Minis Forum N36 Aros USB not proper media user error

[LouPai]

The good, I now have a functional desktop computer running linux FossaPup standard.

It was installed by usb stick formatted to Grub 2 via puppy install application.  Etcher.Pet
is available, and does seem to work, but no successful installation has resulted.  Gparted
comes standard, and I used it without learning much.  This Sff has USB3 & NVME storage,
so it's an upgrade over hp laptop #2.  I'm not sure if Bullivard will work, so one way or the other. 
 
Etcher has no clue what to do with the .VHD file and outright refuses Tiny Aros, stating it's not bootable, IDK.
There's a free Sata connector, but no optical disk so I'm not sure what indirect method of formatting is possible. 
The Bios looks professional, so that's something.  Maybe a technique from Mac 910 can be applied?  Monitors
are (1440 by 900) , 15pin VGA D cable.  Haven't seen a Grub except the successful FossaPup frugal booting.

Needs case fan or it won't last long, can't seem to find affordable parts outside the metro area store.

Thx All,
LouPai 

[Jeff1138]

Hi,

Interesting choice,  can you format, partition and install the hard drive in another earlier machine? Be the easier solution.

What choices do you have in the bios, is it uefi or can it allow both uefi/legacy?

Realtek ethernet so be interesting to see if compatible




Processor, RAM and storage

The MiniPC Minisforum N36 includes as its core a Intel Celeron N3060 processor, a Dual Core manufactured in 14nm with a maximum speed of 2.48Ghz and which includes an Intel HD 400 GPU with 12EU. The RAM is 4GB LPDDR3 NOT expandable and we have 64GB of eMMc storage memory as standard. We can easily expand the storage because we have a free M.2 port and a SATA3 with a bay for a 2.5-inch storage unit.
Other specifications

It also includes WiFi aC board and Bluetooth 4.2 thanks to an Intel AC-3165 chip with internal antenna. At the level of connectors in the perimeter of the plastic box we have 2 USB 3.0 ports, another 2 USB 2.0, 3.5mm audio jack, Gigabit Ethernet connector, microSD card reader and VGA and HDMI 1.4a video output.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

@LouPai

Etcher and no similar program can Burn a VHD/ISO/IMG Image to a USB Pendrive or Hardisk, to do this you need a "Native" HD or USB Image

To create a Native Image USB/HD you have to create it with a particular procedure, through a script you find on IcarOS or AROS One, with Tiny Aros you cannot do this because it does not include this procedure.

[LouPai]

The Good,

Amiga One DvD burned & operated without error requiring user imput.  After repeated wiping on FossaPup Gparted and Aros live DVD, Aros partitions were installed and Files super slump shuffled into a 9pin USB 3.  So I got that going in the N36 MF'box and out popped the eyes, peering through the abyss for boot media.  Strike, flipped a lot of legacy looking options in the bios, trying every single USB register.  There's a lot those for a computer that can't read - USB.  Moving on not deterred, Live DvD up again, I created Aros partitions on the HP Altec Lansing Hard Drive.  Those seemed promising until rescue grub popped up, (0+) Nothing Positive.

Cloning the Hard drive is a bright hope, there's Western Digital Blue Sn550 ,512Mb Sata III drive fitted, but there's an initialization step right.

...[UEFI, UEFI & LEGACY, LEGACY ONLY]...

MBR partitions & UEFI favoritism might be in the way, MinisForum Linux user was locked out of four GB eMMc space sixty remaining.

An option in Bios select: [DO NOT LAUNCH VIDEO] :, I don't see where that helps anything.

Next Transfer of files, I'll finish reading through The Unig & It's Own by Max Stirner, thx sir.     

[AMIGASYSTEM]

I didn't quite understand what you wrote what is "Amiga One DvD" ?

On the desktop computer do you want to Use AROS in dualboot with Linux or do you want to install only AROS

To initialize the hardisk you must not use Gparted, you must use InstallAROS (Wipe disk), and after reboot install AROS !

[LouPai]

Right, no relation to Amiga #,

Only Aros, unless that's still under error, FossaPup USB used Grub2.  The wipe back was halted something 3 then 100 and so I guess the files never entered a proper partition.  Really thought USB mem stick was a winner, there's no CD Rom so I can't try a live DvD.

