-702-3.mga9) on a MGA9-64 box
> - in unetbootin I loaded above ISO and clicked on start
> - unetbootin claimed to do all necessary things automatically

Well what you do is turn off your computer and insert the
USB Flash Drive then Start up the computer and go to the Boot Menu
and chose your Flash Drive. It should boot.
>
> After unetbootin reported to have finished, I unmounted the stick and
> plugged it into the target machine.
>
> The stick was shown in the list of boot devices and could be selected.
>
> After a while, the BIOS terminated with "OS not found".

If you had the FAT file system with the old boot it might
have found the OS. 32 GB is awfully large for the purpose unless
you would be using Ventoy and writing every version of Mageia to
that Flash Drive.

>
> This is the same behaviour I saw, when testing PCLinux and afterwards
> Ubuntu. Done on different target machines.

Look up the dd command run from the terminal and you might have
greater success. You should have joined the PCLinuxOS forum and asked
for advice with information on the hardware you are employing. By the
way neither PCLinuxOS nor the Canonical product have 32 bit
distributions.
>
> Has someone already successfully used unetbootin out of MGA9?
>
> Thanks,
> best regards,
>
> Markus

I use a script employing ddcopy to write the data of the Boot
Iso to my Flash Drive. I don't think Mageia had the tool you mention
when I used it for a couple of years, 8 years ago.

Good luck, Markus
bliss

--
bliss dash SF four ever at dsl extreme dot com

On 2024-01-28, Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:
> On Sat, 27 Jan 2024 22:59:07 -0000 (UTC) William Unruh wrote:
>
>> You could always try to download a current version of openssh and try to
>> rebuild it on the mandriva machine. It would then have alternative
>> versions of the new possible ssh hash types.
>>
>> I have no idea if this would work of if the newer one woul have
>> requirements for some newer library.
>
> The funny thing is, that I can connect from MGA9 to a MGA6 box via ssh,
> and use this as a relay station to connect to such an acient one like
> Mandriva 9. Ssh in MGA6 seems to be somehow both, up- and downward
> compatible.

Yes, I believe openssh had not yet removed ssh-rsa (which uses sha1
hash) from its list on the openssh in Mga6. The probme is that the hash
is completely broken. Ie, it is "easy" to generate two different files
with the same hash. Thus if you intend to keep your mandriva its ssh
has a hole in it. If you can install a later openssh onto the Mandriva
(eg by compiling a later openssh on the Mandriva machine) then you can
both keep it, and use a safe ssh.
At least that is how I understand it.

>
> BR,
> Markus

On Sun, 28 Jan 2024 10:59:08 -0500, Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:
> in the meantime I tried to insall MGA9-32 directly, reformatting the disk
> and booting from USB stick.
>
> - I got Mageia-9-i586.iso
> - I took a 32GB USB stick and created one fullsize Ext3 partition
> - I started unetbootin (unetbootin-702-3.mga9) on a MGA9-64 box
> - in unetbootin I loaded above ISO and clicked on start
> - unetbootin claimed to do all necessary things automatically

From https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Installation_Media#Put_the_ISO_on_a_media_of_your_choice

"Warning!
Unetbootin should not be used to copy the ISO image to a USB drive (see below)."

See that web page for instructions on how to put the iso on to a usb stick
using dd or a similar block level copy tool.

Be careful to copy to the iso to the device for the usb stick, not to a partition
on the usb stick. Any existing partitions on the usb stick will be overwritten.

If you already have Mageia on another install, the recommended application
to use is isodumper from the Mageia repositories.

Regards, Dave Hodgins

On Sun, 28 Jan 2024 15:19:29 -0500 David W. Hodgins wrote:

> On Sun, 28 Jan 2024 10:59:08 -0500, Markus Robert Kessler
> <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:
>> in the meantime I tried to insall MGA9-32 directly, reformatting the
>> disk and booting from USB stick.
>>
>> - I got Mageia-9-i586.iso - I took a 32GB USB stick and created one
>> fullsize Ext3 partition - I started unetbootin (unetbootin-702-3.mga9)
>> on a MGA9-64 box - in unetbootin I loaded above ISO and clicked on
>> start - unetbootin claimed to do all necessary things automatically
>
> From
> https://wiki.mageia.org/en/
Installation_Media#Put_the_ISO_on_a_media_of_your_choice
>
> "Warning!
> Unetbootin should not be used to copy the ISO image to a USB drive (see
> below)."
>
> See that web page for instructions on how to put the iso on to a usb
> stick using dd or a similar block level copy tool.
>
> Be careful to copy to the iso to the device for the usb stick, not to a
> partition on the usb stick. Any existing partitions on the usb stick
> will be overwritten.
>
> If you already have Mageia on another install, the recommended
> application to use is isodumper from the Mageia repositories.
>
> Regards, Dave Hodgins

Hi,

> Unetbootin should not be used to copy the ISO image to a USB drive

during install unetbootin shows the files that are unpacked from the ISO
and written to the stick. After unetbootin install, I see the files on the
stick. It's not the ISO itself.

