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								{"config":{"indexing":"full","lang":["en"],"min_search_length":3,"prebuild_index":false,"separator":"[\\s\\-]+"},"docs":[{"location":"","text":"Welcome to the Libre Tech Shop Documentation \u00b6 The Libre Tech Shop is a first of its kind online store for products that respect your freedom. Every product you purchase here will be powered by free software, will be accompanied by documentation and will give you the freedom to hack, learn, modify and share. These products will not track you and will respect your freedom and privacy. Products \u00b6 Product Description MH-USB The Mostly Harmless USB [MH-USB] LC230 Liberated Computer [LC230] Phones Liberated Phones [LPA2] Routers Liberated Routers [LRA7]","title":"Home"},{"location":"#welcome-to-the-libre-tech-shop-documentation","text":"The Libre Tech Shop is a first of its kind online store for products that respect your freedom. Every product you purchase here will be powered by free software, will be accompanied by documentation and will give you the freedom to hack, learn, modify and share. These products will not track you and will respect your freedom and privacy.","title":"Welcome to the Libre Tech Shop Documentation"},{"location":"#products","text":"Product Description MH-USB The Mostly Harmless USB [MH-USB] LC230 Liberated Computer [LC230] Phones Liberated Phones [LPA2] Routers Liberated Routers [LRA7]","title":"Products"},{"location":"lc230/","text":"LC230 - The Liberated Computer \u00b6 Why LC230? \u00b6 Why does LC230 exist? Some of the most fundamental questions that we need to answer about the hardware that we possess are those of \"ownership\": Question What is the definition of owning a piece of hardware? Are we the owners of the hardware merely because we paid for it and now have possession of it? If we are owners do we have the necessary freedom and opportunity to do what we want with it? How much control does the manufacturer of a device exert after \"selling\" the device to us? If such control does exist, then how do we re-define ownership now? The answers to these questions are not easy, universal or simple. Hence, we might define ownership in the following terms: Info We are the true owners of our hardware if we can do whatever we want with hardware without then permission of the manufacturer . This includes the freedom to change or upgrade hardware components at will, repair and refurbish the hardware and install the software we want (without constraints). The \"Liberated Computer\" project exists to provide users with convenient access to reliable, libre-software friendly and hackable computers. The key to having the freedom to compute in a manner we deem respectful is to first liberate the computers from the locks and constraints imposed by the manufacturer. Failure Even 8 years after the model ceased production, Lenovo's BIOS does not give you the freedom to change the wireless card of the laptop to one that would work without proprietary firmware! This is a classic example of a manufacturer exerting control over the hardware well beyond its intended lifespan. Unless a wireless card that is \"white-listed\" by the BIOS is plugged in, the system will not boot up. The only way to move beyond this limitation is to replace the BIOS and hence, liberate the computer. What is Coreboot? \u00b6 Coreboot is a free/libre software BIOS replacement. It was developed to allow computers users the ability to exert greater control on their computers by being able to control the BIOS. Coreboot is a very modular BIOS and runs on a wide variety of computer mainboards. More details are available at: coreboot.org Coreboot's main advantage is that of software freedom at the BIOS level. It liberates the computer and allows a user to load multiple types of boot payloads while also allowing us to cripple and neuter the Intel ME. Some of the common payloads supported by Coreboot are: SeaBIOS - the default payload that ships with your LC230 Linux - you can embed and load a Linux kernel on the BIOS chip Grub - You can also daisy-chain and boot Grub from Coreboot so that you can perform the rest of the boot process via Grub nvramtui - a utility to configure the Embedded Controller (EC) firmware on thinkpad laptops memtest - perform memory tests at the BIOS level! coreinfo - provides low-level information about Coreboot TINC - play tetris without even booting an OS! Info The TINC Coreboot payload - Tetris at the BIOS level. No Operating System! Introducing Skulls \u00b6 The Skulls Project is a Coreboot distribution . They ship a pre-compiled Coreboot binary for the Lenovo X230 Thinkpad along with a set of scripts that make it it simple to install and use it. The LC230 ships pre-installed with the latest release of Skulls. How is an LC230 assembled? \u00b6 Your LC230 laptop is refurbished and liberated with a mix of new and used components. Here is the process of refurbishing it: We first purchase a used Lenovo x230 Thinkpad laptop Once we inspect it for physical and other defects, the process of liberating it starts. First the laptop is opened up and cleaned - all the internal and external plus the CPU fan. Next using a SIOC-8 clip, coreboot is flashed to SPI flash that is used to store the system firmware. Once the sytem is running coreboot, the default Intel wireless card is replaced with an Atheros one. After that, based on the requested configuration, a new mSATA or SATA SSD is added, more RAM or even a brand new battery. Finally - an OS is installed and the system is tested for heating issues, networking and so on. Now your liberated computer is ready for you to play with ! :-)","title":"(LC230) Overview"},{"location":"lc230/#lc230-the-liberated-computer","text":"","title":"LC230 - The Liberated Computer"},{"location":"lc230/#why-lc230","text":"Why does LC230 exist? Some of the most fundamental questions that we need to answer about the hardware that we possess are those of \"ownership\": Question What is the definition of owning a piece of hardware? Are we the owners of the hardware merely because we paid for it and now have possession of it? If we are owners do we have the necessary freedom and opportunity to do what we want with it? How much control does the manufacturer of a device exert after \"selling\" the device to us? If such control does exist, then how do we re-define ownership now? The answers to these questions are not easy, universal or simple. Hence, we might define ownership in the following terms: Info We are the true owners of our hardware if we can do whatever we want with hardware without then permission of the manufacturer . This includes the freedom to change or upgrade hardware components at will, repair and refurbish the hardware and install the software we want (without constraints). The \"Liberated Computer\" project exists to provide users with convenient access to reliable, libre-software friendly and hackable computers. The key to having the freedom to compute in a manner we deem respectful is to first liberate the computers from the locks and constraints imposed by the manufacturer. Failure Even 8 years after the model ceased production, Lenovo's BIOS does not give you the freedom to change the wireless card of the laptop to one that would work without proprietary firmware! This is a classic example of a manufacturer exerting control over the hardware well beyond its intended lifespan. Unless a wireless card that is \"white-listed\" by the BIOS is plugged in, the system will not boot up. The only way to move beyond this limitation is to replace the BIOS and hence, liberate the computer.","title":"Why LC230?"},{"location":"lc230/#what-is-coreboot","text":"Coreboot is a free/libre software BIOS replacement. It was developed to allow computers users the ability to exert greater control on their computers by being able to control the BIOS. Coreboot is a very modular BIOS and runs on a wide variety of computer mainboards. More details are available at: coreboot.org Coreboot's main advantage is that of software freedom at the BIOS level. It liberates the computer and allows a user to load multiple types of boot payloads while also allowing us to cripple and neuter the Intel ME. Some of the common payloads supported by Coreboot are: SeaBIOS - the default payload that ships with your LC230 Linux - you can embed and load a Linux kernel on the BIOS chip Grub - You can also daisy-chain and boot Grub from Coreboot so that you can perform the rest of the boot process via Grub nvramtui - a utility to configure the Embedded Controller (EC) firmware on thinkpad laptops memtest - perform memory tests at the BIOS level! coreinfo - provides low-level information about Coreboot TINC - play tetris without even booting an OS! Info The TINC Coreboot payload - Tetris at the BIOS level. No Operating System!","title":"What is Coreboot?"},{"location":"lc230/#introducing-skulls","text":"The Skulls Project is a Coreboot distribution . They ship a pre-compiled Coreboot binary for the Lenovo X230 Thinkpad along with a set of scripts that make it it simple to install and use it. The LC230 ships pre-installed with the latest release of Skulls.","title":"Introducing Skulls"},{"location":"lc230/#how-is-an-lc230-assembled","text":"Your LC230 laptop is refurbished and liberated with a mix of new and used components. Here is the process of refurbishing it: We first purchase a used Lenovo x230 Thinkpad laptop Once we inspect it for physical and other defects, the process of liberating it starts. First the laptop is opened up and cleaned - all the internal and external plus the CPU fan. Next using a SIOC-8 clip, coreboot is flashed to SPI flash that is used to store the system firmware. Once the sytem is running coreboot, the default Intel wireless card is replaced with an Atheros one. After that, based on the requested configuration, a new mSATA or SATA SSD is added, more RAM or even a brand new battery. Finally - an OS is installed and the system is tested for heating issues, networking and so on. Now your liberated computer is ready for you to play with ! :-)","title":"How is an LC230 assembled?"