[magorium]

@LouPai:
Does that mean you were able to boot form the USB pen/flash drive on your N36, get into the AROS environment and able to start the installer script (which then failed) ?

Because in case you got that far then you were able to get a lot further than expected and leaves room for being able to work.

[LouPai]

Unfortunately not that far, Magorium.

The one DvD can go in the new old HP Laptop, with the HDD wipe erring.

The One Pen in MinisForum Box Opens Graphical Grub, and initializes though PCI 19,

giving me the Aros Eyes saying that I should insert boot media.  Same line I got at the

start, but with more steps.  I've been using FossaPup still in Frugal/live as it's faster &

gives me some features.  However that relies on GPT booting sequence via Grub 2.

I'm making an Icaros ISO Pen just in case it has some more luck I guess.  - No luck.

The error still stalls in the same place, but this time I can pull open the grub & command.

[AMIGASYSTEM]

LouPai, as I have already said you must not "Burn" an ISO File to Pendrive, but you must "Burn" an "IMG" "USB" Image File to Pendrive !
You can find ready-made "IMG" Image Files on both Icaros and AROS One !

[Studenteer]

Maybe this could help:

First, download knoppix v8.6.1 and flash it on an USB-stick with at least 8 GB space. The link is here: ftp.uni-kl.de/pub/linux/knoppix-dvd/KNOPPIX_V8.6.1-2019-10-14-EN.iso
Next, boot into stick and type in grub "knoppix64". It will start booting, but will take time depending on installed CPU. When booted up, go main menu --> Accessories --> Disks. When Disks started, select on left side the hard drive and go to menu (the button with the three stacked lines). Select "Format Disk", in field "Erase" select "Overwrite existing data with zeros (Slow)" and in field "Partitioning" select "Compactable with all systems and devices (MBR / DOS)". Confirm the operation and let it run. When successfull, partition should be set correctly and no pieces of data from previous OS is left - so shutdown system over main menu, option "Logout" --> "Shutdown".
Next, download AROS One .vhd. Etcher should normally able to flash the .vhd-file correctly into USB-Stick. Check before, to get at least a 4 GB USB-Stick as USB 2.0 (absolutly important !!!!!). Flash the .vhd with Echter on the USB-Stick. When booting into AROS One, plug the USB-Stick in a USB-Port in, which IS USB 2.0 or lower - NOT USB 3.0 or higher. Then boot into AROS One and retry installation. Check, if the harddrive is seriously selected (if build inside, check if correct "Unit" has been selected - if attached over USB to SATA-cable, check to use "usbmss.device" instead of "ata.device" and if "Unit" has been correctly selected).

If some of those steps failing, check if the hard drive isn't damaged somewhere inside. Related to the issuse of failed diskwipe, this could be related to the hard drive itself or the Linux OS, which not successfully formated the harddrive. A simple replacement of harddrive should be able to show, if the hard drive wasn't usable for AROS.

In worst case, you got a CPU, which accepting AROS, but do not let AROS run (Celeron N3060 isn't on compactiblity list).

[AMIGASYSTEM]

The steps described by Studenteer are very good, the Hardisk must become RAW i.e. without initialization !

If you have Windows it's even simpler, just use programs like Partition Assistant that have the "Wipe Partition" function, you don't need to finish the operation (it would take a long time), you just keep it going for a few hundred Megabytes, just to clean the bootloader.

Flash the .vhd with Echter or Rufus (recommended, it's the tool with which I created the .vhd file), of course a 4GB Pendrive is required, but you can also use larger Pendrives, in this case you can format the remaining part in FAT32 and get a partition that can be shared with other systems.

[LouPai]

Knoppix64 ran fine, but failed to 0 out the 62GB SD Card reader Partition. 

There were a few read only sections found and two mmc0/1 blocks.  NVME
did not show, I assume it's not correctly initialized.  To Reiterate, the Laptop
installation was a success, if the alt SATA advanced option could be wrote as
standard then no input would be needed after power on.

Unfortunately, it's still uncertain how to get past the issue, or if formatting is
truly the issue. 

[AMIGASYSTEM]

To delete the Bootloader you have to use programs that have the function you see in the screenshot "Wipe Partition", having done that you don't have to do anything else, InstallAROS will take care of initializing it.