But, booting from that stick still does not work anyway.

Also, as Bobby recommended, I reformatted the stick as 'mkdosfs -F 32',
but unfortunately, this does not change the game.

Anything I could test next?

Thanks,
best regards,

Markus

On Mon, 29 Jan 2024 13:43:56 -0500, Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:
> On Sun, 28 Jan 2024 15:19:29 -0500 David W. Hodgins wrote:
>> Unetbootin should not be used to copy the ISO image to a USB drive
>
> during install unetbootin shows the files that are unpacked from the ISO
> and written to the stick. After unetbootin install, I see the files on the
> stick. It's not the ISO itself.
>
> But, booting from that stick still does not work anyway.
>
> Also, as Bobby recommended, I reformatted the stick as 'mkdosfs -F 32',
> but unfortunately, this does not change the game.
>
> Anything I could test next?

It doesn't matter what partitions are on the usb stick or how they are formatted,
as they will be overwritten. Do make sure there are no file systems on the
usb stick that are mounted, or the usb stick will likely be corrupted after
it's copied to the usb stick.

Do not copy an iso image to a file system on the usb stick. It must be copied
to the the usb stick using a tool that does full device level raw writing, not
something that copies individual files to a file system on the usb stick.

The master boot record of the usb stick, including it's partition table will be
overwritten!

Tools like uunetbootin are meant to take an iso image designed to be bootable
from a cd or dvd disc, and alter it using a tool called isohybrid to make
it also bootable from a usb stick. The Mageia iso images have already had the
changes isohybrid makes applied to them. Running isohybrid on an iso image
that has already been modified makes it unbootable.

You need to use a tool like isodumper, or the dd command to do a raw copy the iso
image to the usb stick.

It must be written to a device such as /dev/sdz (for example), not to an existing
partition on the device such as /dev/sdz1.

See https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Dump_Mageia_ISO_on_a_USB_flash_drive_-_Alternative_tools

Regards, Dave Hodgins

On 2024-01-29, Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:
> On Sun, 28 Jan 2024 15:19:29 -0500 David W. Hodgins wrote:
>
>> On Sun, 28 Jan 2024 10:59:08 -0500, Markus Robert Kessler
>> <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:
>>> in the meantime I tried to insall MGA9-32 directly, reformatting the
>>> disk and booting from USB stick.
>>>
>>> - I got Mageia-9-i586.iso - I took a 32GB USB stick and created one
>>> fullsize Ext3 partition - I started unetbootin (unetbootin-702-3.mga9)
>>> on a MGA9-64 box - in unetbootin I loaded above ISO and clicked on
>>> start - unetbootin claimed to do all necessary things automatically
>>
>> From
>> https://wiki.mageia.org/en/
> Installation_Media#Put_the_ISO_on_a_media_of_your_choice
>>
>> "Warning!
>> Unetbootin should not be used to copy the ISO image to a USB drive (see
>> below)."
>>
>> See that web page for instructions on how to put the iso on to a usb
>> stick using dd or a similar block level copy tool.
>>
>> Be careful to copy to the iso to the device for the usb stick, not to a
>> partition on the usb stick. Any existing partitions on the usb stick
>> will be overwritten.
>>
>> If you already have Mageia on another install, the recommended
>> application to use is isodumper from the Mageia repositories.
>>
>> Regards, Dave Hodgins
>
> Hi,
>
>> Unetbootin should not be used to copy the ISO image to a USB drive
>
> during install unetbootin shows the files that are unpacked from the ISO
> and written to the stick. After unetbootin install, I see the files on the
> stick. It's not the ISO itself.
>
> But, booting from that stick still does not work anyway.
>
> Also, as Bobby recommended, I reformatted the stick as 'mkdosfs -F 32',
> but unfortunately, this does not change the game.
>
> Anything I could test next?