},{"location":"lc230/troubleshooting/","text":"Troubleshooting & Common Problems \u00b6 Heating or fan issues \u00b6 One possible challenge with a refurbished laptop is that there can be heating issues. All LC230 units that we sell are well tested for such issues to ensure that the laptop's CPU cools well during heavy CPU usage. This is done by ensuring two things: The CPU fan is clean of dust and other foreign material that might affect its ability to offer good CPU cooling. The CPU fan's heatsink is able to conduct heat properly Check out what a dirty and clean fan looks like. A dirty fan! A very clean fan! If you face any heating issues (or a noisy fan) a few months after purchasing a LC230, one thing that would help is cleaning the fan using an air blower. Here is what a clean CPU fan achieves: As you can see, even under very heavy CPU utilisation (and system load), the CPU fan running at 5380 RPM is able to cool down the CPU to keep the core temperature around +84\u00b0 C. Battery management \u00b6 In case your current LC230 battery does not give you sufficient backup, you can purchase a new 6-cell or 9-cell battery. The part numbers are as follows: Lenovo Thinkpad 6-cell Battery 44+ (Part Number: 0A36306) Lenovo ThinkPad 9-cell Battery 44++ (Part Number: 0A36307) Swapping the keyboard \u00b6 It is possible to use the Lenovo Classic keyboard (last seen on the X220 Thinkpad model) with the X230. This involves three steps: Modifying the keyboard connector Flashing a modified BIOS (over the default Lenovo one) Replacing the palm-rest with an x220 one We will be glad to help you with this modification. The steps are detailed on the Thinkwiki .","title":"(LC230) Troubleshooting"},{"location":"lc230/troubleshooting/#troubleshooting-common-problems","text":"","title":"Troubleshooting &amp; Common Problems"},{"location":"lc230/troubleshooting/#heating-or-fan-issues","text":"One possible challenge with a refurbished laptop is that there can be heating issues. All LC230 units that we sell are well tested for such issues to ensure that the laptop's CPU cools well during heavy CPU usage. This is done by ensuring two things: The CPU fan is clean of dust and other foreign material that might affect its ability to offer good CPU cooling. The CPU fan's heatsink is able to conduct heat properly Check out what a dirty and clean fan looks like. A dirty fan! A very clean fan! If you face any heating issues (or a noisy fan) a few months after purchasing a LC230, one thing that would help is cleaning the fan using an air blower. Here is what a clean CPU fan achieves: As you can see, even under very heavy CPU utilisation (and system load), the CPU fan running at 5380 RPM is able to cool down the CPU to keep the core temperature around +84\u00b0 C.","title":"Heating or fan issues"},{"location":"lc230/troubleshooting/#battery-management","text":"In case your current LC230 battery does not give you sufficient backup, you can purchase a new 6-cell or 9-cell battery. The part numbers are as follows: Lenovo Thinkpad 6-cell Battery 44+ (Part Number: 0A36306) Lenovo ThinkPad 9-cell Battery 44++ (Part Number: 0A36307)","title":"Battery management"},{"location":"lc230/troubleshooting/#swapping-the-keyboard","text":"It is possible to use the Lenovo Classic keyboard (last seen on the X220 Thinkpad model) with the X230. This involves three steps: Modifying the keyboard connector Flashing a modified BIOS (over the default Lenovo one) Replacing the palm-rest with an x220 one We will be glad to help you with this modification. The steps are detailed on the Thinkwiki .","title":"Swapping the keyboard"},{"location":"lc230/user-guide/","text":"(LC230) User Guide \u00b6 The Coreboot Boot Process \u00b6 Here is what the boot process looks like with Coreboot installed: Coreboot Sequence Diagram The first part of the boot process (labelled as \"Coreboot Internal\" in the diagram above) is largely hidden from the user. The boot process is illustrated below: LC230 Boot Process Installing an OS \u00b6 To install any GNU/Linux OS, here is a sequence of steps: Build USB Installer \u00b6 Any GNU/Linux OS would work very well on your LC230 laptop. (Some owners have also installed and used FreeBSD on it.) LC230 is configured to run without any proprietary firmware and hence, any of the following operating systems would work well by default: Debian GNU/Linux (main) PureOS Triquel Tip The Rasperrby Pi Imager is a good tool to use to write an OS image to a USB disk. Balena Etcher is another one. Plug-in USB Disk \u00b6 The USB needs to be plugged in before you reboot the laptop - or else SeaBIOS will not detect it and show it as a boot option. Info The blue USB ports on the left side of the laptop are USB3 ports. If you have a USB disk that works with USB3, then using these ports will give you much better USB disk performance. The USB port on the right side (yellow in colour) is a USB2 port. Choose the boot device \u00b6 Press Esc on boot and choose the USB disk as the boot device LC230 Boot Image By default, the first boot option is chosen to boot off. This is usually the 2.5\" SATA disk if it is plugged in to the laptop. To choose another boot device, you need to press Esc and then choose the desired boot device from the SeaBIOS menu. If you have a 2.5\" SATA disk, then a USB disk would be the second boot device. If you have a 2.5\" SATA disk and a mSATA disk, then the USB disk would be the third boot device. LC230 USB3 Ports Install the OS \u00b6 You can now proceed with the OS installation as normal. The LC230 does not provide a UEFI BIOS (like the default Lenovo BIOS firmware). SeaBIOS is a pc-bios payload and most GNU/Linux OS installers will detect that and install the correct bootloader. This would be grub-pc if you choose to use Grub and Debian. Coreboot Internal Flashing \u00b6 To flash Coreboot to the x230 motherboard, the first step is to flash the BIOS externally - ie. using a SIOC-8 flashing clip connecting to the BIOS chips: Liberating the LC230 via External Flashing However, as a part of the external flashing process, the BIOS is unlocked. This means that you can update / modify the BIOS on the SPI Flash internally - from within the operating system. Here are some reasons to do that and the steps involved. Configure the kernel \u00b6 The first things to do before you can flash Coreboot internally, is to boot the kernel with an additional option: iomem=relaxed On Debian (and derived operating systems such as Ubuntu), you can make this a permanent setting: Edit the file: /etc/default/grub Update the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX to read: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=\"iomem=relaxed\" Run: update-grub to update the Grub configuration. Query Coreboot details \u00b6 You can verify the coreboot version (as well as the fact that you're running coreboot) by using the dmidecode utility as follows: BIOS version \u00b6 $ sudo dmidecode -t bios # dmidecode 3 .3 Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs. SMBIOS 2.8 present. Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 26 bytes BIOS Information Vendor: coreboot Version: CBET4000 4.10-1082-g4357a82076-dirty Release Date: 10/20/2019 ROM Size: 12 MB Characteristics: PCI is supported PC Card (PCMCIA) is supported BIOS is upgradeable Selectable boot is supported ACPI is supported Targeted content distribution is supported BIOS Revision: 4.10 Firmware Revision: 0.0 System type & name \u00b6 $ sudo dmidecode -t system # dmidecode 3 .3 Getting SMBIOS data from sysfs. SMBIOS 2.8 present. Handle 0x0001, DMI type 1, 27 bytes System Information Manufacturer: LENOVO Product Name: 2325BU3 Version: ThinkPad X230 Serial Number: PK1HM8E UUID: ce136601-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx Wake-up Type: Reserved SKU Number: Not Specified Family: ThinkPad X230 Handle 0x000B, DMI type 32, 11 bytes System Boot Information Status: No errors detected Install: flashrom \u00b6 The primary tool for operating on your BIOS is called flashrom . The Debian package is also called by the same name and can be installed as: apt-get install flashrom If the kernel is booted correctly with iomem=relaxed , you can run flashrom : flashrom -pinternal Ouput: $ sudo flashrom -pinternal flashrom v1.2 on Linux 5.10.9-gnu (x86_64) flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://flashrom.org Using clock_gettime for delay loops (clk_id: 1, resolution: 1ns). coreboot table found at 0xbff51000. Found chipset \"Intel QM77\". Enabling flash write... SPI Configuration is locked down. Enabling hardware sequencing due to multiple flash chips detected. OK. Found Programmer flash chip \"Opaque flash chip\" (12288 kB, Programmer-specific) mapped at physical address 0x0000000000000000. No operations were specified. Tip Sometimes flashrom will not detect the internal flash chip, though it might very well be able to confirm the BIOS type and machine name. In such cases, you can try to run flashrom as: flashrom -pinternal:laptop=force_I_want_a_brick . This is not completely safe Read BIOS Image \u00b6 You can dump the BIOS to a file: $ flashrom -pinternal -r lc230-coreboot.rom This will read the BIOS to a file: lc230-coreboot.rom . This file will be 12 MB in size. $ sudo flashrom -pinternal -r lc230.rom flashrom v1.2 on Linux 5.10.9-gnu (x86_64) flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://flashrom.org Using clock_gettime for delay loops (clk_id: 1, resolution: 1ns). coreboot table found at 0xbff51000. Found chipset \"Intel QM77\". Enabling flash write... SPI Configuration is locked down. Enabling hardware sequencing due to multiple flash chips detected. OK. Found Programmer flash chip \"Opaque flash chip\" (12288 kB, Programmer-specific) mapped at physical address 0x0000000000000000. Reading flash... done. $ ls -lh lc230-coreboot.rom -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 12M Feb 8 04:46 lc230-coreboot.rom Write BIOS Image \u00b6 You can now write back to the BIOS chips as follows: $ sudo flashrom -pinternal -w lc230-coreboot.rom flashrom v1.2 on Linux 5.10.9-gnu (x86_64) flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://flashrom.org Using clock_gettime for delay loops (clk_id: 1, resolution: 1ns). coreboot table found at 0xbff51000. Found chipset \"Intel QM77\". Enabling flash write... SPI Configuration is locked down. Enabling hardware sequencing due to multiple flash chips detected. OK. Found Programmer flash chip \"Opaque flash chip\" (12288 kB, Programmer-specific) mapped at physical address 0x0000000000000000. Reading old flash chip contents... done. Erasing and writing flash chip... Warning: Chip content is identical to the requested image. Erase/write done Flash: Skulls \u00b6 The Skulls Coreboot distribution provides built in scripts to upgrade the BIOS. The update procedure is detailed here . Your LC230 ships with the latest release of Skull available at the time of shipping the laptop to you. You can upgrade skulls using the instructions above. Flash: Heads \u00b6 If you want to experiment with the Heads firmware , instructions are available on the Heads website as well as in the Skulls documentation . Configuring Coreboot \u00b6 Your LC230 ships with a SeaBIOS payload called nvramcui that allows you to configure coreboot behaviour and save the settings to nvram. nvramcui options (1) nvramcui options (2) nvramcui options (3) Swapping Fn and Ctrl \u00b6 The fn_ctrl_swap on the 2 nd page of the nvramcui settings page enables you to toggle the Fn and Ctrl swap. If you like to have the control key on the bottom left corner of the keyboard, then you can set this option to Enable . Increasing Graphics Memory \u00b6 The x230 GPU does not have dedication RAM. Instead it