Short help text to install and run the 9w 'NioWill' installer


Background

9w is designed to install operating systems to computers, that have low
specifications, e.g. low RAM, where the standard installers do not work.

I'm Nio, which means 9 in Swedish. Will Haley's blog post
http://willhaley.com/blog/create-a-custom-debian-live-environment/
taught me how to do it. Hence 'NioWill'.

9w is based on a debian operating system with an i486 kernel.It uses
'mkusb' to install compressed images of any [free] operating system by
flashing or cloning the image to a mass storage device, an internal
drive (typically a HDD) or external drive (typically a USB pendrive).

After the installation you can use 'gparted' to grow the partitions to
fill your target drive.


Backup

9w overwrites the partition table, so the previous data will be erased.
This means that you *must backup* all data from the target drive, before
you start installing with 9w. This should be no draw-back, because there
is hardly any reason to dual boot computers with such low specs, often
old computers. By the way, you can dual boot with two drives connected.


Installation

Download an iso file and check the md5sum

Use a good burning program for example 'k3b' to burn the iso to a CD or
DVD disk. Set 'verify data' and the slowest burning speed possible.

Use mkusb or some other tool to 'flash' or 'clone' the iso to a USB
pendrive. It is possible (and very simple) with dd, but risky. dd is
nicknamed 'disk destroyer' because it will do what you tell it to do
without questions, and if you tell it to wipe your valuable data instead
of installing to an empty pendrive ...

Anyway, if only the installer and the target drive are connected, you
cannot overwrite any important data. So disconnect all drives, that are
not necessary, while you install and edit partitions.


Running

The installer 9w boots into a text screen as the user 'root'. Run
commands as usual, you can even install tools, that you need (but only
into the live system, it is not persistent). You are root, you need not
use 'sudo', there is no sudo command installed. Be careful, an installer
is powerful and can easily destroy valuable data.

If very low memory, you can run 'mkusb' from the text screen and install
the system while running in this text screen. The commands in red text
are recommended. Anything after the hash character # is considered a
comment, and is ignored by the command line interpreter bash.

If there is enough memory (try!), you can start the LXDE desktop with
the command 'startx'.


Manuals

Use the manuals in the folder 'Documents' (from the desktop in the LXDE
session when the 9w installer in running live.)

9w 'proper' installs from compressed image files.

Use the manuals 'mkUSB-quick-start-manual.pdf' and 'GrowIt.pdf' 

OBI-9w installs from from tarballs (One Button Installer)

Start with the manual 'OBI-quick-start-manual.pdf' and continue with the
other manuals available if you want or need more information.

Terminal window

You can mark the mkusb command line printed when the terminal window is
started. Paste it (and press Enter) to start the installation :-)


mkusb

mkusb can install compressed images of any [free] operating system by
flashing or cloning the image to a mass storage device, an internal
drive (e.g. HDD) or external drive (e.g. USB pendrive).
 
-->

A desktop icon with a green go-ahead-sign will automatically run
mkusb and install from the compressed image file(s) included in the iso
file. Close the terminal window with the x symbol at the top right
corner when finished (it is 'xterm' with the hold option).


Unmount before unplug

After you have installed the system with mkusb, the drive is not mounted
and it can be disconnected (unplugged in case of USB). If you have done
other tasks with the drive, and it is mounted, you should unmount it
before disconnecting. If pending write operations are interrupted, the
drive's file system will be damaged, and it might be impossible to read.


gparted

'gparted' can move the swap partition and grow the root partition of the
installed operating system, so that the whole internal drive is used.

gparted works only in graphics mode. In text mode you need a text tool
to edit the partitions (cfdisk, fdisk or parted). It is possible, but
much more difficult.


poweroff

When you want to shut off the computer, type 'poweroff' and press Enter
in the terminal window or in the text screen. Type 'reboot' to reboot.

Do not unplug any USB pendrive until you are sure that the system is
halted. Most computers switch off the power, but in some computers the
system is halted and waits for you to press the power button. A short
click on the power button should be enough, otherwise the system is not
halted.