Sure, follow the instructions. use either dd or isodumper to write the
boot iso to the usb.
Just because it transfers the files does NOT mean that it put a proper
boot in place.The computer's boot loader needs some very specific stuff
on the disk in a vry specific place to boot. Remember, on boot the
machine knows absolutely nothing about what is on the usb drive. It
looks in a very specific place on the usb to get the small initial
program to start booting, and looks in a very specific place on the usb
drive as to where that small initial program is located. If it is not
there, no boot, no matter what other files are on the usb.
>
> Thanks,
> best regards,
>
> Markus

On Mon, 29 Jan 2024 14:55:52 -0500 David W. Hodgins wrote:

> On Mon, 29 Jan 2024 13:43:56 -0500, Markus Robert Kessler
> <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:
>> On Sun, 28 Jan 2024 15:19:29 -0500 David W. Hodgins wrote:
>>> Unetbootin should not be used to copy the ISO image to a USB drive
>>
>> during install unetbootin shows the files that are unpacked from the
>> ISO and written to the stick. After unetbootin install, I see the files
>> on the stick. It's not the ISO itself.
>>
>> But, booting from that stick still does not work anyway.
>>
>> Also, as Bobby recommended, I reformatted the stick as 'mkdosfs -F 32',
>> but unfortunately, this does not change the game.
>>
>> Anything I could test next?
>
> It doesn't matter what partitions are on the usb stick or how they are
> formatted,
> as they will be overwritten. Do make sure there are no file systems on
> the usb stick that are mounted, or the usb stick will likely be
> corrupted after it's copied to the usb stick.
>
> Do not copy an iso image to a file system on the usb stick. It must be
> copied to the the usb stick using a tool that does full device level raw
> writing, not something that copies individual files to a file system on
> the usb stick.
>
> The master boot record of the usb stick, including it's partition table
> will be overwritten!
>
> Tools like uunetbootin are meant to take an iso image designed to be
> bootable
> from a cd or dvd disc, and alter it using a tool called isohybrid to
> make
> it also bootable from a usb stick. The Mageia iso images have already
> had the changes isohybrid makes applied to them. Running isohybrid on an
> iso image that has already been modified makes it unbootable.
>
> You need to use a tool like isodumper, or the dd command to do a raw
> copy the iso image to the usb stick.
>
> It must be written to a device such as /dev/sdz (for example), not to an
> existing partition on the device such as /dev/sdz1.
>
> See
> https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Dump_Mageia_ISO_on_a_USB_flash_drive_-
_Alternative_tools
>
> Regards, Dave Hodgins

Thanks for your hint!

Yes, indeed, nothing more than a trivial raw copy did the trick:

# cat /install/iso/Mageia-9-i586.iso > /dev/sdb

Install is running now. Thanks again!

Best regards,

Markus

On Mon, 29 Jan 2024 16:22:23 -0500, Markus Robert Kessler <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:
> Yes, indeed, nothing more than a trivial raw copy did the trick:
>
> # cat /install/iso/Mageia-9-i586.iso > /dev/sdb
>
> Install is running now. Thanks again!

I'm very surprised that worked as cat is used to work with text files, not
binary files, and can be used to add line numbers, supress duplicate blank
lines, etc. I haven't tested using cat, but it may well have corrupted the
copy as it wrote it.

If you run into problems using the usb stick do it again using the dd command
which works with blocks instead of with lines.

dd if=/install/iso/Mageia-9-i586.iso,of=/dev/sdb,bs=4M

Regards, Dave Hodgins

On Mon, 29 Jan 2024 16:37:29 -0500 David W. Hodgins wrote:

> On Mon, 29 Jan 2024 16:22:23 -0500, Markus Robert Kessler
> <no_reply@dipl-ing-kessler.de> wrote:
>> Yes, indeed, nothing more than a trivial raw copy did the trick:
>>
>> # cat /install/iso/Mageia-9-i586.iso > /dev/sdb
>>
>> Install is running now. Thanks again!
>
> I'm very surprised that worked as cat is used to work with text files,
> not binary files, and can be used to add line numbers, supress duplicate
> blank lines, etc. I haven't tested using cat, but it may well have
> corrupted the copy as it wrote it.
>
> If you run into problems using the usb stick do it again using the dd
> command which works with blocks instead of with lines.
>
> dd if=/install/iso/Mageia-9-i586.iso,of=/dev/sdb,bs=4M
>
> Regards, Dave Hodgins

Hi,

I do such things all the time. It works:

$ dd if=/dev/urandom of=/tmp/randfile bs=64 count=1
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
64 bytes copied, 0,000319355 s, 200 kB/s
$ xxd randfile
00000000: 81b8 0e1c 50a5 7af2 f6f5 66ee 44f5 5479 ....P.z...f.D.Ty
00000010: a29b ad7e 3518 aa97 7aa8 bce7 554c da03 ...~5...z...UL..
00000020: 9e45 0200 bc2f 9b12 7cd4 e648 f02a 2a39 .E.../..|..H.**9
00000030: cb35 6a07 3347 c37e 87ec ed3d f6fb c6e6 .5j.3G.~...=....
$ cat randfile > /tmp/randfile2
$ md5sum randfile*
32abe8d44b130c6840a147f85cbf419a randfile
32abe8d44b130c6840a147f85cbf419a randfile2

Thanks again,
best regards,

Markus