shares its memory with the main system memory. You can configure how much RAM is dedicated to the GPU via the gfx_uma_size option on the 3 rd page of the nvramcui settings. Pressing the Left and Right arrow keys you can iterate over all the available settings for this option. Other settings \u00b6 You can also configure the following behaviour via nvramcui: Always On USB : By enabling this option, you can configure the USB ports to be always on - even when the laptop is suspended. Enable/Disable Trackpoing, Touchpad : You can toggle the touchpad and trackpoint options to enable or disable the the touchpad and trackpoint respectively.","title":"(LC230) User Guide"},{"location":"lc230/user-guide/#lc230-user-guide","text":"","title":"(LC230) User Guide"},{"location":"lc230/user-guide/#the-coreboot-boot-process","text":"Here is what the boot process looks like with Coreboot installed: Coreboot Sequence Diagram The first part of the boot process (labelled as \"Coreboot Internal\" in the diagram above) is largely hidden from the user. The boot process is illustrated below: LC230 Boot Process","title":"The Coreboot Boot Process"},{"location":"lc230/user-guide/#installing-an-os","text":"To install any GNU/Linux OS, here is a sequence of steps:","title":"Installing an OS"},{"location":"lc230/user-guide/#build-usb-installer","text":"Any GNU/Linux OS would work very well on your LC230 laptop. (Some owners have also installed and used FreeBSD on it.) LC230 is configured to run without any proprietary firmware and hence, any of the following operating systems would work well by default: Debian GNU/Linux (main) PureOS Triquel Tip The Rasperrby Pi Imager is a good tool to use to write an OS image to a USB disk. Balena Etcher is another one.","title":"Build USB Installer"},{"location":"lc230/user-guide/#plug-in-usb-disk","text":"The USB needs to be plugged in before you reboot the laptop - or else SeaBIOS will not detect it and show it as a boot option. Info The blue USB ports on the left side of the laptop are USB3 ports. If you have a USB disk that works with USB3, then using these ports will give you much better USB disk performance. The USB port on the right side (yellow in colour) is a USB2 port.","title":"Plug-in USB Disk"},{"location":"lc230/user-guide/#choose-the-boot-device","text":"Press Esc on boot and choose the USB disk as the boot device LC230 Boot Image By default, the first boot option is chosen to boot off. This is usually the 2.5\" SATA disk if it is plugged in to the laptop. To choose another boot device, you need to press Esc and then choose the desired boot device from the SeaBIOS menu. If you have a 2.5\" SATA disk, then a USB disk would be the second boot device. If you have a 2.5\" SATA disk and a mSATA disk, then the USB disk would be the third boot device. LC230 USB3 Ports","title":"Choose the boot device"},{"location":"lc230/user-guide/#install-the-os","text":"You can now proceed with the OS installation as normal. The LC230 does not provide a UEFI BIOS (like the default Lenovo BIOS firmware). SeaBIOS is a pc-bios payload and most GNU/Linux OS installers will detect that and install the correct bootloader. This would be grub-pc if you choose to use Grub and Debian.","title":"Install the OS"},{"location":"lc230/user-guide/#coreboot-internal-flashing","text":"To flash Coreboot to the x230 motherboard, the first step is to flash the BIOS externally - ie. using a SIOC-8 flashing clip connecting to the BIOS chips: Liberating the LC230 via External Flashing However, as a part of the external flashing process, the BIOS is unlocked. This means that you can update / modify the BIOS on the SPI Flash internally - from within the operating system. Here are some reasons to do that and the steps involved.","title":"Coreboot Internal Flashing"},{"location":"lc230/user-guide/#configure-the-kernel","text":"The first things to do before you can flash Coreboot internally, is to boot the kernel with an additional option: iomem=relaxed On Debian (and derived operating systems such as Ubuntu), you can make this a permanent setting: Edit the file: /etc/default/grub Update the line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX to read: GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=\"iomem=relaxed\" Run: update-grub to update the Grub configuration.","title":"Configure the kernel"},{"location":"lc230/user-guide/#query-coreboot-details","text":"You can verify the coreboot version (as well as the fact that you're running coreboot) by using the dmidecode utility as follows:","title":"Query Coreboot details"},{"location":"lc230/user-guide/#install-flashrom","text":"The primary tool for operating on your BIOS is called flashrom . The Debian package is also called by the same name and can be installed as: apt-get install flashrom If the kernel is booted correctly with iomem=relaxed , you can run flashrom : flashrom -pinternal Ouput: $ sudo flashrom -pinternal flashrom v1.2 on Linux 5.10.9-gnu (x86_64) flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://flashrom.org Using clock_gettime for delay loops (clk_id: 1, resolution: 1ns). coreboot table found at 0xbff51000. Found chipset \"Intel QM77\". Enabling flash write... SPI Configuration is locked down. Enabling hardware sequencing due to multiple flash chips detected. OK. Found Programmer flash chip \"Opaque flash chip\" (12288 kB, Programmer-specific) mapped at physical address 0x0000000000000000. No operations were specified. Tip Sometimes flashrom will not detect the internal flash chip, though it might very well be able to confirm the BIOS type and machine name. In such cases, you can try to run flashrom as: flashrom -pinternal:laptop=force_I_want_a_brick . This is not completely safe","title":"Install: flashrom"},{"location":"lc230/user-guide/#read-bios-image","text":"You can dump the BIOS to a file: $ flashrom -pinternal -r lc230-coreboot.rom This will read the BIOS to a file: lc230-coreboot.rom . This file will be 12 MB in size. $ sudo flashrom -pinternal -r lc230.rom flashrom v1.2 on Linux 5.10.9-gnu (x86_64) flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://flashrom.org Using clock_gettime for delay loops (clk_id: 1, resolution: 1ns). coreboot table found at 0xbff51000. Found chipset \"Intel QM77\". Enabling flash write... SPI Configuration is locked down. Enabling hardware sequencing due to multiple flash chips detected. OK. Found Programmer flash chip \"Opaque flash chip\" (12288 kB, Programmer-specific) mapped at physical address 0x0000000000000000. Reading flash... done. $ ls -lh lc230-coreboot.rom -rw-r--r-- 1 root root 12M Feb 8 04:46 lc230-coreboot.rom","title":"Read BIOS Image"},{"location":"lc230/user-guide/#write-bios-image","text":"You can now write back to the BIOS chips as follows: $ sudo flashrom -pinternal -w lc230-coreboot.rom flashrom v1.2 on Linux 5.10.9-gnu (x86_64) flashrom is free software, get the source code at https://flashrom.org Using clock_gettime for delay loops (clk_id: 1, resolution: 1ns). coreboot table found at 0xbff51000. Found chipset \"Intel QM77\". Enabling flash write... SPI Configuration is locked down. Enabling hardware sequencing due to multiple flash chips detected. OK. Found Programmer flash chip \"Opaque flash chip\" (12288 kB, Programmer-specific) mapped at physical address 0x0000000000000000. Reading old flash chip contents... done. Erasing and writing flash chip... Warning: Chip content is identical to the requested image. Erase/write done","title":"Write BIOS Image"},{"location":"lc230/user-guide/#flash-skulls","text":"The Skulls Coreboot distribution provides built in scripts to upgrade the BIOS. The update procedure is detailed here . Your LC230 ships with the latest release of Skull available at the time of shipping the laptop to you. You can upgrade skulls using the instructions above.","title":"Flash: Skulls"},{"location":"lc230/user-guide/#flash-heads","text":"If you want to experiment with the Heads firmware , instructions are available on the Heads website as well as in the Skulls documentation .","title":"Flash: Heads"},{"location":"lc230/user-guide/#configuring-coreboot","text":"Your LC230 ships with a SeaBIOS payload called nvramcui that allows you to configure coreboot behaviour and save the settings to nvram. nvramcui options (1) nvramcui options (2) nvramcui options (3)","title":"Configuring Coreboot"},{"location":"lc230/user-guide/#swapping-fn-and-ctrl","text":"The fn_ctrl_swap on the 2 nd page of the nvramcui settings page enables you to toggle the Fn and Ctrl swap. If you like to have the control key on the bottom left corner of the keyboard, then you can set this option to Enable .","title":"Swapping Fn and Ctrl"},{"location":"lc230/user-guide/#increasing-graphics-memory","text":"The x230 GPU does not have dedication RAM. Instead it shares its memory with the main system memory. You can configure how much RAM is dedicated to the GPU via the gfx_uma_size option on the 3 rd page of the nvramcui settings. Pressing the Left and Right arrow keys you can iterate over all the available settings for this option.","title":"Increasing Graphics Memory"},{"location":"lc230/user-guide/#other-settings","text":"You can also configure the following behaviour via nvramcui: Always On USB : By enabling this option, you can configure the USB ports to be always on - even when the laptop is suspended. Enable/Disable Trackpoing, Touchpad : You can toggle the touchpad and trackpoint options to enable or disable the the touchpad and trackpoint respectively.","title":"Other settings"},{"location":"le01/","text":"LE01 - Liberated Entertainment Center \u00b6 Powered by LibreELEC Documentation coming soon... \u00b6","title":"LE01 - Liberated Entertainment Center"},{"location":"le01/#le01-liberated-entertainment-center","text":"Powered by LibreELEC","title":"LE01 - Liberated Entertainment Center"},{"location":"le01/#documentation-coming-soon","text":"","title":"Documentation coming soon..."},{"location":"ledc/","text":"LEDC - LED Lighting Controller \u00b6 For RGB LED Strips Documentation coming soon... \u00b6","title":"LEDC - LED Lighting Controller"},{"location":"ledc/#ledc-led-lighting-controller","text":"For RGB LED Strips","title":"LEDC - LED Lighting Controller"},{"location":"ledc/#documentation-coming-soon","text":"","title":"Documentation coming soon..."},{"location":"mhsw/","text":"Home Automation \u00b6 Self-hosted, Hackable and Private Home Automation Documentation coming soon... \u00b6","title":"Home Automation"},{"location":"mhsw/#home-automation","text":"Self-hosted, Hackable and Private Home Automation","title":"Home Automation"},{"location":"mhsw/#documentation-coming-soon","text":"","title":"Documentation coming soon..."