Make my own install disk?

[WHVW]

Hi All:

I am now working on a new 19.1 install on a (not new) machine a friend gave me. It's a good machine, 8GB ram, 64 bit. The first thing I did was install 19.1 (and blow away the Winderz 8 install already there). Now, I am going through the tweaking (such as getting rid of that awful "icons" display which for some reason is the default, changing the date format to d,m,y, add desktops, etc.

After I get that all done, I would like to make my own install disk from that installation....so that the next time I could just install the system complete, with all the changes, so I don't have to do all that configuration stuff again.

Is there any way I could get the regular installer to work with my configured version lifted from that new install?

Thanks.

[deepakdeshp]

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Insta ... tomization

[BG405]

I think this is what you're looking for. I haven't used it myself but it should allow you to create a bootable ISO of your installed system.

From the site:

PPA description

Respin is a fork of "Remastersys" originally written by Tony Brijeski (aka Fragadelic). With Respin you are able to make backups of your current distro or create a custom iso of your system to run on a CD, USB, or in a virtual machine.

This is something I looked in to when I started out with Linux, but haven't pursued up to now. I'll likely give it a go on my old Mint 17.3 KDE installation.

[deepakdeshp]

I think this is what you're looking for. I haven't used it myself but it should allow you to create a bootable ISO of your installed system.

From the site:

PPA description

Respin is a fork of "Remastersys" originally written by Tony Brijeski (aka Fragadelic). With Respin you are able to make backups of your current distro or create a custom iso of your system to run on a CD, USB, or in a virtual machine.

This is something I looked in to when I started out with Linux, but haven't pursued up to now. I'll likely give it a go on my old Mint 17.3 KDE installation.

Will the kai be installable too?

[deepakdeshp]

You can clone your system using clonezilla.

[BG405]

Will the kai be installable too?

Not sure what "kai" is but if you mean the newly-created image, it should be. Might need to install the Ubiquity installer? Can't test yet as the server is down for maintenance & I'm on my Manjaro system.

[WHVW]

BG405:

This looks perfect, and is more elegant than using the backup/restore kludge method- with all its possibilities for problems. A little Duckduckgo-ing reveals Canonical to be the source,which should make it trustworthy.

Is that the best version/source?

Thanks

P.S. What is a "kai"? Probably a typo, but I cannot reason it out.
P.P.S. Clonezilla is also an option. I don't think it should matter, but is there a 32/64 bit difference in/with Clonezilla? Or, is it just bit by bit transfer?

Again, thank you all.

[Tomgin5]

My only apprehension to this method is, if the disk is a copy of an existing installation and is installed on another dramatically different machine it would be full of bugs because of different firmware/hardware configurations that are made through the initial updates after the initial install. Not all of the WIFI drivers are the same, not all of the USB drivers are the same and not all of the video drivers are the same.

[WHVW]

Tomgin5:

Thank you for pointing this out. You have a delineated the fatal error in the entire concept; there is no way such a scheme could be reliable. Even the "backup and restore" method would suffer the same fate.

So, a better solution would be a little programme that would gather up all your settings, tweaks and adjustments and apply them to a fresh install. Now.. does such a programme exist?

Thanks, later..

P.S. Now I've discovered this: viewtopic.php?f=46&t=209100 which complicates things a bit, seems as if this OP wants to do what I want to do but with entirely different solutions!

[rickNS]

Thank you for pointing this out. You have a delineated the fatal error in the entire concept; there is no way such a scheme could be reliable. Even the "backup and restore" method would suffer the same fate.

P.S. Now I've discovered this: viewtopic.php?f=46&t=209100 which complicates things a bit, seems as if this OP wants to do what I want to do but with entirely different solutions!

No, as pointed out by austin texas in the next thread you linked to. paraphrased.
as long as you didn't install extra/proprietary drivers in your current system it should boot other machines without any problems.

CREATE CUSTOM LINUX From CURRENT INSTALLATION

I've thought about this before,...and gave it some more (considerable) research today. There are only a few tools that can do this, and I think all are forks of remastersys ? not sure about that, anyway.

In addition to respin already mentioned above there are a couple other options here http://www.linuxandubuntu.com/home/make ... stallation

Respin, and Linux Live Kit are both command line only (I think), although they only use a few commands.
Systemback, has not been updated in about 3 years, so won't work on Ubuntu 18/ Mint 19 without adding old repos...more later.

Another option is PinguyBuilder, no commands to install or use. Just download the .deb (version 5) from sourceforge;
https://sourceforge.net/projects/pinguy ... O_Builder/
then double click the .deb file, it will show dependencies and install (DONE)

PinguyBuilder has the same user interface as the original remastersys to which there is a pretty good video, a little long winded, but good. Starting at 14:17
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K-iUJgFhWA

*PinguyBuilder, it took about an hour to finish the .iso (could have cloned the whole drive in about the same time) The iso booted fine, and included my extra software, good, but it did not copy the customizations as supposed to. No icons, nor compiz configs, etc. (and I did select use current user settings as default)
CONCLUSION; "somewhat" successful, but not complete. (I have idea what might have gone wrong)

*Next try, Respin 4.0.0-2 from https://sourceforge.net/projects/respin/

FAILED to install; depends on "live-config" a debian package, not in mint's repo., but can get here, https://packages.debian.org/source/live-config
Will try that later.

