lurch

as my new job doesnt allow me the pleasure or the time needed to research all of the issues surrounding making live cd's, i must admit that with the most basic of instructions that bookie and mindwave have whipped up as well as the almost identical instructions left by chris:b will not produce a working bootable cd/dvd for me. i suspect it is because i am not running KDE but rather i am using gnome. i get errors upon running mklivecd script both from within my running install and from the toronto cd. upon creating the ISO and burning it, all the iso's even if i run the script again and again without making any changes or without rebooting, are all different sizes. only by a few kb's but still different, i burned the largest of the ISO's to disk and it booted but was unable to start X, perhaps its an issue with gdm vs. kdm. i did a little comparisson to the broken mklivecd and the known good mklivecd scripts last nite and i must say, WOW.. there is a ton of difference between the two.. namely in the modules sections, thats only one of the parts to the mklivecd coarse. after the first of the year i will have more time to devote to such things.. hopefully i can do some good. like Phydeaux i too have looked at the 2008 ONE cd, these are obviously created in much the same manner as MCNL but they do not retain any of the scripts. i was kinda hoping that adamW would be able to aquire these scripts or at the very least ask some questions as an insider (adamW is a mandriva employee). i have not yet contacted adamw concerning this matter. lurch

Well, I dont want to get anybody hopes up tooo high just yet, but i have been toying with the mklivecd scripts in an effort to modify them for 2008.0. the problem is as yet i do not know enough of how the scripts work exactly to modify them sucessfully. i have already mentioned to mindwave that after the first of the year, i will likely tackle this task with all that i have. i need to learn the language and then figure out what changes have been made to the 2008 boot code to see if i cannot figure out what exactly is missing from the scripts. i am a n00b, and at this exact moment in time do not expect too much from me. although i would like to be the one to make the 2008 script, i can only hope that someone with more knowledge than myself will beat me to it. i have started a new channel at irc.freenode.net, #MCNLive for anybody who is interested to 'chat', seek help, or discuss just about anything. i do not have the time to spend 24/7 there so unless some more people visit, its likely to be empty alot. lurch

as bookie mentioned, the list above has nothing to do with standard mklivecd, BUT i must say that i have followed the directions to the letter (i think) and i am getting non bootable cd's using my own install. before you posted your blub here highking, i booted to the MCNLive cd and ran mklivecd in almost the exact manner than you mentioned and it made a nice bootable version of my system. i am just about ready to wipe out the hard drive once again and reinstall 2007.1 spring (non-pwp) and attempt to create the system on bootable cd without using the mcnlive cd. maybe i placed a file in the wrong directory, maybe its because i am NOT using KDE but rather gNOME instead, i did get an error about icewm not being present (not a clue why icewm needs to be there). but if i was to do it the way you describe highking then all of the customization options would not be present in the new bootable cd. some of the obvious for experienced users would be that they know where custom wallpaper files exist, they know how to edit the 'star/start' menu from command line or word editor (non-visual). some of the more experienced users know how to make all the custom changes that they need to without as you said, ever booting that system.. I for one am not an experienced user, i for one do not know how to make the changes necessary to make my new system custom without booting to it and... I am probably not the only one. what bookie and mindwave are trying to express is that you could make your own desktop linux system and then turn it into a bootable cd/dvd.. mindwave for one mentions that he uses his bootable dvd with the install to harddrive option as a backup. this is a great idea for many of the newer users like myself. if i can keep my desktop system running for more than 2 weeks it is an absolute miracle. i tend to break my system sometimes daily, sometimes hourly. a quick simple backup without the need to customize over and over again after every install is a brilliant idea. not to mention the extra bonus that after you have created a bootable cd/dvd of your exact desktop system, you now have a version that you can take with you on trips, to work, over to a buddies house and use it introduce your buddy to linux or use it to fix your buddies system. the possibilities are endless, depending upon the exact use of your desktop system. i have my own ideas, everybody else may have an idea of their own that is not absolute mainstream. we are not all sheep! still learning, lurch

sounds to me (and i am n00b) that you need to either change permissions of that directory so anybody can use it or create the directory as guest. su and give root password, then do: chmod -R 0777 /mnt/win_d/ that should do it, if it doesnt then you can change the ownership of the directory. su and give password, then do: chown -R guest:guest /mnt/win_d if the first one fails, try the second, if the second fails, see if you cant just open a kinqueror window and create the directory as user or as guest or as the defualt login person. then if all of that fails then i would guess that there is something else thats beyond me (again, i am n00b). good luck

