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Introducing RoninOS "The Masterless Distro" - based on Debian Buster/Sid, possible via Linux-Live-Kit (https://linux-live.org/), the maintainers of aufs (http://aufs.sourceforge.net/) and my editing :)
This readme is also found on the user live Desktop.
About- A Debian based Live distro that is able to be persistent off usb or hard drive, installable to hard drive in "frugal" mode or full install to hard drive or play live in either default or toram mode with/without persistence and without mounting or changing any hard drive partitions, etc and will run off a ntfs/fat32 or ext2/3/4 formatted partitions.
Goals- To be totally free to boot Live off various environments and computers without harming or changing anything on said systems (unless you want to), to have automatic persistency across reboots and boot to ram mode. Also, to be able to be installed manually in either frugal mode or true hard drive install mode as a Debian install.
Dual Kernel- RoninOS comes with not only the latest Buster/Sid kernel but also the latest Xanmod kernel (https://xanmod.org/), you may choose either at boot menu.
Additionally the iso is a isohybrid, meaning it can be written to usb and run as if a dvd, you can't have persistency this way but it is the fastest boot!
Networking- WICD may not pick up your ethernet/wireless so use Ceni available in the main menu/internet, note you may be auto connected at boot but WICD may not show it.
Ways to run RoninOS- from fastest to slowest boot-
1) As mentioned above, in any linux distro issue the following command using dd and it will write the iso to usb- note this will destroy anything else on the usb, please read about dd'ing a iso to usb before attempting this, and be careful you know which device your usb is, the output of fdisk -l or lsblk as root in terminal will tell you!
In this example usb device is sdc1 and iso is in the /home/live/Downloads folder
as root
dd if=/home/live/Downloads/RoninOS-053019-x86_64.iso bs=1024 of=/dev/sdc
note that your installing it to whole usb device, thus sdc not sdc1!
2) Full hard drive install, runs just like a full linux install of Debian Buster/Sid to hard drive, meaning you dont need cheatcodes, etc.
It runs and is installed just as if you were installing a Debian DVD to hard drive.
Please note the Liquorix kernels are available but only work from this type of install as they are not aufs patched.
Just search liquorix in synaptic or apt. (https://liquorix.net/)
Please see Docs/install-to-harddrive.txt
3) Frugal install to hard drive, fresh mode (toram/persistent will be slower)
Frugal install to hard drive is exactly the same as regular install to usb/usb-hdd in #3 below.
This option is not only fast booting, even with persistency and/or toram, but you dont need to change or destroy or format anything on given hard drive partition.
In this example you have Windows installed on /dev/sda1 (ntfs formatted) and a Linux distro installed on /dev/sda2 (ext4 format)
See Docs/frugal-install-to-hard-drive.txt
4) Frugal install to usb/usb-hdd
This is exactly same as above except it's slowed down by the usb 2.0/3.0 speed limits, etc
See Docs/install-to-usb.txt for installation instructions!
Passwords are root=root and user live=live.
Please see documentation in Docs folder above!
Cheatcodes- Since RoninOS is based off of and runs like Slax, cheatcodes such as persistence, toram and others like load=module_name or noload=module_name etc are possible, some cheatcodes no longer work but see here for possibile ones (https://www.pendrivelinux.com/slax-cheatcodes/). Cheatcodes for toram and persistence and possibly others can be combined, ie "slax.flags=perch,toram" will boot it persistent and toram. You may edit the boot codes at the boot screen by hitting TAB button if using syslinux/extlinux or e if using grub. You can also directly edit syslinux.cfg/grub.cfg during live session (as root).
Included Utilities- Also in the iso are Plop bootmanager (https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanager/download.html) and NetBootCD (https://www.lakora.us/netbootcd/) if you want to net install various distros, plus it includes Grub4dos.
Scripts in /usr/bin
These scripts are found in /root/linux-live-2.1/Slax/debian/rootcopy/usr/bin and /usr/bin
** dir2sb (Directory to Slax Bundle)
Convert directory to .sb compressed module
Usage: /usr/bin/dir2sb [source_directory.sb] [[target_file.sb]]
If source_directory does not have .sb suffix and it is not 'squashfs-root',
then the source_directory itself is included in the module and
then the target_file.sb parameter is required.
If target_file.sb is not specified, the source_directory is erased
and replaced by the newly generated module file.
** genslaxiso (Only for Debian)
Generates a Debian based distro just like Slax
** savechanges
savechanges - save all changed files in a compressed filesystem bundle
- excluding some predefined files such as /etc/mtab,
temp & log files, empty directories, apt cache, and such
Usage:
/usr/bin/savechanges [ target_file.sb ] [ changes_directory ]
If changes_directory is not specified, /run/initramfs/memory/changes is used.
** sb2dir (Slax Bundle to Directory)
Convert .sb compressed module into directory with the same name
Usage: /usr/bin/sb2dir [source_file.sb] [[optional output_directory]]
If the output_directory is specified, it must exist
If the output_directory is not specified, the name source_file.sb
is used and the directory is overmounted with tmpfs
** slax (For activating/deactivating modules during live session)
Usage: /usr/bin/slax [ activate | deactivate | list ] [ file.sb ]
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