},{"location":"phones/","text":"Liberated Phones \u00b6 Use MORE Free Software on your phone. Opt-out of proprietary software. Eliminate trackers and surveillance. Don't willingly share your data with services that don't respect you. Documentation coming soon... \u00b6","title":"Introduction"},{"location":"phones/#liberated-phones","text":"Use MORE Free Software on your phone. Opt-out of proprietary software. Eliminate trackers and surveillance. Don't willingly share your data with services that don't respect you.","title":"Liberated Phones"},{"location":"phones/#documentation-coming-soon","text":"","title":"Documentation coming soon..."},{"location":"phones/applications/","text":"","title":"Applications"},{"location":"phones/backups/","text":"","title":"Taking Backups"},{"location":"phones/calyxos/","text":"","title":"Installing CalyxOS"},{"location":"phones/f-droid/","text":"","title":"F-Droid"},{"location":"phones/first-use/","text":"","title":"First Use"},{"location":"phones/lineageos/","text":"","title":"LineageOS"},{"location":"phones/recovery/","text":"","title":"Using Recovery"},{"location":"phones/services/","text":"","title":"Services"},{"location":"phones/ubports/","text":"","title":"Installing Ubports"},{"location":"routers/","text":"Liberated Routers \u00b6 Build networks powered by Free Software. Be in control. Choose greater privacy and security for your network. Do things you've never done before. Introduction to OpenWrt \u00b6 Description from the OpenWrt website : The OpenWrt Project is a Linux operating system targeting embedded devices. Instead of trying to create a single, static firmware, OpenWrt provides a fully writable filesystem with package management. This frees you from the application selection and configuration provided by the vendor and allows you to customize the device through the use of packages to suit any application. For developers, OpenWrt is the framework to build an application without having to build a complete firmware around it; for users this means the ability for full customization, to use the device in ways never envisioned.","title":"Introduction"},{"location":"routers/#liberated-routers","text":"Build networks powered by Free Software. Be in control. Choose greater privacy and security for your network. Do things you've never done before.","title":"Liberated Routers"},{"location":"routers/#introduction-to-openwrt","text":"Description from the OpenWrt website : The OpenWrt Project is a Linux operating system targeting embedded devices. Instead of trying to create a single, static firmware, OpenWrt provides a fully writable filesystem with package management. This frees you from the application selection and configuration provided by the vendor and allows you to customize the device through the use of packages to suit any application. For developers, OpenWrt is the framework to build an application without having to build a complete firmware around it; for users this means the ability for full customization, to use the device in ways never envisioned.","title":"Introduction to OpenWrt"},{"location":"routers/cli/","text":"","title":"Command Line Guide"},{"location":"routers/first-use/","text":"","title":"First Use"},{"location":"routers/next-steps/","text":"","title":"Next Steps"},{"location":"routers/optional-steps/","text":"","title":"Optional Steps"},{"location":"routers/upgrade/","text":"","title":"Upgrading OpenWrt"},{"location":"usb/","text":"The Mostly Harmless USB disk \u00b6 The answer to the ultimate free software problem: \"How do I liberate or fix a computer when I don't always have a bootable USB disk handy?\" Details and rationale for the MH-USB: https://mostlyharmless.io/usb/ Screen-share of the MH-USB \u00b6 Powered by Ventoy \u00b6 The main component of the MH-USB disk is the Ventoy bootloader - derived from Grub2. Ventoy Website: https://ventoy.net Source code: https://github.com/ventoy/Ventoy Documentation: https://ventoy.net/en/doc_start.html License: GPLv3+ - https://ventoy.net/en/doc_license.html Operating Systems \u00b6 By default, the following operating systems are available for live boot or installation: Alpine \u00b6 About Alpine Linux is a security-oriented, lightweight Linux distribution based on musl libc and busybox. Alpine Linux is an independent, non-commercial, general purpose Linux distribution designed for power users who appreciate security, simplicity and resource efficiency. Website: https://www.alpinelinux.org/ OS Image: https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.15/releases/x86_64/alpine-standard-3.15.0-x86_64.iso Path on USB: /OS/alpine-standard-3.15.0-x86_64.iso Type: Live + Installer Debian GNU/Linux \u00b6 About Debian is a complete Free Operating System! Also known as Debian GNU/Linux, it is a GNU/Linux distribution composed of free and open-source software. Website: https://www.debian.org OS Image: https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-11.2.0-amd64-cinnamon.iso Path on USB: /OS/debian-live-11.2.0-amd64-cinnamon.iso Type: Live + Installer Devuan GNU+Linux \u00b6 About Devuan GNU+Linux is a fork of Debian without systemd that allows users to reclaim control over their system by avoiding unnecessary entanglements and ensuring Init Freedom. Website: https://www.devuan.org OS Image: https://mirror.ungleich.ch/mirror/devuan/devuan_chimaera/desktop-live/devuan_chimaera_4.0.0_amd64_desktop-live.iso Path on USB: /OS/devuan_chimaera_4.0.0_amd64_desktop-live.iso Type: Live + Installer Fedora \u00b6 About Fedora Workstation is a polished, easy to use operating system for laptop and desktop computers, with a complete set of tools for developers and makers of all kinds. Website: https://www.getfedora.org OS Image: https://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/35/Workstation/x86_64/iso/Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-35-1.2.iso Path on USB: /OS/Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-35-1.2.iso Type: Live + Installer GNU Guix \u00b6 About Guix is an advanced distribution of the GNU operating system developed by the GNU Project\u2014which respects the freedom of computer users. Guix supports transactional upgrades and roll-backs, unprivileged package management, and more. When used as a standalone distribution, Guix supports declarative system configuration for transparent and reproducible operating systems. Website: https://guix.gnu.org OS Image: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/guix/guix-system-install-1.3.0.x86_64-linux.iso Path on USB: /OS/guix-system-install-1.3.0.x86_64-linux.iso Type: Live + Installer Haiku \u00b6 > About Haiku is an open-source operating system that specifically targets personal computing. Inspired by the BeOS, Haiku is fast, simple to use, easy to learn and yet very powerful. Specifically targeting personal computing, Haiku is a fast, efficient, simple to use, easy to learn, and yet very powerful system for computer users of all levels. Additionally, Haiku offers something over other open source platforms which is quite unique: The project consists of a single team writing everything from the kernel, drivers, userland services, tool kit, and graphics stack to the included desktop applications and preflets. Website: https://www.haiku-os.org/ OS Image: https://cdn.haiku-os.org/haiku-release/r1beta3/haiku-r1beta3-x86_64-anyboot.iso Path on USB: /OS/haiku-r1beta3-x86_64-anyboot.iso Type: Live + Installer LibreELEC \u00b6 About LibreELEC is a lightweight \u2018Just enough OS\u2019 Linux distribution purpose-built for Kodi on current and popular mediacentre hardware. Kodi is a media center and entertainment hub that brings all your digital media together into a beautiful and user friendly package. It is 100% free and open source, very customisable and runs on a wide variety of devices. It is supported by a dedicated team of volunteers and a huge community. Website: https://libreelec.tv/ OS Image: https://releases.libreelec.tv/LibreELEC-Generic.x86_64-10.0.1.img.gz Path on USB: /OS/LibreELEC-Generic.x86_64-10.0.1.img Type: Live + Installer Manjaro \u00b6 About Manjaro is a user-friendly Linux distribution based on the independently developed Arch operating system. Within the Linux community, Arch itself is renowned for being an exceptionally fast, powerful, and lightweight distribution that provides access to the very latest cutting edge - and bleeding edge - software. Developed in Austria, France, and Germany, Manjaro provides all the benefits of the Arch operating system combined with a focus on user-friendliness and accessibility. Manjaro follows Archlinux and officially only offers a 64 bit version. Manjaro is suitable for newcomers as well as experienced Linux users. Website: https://manjaro.org/ OS Image: https://download.manjaro.org/kde/21.2.1/manjaro-kde-21.2.1-220103-linux515.iso Path on USB: /OS/manjaro-kde-21.2.1-220103-linux515.iso Type: Live + Installer netboot.xyz \u00b6 About netboot.xyz lets you PXE boot various operating system installers or utilities from a single tool over the network. This lets you use one media for many types of operating systems or tools. The iPXE project is used to provide a user friendly menu from within the BIOS that lets you easily choose the operating system you want along with any specific types of versions or bootable flags. You can remote attach the ISO to servers, set it up as a rescue option in Grub, or even set up your home network to boot to it by default so that it's always available. Website: https://netboot.xyz OS Image: https://boot.netboot.xyz/ipxe/netboot.xyz.iso Path on USB: /OS/netboot.xyz.iso Type: Live + Installer Open Media Vault \u00b6 About openmediavault is the next generation network attached storage (NAS) solution based on Debian Linux. It contains services like SSH, (S)FTP, SMB/CIFS, DAAP media server, RSync, BitTorrent client and many more. Thanks to the modular design of the framework it can be enhanced via plugins. Website: https://www.openmediavault.org/ OS Image: https://sourceforge.net/projects/openmediavault/files/5.6.13/openmediavault_5.6.13-amd64.iso Path on USB: /OS/openmediavault_5.6.13-amd64.iso Type: Installer OpenWRT \u00b6 About The OpenWrt Project is a Linux operating system targeting embedded devices. Instead of trying to create a single, static firmware, OpenWrt provides a fully writable filesystem with package management. This frees you from the application selection and configuration provided by the vendor and allows you to customize the device through the use of packages to suit any application. Website: https://openwrt.org/ OS Image: https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/21.02.0/targets/x86/64/openwrt-21.02.0-x86-64-generic-ext4-combined.img.gz Path on USB: /OS/openwrt-21.02.0-x86-64-generic-ext4-combined.img Type: Live + Installer Proxmox VE \u00b6 About Proxmox VE is a complete, open-source server management platform for enterprise virtualization. It tightly integrates the KVM hypervisor and Linux Containers (LXC), software-defined storage and networking functionality, on a single platform. With the integrated web-based user interface you can manage VMs and containers, high availability for