While what scarecrow says is essentially true, its not completely true. yes chris:b has left the project in favor of a real flesh and blood life, yes chris:b was the maintainer of the MCNLive project, and yes developement has come to a screeching hault. but not for a lack of trying. there are a few people in colaberation with each other, and some working independently trying to play catch-up with where chris:b left off and get the newest mandriva offering (2008.0) to boot from live CD and make a new version of MCNLive. while development is slow its not DEAD. i believe that toronto is the NEWEST official version of MCNLive, its the version that i use nearly daily. Toronto is based on 2007.1. Mandriva has released 2008.0 just a short time ago, within the last 60 days i believe. as most of the die hard mandriva users will tell you, they do not run out and snatch up the newest version the day they are released and install it right then, mandriva is releasing patches and updates weekly for 2008.0, its new, its improved, i would love to see a new MCNlive based on 2008.0 but there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with using 2007.1 (toronto or delft). as long as your happy with what you are using and it works for you, for the time being there is no reason to believe that your plans or your useage is "foiled again". keep using it. the good thing about projects such as MCNLive is they are live! to me this means that when a new version is created, all you need to do is download the iso, burn it to disk, boot, install ndiswrapper, and install to flash drive again, its not that bad. Is it? i use mandriva 2007.1 as my media server, untill 2008.1 is released i likely will not upgrade. it works for me, why change it? also if your looking for basic help using mandriva i can suggest using one of your favorite IRC chat clients such as Konversation or xchat and visiting #mandriva over at irc.freenode.org. these people are very helpful. sometimes they are not real active but if you ask a question and wait a while (sometimes hours) someone will respond to your questions and someone will do the best they can to help you out. good luck, Lurch

Bookie, I think it would be nice if you could post your to do list here so the rest of us following this thread can see what it is your doing and want to do. Myself cannot help with the development of this project or any other linux project at the moment because of my own ignorance (i havent a clue where to start). but i am interested in seeing what others are doing and I for one do follow the MCNL threads. So, please post your todo list here. thanks Lurch

I would like to help if at all possible. I am not a developer and i am not very good with linux but i am learning. I installed 2008 set it up with a defualt powerpack install (bunch of extra crap i dont care for) and then followed the instructions over at https://mandrivausers.org/index.php?showtopic=42429 as you said chris:b i did manage to make an image but i dont think it was created corectly. my istall is 2.4GB and the live.sqfs image is only slightly more than 400MB. after burning the disc i got the error message that the IDE couldnt be found and it hung. so i tried it again. I reinstalled the system same setting, and again the installed system uses about 2.4GB. this time i copied all of the files in the instructions over at https://mandrivausers.org/index.php?showtopic=42429 with the exception of one step. I did not copy /usr/sbin/hwdetect from toronto over to my system, instead i left the file as it was. i got a few error messages during the image build and it stopped during the build around 44% because its missing a file someplace in the config. but then it continues to make the iso image. The NEW iso image is 893MB. its getting closer i know but still a far cry from working. upon booting of the new image (i know it was a waste of time but i did it anyways) i get a different error message, LOADING BASIC CDROM MODULES FOR KERNEL 2.6 [FAILED], then it loads USB and SCSI and then says NO IDE CHANNELS FOUND and then it says CDROMS FOUND [OK] then it errors out on finding the loop image (probably because its on IDE cdrom) and drops me to limited shell. i do not know if you got anywhere with this stuff chris:b i am hoping you did because i am getting nowhere pretty fast. i am hoping that this helps even though i seriously doubt its useful. i will be keeping up on this forum more now with the release of 2008. keep up the good work. Lurch

