Plop, Macbook keyboard problems, Crunchbang from USB flash, not a PC issue

[liviococcia]

Hello Members, Plop boot manager is great, it's helped get round a USB flash loading issue with my Fujistue s laptop and Crunchbang 10, so a big thanks to the  inventor, and any developers.

I've been gleaning the forum posts, and i have exactly the same issue as 'dsolomon', post's link below..

http://forum.plop.at/index.php?topic=439.0

..and so i, like 'dsolomon', can not pick from the Crunchbang boot menu to choose to 'load from the live CD' option.

Elmar i hope you can help, you suggested to 'set a time out period' but as my USB flash 'install' came from the Crunchbang xfce ISO version download, and was installed using the UNibootin software onto the USB flash drive, how do i get PloP to look for the live CD option and start loading straight into it so that the Macbook's keyboard (and it's touchpad) work?

I there a way to do this through PloP's text install maybe?

Also, regarding my Fujitsue PC laptop, this problem does not exist, everything works as it should, this is using the same PloP boot disk, and the exact same USB flash drive.

I am very much a newbie to PloP, and Crunchbang and even linux in general, so if you can help, simplistic help would be greatly appreciated thanks.

kind regards
Livio

[Elmar]

hi,

so a big thanks to the  inventor, and any developers.

there is only one developer

Elmar i hope you can help, you suggested to 'set a time out period' but as my USB flash 'install' came from the Crunchbang xfce ISO version download, and was installed using the UNibootin software onto the USB flash drive, how do i get PloP to look for the live CD option and start loading straight into it so that the Macbook's keyboard (and it's touchpad) work?

I there a way to do this through PloP's text install maybe?

Also, regarding my Fujitsue PC laptop, this problem does not exist, everything works as it should, this is using the same PloP boot disk, and the exact same USB flash drive.

I am very much a newbie to PloP, and Crunchbang and even linux in general, so if you can help, simplistic help would be greatly appreciated thanks.

kind regards
Livio

not the boot manager searches the livecd boot option on the usb, you set the option in the boot manager that is installed on the usb drive (it's syslinux).

when you boot usb, whats the menu text of the option that you select to start linux?

regards
elmar

[liviococcia]

Hi Elmar, thanks for getting back, this is the order of what I do below, I'm not at the computer right now..

1 I plug in the USB flash stick
2 I boot up the MacBook, while holding down the option key (the one that says 'alt' on it), when the drive chooser appears I load the Plop boot disk.
3 I choose the cd drive (it calls it Windows), and Plop loads
4 I then choose the USB option from the menu, the Crunchbang boot window loads (none of the installing options have been highlighted)
5 I try to pick the Crunchbang Live CD option but the keyboard does nothing, nor is there any highlight bar to move either up or down the various categories.

That's as much as I can tell you, if I understand you correctly the file that Crunchbang needs isn't being used or is missing from the USB flash stick, as I mentioned, I used Unibootin to create the Crunchbang image, should I have created the USB image using something else?

As I mentioned earlier, I'm not infrount of the MacBook and won't be until tomorrow afternoon, but any info would be great to try so I can report back thanks

Regards

[Elmar]

basically you only have to look at the usb drive and search for the syslinux.cfg file, then open it. maybe it loads another file with the include command. if so, then open the other file too. search for the menu entry. when you found it, then use the label name and write a few things to the syslinux.cfg. currently i downloaded the iso of your distro and the label is "live", i dont know if it is the same after the unetbootin configuration. (that was the reason why i asked for the menu entry you are selecting, but you are not in front of the computer). however write this according to your setting to syslinux.cfg

Code Select Expand


default live
timeout 100


thats all. no magic and not difficult

[liviococcia]

Thanks Elmar, I found a folder on the USB flash stick and in it was a folder called 'syslinux', within the folder is a file called 'syslinux.cfg' , when I open this file in the Macbook 'text' editor this is what I have below...

