Frequently Asked Questions
It breaks on Vista! uPi sucks!
Short version: Before reimaging, open
cmd.exe
with
Run as Administrator
and execute:
BCDEDIT /set {bootmgr} device boot
BCDEDIT /set {default} device boot
BCDEDIT /set {default} osdevice boot
Now it will work. If it does not, please contact us.
Long version: Not really. Vista uses a new boot manager that stores the IDs of the disks to boot from. This is to ensure that
if you add new disks or change the order of disks, Wista can still boot. Evil people think it is also to prevent piracy and/or using your OEM
Wista further when your HDD dies. Good people think it won't prevent piracy and you can phone M$ to renew
your OEM licence if your HDD dies.
You should switch off this feature while imaging - it can be done even *after* creating an image - but then you will need
a recovery CD (console? program? floppy? We are not sure, we don't use that stuff).
Everything is decribed nicely
here.
What is this uPi or uPi-disk?
A package that can be used to create Debian boot floppies can download components from an FTP server.
These components can be used to backup (partimage
),
destroy (fdisk
) or diagnose (memtest86
) computers. It is a very limited subset
of a full Debian, however. Programs are compiled static and lightweight solutions like busybox
were selected.
What do I need to create such floppies?
A Debian (3.X or 4.0), this package, mkdosfs
(recently in package dosfstools
),
make
, a floppy and a floppy drive. If you encounter any other dependencies, please let us know.
What kind of FTP do I need?
Any kind of FTP you can mount with LUFS
.
FileZilla
and vsftp
are cool.
If you are using partimage
with partimaged
,
you still need this to download a few components, but you may use any
LUFS
you want - for example, shfsmount
.
Why all this floppy/FTP wierdiness? Why don't you boot a CD with everything on it?
First, you might prefer
a recovery CD.
Second, uPi can be usually changed/upgraded n the server-side without touching the floppies. Also, there are
machines without CD/DVD drives. Also, we are geeks enough to prefer unlabeled floppies (that is what you wanted to hear, right?).
But FTP is not safe! It is not encrypted!
True. That is why you should also use partimaged
, which supports encryption. Also, you should not let any packets leave
your trusted network between your image server and the workstations.
Why can't I just use a partition to make my backup?
You can - just tell partimage
to dump your backup there. Oh, and do not forget that if the disk
dies, all the partitions will die and you will lose your backup.
OK, what kind of FTP do I need?
Any kind of FTP you can mount with LUFS
.
FileZilla
and vsftp
are cool. Others are cool, too.
What hardware is supported?
Anything the kernel you compiled supports, which is pretty much. If you don't know what to compile in,
you can try the precompiled images. You may hire providers like
KWU
to compile a kernel, make a disk image, set up an FTP server, etc. for you.
Do I have to set up anything before creating a disk image?
Most likely yes, there is a general configuration file named config.h
. It contains stuff like server's IP
address, FTP shares to mount, etc. Also, you might want to add your own scripts into initrd_fs/custom
.
You might want to put your own kernel and your modules into kernel
.
How do I create a disk / disk image?
First, you should be root. Alternatively, donate or send a diff.
After unpacking it, run
make clean && make bootdisk.img
to create a disk, run
make clean && make floppy0
to create a disk.
Something went wrong and it does not work anymore.
Please try
make recover_from_crash && make clean
and if does not help, send screenshots with error messages.
How do create a disk from a disk image on some kind of Vindows?
There are plenty of programs to do so - our favorite is FlopImager
.
I get this error message, what went wrong?
/sbin/mkdosfs bootdisk.img
make: /sbin/mkdosfs: Command not found
make: *** [bootdisk.img] Error 127
You need mkdosfs. Try
apt-get install mkdosfs # On older Debians
apt-get install dosfstools # On newer Debians
make recover_from_crash
make clean
and try again.
I get this error message, what is wrong?
syslinux bootdisk.img
make: syslinux: Command not found
make: *** [bootdisk.img] Error 127
You need syslinux. Try
apt-get install syslinux
make recover_from_crash
make clean
and try again.
Why not FUSE
?
Why not kernal 2.6?
Why no USB keyboard?
Why no keyboard layouts?
We are working on it when we are in the mood.
This is cool! Can I help?
Yes, please.
Volunteer to make
- web site
- documentation
- translations
Or, please donate
- money
- kernels
- disk images
- FTP service
- patches
Why there is no "Q:" before the questions and no "A:" before the answers?
Because we don't need it.
Why can not a Matroid tranfser a spoon to a fork?
Because "there is no spoon".