clusters, or the integrated disaster recovery tools with ease. Website: https://www.proxmox.com/en/proxmox-ve OS Image: https://www.proxmox.com/en/downloads/item/proxmox-ve-7-1-iso-installer Path on USB: /OS/proxmox-ve_7.1-2.iso Type: Installer Qubes OS \u00b6 About Qubes OS is a free and open-source, security-oriented operating system for single-user desktop computing. Qubes OS leverages Xen-based virtualization to allow for the creation and management of isolated compartments called qubes. Website: https://www.qubes-os.org/ OS Image: https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/qubes/iso/Qubes-R4.0.4-x86_64.iso Path on USB: /OS/Qubes-R4.0.4-x86_64.iso Type: Installer RaspberryPi OS \u00b6 About Your Raspberry Pi needs an operating system to work. This is it. Raspberry Pi OS (previously called Raspbian) is the official supported operating system. Website: https://www.raspberrypi.com/ OS Image: https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspios_lite_armhf/images/raspios_lite_armhf-2021-11-08/2021-10-30-raspios-bullseye-armhf-lite.zip Path on USB: /RPi/2021-10-30-raspios-bullseye-armhf-lite.zip System Rescue \u00b6 About SystemRescue (formerly known as SystemRescueCd) is a Linux system rescue toolkit available as a bootable medium for administrating or repairing your system and data after a crash. It aims to provide an easy way to carry out admin tasks on your computer, such as creating and editing the hard disk partitions. It comes with a lot of Linux system utilities such as GParted, fsarchiver, filesystem tools and basic tools (editors, midnight commander, network tools). It can be used for both Linux and windows computers, and on desktops as well as servers. This rescue system requires no installation as it can be booted from a CD/DVD drive or USB stick, but it can be installed on the hard disk if you wish. The kernel supports all important file systems (ext4, xfs, btrfs, vfat, ntfs), as well as network filesystems such as Samba and NFS. Website: https://www.system-rescue.org/ OS Image: https://sourceforge.net/projects/systemrescuecd/files/sysresccd-x86/9.00/systemrescue-9.00-amd64.iso/download Path on USB: /OS/systemrescue-8.06-amd64.iso Type: Live Tails \u00b6 About Tails is a portable operating system that protects against surveillance and censorship. Website: https://tails.boum.org/ OS Image: https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/tails/stable/tails-amd64-4.26/tails-amd64-4.26.img Path on USB: /OS/tails-amd64-4.25.img Type: Live + Installer Trisquel GNU/Linux \u00b6 About Trisquel GNU/Linux is a fully free operating system for home users, small enterprises and educational centers. Website: https://trisquel.info/ OS Image: https://trisquel.info/en/download Path on USB: /OS/trisquel-mini_9.0.1_amd64.iso Type: Live + Installer Ubuntu \u00b6 About Ubuntu comes with everything you need to run your organisation, school, home or enterprise. All the essential applications, like an office suite, browsers, email and media apps come pre-installed and thousands more games and applications are available in the Ubuntu Software Centre. Website: https://ubuntu.com/ OS Image: https://releases.ubuntu.com/20.04.3/ubuntu-20.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso Path on USB: /OS/ubuntu-20.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso Type: Live + Installer Tools & Programs \u00b6 The Raspberry Pi Imager \u00b6 About The Raspberry Pi Imager is the quick, safe and easy way to install an operating systems to a microSD card or USB disk. Website: https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/ Image: http://downloads.raspberrypi.org/imager/imager_amd64.AppImage Path on USB: /Tools/imager_amd64.AppImage Ungoogled Chromium \u00b6 About ungoogled-chromium is Google Chromium, sans dependency on Google web services. It also features some tweaks to enhance privacy, control, and transparency (almost all of which require manual activation or enabling). ungoogled-chromium retains the default Chromium experience as closely as possible. Unlike other Chromium forks that have their own visions of a web browser, ungoogled-chromium is essentially a drop-in replacement for Chromium. ungoogled-chromium addresses these issues in the following ways: Remove all remaining background requests to any web services while building and running the browser Remove all code specific to Google web services Remove all uses of pre-made binaries from the source code, and replace them with user-provided alternatives when possible. Disable features that inhibit control and transparency, and add or modify features that promote them (these changes will almost always require manual activation or enabling). Website: https://ungoogled-software.github.io/ Image: https://ungoogled-software.github.io/ungoogled-chromium-binaries/ Path on USB: /Tools/ungoogled-chromium_91.0.4472.164-1.1.AppImage","title":"(MHUSB) About & Contents"},{"location":"usb/#the-mostly-harmless-usb-disk","text":"The answer to the ultimate free software problem: \"How do I liberate or fix a computer when I don't always have a bootable USB disk handy?\" Details and rationale for the MH-USB: https://mostlyharmless.io/usb/","title":"The Mostly Harmless USB disk"},{"location":"usb/#screen-share-of-the-mh-usb","text":"","title":"Screen-share of the MH-USB"},{"location":"usb/#powered-by-ventoy","text":"The main component of the MH-USB disk is the Ventoy bootloader - derived from Grub2. Ventoy Website: https://ventoy.net Source code: https://github.com/ventoy/Ventoy Documentation: https://ventoy.net/en/doc_start.html License: GPLv3+ - https://ventoy.net/en/doc_license.html","title":"Powered by Ventoy"},{"location":"usb/#operating-systems","text":"By default, the following operating systems are available for live boot or installation:","title":"Operating Systems"},{"location":"usb/#alpine","text":"About Alpine Linux is a security-oriented, lightweight Linux distribution based on musl libc and busybox. Alpine Linux is an independent, non-commercial, general purpose Linux distribution designed for power users who appreciate security, simplicity and resource efficiency. Website: https://www.alpinelinux.org/ OS Image: https://dl-cdn.alpinelinux.org/alpine/v3.15/releases/x86_64/alpine-standard-3.15.0-x86_64.iso Path on USB: /OS/alpine-standard-3.15.0-x86_64.iso Type: Live + Installer","title":"Alpine"},{"location":"usb/#debian-gnulinux","text":"About Debian is a complete Free Operating System! Also known as Debian GNU/Linux, it is a GNU/Linux distribution composed of free and open-source software. Website: https://www.debian.org OS Image: https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current-live/amd64/iso-hybrid/debian-live-11.2.0-amd64-cinnamon.iso Path on USB: /OS/debian-live-11.2.0-amd64-cinnamon.iso Type: Live + Installer","title":"Debian GNU/Linux"},{"location":"usb/#devuan-gnulinux","text":"About Devuan GNU+Linux is a fork of Debian without systemd that allows users to reclaim control over their system by avoiding unnecessary entanglements and ensuring Init Freedom. Website: https://www.devuan.org OS Image: https://mirror.ungleich.ch/mirror/devuan/devuan_chimaera/desktop-live/devuan_chimaera_4.0.0_amd64_desktop-live.iso Path on USB: /OS/devuan_chimaera_4.0.0_amd64_desktop-live.iso Type: Live + Installer","title":"Devuan GNU+Linux"},{"location":"usb/#fedora","text":"About Fedora Workstation is a polished, easy to use operating system for laptop and desktop computers, with a complete set of tools for developers and makers of all kinds. Website: https://www.getfedora.org OS Image: https://download.fedoraproject.org/pub/fedora/linux/releases/35/Workstation/x86_64/iso/Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-35-1.2.iso Path on USB: /OS/Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-35-1.2.iso Type: Live + Installer","title":"Fedora"},{"location":"usb/#gnu-guix","text":"About Guix is an advanced distribution of the GNU operating system developed by the GNU Project\u2014which respects the freedom of computer users. Guix supports transactional upgrades and roll-backs, unprivileged package management, and more. When used as a standalone distribution, Guix supports declarative system configuration for transparent and reproducible operating systems. Website: https://guix.gnu.org OS Image: https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/guix/guix-system-install-1.3.0.x86_64-linux.iso Path on USB: /OS/guix-system-install-1.3.0.x86_64-linux.iso Type: Live + Installer","title":"GNU Guix"},{"location":"usb/#haiku","text":"> About Haiku is an open-source operating system that specifically targets personal computing. Inspired by the BeOS, Haiku is fast, simple to use, easy to learn and yet very powerful. Specifically targeting personal computing, Haiku is a fast, efficient, simple to use, easy to learn, and yet very powerful system for computer users of all levels. Additionally, Haiku offers something over other open source platforms which is quite unique: The project consists of a single team writing everything from the kernel, drivers, userland services, tool kit, and graphics stack to the included desktop applications and preflets. Website: https://www.haiku-os.org/ OS Image: https://cdn.haiku-os.org/haiku-release/r1beta3/haiku-r1beta3-x86_64-anyboot.iso Path on USB: /OS/haiku-r1beta3-x86_64-anyboot.iso Type: Live + Installer","title":"Haiku"},{"location":"usb/#libreelec","text":"About LibreELEC is a lightweight \u2018Just enough OS\u2019 Linux distribution purpose-built for Kodi on current and popular mediacentre hardware. Kodi is a media center and entertainment hub that brings all your digital media together into a beautiful and user friendly package. It is 100% free and open source, very customisable and runs on a wide variety of devices. It is supported by a dedicated team of volunteers and a huge community. Website: https://libreelec.tv/ OS Image: https://releases.libreelec.tv/LibreELEC-Generic.x86_64-10.0.1.img.gz Path on USB: /OS/LibreELEC-Generic.x86_64-10.0.1.img Type: Live + Installer","title":"LibreELEC"},{"location":"usb/#manjaro","text":"About Manjaro is a user-friendly Linux distribution based on the independently developed Arch operating system. Within the Linux community, Arch itself is renowned for being an exceptionally fast, powerful, and lightweight distribution that provides access to the very latest cutting edge - and bleeding edge - software. Developed in Austria, France, and Germany, Manjaro provides all the benefits of the Arch operating system combined with a focus on user-friendliness and accessibility. Manjaro follows Archlinux and officially only offers a 64 bit version. Manjaro is suitable for newcomers as well as experienced Linux users. Website: https://manjaro.org/ OS Image: https://download.manjaro.org/kde/21.2.1/manjaro-kde-21.2.1-220103-linux515.iso Path on USB: /OS/manjaro-kde-21.2.1-220103-linux515.iso Type: Live + Installer","title":"Manjaro"},{"location":"usb/#netbootxyz","text":"About netboot.xyz lets you PXE boot various operating system installers or utilities from a single tool over the network. This lets you use one media for many types of operating systems or tools. The iPXE project is used to provide a user friendly menu from within the BIOS that lets you easily choose the operating system you want along with any specific types of versions or bootable flags. You can remote attach the ISO to servers, set it up as a rescue option in Grub, or even set up your home network to boot to it by default so that it's always available. Website: https://netboot.xyz OS Image: https://boot.netboot.xyz/ipxe/netboot.xyz.iso Path on USB: /OS/netboot.xyz.iso Type: Live + Installer","title":"netboot.xyz"},{"location":"usb/#open-media-vault","text":"About openmediavault is the next generation network attached storage (NAS) solution based on Debian Linux. It contains services like SSH, (S)FTP, SMB/CIFS, DAAP media server, RSync, BitTorrent client and many more. Thanks to the modular design of the framework it can be enhanced via plugins. Website: https://www.openmediavault.org/ OS Image: https://sourceforge.net/projects/openmediavault/files/5.6.13/openmediavault_5.6.13-amd64.iso Path on USB: /OS/openmediavault_5.6.13-amd64.iso Type: Installer","title":"Open Media Vault"},{"location":"usb/#openwrt","text":"About The OpenWrt Project is a Linux operating system targeting embedded devices. Instead of trying to create a single, static firmware, OpenWrt provides a fully writable filesystem with package management. This frees you from the application selection and configuration provided by the vendor and allows you to customize the device through the use of packages to suit any application. Website: https://openwrt.org/ OS Image: https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/21.02.0/targets/x86/64/openwrt-21.02.0-x86-64-generic-ext4-combined.img.gz Path on USB: /OS/openwrt-21.02.0-x86-64-generic-ext4-combined.img Type: Live + Installer","title":"OpenWRT"},{"location":"usb/#proxmox-ve","text":"About Proxmox VE is a complete, open-source server management platform for enterprise virtualization. It tightly integrates the KVM hypervisor and Linux Containers (LXC), software-defined storage and networking functionality, on a single platform. With the integrated web-based user interface you can manage VMs and containers, high availability for clusters, or the integrated disaster recovery tools with ease. Website: https://www.proxmox.com/en/proxmox-ve OS Image: https://www.proxmox.com/en/downloads/item/proxmox-ve-7-1-iso-installer Path on USB: /OS/proxmox-ve_7.1-2.iso Type: Installer","title":"Proxmox VE"},{"location":"usb/#qubes-os","text":"About Qubes OS is a free and open-source, security-oriented operating system for single-user desktop computing. Qubes OS leverages Xen-based virtualization to allow for the creation and management of isolated compartments called qubes. Website: https://www.qubes-os.org/ OS Image: https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/qubes/iso/Qubes-R4.0.4-x86_64.iso Path on USB: /OS/Qubes-R4.0.4-x86_64.iso Type: Installer","title":"Qubes OS"},{"location":"usb/#raspberrypi-os","text":"About Your Raspberry Pi needs an operating system to work. This is it. Raspberry Pi OS (previously called Raspbian) is the official supported operating system. Website: https://www.raspberrypi.com/ OS Image: https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspios_lite_armhf/images/raspios_lite_armhf-2021-11-08/2021-10-30-raspios-bullseye-armhf-lite.zip Path on USB: /RPi/2021-10-30-raspios-bullseye-armhf-lite.zip","title":"RaspberryPi OS"},{"location":"usb/#system-rescue","text":"About SystemRescue (formerly known as SystemRescueCd) is a Linux system rescue toolkit available as a bootable medium for administrating or repairing your system and data after a crash. It aims to provide an easy way to carry out admin tasks on your computer, such as creating and editing the hard disk partitions. It comes with a lot of Linux system utilities such as GParted, fsarchiver, filesystem tools and basic tools (editors, midnight commander, network tools). It can be used for both Linux and windows computers, and on desktops as well as servers. This rescue system requires no installation as it can be booted from a CD/DVD drive or USB stick, but it can be installed on the hard disk if you wish. The kernel supports all important file systems (ext4, xfs, btrfs, vfat, ntfs), as well as network filesystems such as Samba and NFS. Website: https://www.system-rescue.org/ OS Image: https://sourceforge.net/projects/systemrescuecd/files/sysresccd-x86/9.00/systemrescue-9.00-amd64.iso/download Path on USB: /OS/systemrescue-8.06-amd64.iso Type: Live","title":"System Rescue"},{"location":"usb/#tails","text":"About Tails is a portable operating system that protects against surveillance and censorship. Website: https://tails.boum.org/ OS Image: https://mirrors.edge.kernel.org/tails/stable/tails-amd64-4.26/tails-amd64-4.26.img Path on USB: /OS/tails-amd64-4.25.img Type: Live + Installer","title":"Tails"},{"location":"usb/#trisquel-gnulinux","text":"About Trisquel GNU/Linux is a fully free operating system for home users, small enterprises and educational centers. Website: https://trisquel.info/ OS Image: https://trisquel.info/en/download Path on USB: /OS/trisquel-mini_9.0.1_amd64.iso Type: Live + Installer","title":"Trisquel GNU/Linux"},{"location":"usb/#ubuntu","text":"About Ubuntu comes with everything you need to run your organisation, school, home or enterprise. All the essential applications, like an office suite, browsers, email and media apps come pre-installed and thousands more games and applications are available in the Ubuntu Software Centre. Website: https://ubuntu.com/ OS Image: https://releases.ubuntu.com/20.04.3/ubuntu-20.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso Path on USB: /OS/ubuntu-20.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso Type: Live + Installer","title":"Ubuntu"},{"location":"usb/#tools-programs","text":"","title":"Tools &amp; Programs"},{"location":"usb/#the-raspberry-pi-imager","text":"About The Raspberry Pi Imager is the quick, safe and easy way to install an operating systems to a microSD card or USB disk. Website: https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/ Image: http://downloads.raspberrypi.org/imager/imager_amd64.AppImage Path on USB: /Tools/imager_amd64.AppImage","title":"The Raspberry Pi Imager"},{"location":"usb/#ungoogled-chromium","text":"About ungoogled-chromium is Google Chromium, sans dependency on Google web services. It also features some tweaks to enhance privacy, control, and transparency (almost all of which require manual activation or enabling). ungoogled-chromium retains the default Chromium experience as closely as possible. Unlike other Chromium forks that have their own visions of a web browser, ungoogled-chromium is essentially a drop-in replacement for Chromium. ungoogled-chromium addresses these issues in the following ways: Remove all remaining background requests to any web services while building and running the browser Remove all code specific to Google web services Remove all uses of pre-made binaries from the source code, and replace them with user-provided alternatives when possible. Disable features that inhibit control and transparency, and add or modify features that promote them (these changes will almost always require manual activation or enabling). Website: https://ungoogled-software.github.io/ Image: https://ungoogled-software.github.io/ungoogled-chromium-binaries/ Path on USB: /Tools/ungoogled-chromium_91.0.4472.164-1.1.AppImage","title":"Ungoogled Chromium"},{"location":"usb/advanced/","text":"Advanced Usage \u00b6 Booting from another disk after booting with the MH-USB \u00b6 Customising boot parameters for an OS \u00b6 Accessing the Grub2 command-line \u00b6 Booting Haiku \u00b6","title":"Advanced Usage"},{"location":"usb/advanced/#advanced-usage","text":"","title":"Advanced Usage"},{"location":"usb/advanced/#booting-from-another-disk-after-booting-with-the-mh-usb","text":"","title":"Booting from another disk after booting with the MH-USB"},{"location":"usb/advanced/#customising-boot-parameters-for-an-os","text":"","title":"Customising boot parameters for an OS"},{"location":"usb/advanced/#accessing-the-grub2-command-line","text":"","title":"Accessing the Grub2 command-line"},{"location":"usb/advanced/#booting-haiku","text":"","title":"Booting Haiku"},{"location":"usb/faqs/","text":"Troubleshooting & FAQs \u00b6 Boot Issues \u00b6 Help! The MH-USB won't boot! \u00b6 First don't panic! :) Try out the following steps: If you insert the USB disk into a computer, does it show up? A quick way to test this out on a GNU/Linux system would be to run lsblk or check dmesg . If the USB does not get detected, then it could either be an issue with your USB disk. (Or, at times, the USB port / hub.) See if it gets detected in other computers. Or change the USB port. Or try to use it without a USB hub (if you're using one). Still nothing? Do write in to us at guide@mostlyharmless.io with \"MH-USB\" somewhere in the email subject and we'll help you out. The MH-USB discussion forum is another option. If it does get detected, then try to mount the partition called \"MH-USB\". It should get mounted just fine on any OS. If you're able to mount this filesystem, check its contents. If the contents are okay and readable, then its probably a Grub2 issue. Unless you want to debug it and learn about Grub and Ventoy in this process, that one option. Otherwise, a simple solution might be to just backup the contents of the USB disk and re-install the MH-USB software using the scripts included with the source code. I'm unable to boot operating system X! \u00b6 That could happen due to multiple reasons: Its possible that the OS image on the disk has errors in it. The easiest way to verify that is to calculate and verify its checksum. When using SeaBIOS with Coreboot, it possible that the OS image might not be able to initialise graphics mode and show its internal boot menu. Try pressing the Tab key twice to show boot options. Does Ventoy include support for that operating system? The list of supported (ie. tested out) operating systems is available here: https://www.ventoy.net/en/isolist.html If you still face problems, please do post on the MH-USB discussion forum so that we can try to debug it together. I formatted the disk by mistake and now it won't boot! \u00b6 You can easily recreate the MH-USB on the USB disk (or, for that matter, any USB disk out there!) by using the scripts provided with the source code. MH-USB Questions \u00b6 Can I use it as a portable storage device? \u00b6 Yes - Sure. The reason the MH-USB partition is formatted as exFAT is so that its possible to detect and use it on all operating systems. You