include menu.cfg
default /sylinux/vesamenu.c32
prompt 0
timeout 00

If I then open 'menu.cfg' which is in the same Syslinux folder, and open it again in the MacBook 'text' editor I have these entries below...

menu hshift 13
menu width 49

menu title CrunchBang Linux
include stdmenu.cfg
include live.cfg


So, do I place 'default live' and 'timeout 100' in the 'Syslinux.cfg' or the 'menu.cfg', or both files, or do I just change the 'Syslinux.cfg' file to read as below...

include menu.cfg
default live
prompt 0
timeout 100

I'm very new to Linux as you can see, so I hope verifying this isn't a pain, thanks.

Also just to let you know, I have with me my USB flash stick, but don't have my Plop boot disks, as I'm using a friends MacBook at there address so can not try it out until tomorrow as had said.

Regards

[Elmar]

i was wrong, in your configuration, you only have to set the timeout value of syslinux.cfg from 00 to 100. nothing more

Code Select Expand


include menu.cfg
default /sylinux/vesamenu.c32
prompt 0
timeout 100


btw. 100 = 10 seconds, 10 = 1 second, ....

I'm very new to Linux as you can see, so I hope verifying this isn't a pain, thanks.

please dont say that, i hear that too often. syslinux is a powerful program and boot manager that is not limited to linux. it also runs on windows, dos and others. in your case, the only link between syslinux and linux is, that some time later the linux kernel is loaded by syslinux, but the configuration of the timeout has nothing to do with linux. so even when you are new to linux, you still can look at documentations

regards
elmar

[liviococcia]

Thanks Elmar, I'll edit just that part of the code, and report back later, around early evening.

Regards

[liviococcia]

Hello Elmar, SUCCESS! and a big thanks for all your help, and patience, i'm writing this posting while on my MacBook, after booting from a CD PloP boot manager, and having PloP load the Crunchbang Live from a USB flash stick, with a working MacBook keyboard, great!!

Elmar I do have some further enquiries so i hope you can again help please, it regards creating a 'Persistent' folder for Crunchbang, the instructions are at this link below....

http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic/8037/how-to-make-a-persistent-statler-live-usb-key/

I havn't try the above yet, but i had already partitioned my USB flash stick into a 3Gig Fat 32 (Crunchbang Live), and left the remaining 5Gig unpartitioned.

It say's in the CrunchBang forum post above, that during the loading of the Live install, to point this install to a 'Persistent' folder in the EXT part of the USB flash stick partition, this is done by pressing the 'TAB' button and adding the parameter 'Persistent' to the end of an instruction line, but because the MacBook's keyboard only works by loading the 'Live' install by changing the timeout to 10 seconds.

Is there a way to either direct the syslinux.cfg to go into this 'Tab' mode and still have the keyboard work so i can add the word 'Persistent', or is there a way to add an instruction so that it loads the 'Persistent' part automatically, but, when i don't want this to happen to then be able to load Crunchbang Live without looking for the 'Persistent' folder.

I hope i've explained myself clearly enough, and hope you might know of way to get round this.

kind regards
Livio

[Elmar]

Hello Elmar, SUCCESS!
and a big thanks for all your help, and patience, i'm writing this posting while on my MacBook, after booting from a CD PloP boot manager, and having PloP load the Crunchbang Live from a USB flash stick, with a working MacBook keyboard, great!!

Elmar I do have some further enquiries so i hope you can again help please, it regards creating a 'Persistent' folder for Crunchbang, the instructions are at this link below....

http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic/8037/how-to-make-a-persistent-statler-live-usb-key/

I havn't try the above yet, but i had already partitioned my USB flash stick into a 3Gig Fat 32 (Crunchbang Live), and left the remaining 5Gig unpartitioned.

It say's in the CrunchBang forum post above, that during the loading of the Live install, to point this install to a 'Persistent' folder in the EXT part of the USB flash stick partition, this is done by pressing the 'TAB' button and adding the parameter 'Persistent' to the end of an instruction line, but because the MacBook's keyboard only works by loading the 'Live' install by changing the timeout to 10 seconds.

