One Button Installer, 'OBI'

[sudodus]

There is a new and special version of the 9w installer, the OBI-9w installer

This version is made for very old computers without PAE capability. The One Button Installer in run from the 9w installer's debian system. Now there is a super light-weight installer, that can

- install from CD, DVD and USB
- create not only single boot but also dual boot systems.

Prepare partitions with Gparted and run the One Button Installer at the advanced level to create dual boot or multi boot system.

There are special tarballs for the 9w installer, and these tarballs come with the iso file.

[sudodus]

Installer for really old computers

There is a new iso file of the OBI-9w installer which is up to date with a new version of phillw's non-pae kernel and updated/dist-upgraded packages:

obi_Trusty-nonpae-txt5-9w.iso

that you find at http://phillw.net/isos/linux-tools/9w

Edit: See the instructions at this wiki page http://help.ubuntu.com/community/9w

[sudodus]

Tarballs for old computers

Two new tarballs are created for the One Button Installer. They are up to date with a new version of phillw's non-pae kernel and updated/dist-upgraded packages:

Lubuntu_14.04oem-npae5.tar.xz # in OEM mode, password: 123456, contains several tweaks

Trusty-nonpae-txt5.tar.xz # user: guru, password: changeme

Use this link http://phillw.net/isos/one-button-installer

These tarballs contains PhillW's 32-bit non-pae kernel and can be used with most Intel/AMD CPUs including Pentium M and Celeron M processors. The non-pae kernel does not manage memory above 2 GB well (but it is seldom a problem with old hardware). The generic (pae) kernel is better when there is more than 2 GB RAM. See these links

More details about the OEM tarball

Please help us test Lubuntu with Phill's non-pae kernel

[sudodus]

Version 2.5 of the One Button Installer

Version 2.5 is released. It is mainly a bug-fix update from 2.3 (and 2.4 OBI-9w) including updated pdf documents. The operating system (14.04 LTS) is also updated/upgraded.

New feature: the starter menu will set the default item (command line) in a logical way prompting to download and select tarball, select OBI level and then install a system. Two-digit partition numbers (/dev/sda10 ...) are recognized at the advanced OBI level.

USB 3 pendrives with at least 8 GB are recommended for this version with Lubuntu desktop. 4 GB pendrives are still possible for the text version. See also this link

Howto help USB boot drives

Use this link https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OBI

-o-

Edit: In addition to the compressed dd image file and tarball of the OBI version 2.5 with 32-bit generic PAE kernels, there is now also a compressed dd image file with a non-pae kernel by phillw

dd_blank-obi_7.8GB_25_LubuntuTrusty_nonpae.img.xz

[sudodus]

Version 2.6:

This version is a major improvement, implemented for ToriOS but not published here.

• dynamic focus in the starter menu
• improved recognition of devices (using the function list_drives)
• final warning screen with red background
• improved help function

Version 2.7:

This version is a bug-fix and polishing update of the starter script. Current mkusb and mkusb-nox are installed and there are updated pdf documents. The operating system (14.04.1 LTS) is also updated/upgraded to the current date (2014-12-28).

Use this link https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OBI

[sudodus]

Mini text based system with a menu to select installing various light desktop environments

An alternative that you might want to test, is to use the One Button Installer to install a mini system (originally made from Ubuntu 14.04 mini.iso) with a menu to select installing various light (ultra light to medium light) desktop environments. It installs a portable system even as a text based system.

The following tarball contains phillw's nonpae kernel, made during last summer to be used with very old computers.

Trusty-nonpae-txt5.tar.xz

This tarball was updated/upgraded today to the following tarball, and the kernel was replaced with the current generic pae kernel and comes with the boot option forcepae to run with most 32-bit processors and be able to update the kernel, also with Pentium M and Celeron M.

Trusty-mini-txt6.tar.xz

The screenshots were made when Lubuntu Core was installed in a computer with Pentium M, booted without the boot option forcepae (removed). It boots from grub, but cannot update the kernel, so supplying forcepae makes it more convenient for the end user (you). Running in text mode needs only 39 MiB RAM in that computer, while running in the Lubuntu DE needs approximately 150 MiB.

-o-

This standard version of the One Button Installer works only from mass storage devices (USB pendrives, but also from IDE drives and SATA drives). And you can install in one computer and port the drive to another computer. See the following link for more details.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OBI

[sudodus]

Version 2.9:

version 2.9: selects tarballs depending on the version (12.04 LTS or 14.04 LTS)

• improved 'dltbl' - to download tarballs
  
  • selecting repository for tarballs depending on the version of the system underneath the OBI (12.04 LTS or 14.04 LTS)
  • some bug-fixes: modified for-loops and md5check
  
  
• improved 'confirm-partition' - pre-selected root and swap partitions should *not* be mounted
• a text based One Button Installer based on Ubuntu mini.iso 12.04 LTS is released

Select one of the compressed image files (in order to use the One Button Installer. See more details at the first post of this thread).

dd_blank-obi_4GB_23_text.img.xz                    # if you need a really small system    (324MiB)
dd_blank-obi_7.8GB_25_LubuntuTrusty_nonpae.img.xz  # if you need a non-pae kernel         (677MiB)
dd_blank-obi_7.8GB_27_LubuntuTrusty.img.xz         # current main choice for most cases   (696MiB)
dd_precise-obi_4GB_29_text.img.xz                  # to install tarballs made for precise (183MiB)

[sudodus]

One Button Installer version 3.0

zmktbl, a graphical tool to make tarballs, is added to the OBI system. An icon on the desktop brings you directly to the graphical tool, when you run the Lubuntu desktop.

This should work without much instructions, but

- it is recommended to save the tarballs in the directory /tarballs, if it has write access and there is enough free space,
- otherwise (for example in systems booted from ISO files) you should select a directory in a partition with enough free space for the tarball.

The host Lubuntu system is updated (2015-07-29)

Find more details at

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/OBI
and
Make your own tarball

[sudodus]

Version 3.1:

This is a bug-fix version. You should download version 3.1 for zmktbl to work properly.

- zmktbl, select-part2: fix for buggy(?) zenity --list in trusty: ans=${ans%|*} ...

[sudodus]

ToriOS beta tarball

There is a tarball with ToriOS (beta version) updated from the repositories yesterday (July 30, 2015).

ToriOS-pae-OEM_prec_use-by-OBI-in-trusty.tar.xz

This tarball was made with zmktbl in the OBI version 3.1, and it can be installed with the same version. ToriOS is installed in OEM mode, and should work well in old and middle-aged computers. It is a 32-bit system and the installation method works in BIOS mode. Use another linux distro and other installation method to install in UEFI mode (for example a 64-bit version of an Ubuntu flavour and mkusb).

Edit:

This tarball was made from an OEM system, where Lubuntu Core was installed in order to help the system for final installation (ubiquity) render the graphical user interface correctly. However, you should focus on ToriOS. (Do not use the Lubuntu session, because it has passed end of life and receives no security updates).