Knoppix boot from different partitions

[Werner P. Schulz]

It does happen though. Give it a try, copy the KNOPPIX/ directory from the USB stick onto the root of a partition on your hard drive (maybe you need the boot/ directory too), boot from the USB without any cheat codes and when the system is running, take a look at df -h to see which partition is mounted on /mnt-system/. .

First of all, i don't like to experiment with older versions of Knoppix; the actuell version is KNOPPIX_V6.4.3CD-2010-12-20-EN.iso

I have build an USB-Stick without any hacks.

I copied /Knoppix and /boot/syslinux to an HD with Ubuntu-installation.

At first I mounted Knoppix USB-Stick as /dev/sda and Ubuntu HD as /dev/sdb and get while booting from USB-Stick the message: "Knoppix 6 found at: /dev/sda1"


Then I mounted Knoppix USB-Stick as /dev/sdb and Ubuntu HD as /dev/sda and get while booting from USB-Stick the message: "Knoppix 6 found at: /dev/sdb1"

[chah]

Can you clarify, what you mean by "I mounted Knoppix USB-Stick as /dev/sda and Ubuntu HD as /dev/sdb and get while booting...."? When booting 6.4.3, I just put the thumbdrive in the USB port, turn the computer on then press return at the big penguin screen without mounting anything, I don't have any choice over which device becomes /dev/sda and which /dev/sdb. Are you somehow able to choose which is sda and which is sdb during booting?

When you copy KNOPPIX/ and boot/ to the Ubuntu partition, did you put it in the root directory of the partition?

[Werner P. Schulz]

... you can install a HD as master or slave in your computer. And independent of this you can change BIOS setting to boot from HD or USB-drive. BIOS must be able to accept an USB-Stick as an USB-drive.

When you copy KNOPPIX/ and boot/ to the Ubuntu partition, did you put it in the root directory of the partition?

Yes, of course.

Greetings Werner * http://www.wp-schulz.de/knoppix/summary.html
"Build personal Recovery-CD with Knoppix (Knoppix remaster)"

[chah]

Could you post the output from df -Th after booting from the USB stick?

[Werner P. Schulz]

... first case:

# df -Th
Filesystem    Type    Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1     vfat    965M  963M  1.2M 100% /mnt-system
tmpfs        tmpfs    2.0G     0  2.0G   0% /ramdisk
/dev/cloop iso9660    1.9G  1.9G     0 100% /KNOPPIX
/dev/loop0    ext2    257M  3.6M  254M   2% /KNOPPIX-DATA
unionfs       aufs    257M  3.6M  254M   2% /UNIONFS
unionfs       aufs    257M  3.6M  254M   2% /home
tmpfs        tmpfs     10M   68K   10M   1% /UNIONFS/var/run
tmpfs        tmpfs     10M     0   10M   0% /UNIONFS/var/lock
tmpfs        tmpfs    100M   48K  100M   1% /UNIONFS/var/log
tmpfs        tmpfs    2.0G  8.0K  2.0G   1% /tmp
udev         tmpfs     20M  356K   20M   2% /dev
tmpfs        tmpfs    2.0G  4.0K  2.0G   1% /dev/shm
/dev/sdb1     ext4    7.4G  5.9G  1.1G  85% /media/sdb1

second case:

# df -Th
Filesystem    Type    Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sdb1     vfat    965M  963M  1.2M 100% /mnt-system
tmpfs        tmpfs    2.0G     0  2.0G   0% /ramdisk
/dev/cloop iso9660    1.9G  1.9G     0 100% /KNOPPIX
/dev/loop0    ext2    257M  4.8M  252M   2% /KNOPPIX-DATA
unionfs       aufs    257M  4.8M  252M   2% /UNIONFS
unionfs       aufs    257M  4.8M  252M   2% /home
tmpfs        tmpfs     10M   68K   10M   1% /UNIONFS/var/run
tmpfs        tmpfs     10M     0   10M   0% /UNIONFS/var/lock
tmpfs        tmpfs    100M   48K  100M   1% /UNIONFS/var/log
tmpfs        tmpfs    2.0G  8.0K  2.0G   1% /tmp
udev         tmpfs     20M  356K   20M   2% /dev
tmpfs        tmpfs    2.0G  4.0K  2.0G   1% /dev/shm
/dev/sda1     ext4    7.4G  5.9G  1.1G  85% /media/sda1

If I have a look at init-script I can not find any line which could explain the curious behavior of Knoppix USB-Stick you told us.

Greetings Werner * http://www.wp-schulz.de/knoppix/summary.html
"Build personal Recovery-CD with Knoppix (Knoppix remaster)"

[kl522]

I suspect both of you might be correct, ie Klaus might have changed the scripts in later releases thereby causing two distinct behaviour for knoppix 6.2.1 and knoppix 6.4.3. I am too lazy to verify it by looking at the scripts.

Cheers.

[Werner P. Schulz]

I suspect both of you might be correct, ie Klaus might have changed the scripts in later releases thereby causing two distinct behaviour for knoppix 6.2.1 and knoppix 6.4.3. I am too lazy to verify it by looking at the scripts.

Cheers.

... if I look at interesting block in the init-script, there is no difference between the two Knoppix versions.

# findknoppix devices...
findknoppix(){
local dev
for dev in "$@"; do
[ -b "$dev" ] || continue
message -n -e "\r${CRE}${BLUE}${SEARCHINGFOR} $DISTRO in: ${MAGENTA}$dev${NORMAL} "
trymount "$dev" /mnt-system >/dev/null 2>&1 || continue
if [ -r /mnt-system/"$knoppix_dir"/KNOPPIX ]; then
message -e "\r${CRE}${GREEN}$DISTRO ${FOUNDAT}: ${MAGENTA}$dev${NORMAL} "
return 0
fi
umount /mnt-system
done
return 1
}

Greetings Werner * http://www.wp-schulz.de/knoppix/summary.html
"Build personal Recovery-CD with Knoppix (Knoppix remaster)"

[kl522]

Can't really comment on it, human eyes are no good to spot changes. You should probably do a 'diff' on it. Furthermore, the function findknoppix() depends on function parameters got passed it, so maybe the changes is outside findknoppix(). In any case my comments are casual and not to be taken seriously. What's important is that imperically, you guys are noticing distinctly different behaviours, for two entirely different versions; whereas since I have never quite used knoppix 6.4.3, so I am more inclined to side the OP.

[kl522]

Another thing is that knoppix 6.2.1 can't really deal with ext4 file system in the initramfs, so if you have ext4 file system on the harddisk, that is not going to be detected. That might be also the case for knoppix 6.4.3 too.

[Werner P. Schulz]

... now I've done tests with a ext3-formatted HD and I noticed that really "ext4" was the reason of my error.

With USB-stick mounted as /dev/sda, Knoppix use /KNOPPIX from the stick. If HD mounted as /dev/sda and you boot from USB-stick, then Knoppix use /KNOPPX from ext3-formatted HD.