Is there a way to either direct the syslinux.cfg to go into this 'Tab' mode and still have the keyboard work so i can add the word 'Persistent', or is there a way to add an instruction so that it loads the 'Persistent' part automatically, but, when i don't want this to happen to then be able to load Crunchbang Live without looking for the 'Persistent' folder.

I hope i've explained myself clearly enough, and hope you might know of way to get round this.

kind regards
Livio

you can have persistent activated or deactivated, but when you boot with the plop b oot manager 5.0.x, then you can change it only when linux or another os with usb support is running.

whats the content of the live.cfg?

[liviococcia]

Hi Elmar, this is the contents of my 'live.cfg' file from my USB flash stick below...
thanks again, regards


label live
   menu label Run Crunchbang Live
   kernel /live/vmlinuz1
   append noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true initrd=/live/initrd1.img boot=live config live-config.hostname=crunchbang live-config.username=crunchbang live-config.user-fullname=CrunchBangLiveUser live-config.locales=en_GB.UTF-8 live-config.timezone=Europe/London

label livefailsafe
   menu label Run Crunchbang (failsafe)
   kernel /live/vmlinuz1
   append noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true initrd=/live/initrd1.img boot=live config live-config.hostname=crunchbang live-config.username=crunchbang live-config.user-fullname=CrunchBangLiveUser live-config.locales=en_GB.UTF-8 live-config.timezone=Europe/London  noapic noapm nodma nomce nolapic nomodeset nosmp vga=normal


label install
   menu label Text Install Crunchbang
   kernel /install/vmlinuz
   append noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true initrd=/install/initrd.gz vga=normal quiet file=/cdrom/install/crunchbang.cfg file=/cdrom/install/crunchbang.cfg

label expert
   menu label Text Expert
   kernel /install/vmlinuz
   append noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true initrd=/install/initrd.gz priority=low vga=normal file=/cdrom/install/crunchbang.cfg file=/cdrom/install/crunchbang.cfg

label rescue
   menu label Text Rescue
   kernel /install/vmlinuz
   append noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true initrd=/install/initrd.gz rescue/enable=true vga=normal quiet file=/cdrom/install/crunchbang.cfg file=/cdrom/install/crunchbang.cfg

label auto
   menu label Text Auto
   kernel /install/vmlinuz
   append initrd=/install/initrd.gz auto=true priority=critical vga=normal quiet file=/cdrom/install/crunchbang.cfg file=/cdrom/install/crunchbang.cfg


label memtest
   menu label Memory test
   kernel /live/memtest

[Elmar]

simply add "persistent" as described at the end of the append line

Code Select Expand


label live
menu label Run Crunchbang Live
kernel /live/vmlinuz1
append noprompt cdrom-detect/try-usb=true initrd=/live/initrd1.img boot=live config live-config.hostname=crunchbang live-config.username=crunchbang live-config.user-fullname=CrunchBangLiveUser live-config.locales=en_GB.UTF-8 live-config.timezone=Europe/London persistent


[liviococcia]

Elmar, so if i created the 'Persistent' partition on the USB flash stick, and added the word to the end of this line as you described using Cruncbang live on the MacBook, this file would then install and run automatically whenever i ran the OS.

How would i then create say a second 'Persistent' instruction if i was using my laptop PC, or then stop Crunchbang loading the 'Persistent' file that had been generated  through the MacBook, would this be possible?, or would 'Persistent's only be possible for the MacBook once it was created.

Or would i have to always add, or remove the word 'persistent' from the append line depending on whether i was loading onto the PC laptop or MacBook, and that could never have two Persistent files, or partitions?

regards

[Elmar]

you have to ask the Crunchbang people. i never used Crunchbang and i think i will never use it.

[liviococcia]

Thanks again for everything Elmar, kind regards Livio