can store any data on it and use it to transfer files. Warning It is not safe to store important or private or sensitive data on a portable USB disk. Please be careful. Consider encrypting the storage disk if you need to secure the data stored on it. Does the MH-USB require upgrades? \u00b6 Not really. The MH-USB is basically a Grub2 bootable disk which in turn loads and boots up operating system images. In case there is a specific bug that stops it from working, there isn't any real reason to upgrade Venoty/Grub. However, if you are interested in contributing to the development effort or further customising the MH-USB - that's a good reason to upgrade / update its configuration. The MH-USB is slow! \u00b6 Check the performance benchmarks for the USB2 model. Try to replicate them and see if your results come close to it. That would indicate a limit of the USB disk's performance. If you have a USB3 disk and connecting it to a USB2 port, that might result in slower transfer speeds as well. Do check that out. I really like the 3D printed disk. How do I customise its looks? \u00b6 Yes sure! By all means. The source code for the 3D printed enclosure is included within the MH-USB source code. If you need help with design, production, customisation or distribution, please feel free to reach out. Can you send me a USB disk with the OS images I need? \u00b6 MH-USB variants with custom images would require too much effort - unless what you have is a volume requirement (ie. at least 100 units). You can make your own custom USB disk very easily by adding the OS images of your choice and customising the Grub2 theme.","title":"(MHUSB) FAQs"},{"location":"usb/faqs/#troubleshooting-faqs","text":"","title":"Troubleshooting &amp; FAQs"},{"location":"usb/faqs/#boot-issues","text":"","title":"Boot Issues"},{"location":"usb/faqs/#help-the-mh-usb-wont-boot","text":"First don't panic! :) Try out the following steps: If you insert the USB disk into a computer, does it show up? A quick way to test this out on a GNU/Linux system would be to run lsblk or check dmesg . If the USB does not get detected, then it could either be an issue with your USB disk. (Or, at times, the USB port / hub.) See if it gets detected in other computers. Or change the USB port. Or try to use it without a USB hub (if you're using one). Still nothing? Do write in to us at guide@mostlyharmless.io with \"MH-USB\" somewhere in the email subject and we'll help you out. The MH-USB discussion forum is another option. If it does get detected, then try to mount the partition called \"MH-USB\". It should get mounted just fine on any OS. If you're able to mount this filesystem, check its contents. If the contents are okay and readable, then its probably a Grub2 issue. Unless you want to debug it and learn about Grub and Ventoy in this process, that one option. Otherwise, a simple solution might be to just backup the contents of the USB disk and re-install the MH-USB software using the scripts included with the source code.","title":"Help! The MH-USB won't boot!"},{"location":"usb/faqs/#im-unable-to-boot-operating-system-x","text":"That could happen due to multiple reasons: Its possible that the OS image on the disk has errors in it. The easiest way to verify that is to calculate and verify its checksum. When using SeaBIOS with Coreboot, it possible that the OS image might not be able to initialise graphics mode and show its internal boot menu. Try pressing the Tab key twice to show boot options. Does Ventoy include support for that operating system? The list of supported (ie. tested out) operating systems is available here: https://www.ventoy.net/en/isolist.html If you still face problems, please do post on the MH-USB discussion forum so that we can try to debug it together.","title":"I'm unable to boot operating system X!"},{"location":"usb/faqs/#i-formatted-the-disk-by-mistake-and-now-it-wont-boot","text":"You can easily recreate the MH-USB on the USB disk (or, for that matter, any USB disk out there!) by using the scripts provided with the source code.","title":"I formatted the disk by mistake and now it won't boot!"},{"location":"usb/faqs/#mh-usb-questions","text":"","title":"MH-USB Questions"},{"location":"usb/faqs/#can-i-use-it-as-a-portable-storage-device","text":"Yes - Sure. The reason the MH-USB partition is formatted as exFAT is so that its possible to detect and use it on all operating systems. You can store any data on it and use it to transfer files. Warning It is not safe to store important or private or sensitive data on a portable USB disk. Please be careful. Consider encrypting the storage disk if you need to secure the data stored on it.","title":"Can I use it as a portable storage device?"},{"location":"usb/faqs/#does-the-mh-usb-require-upgrades","text":"Not really. The MH-USB is basically a Grub2 bootable disk which in turn loads and boots up operating system images. In case there is a specific bug that stops it from working, there isn't any real reason to upgrade Venoty/Grub. However, if you are interested in contributing to the development effort or further customising the MH-USB - that's a good reason to upgrade / update its configuration.","title":"Does the MH-USB require upgrades?"},{"location":"usb/faqs/#the-mh-usb-is-slow","text":"Check the performance benchmarks for the USB2 model. Try to replicate them and see if your results come close to it. That would indicate a limit of the USB disk's performance. If you have a USB3 disk and connecting it to a USB2 port, that might result in slower transfer speeds as well. Do check that out.","title":"The MH-USB is slow!"},{"location":"usb/faqs/#i-really-like-the-3d-printed-disk-how-do-i-customise-its-looks","text":"Yes sure! By all means. The source code for the 3D printed enclosure is included within the MH-USB source code. If you need help with design, production, customisation or distribution, please feel free to reach out.","title":"I really like the 3D printed disk. How do I customise its looks?"},{"location":"usb/faqs/#can-you-send-me-a-usb-disk-with-the-os-images-i-need","text":"MH-USB variants with custom images would require too much effort - unless what you have is a volume requirement (ie. at least 100 units). You can make your own custom USB disk very easily by adding the OS images of your choice and customising the Grub2 theme.","title":"Can you send me a USB disk with the OS images I need?"},{"location":"usb/internals/","text":"MH-USB Internals \u00b6 MH-USB Performance \u00b6 USB2 Version \u00b6 From https://www.blackmoreops.com/2017/04/04/usb-and-ssd-drive-speedtest-in-linux/ USB 2.0 has a theoretical maximum signaling rate of 480 Mbits/s or 60 Mbytes/s. However due to various constraints the maximum throughput is restricted to around 280 Mbit/s or 35 Mbytes/s. hdparm tests \u00b6 $ sudo hdparm -Ttv /dev/sde1 /dev/sde1: multcount = 0 (off) readonly = 0 (off) readahead = 256 (on) geometry = 15600/64/32, sectors = 31881176, start = 2048 Timing cached reads: 16422 MB in 2.00 seconds = 8221.42 MB/sec Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 3.01 seconds = 21.28 MB/sec dd write test \u00b6 $ dd if = /dev/zero of = perf oflag = direct bs = 128k count = 8k 8192+0 records in 8192+0 records out 1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB, 1.0 GiB) copied, 6.94198 s, 155 MB/s dd read test \u00b6 # # Clear the memory cache before benchmarking reads $ sudo sh -c \"sync && echo 3 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches\" $ dd if = perf of = /dev/null bs = 4k 262144+0 records in 262144+0 records out 1073741824 bytes (1.1 GB, 1.0 GiB) copied, 44.5847 s, 24.1 MB/s USB3 Version \u00b6 Coming soon! The MH-USB partition layout \u00b6 The Ventoy partion layout \u00b6 Document how Ventoy creates partitions for both GPT and MBR partition tables The 16 GB model \u00b6 Standard ventoy partitions The 32 GB model \u00b6 Coming soon! (special partitions to accommodate haiku.) Using the MH-USB Source Code \u00b6 Overview of the source code \u00b6 The scripts \u00b6 download-images.sh \u00b6 prepare-usb.sh \u00b6 qemu-*.sh \u00b6 Installing MH-USB \u00b6 Customising the MH-USB \u00b6","title":"(MHUSB) Internals"},{"location":"usb/internals/#mh-usb-internals","text":"","title":"MH-USB Internals"},{"location":"usb/internals/#mh-usb-performance","text":"","title":"MH-USB Performance"},{"location":"usb/internals/#usb2-version","text":"From https://www.blackmoreops.com/2017/04/04/usb-and-ssd-drive-speedtest-in-linux/ USB 2.0 has a theoretical maximum signaling rate of 480 Mbits/s or 60 Mbytes/s. However due to various constraints the maximum throughput is restricted to around 280 Mbit/s or 35 Mbytes/s.","title":"USB2 Version"},{"location":"usb/internals/#usb3-version","text":"Coming soon!","title":"USB3 Version"},{"location":"usb/internals/#the-mh-usb-partition-layout","text":"","title":"The MH-USB partition layout"},{"location":"usb/internals/#the-ventoy-partion-layout","text":"Document how Ventoy creates partitions for both GPT and MBR partition tables","title":"The Ventoy partion layout"},{"location":"usb/internals/#the-16-gb-model","text":"Standard ventoy partitions","title":"The 16 GB model"},{"location":"usb/internals/#the-32-gb-model","text":"Coming soon! (special partitions to accommodate haiku.)","title":"The 32 GB model"},{"location":"usb/internals/#using-the-mh-usb-source-code","text":"","title":"Using the MH-USB Source Code"},{"location":"usb/internals/#overview-of-the-source-code","text":"","title":"Overview of the source code"},{"location":"usb/internals/#the-scripts","text":"","title":"The scripts"},{"location":"usb/internals/#installing-mh-usb","text":"","title":"Installing MH-USB"},{"location":"usb/internals/#customising-the-mh-usb","text":"","title":"Customising the MH-USB"},{"location":"usb/update/","text":"Adding / Updating Images on the MH-USB Disk \u00b6 How do OS images get listed on the boot screen? \u00b6 Recall the MH-USB directory layout: MH-USB/ /OS/ <-- Contains OS Images /Tools/ <-- Contains some tools and software /RPi/ <-- OS Images for the Raspberry Pi /ventoy/ <-- Config files for the Ventoy/Grub2 bootloader While the operating system images are stored in the /OS/ directory in the root of the USB disk, the actual display and order of display is controlled by the ventoy config file: /ventoy/ventoy.json . An excerpt from the ventoy.json config file: { \"menu_alias\" :[ { \"image\" : \"/OS/debian-live-11.2.0-amd64-cinnamon.iso\" , \"alias\" : \"Debian 11.2.0 (Live)\" }, { \"image\" : \"/OS/devuan_chimaera_4.0.0_amd64_desktop-live.iso\" , \"alias\" : \"Devuan Chimaera 4.0.0\" }, { \"image\" : \"/OS/guix-system-install-1.3.0.x86_64-linux.iso\" , \"alias\" : \"Guix System Installer 1.3.0\" }, { \"image\" : \"/OS/LibreELEC-Generic.x86_64-10.0.1.img\" , \"alias\" : \"LibreELEC 10.0.1 (Live)\" } ] } The image would get listed on the boot screen in the alphabetical order even without this configuration. However, in