Plop and Grub failed installation

[Member anti-ewaste]

I had a dual boot through GRUB, then installed Plop boot manager to the MBR, (so as to have USB boot access since BIOS does not support) then tried to install 19.2 using the entire HD but it failed to install GRUB at about 93% into the process. I’m downloading GRUB repair live CDs as an opportunity to try those out, but I was just curious why this would fail since I was using the whole drive. Does it actually not touch the MBR maybe and it’s looking for Plop? In any case I’d imagine something like the Boot-Repair disc or Rescatux should be able to take care of it?

[Member Xecure]

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Xecure wrote:

A. First try updating the live system before installing (everything that updates/upgrades before installation will be included in the installed system). I know there was a grub2 update recently to fix some vulnerability (that broke my boot, but that is another story), so maybe it is recommended to have everything up to date before installing antiX to your system.

B. If it still doesn’t work, you can also install without grub and then use Control Centre > Maintenance > Boot repair to try to install grub again (from the live system).

Xecure wrote:

Go back to live CD/USB and do:
Control Centre > Maintenance > Boot Repair > Repair GRUB configuration file. Follow the steps and it will fix grub.

For more info, take a look at this thread: https://www.antixforum.com/forums/topic/cannot-install-antix-grub-installation-problem/

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member anti-ewaste]

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Thanks, it looks like the data on the USB drive was corrupt and repair didn’t work so it had to be reinstalled (has to write over Plop after all) but works great now. I should add there is apparently a way for Plop to co-exist with GRUB but it has to be done manually.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by anti-ewaste.

[Member anti-ewaste]

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BTW just as a general point of interest: Working on another (less) older system with USB boot, evidently there’s just a problem with it. Tried to install MX and it resulted in even the live USB not booting, even with Plop. I tried failsafe setting in BIOS, the boot sector virus flag, nothing. Another distro also didn’t load with USB boot with the BIOS but DID work with Plop live CD. (but MX live didn’t – though the drive still worked on another system) It is possible the USB on this system is very flaky but Plop seems to be useful on these older systems even when there is USB boot support…

[Member seaken64]

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With Plop I sometimes have to use the “Setup|Bootmanager” menu and set the type of USB mode. I have one computer that will only work with “Force USB 1.1” to “Mode 1”.

Also, make sure you are not trying to boot a USB from a Hub.

Seaken64

[Member anti-ewaste]

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Yes I had to force USB 1.1 for the Dell Dimension 2350 though it does have USB 2.0 and I swear it worked the first time. This other one, a Core 2 on a MSI motherboard just didn’t want to boot from the BIOS and using Plop solved it. I guess sometimes the firmware doesn’t 100% do what it’s supposed to, which seems to be the case with the HP 5000DV too. I’m leaving the Plop CD in a drive with an issue opening the tray. Now finding someone willing to put to good use these systems is another story – seems everyone has to have the latest thing and of course many have the computing power in their phone now…

• This reply was modified 2 years, 8 months ago by anti-ewaste.

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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“…of course many have the computing power in their phone now…”

I have laptops and a smartphone. Since the phone is newer, it is faster than the computers for reading Email and some articles.

It’s still somewhat easier to compose notes from the computer simply because I can type faster unless I have short messages. The phone works best for them too.

Being a retired person I still find value in my computer systems which provided me a career in software.

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Brian Masinick

[Member seaken64]

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Phone and tablet screens are too small for anything but video. I can’t read on them. I like the large screens of a computer/laptop. And I can increase the text size easily with Ctrl++ in a browser. And typing is painful for me on any touch interface, I like my keyboard. I’d rather browse the web and type on forums on an old computer than a new phone or tablet.

Seaken64

[Member rayluo]

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I know my following content would be off-topic, but this thread has already been branching off to a different direction anyway… :->

Brian Masinick wrote:

Since the phone is newer, it is faster than the computers for reading Email and some articles.

It’s still somewhat easier to compose notes from the computer simply because I can type faster

seaken64 wrote:

Phone and tablet screens are too small for anything but video. I can’t read on them. I like the large screens of a computer/laptop. And I can increase the text size easily with Ctrl++ in a browser. And typing is painful for me on any touch interface, I like my keyboard. I’d rather browse the web and type on forums on an old computer than a new phone or tablet.

Phone and tablet do not need to be inconvenient for typing. With a bluetooth keyboard, the typing experience is comparable to computer/laptop.

And, technically speaking, phone and tablet do not necessarily have smaller screen. Even when excluding rare product Samsung Galaxy View which has a 18″ screen, there are still a not-so-rare product line of media-consuming Android tablets which tend to have HDMI output, so you could plug in a normal size monitor. (There are even many more Android phone and tablet supporting Chromecast mirroring, but that solution has noticeable latency and unstable connection, so I don’t count them in.)

But then, of course, if you are already sitting at home with a monitor available to plug in, you might as well just use your computer/laptop. So, I guess what I really try to say is, it is still possible to use a tablet’s 10″ screen plus a bluetooth keyboard on-the-go to get some real job done. I did that in my car.

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipORt-7vDlg1G_Zm6MZ3f3TAosYcURwWVR2X-YWyBGQ6petRYEzP4DxHkehGk88Mbg/photo/AF1QipO6epg63TO3eb7YoGda4UZC-2Q65RghPGejhnha?key=emxJSDA2QlZXcG96UFhYZXFiMzRMT05rcnZ1d1dn

It feels awesome that one can still be productive even with limited hardware resources. 🙂

[Member olsztyn]

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seaken64 wrote:

Phone and tablet screens are too small for anything but video. I can’t read on them. I like the large screens of a computer/laptop. And I can increase the text size easily with Ctrl++ in a browser. And typing is painful for me on any touch interface, I like my keyboard. I’d rather browse the web and type on forums on an old computer than a new phone or tablet.

Same here. Although I can easily read small text on phones I use phones mostly for communications (phone, texting, sending pictures, Telegram voice and messaging, etc.). I deleted Whatsapp and using Telegram for the reason of not supporting large monopolies invading your life…
All web browsing, banking and doing any serious work I use laptops. Typing this on antiX Live now…

Live antiX Boot Options (Previously posted by Xecure):
https://antixlinuxfan.miraheze.org/wiki/Table_of_antiX_Boot_Parameters

[Moderator Brian Masinick]

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I’m using antiX ‘runit’ right now on my Dell Inspiron 5558 laptop and I am listening to a video through over the ear headphones connected to my Pixel 3 smartphone; sometimes I use both concurrently, though I usually use one or the other.

Like others, I am most likely to use the computer when I am typing. Once I’m on the computer, I tend to stay on the computer.

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Brian Masinick

[Author]

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