Live system details

username: deadbang

password: live

The live desktop can be run from RAM by appending the toram parameter to the kernel command line from the bootloader screen, this allows the USB stick to be removed or used for other purposes once the desktop is loaded.

Edit the relevant kernel command line options to change the full locale & timezone or use setxkbmap(1) to change keyboard layout in the live environment.

Image verification

First compare the checksum to ensure image integrity — run this command in a directory containing just the ISO image and corresponding .sha512 & .sig files:

$ sha512sum -c *.sha512

A match will show the following output (amd64 in this example):

deadbang-12.10-amd64.hybrid.iso: OK

Then run these commands to confirm the signature:

$ gpg --keyserver hkps://keys.openpgp.org --recv-keys BEC121B08D33682D
$ gpg --verify *.sig

A correctly verified image will return this in the output:

gpgv: Good signature

The public PGP key can be found here. Download the key directly and add it with gpg --import if the keyservers are not available.

Burning the image

Transfer the ISO to a USB stick with cp(1) (replace X with the correct letter for the USB stick, do not add a partition number):

# cp deadbang-*-*.hybrid.iso /dev/sdX ; sync

To find the letter assigned to the USB stick compare the output of lsblk -no name before and after plugging.

If the letter is incorrect major system damage may ensue so proceed with extreme caution.

Follow this method if burning the ISO from Windows.

Quirks

deadbang automatically starts the desktop from a console login without a display manager, if different desktops are installed there is a "desktop switcher" option in the Settings menu to change the default globally.

To run different desktops for each user create ~/.xsession detailing the startup commands and window manager or desktop environment. Other distributions use ~/.xinitrc for this purpose and the file should be of the same format.

Wallpaper can be changed by opening the desired image in feh(1) and using the File → Background options in the right-click menu.

The default user shell is mksh(1) rather than bash(1), to change back use:

$ chsh -s /bin/bash

For input device configuration copy the sample file from /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/ and edit it to include only the required sections with the desired options. See libinput(4) for a complete list of available options. Touchpad configuration is already included with ScrollMethod set to edge.

To edit root-owned files with a GUI use sudoedit from a terminal, this will open a copy of the file in mousepad(1) and only use elevated permissions to save the file, which is better than running the entire editor under the root user.

The various debconf(7) settings applications use the ncurses frontend, this can be changed with:

$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure debconf

Only a bare minimum of utilities and services are included with the desktop and it will probably lack functionality compared to most other openbox desktops but it should also require fewer system resources as a result. If further trimming is required NetworkManager can be removed entirely and replaced with a DHCP client for ethernet connections or IWD for wireless. It is possible to remove PulseAudio and run the desktop without a sound server (ie, pure ALSA) but this is of limited benefit and may require configuration.

Rescue Mode

In case of problems with an installed system the ISO image includes a rescue mode that can be used to obtain a shell in the target system with the API filesystems mounted and an internet connection available. To access rescue mode from the ISO image boot menu select Advanced install options then pick either the graphical or text installer, Rescue mode is at the bottom of both screens.

Donations

This is a hobby project and costs me nothing so no donations are required. deadbang stands on the shoulder of the Debian giant so any monies should probably be directed there anyway.

Especially generous deadbang users can make donations here. Thanks!