*Next try, Systemback, I installed on mint 19, with these instructions;
https://www.linuxbabe.com/ubuntu/instal ... onic-18-10
This started fine, created a .sblive file, and converted to .iso in about 20 minutes. Good. The .iso however did not boot properly, with
ERROR "initramsf /cow format specified as aufs and no support found"
Will try later, adding aufs-tools from ubuntu repo
https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/cosmic/+package/aufs-tools

Note, I don't think this is worth it, as changing icons is a 3, or 4 click affair, and as mentioned early in the post clonezilla can do the job quicker, and wirthout any size limit.
That said I am going to keep trying to get it working. just because, or the fun of it.

Next step, create a Mint 19 virtual machine, I don't want to add Debian, Ubuntu packages while I'm "experimenting" on a real machine.

[rickNS]

SUCCESS !
#1, I created a new virtual machine of mint 19 (to "play" with)
Special note; if you do this method, you should allow 20GB for the VM. (I used 15GB, and was close to running out of space)

#2, Installed guest additions, and create shared folder.

#3, Install aufs-tools link https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/cosmic/+package/aufs-tools
or check synaptic...make sure that they are installed.

#4, Install systemback via these instructions; https://www.linuxbabe.com/ubuntu/instal ... onic-18-10
and obviously if you are using mint 19 just start at the right command.

#5, Run systemback, after logout/in, or reboot Systemback will be in the menu.

After it has completed there will be a .sblive file, click on it, then click on the "convert to .iso" (2 minutes later will be done)

#6, Then I copied the .iso to the share folder, and successfully booted it from another virtual machine, retaining the installed programs (glabels just to test), AND the customization. Notice the icons (mint X, not default) from the screenshot added.

EDIT I Forgot,
#7, I got the same error as before (last post) " .....aufs, no support..."
Just press enter, then CTRL + D (found in another post)
Then it booted properly.

I'd call this [SOLVED]

[phd21]

Hi WHVW, RickNS, etc...

That is great you got SystemBack to work. I have not used it in years.
How to Install Systemback on Ubuntu 18.04 (Linux Mint 19.x) and Ubuntu 18.10 - LinuxBabe
https://www.linuxbabe.com/ubuntu/instal ... onic-18-10

There are various options to creating your own installable Linux Mint with your own installed applications and configurations which can then be used to install on other computers or drive partitions or as a recovery backup/restore option.

FYI: I think SystemBack is limited to 4gb.

One of the easiest options is to use is the Aptik application where you backup all your installed applications and customizations to a folder on a USB Stick or USB drive, then using the regular Linux Mint installation DVD or USB stick, just install that somewhere else, then install Aptik on that and restore from your Aptik backup.

Another option is to use a program that can create iso images like "K3b", "dd" console terminal command, AcetoneISO, etc.. to create an iso from a disk partition, folder, USB stick or USB drive, CD/DVD/Blu-Ray disc, etc...

As already mentioned, you can also use CloneZillla Live to create a backup and turn that into an iso file as well.

Create Recovery Clonezilla
https://clonezilla.org/show-live-doc-co ... Clonezilla

Hope this helps ...

[Larry78723]

Hello to all!

I just used SystemBack to create a custom install USB stick on Mint 19.1 Mate. It took about 15 minutes total. The instructions at the link https://www.linuxbabe.com/ubuntu/instal ... onic-18-10 were a big help as well as rickNS's notes on how he accomplished it.

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this thread.

Larry

[ganamant]

A little Duckduckgo-ing reveals Canonical to be the source

I'm sorry if I'm out of subject, but that's the spirit! There are other engines besides Boogle, aren't there?

[WHVW]

ganamant:

Off topic but important! There are other sites, sites that don't track, trace, spy, invade your privacy, create their own digital dossier on you, invade your space with obnoxious ads, bog down your bandwidth while delivering said ads, persue you across the web to add to their collection of info about you, sell this massive profile to anyone with the requisite amount of dollars in hand, (and) not even give you a cut of the "action" even though it's YOUR data, while all the time assuring you that they 'do no harm'.

Unfortunately, getting them out of your digital life is a lot more complex than not using their search engine. Their tentacles are into everything:


including this one!

It's a lot of work getting them (Google) Facebook, Twitter etc. off your computer. All these sites will find ways to track you even if you don't use them, unless you install u block, u matrix, self-destructing cookies, etc, etc. Then you need to keep up with all the new tricks....yes, a lot of work but necessary and worthwhile.

Later..

P.S. Can't explain the double image.