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<!DOCTYPE html>
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<meta charset="utf-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
<style type="text/css">
@import url('../css/main.css');
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<title>Libreboot documentation: installing GNU/Linux</title>
</head>
<body>
<header>
<h1>Boot a GNU/Linux installer on USB</h1>
<aside>Or <a href="index.html">back to main index</a></aside>
</header>
<h2>Prepare the USB drive (in GNU/Linux)</h2>
<p>
Connect the USB drive. Check dmesg:<br/>
<b>$ dmesg</b><br/>
Check lsblk to confirm which drive it is:<br/>
<b>$ lsblk</b>
</p>
<p>
Check that it wasn't automatically mounted. If it was, unmount it. For example:<br/>
<b>$ sudo umount /dev/sdb*</b><br/>
<b># umount /dev/sdb*</b>
</p>
<p>
dmesg told you what device it is. Overwrite the drive, writing your distro ISO to it with dd. For example:<br/>
<b>$ sudo dd if=gnulinux.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=8M; sync</b><br/>
<b># dd if=gnulinux.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=8M; sync</b>
</p>
<h2>Guix GNU/Linux?</h2>
<p>
Guix USB installers use the GRUB bootloader, unlike most GNU/Linux installers which will likely use ISOLINUX.
</p>
<p>
To boot the Guix live USB install, select <b><i>Search for GRUB configuration (grub.cfg) outside of CBFS</i></b> from
the GRUB payload menu. After you have done that, a near menuentry will appear at the very bottom with text like
<b><i>Load Config from (usb0)</i></b>; select that, and it should boot.
</p>
<h2>Booting ISOLINUX images (in GRUB)</h2>
<p>
Boot it in GRUB using the <i>Parse ISOLINUX config (USB)</i> option (it's in default libreboot grub.cfg, at least).
A new menu should appear in GRUB, showing the boot options for that distro; this is a GRUB menu, converted from the usual
ISOLINUX menu provided by that distro.
</p>
<p>
If the ISOLINUX parser or <i>Search for GRUB configuration</i> options won't work, then press C to get to GRUB command line.<br/>
grub> <b>ls</b><br/>
Get the device from above output, eg (usb0). Example:<br/>
grub> <b>cat (usb0)/isolinux/isolinux.cfg</b><br/>
Either this will show the ISOLINUX menuentries for that ISO, or link to other .cfg files, for example /isolinux/foo.cfg.<br/>
If it did that, then you do:<br/>
grub> <b>cat (usb0)/isolinux/foo.cfg</b><br/>
And so on, until you find the correct menuentries for ISOLINUX.
</p>
<p>
Now look at the ISOLINUX menuentry. It'll look like:<br/>
<b>
kernel /path/to/kernel<br/>
append PARAMETERS initrd=/path/to/initrd MAYBE_MORE_PARAMETERS<br/>
</b>
GRUB works the same way, but in it's own way. Example GRUB commands:<br/>
grub> <b>linux (usb0)/path/to/kernel PARAMETERS MAYBE_MORE_PARAMETERS</b><br/>
grub> <b>initrd (usb0)/path/to/initrd</b><br/>
grub> <b>boot</b><br/>
Of course this will vary from distro to distro. If you did all that correctly, it should now be booting the ISO
the way you specified.
</p>
<h1>Troubleshooting</h1>
<p>
Most of these issues occur when using libreboot with coreboot's 'text mode' instead of the coreboot framebuffer.
This mode is useful for booting payloads like memtest86+ which expect text-mode, but for GNU/Linux distributions
it can be problematic when they are trying to switch to a framebuffer because it doesn't exist.
</p>
<p>
In most cases, you should use the vesafb ROM's. Example filename: libreboot_ukdvorak_vesafb.rom.
</p>
<h2>parabola won't boot in text-mode</h2>
<p>
Use one of the ROM images with vesafb in the filename (uses coreboot framebuffer instead of text-mode).
</p>
<h2>debian-installer (trisquel net install) graphical corruption in text-mode</h2>
<p>
When using the ROM images that use coreboot's "text mode" instead of the coreboot framebuffer,
booting the Trisquel net installer results in graphical corruption because it is trying to switch to a framebuffer which doesn't
exist. Use that kernel parameter on the 'linux' line when booting it:<br/>
<b>vga=normal fb=false</b>
</p>
<p>
Tested in Trisquel 6 (and 7). This forces debian-installer to start in text-mode, instead of trying to switch to a framebuffer.
</p>
<p>
If selecting text-mode from a GRUB menu created using the ISOLINUX parser, you can press E on the menu entry to add this.
Or, if you are booting manually (from GRUB terminal) then just add the parameters.
</p>
<p>
This workaround was found on the page: <a href="https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch05s04.html">https://www.debian.org/releases/stable/i386/ch05s04.html</a>.
It should also work for gNewSense, Debian and any other apt-get distro that provides debian-installer (text mode) net install method.
</p>
<hr/>
<p>
Copyright © 2014 Francis Rowe <info@gluglug.org.uk><br/>
This document is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License and all future versions.
A copy of the license can be found at <a href="../license.txt">../license.txt</a>.
</p>
<p>
This document is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See <a href="../license.txt">../license.txt</a> for more information.
</p>
</body>
</html>
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