I was just stopping by to add to my post and reiterate a few of the ideas and what i have done when i saw mindwave's post. I too will admit that i have learned sooo much stuff using MCNL this past week, stuff that i could not or was not willing to try on my regular running system out of fear it would royally mess something up and i would have to once again reinstall. i have reinstalled so many times over the past year that I have actually made a batch file to do all of the very repititous stuff that i have to do every time a reinstall as needed. when a new package or service is added to the new system i add the command to my batch/script file to execute it too on new installs, i used that same batch file on MCNL to get my base system the way i like it. I have not YET looked at the "roll your own' live cd yet, i have not gotten that far. But what i have done is heavily modify my version of MCNL and remaster the CD over and over again to the point that I have a system that I like, I have done so by carefully selecting which packages i want to install and after each package remaster the cd. this is time consuming but its one way to keep from screwing the system up to much. i installed most recently a new kernel. upgraded a few packages and remaster, then once the new system is up and running again, i attemped a fatal 'urpmi --auto-upgrade'. this crashed the system, there was over a gig of packages to download and install, i think it ran out of storage space? so i have decided that since the system is running smooth NOW i will simply wait for the next incarnation of MCNL to be released. all of the 'ideas for the next release' that i stated above i have added to my personal modified MCNL. they all work fine and i have kept the bloat factor to a minimum. my version is just over 600mb I believe its 603MB to date. one of the things i dont need because i dont have the hardware to support it is the 3D stuff. i have attempted on several occasions with with no such luck to remove all the beryl and matise stuff, this for me (probably because i am new and have no clue what i am doing) has resulted in a system that hangs on boot or in some cases just fails to load X altogether. so with all that being said, i wanted to add my next(last?) suggestions to the next release wish list. I realize its probably harder to do than one might think, but: offer 2 or more different releases, obviously there are 2 releases based on language, but i was thinking, your regular release as well as a stripped down release, no X no KDE no extra widgets and all that stuff, this would allow a user with at the very least minumal knowledge of how to do thing add thier own window manager or basic programs and then remaster as they deem fit. i will also agree with mindwave that we need to contribute more (or at least some), and they only way that i can learn mandriva and some of the more advance linux stuff is to modify and test MCNL as i go, like i have been. I think i will have to look into the 'roll your own' concept a bit more in depth, this would afford me the luxury opf making it truly my own. once i have at least gotten my own system to the point that a livecd is a reality then i will be more apt to contribute, but now its kinda pointless for a n00b to contruibe, its probably already been done or thought of. i will say it again, awesome work, keep it up! lurch

I have been using Mandrake Linux on my servers since the first incarnation of mandrake about 9 years ago. i have always installed it the same way with the same features. and left it running in the corner without really a need to use it, it just serves, as servers do. I had never used X, CLI all the way, since management is via remote there was never a need to install X, until recently when i decided to explore my Mandriva options once again. a few days ago i downloaded the MCNLive distro to mess around with it because i thought it could be used in a manner that i was thinking i would find useful. unfortunately its not going to do what i want, the way i want it to do it. BUT i have been using it as a means of learning the ins and outs of the Mandriva distro. Whoever thought to build this distro the way they did, is a genius! i love it. the opportunity to install or remove software at will. and the simple fact that when i do mess something up (which i always do, trial by error) all i gotta do is hit the reset button, wait about 2 minutes and BAM! its all right back where it was. AWESOME! so since i am a new user and i have the feeling that most live distros are aimed for and appeal to the windows users, my opinions as to what i would like to see installed on future releases my not carry any weight. with that being said, here are my suggestions: 1) Mozilla-Firefox, i use it on my 'doze computer because its way better than IE, and i have installed it (over and over again) in the MCNLive environment. native 'doze users might find it comforting to their new workable platform without the need to install it every time they boot it up to play with or explore it. 2) Clam-AV or OTHER AV, probably would be useful to have an anti-virus program thats got a GUI for scanning the fat partitions found by we windows users, again for familiarity for native 'doze users and of coarse with a GUI option so as not to intimidate them. and an easy option to update AV definitions without tons of hoops to jump thu. 3) USER LOGIN, the automatic guest login is great, but in my case i would prefer the option to to make a new user and have that new user either auto login or rather than boot and auto login to the KDE, be presented with the login screen on boot. Or is there the possibility that on boot the native Mandriva 'Add User' window can be presented to make a new default user? I have not yet figured out how to delete or rename user to lurch and retain all of the desktop and menu functionality, it always reverts to the standard KMenu. 4) Networking, how about making the computer boot with DHCP as the standard form of obtaining an IP? again most windows users who might consider the migration to linux Mandriva might find this a nice addition over the network setup wizard, or again could the user be presented with a network wizard box similar to an and new user box upon boot? i have seen something like this recently, just dont remember where off hand. 5) Printing, I have installed cups and my network printer, what a pain! having cups service installed or started out of the box might be a nice addition for more long term would be Linux explorers. 6) Boot Menu, i think the boot menu is fine, i prefer lilo over ? (is that grub?) but i don't recall and option that i think should be there (i may be blind), but an option to boot from first hard drive, maybe make it the default if the computer boots and there is no human intervention? also maybe an option to boot to a simplified CLI for recovery or something similar (kinda like the stock Mandriva install media)? just an idea. 7) NTFS, I agree that ntfs partitions should be mounted read-write by default. 8) THE NAME! I think it should be called LURCHLive. (thats my preference anyways). :P I don't think it really matters what you do to the future release(s), its still gonna be awesome. i don't think it could ever be bad. and it seems to be the only live Mandriva distro other than the sucky ONE. so PLEASE keep up the good work. i look forward to the next release. I have probably out stayed my welcome so i better go now. Lurch