the absence of this, the file name of the ISO image would show up instead of a more useful OS description. Adding, updating and removing a OS image \u00b6 Removing an image \u00b6 Don't think you're likely to use an OS image that exists on the USB disk? No problem. Just go ahead and delete it! It will shop showing up on the boot screen and you will also have some free space on the USB drive. Adding a new image \u00b6 You can copy a new bootable OS image anywhere on the USB disk. You could copy it to the /OS/ directory to keep things neat. But that's not mandatory. You can copy it anywhere. Updating an image \u00b6 Updating an OS image simply the process of deleting an older image file and adding the new one. Update the Ventoy configuration \u00b6 If you would like to see a proper descriptive name for your new or updated OS image, then you can add or update the corresponding section in the /ventoy/ventoy.json file.","title":"(MHUSB) Add / Update images"},{"location":"usb/update/#adding-updating-images-on-the-mh-usb-disk","text":"","title":"Adding / Updating Images on the MH-USB Disk"},{"location":"usb/update/#how-do-os-images-get-listed-on-the-boot-screen","text":"Recall the MH-USB directory layout: MH-USB/ /OS/ <-- Contains OS Images /Tools/ <-- Contains some tools and software /RPi/ <-- OS Images for the Raspberry Pi /ventoy/ <-- Config files for the Ventoy/Grub2 bootloader While the operating system images are stored in the /OS/ directory in the root of the USB disk, the actual display and order of display is controlled by the ventoy config file: /ventoy/ventoy.json . An excerpt from the ventoy.json config file: { \"menu_alias\" :[ { \"image\" : \"/OS/debian-live-11.2.0-amd64-cinnamon.iso\" , \"alias\" : \"Debian 11.2.0 (Live)\" }, { \"image\" : \"/OS/devuan_chimaera_4.0.0_amd64_desktop-live.iso\" , \"alias\" : \"Devuan Chimaera 4.0.0\" }, { \"image\" : \"/OS/guix-system-install-1.3.0.x86_64-linux.iso\" , \"alias\" : \"Guix System Installer 1.3.0\" }, { \"image\" : \"/OS/LibreELEC-Generic.x86_64-10.0.1.img\" , \"alias\" : \"LibreELEC 10.0.1 (Live)\" } ] } The image would get listed on the boot screen in the alphabetical order even without this configuration. However, in the absence of this, the file name of the ISO image would show up instead of a more useful OS description.","title":"How do OS images get listed on the boot screen?"},{"location":"usb/update/#adding-updating-and-removing-a-os-image","text":"","title":"Adding, updating and removing a OS image"},{"location":"usb/update/#removing-an-image","text":"Don't think you're likely to use an OS image that exists on the USB disk? No problem. Just go ahead and delete it! It will shop showing up on the boot screen and you will also have some free space on the USB drive.","title":"Removing an image"},{"location":"usb/update/#adding-a-new-image","text":"You can copy a new bootable OS image anywhere on the USB disk. You could copy it to the /OS/ directory to keep things neat. But that's not mandatory. You can copy it anywhere.","title":"Adding a new image"},{"location":"usb/update/#updating-an-image","text":"Updating an OS image simply the process of deleting an older image file and adding the new one.","title":"Updating an image"},{"location":"usb/update/#update-the-ventoy-configuration","text":"If you would like to see a proper descriptive name for your new or updated OS image, then you can add or update the corresponding section in the /ventoy/ventoy.json file.","title":"Update the Ventoy configuration"},{"location":"usb/use/","text":"Using the MH-USB Disk \u00b6 Organisation of the MH-USB Disk \u00b6 The files on the MH-USB disk are arranged as follows: MH-USB/ /OS/ <-- Contains OS Images /Tools/ <-- Contains some tools and software /RPi/ <-- OS Images for the Raspberry Pi /ventoy/ <-- Config files for the Ventoy/Grub2 bootloader The MH-USB partition of the USB disk is formatted with exFAT . This enables universal access to the data on any operating system that supports exFAT. Booting on physical computer \u00b6 You boot the USB disk on a physical computer (dekstop, laptop, single-board computer or laptop) by simply plugging it in and choosing it as a boot device. The MH-USB runs the GRUB2 boot loader and will boot just fine with a \"legacy\" BIOS or UEFI BIOS. The USB make would show up as a USB disk called \"Generic Flash Drive\": Just choose it as the boot device and you will be greeted by the MH-USB boot screen. Booting on a virtual machine \u00b6 You can also boot the USB using a virtual machine. On a GNU/Linux system, one can use QEMU to boot the USB. First check the device name assigned to the USB disk. A quick way to check it out would be to use the lsblk command like this: $ lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,HOTPLUG -P -d | grep \"HOTPLUG=\\\"1\\\"\" | cut -d \" \" -f1 NAME=\"sdb\" The command above will list out all the USB disks attached to your computer. (Actually, all \"HOTPLUG\" storage devices - which includes USB storage.) Booting a virtual machine with SeaBIOS \u00b6 To boot the USB disk using QEMU + SeaBIOS, install the qemu package from your GNU/Linux OS repository and then run: $ DEVICE = ` lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,HOTPLUG -P -d | grep \"HOTPLUG=\\\"1\\\"\" | cut -d \"\\\"\" -f2 ` $ sudo qemu-system-x86_64 \\ -enable-kvm -rtc base = localtime -m 2G -vga std \\ -drive file = /dev/ $DEVICE ,readonly = on,cache = none,format = raw,if = virtio This will boot the USB via QEMU and show you the boot screen in a popup window. Booting a virtual machine with a UEFI BIOS \u00b6 If you want to try booting the USB with QEMU with the tianocore UEFI BIOS, first install the OVMF (Open Virtual Machine Firmware) packages. On Debian and Debian-based distributions run: # apt-get install ovmf $ BIOS = \"/usr/share/qemu/OVMF.fd\" On Archlinux-based distributions run: # pacman -S edk2-ovmf $ BIOS = \"/usr/share/edk2-ovmf/x64/OVMF.fd\" $ DEVICE = ` lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,HOTPLUG -P -d | grep \"HOTPLUG=\\\"1\\\"\" | cut -d \"\\\"\" -f2 ` $ sudo qemu-system-x86_64 \\ -bios $BIOS \\ -enable-kvm -rtc base = localtime -m 2G -vga std \\ -drive file = /dev/ $DEVICE ,readonly = on,cache = none,format = raw,if = virtio Writing an image to another USB drive \u00b6 While a multi-boot USB is nice, there might be times when you want to write an OS image to another USB disk. The MH-USB includes the \"RaspberryPi Imager\" ( rpi-imager ) tool to help you write an OS image to a USB disk safely and quickly. You can run the the rpi-imager directly from the USB. Insert the MH-USB into a GNU/Linux (or Windows) computer and mount it. In the Tools/ directory on the USB, you will see binaries for the Raspberry Pi imager. You can use it to write any of the bootable operating system images to another USB. [TODO: Include more details and screenshots!] Working with Raspberry Pi images \u00b6 [TODO: Include details with screenshots]","title":"(MHUSB) Using the USB disk"},{"location":"usb/use/#using-the-mh-usb-disk","text":"","title":"Using the MH-USB Disk"},{"location":"usb/use/#organisation-of-the-mh-usb-disk","text":"The files on the MH-USB disk are arranged as follows: MH-USB/ /OS/ <-- Contains OS Images /Tools/ <-- Contains some tools and software /RPi/ <-- OS Images for the Raspberry Pi /ventoy/ <-- Config files for the Ventoy/Grub2 bootloader The MH-USB partition of the USB disk is formatted with exFAT . This enables universal access to the data on any operating system that supports exFAT.","title":"Organisation of the MH-USB Disk"},{"location":"usb/use/#booting-on-physical-computer","text":"You boot the USB disk on a physical computer (dekstop, laptop, single-board computer or laptop) by simply plugging it in and choosing it as a boot device. The MH-USB runs the GRUB2 boot loader and will boot just fine with a \"legacy\" BIOS or UEFI BIOS. The USB make would show up as a USB disk called \"Generic Flash Drive\": Just choose it as the boot device and you will be greeted by the MH-USB boot screen.","title":"Booting on physical computer"},{"location":"usb/use/#booting-on-a-virtual-machine","text":"You can also boot the USB using a virtual machine. On a GNU/Linux system, one can use QEMU to boot the USB. First check the device name assigned to the USB disk. A quick way to check it out would be to use the lsblk command like this: $ lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,HOTPLUG -P -d | grep \"HOTPLUG=\\\"1\\\"\" | cut -d \" \" -f1 NAME=\"sdb\" The command above will list out all the USB disks attached to your computer. (Actually, all \"HOTPLUG\" storage devices - which includes USB storage.)","title":"Booting on a virtual machine"},{"location":"usb/use/#booting-a-virtual-machine-with-seabios","text":"To boot the USB disk using QEMU + SeaBIOS, install the qemu package from your GNU/Linux OS repository and then run: $ DEVICE = ` lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,HOTPLUG -P -d | grep \"HOTPLUG=\\\"1\\\"\" | cut -d \"\\\"\" -f2 ` $ sudo qemu-system-x86_64 \\ -enable-kvm -rtc base = localtime -m 2G -vga std \\ -drive file = /dev/ $DEVICE ,readonly = on,cache = none,format = raw,if = virtio This will boot the USB via QEMU and show you the boot screen in a popup window.","title":"Booting a virtual machine with SeaBIOS"},{"location":"usb/use/#booting-a-virtual-machine-with-a-uefi-bios","text":"If you want to try booting the USB with QEMU with the tianocore UEFI BIOS, first install the OVMF (Open Virtual Machine Firmware) packages. On Debian and Debian-based distributions run: # apt-get install ovmf $ BIOS = \"/usr/share/qemu/OVMF.fd\" On Archlinux-based distributions run: # pacman -S edk2-ovmf $ BIOS = \"/usr/share/edk2-ovmf/x64/OVMF.fd\" $ DEVICE = ` lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,HOTPLUG -P -d | grep \"HOTPLUG=\\\"1\\\"\" | cut -d \"\\\"\" -f2 ` $ sudo qemu-system-x86_64 \\ -bios $BIOS \\ -enable-kvm -rtc base = localtime -m 2G -vga std \\ -drive file = /dev/ $DEVICE ,readonly = on,cache = none,format = raw,if = virtio","title":"Booting a virtual machine with a UEFI BIOS"},{"location":"usb/use/#writing-an-image-to-another-usb-drive","text":"While a multi-boot USB is nice, there might be times when you want to write an OS image to another USB disk. The MH-USB includes the \"RaspberryPi Imager\" ( rpi-imager ) tool to help you write an OS image to a USB disk safely and quickly. You can run the the rpi-imager directly from the USB. Insert the MH-USB into a GNU/Linux (or Windows) computer and mount it. In the Tools/ directory on the USB, you will see binaries for the Raspberry Pi imager. You can use it to write any of the bootable operating system images to another USB. [TODO: Include more details and screenshots!]","title":"Writing an image to another USB drive"},{"location":"usb/use/#working-with-raspberry-pi-images","text":"[TODO: Include details with screenshots]","title":"Working with Raspberry Pi images"}]}