**EDIT 2008/9/15: These steps are now obselete unless you want to DIY. There is now a very easy solution to do this. See this thread by albkwan: [[http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=43601|Boot Xandros from USB for Dummies]]. **
----

This article discusses how to install a fresh copy of the default Xandros EEEPC OS onto either a SD card, or USB Drive(s). 

====== Install Xandros to SD card ======


====== Credit ======
  * AaronL for the original implementation and albkwan for the detailed writeup in the thread at http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=4496&p=3
  * eFfeM has also provided modified initramfs-eeepc.img for download at http://eeepc.speedlinq.nl/ 
  * albkwan has hosted a webpage at http://eeepc.fire.prohosting.com/bootusb/bootusb.htm with an alternative method for booting Xandros from USB by seeking their volume label and modified [[howto:rebuildinitramfs#what_is_initramfs|initramfs]] image for download. This is the preferred way for USB flash disk as the eeepc may assign a different device name when there is more than one USB device plugged in.  


====== Explanation: ======
/dev/sdX refers to either the built-in SD card reader or a USB flash drive that you would like to install to.

//Assuming you only have one additional sd device attached to your computer (not multiple SD cards/USB flash drives/usb cdrom drive etc...)//
  * For the 70x eeePC models with a single SSD Drive sdX would represent the sdb device.
  * For the 90x, and 100x models with 2 SSD drives sdX would represent the sdc device.




====== Pre-Conditions: ======

This assumes you have Xandros on SSD or have access to a Live Linux USB Stick or CD such as Puppy Linux, SLAX, or Gentoo.

If you have already installed Windows XP on SSD, you may want to look at http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=9379 first. This thread gives very detailed instructions on how to perform the steps from a Windows user's perspective.
**NOTE: From what I recall when I did my install to SSD, this statement is completely irrelevant, I had another linux distro on the SSD, and didn't have to wipe it out to get xandros onto a SDHC card.**



[NB. This hack does not work for the Eeepc 900 model] 
**NOTE: I believe this is also false, I would guess the problem that this user had was installing onto a system with 2 SSD drives. (This scews the instructions a bit) **



====== Steps to boot from the built-in SD card slot. ======
== 1) Change user to "root"  ==
All commands listed here have to be run as root. Depending on your distro/preference use one of the following commands to switch to root.

<code>sudo bash</code>
or
<code>su -</code>

== 2) Copy from the restore DVD the file P701L.gz and extract the image to your SD card/USB Stick in /dev/sdX  \\  ==

Code:
<code>umount /dev/sdb1
gunzip -c [Path to]/P701L.gz | dd of=/dev/sdX</code>
This will extract the MBR and the SYSTEM partition (i.e. /dev/sdX1) of Eeepc Linux to /dev/sdX (and overwrite anything/everything currently on the SD card/USB Stick).

== 3) Fdisk to create partition /dev/sdX2 on remaining space of SD card/USB Stick: ==

Code:
<code>cfdisk /dev/sdX</code>
Down Arrow -> New > Primary > Enter > Write > "yes" > Quit

== 4) Format new partition /dev/sdX2 to ext3 filesystem: ==



Code:\\ 
<code>
 mke2fs -c /dev/sdX2     # format to ext2
 tune2fs -j /dev/sdX2      # convert to ext3
 e2label /dev/sdX2 USER     # set volume label to "USER"
</code>

== 5) Mount /dev/sdX1, create a temp dir in /boot, and unpack the initramfs image there: ==
Code:
<code>
 mkdir /mnt/sdX1
 mount -t ext2 /dev/sdX1 /mnt/sdX1
 cd /mnt/sdX1/boot
 mkdir temp
 cd temp
 gunzip < ../initramfs-eeepc.img | cpio -i
</code>

== 6) Copying the needed kernel modules from the root drive of our new SD card/USB stick into our custom kernel image ==

Code:\\ 
<code>
 cd lib/modules/2.6.21.4-eeepc/kernel/drivers/usb/
 cp storage/libusual.ko /mnt/sdb1/boot/temp/modules/
 cp storage/usb-storage.ko /mnt/sdb1/boot/temp/modules/
 cp host/ehci-hcd.ko /mnt/sdb1/boot/temp/modules/
 cp host/uhci-hcd.ko /mnt/sdb1/boot/temp/modules/
 cp core/usbcore.ko /mnt/sdb1/boot/temp/modules/
</code>


== 7) Modify the file "init" to load USB modules at bootup: ==
  * Anywhere it says sda, replace it with sdX, or use the following command to do it for you.
<code>
 cd /mnt/sdX1/boot/temp/
 sed 's/sda/sdX/g' init > tmpfile && mv tmpfile init
</code>

  * Add the following lines to the beginning of /mnt/sdX1/boot/temp/init (after the #!/bin/sh and mount proc lines):
<code>
 #load USB modules - this won't work unless you have 
 #copied them into the image
 echo loading USB modules
 insmod -f /modules/usbcore.ko 
 insmod -f /modules/ehci-hcd.ko 
 insmod -f /modules/uhci-hcd.ko 
 insmod -f /modules/libusual.ko
 insmod -f /modules/usb-storage.ko 

 #Need time to register things. Depending on the speed of your SD card/USB stick, you may need/want to adjust your sleep time longer or shorter.
 sleep 6
</code>


== 8) Create device sdb1 and sdb2 in /dev of the temp dir: ==

Code:
<code>
 cd /mnt/sdb1/boot/temp/dev 
 mknod -m 644 sdb1 b 8 17 
 mknod -m 660 sdb2 b 8 18 
 
 mknod -m 644 sdc1 b 8 33
 mknod -m 660 sdc2 b 8 34
</code>
(these additional 2 lines needed for USB flash drive)

[Kury: I created both the sdb and sdc device nodes for my eee 1000 (non hard drive model, so 2 separate SSD's) and it worked for me. But I would image if you booted from another USB device where which would cause your installation device to be /dev/sdd, I'm not sure how/what you would do to make the additional devices nodes. (Perhaps someone could clarify/shed some light on this?)]

== 9) Now pack the initramfs image: ==

Code: 
<code>
 cd /mnt/sdb1/boot/temp 
 find | cpio -H newc -o | gzip -9 > ../initramfs-usb-eeepc.img
</code>

--left off here [kury] (rewriting for 90x and 100x compatibility) I think I'm going to reinstall Xandros on a smaller SD card I have and I'll follow/rewrite the steps as I go this weekend. (Also, if I get ambitious I might just write a script to do all this automatically.)

== 10) Edit the file scanuser.sh: ==

Code:
<code>kwrite /mnt/sdb1/sbin/scanuser.sh</code>

Replace all "/dev/sda2" with "/dev/sdb2"

== 11) Do the same for formatuser.sh: ==

Code:
<code>kwrite /mnt/sdb1/sbin/formatuser.sh</code>

== 12) Edit the file /usr/sbin/services.sh (Optional): ==

Code: 
<code>kwrite /mnt/sdb1/usr/sbin/services.sh</code>

As you can see, this script is loading the USB modules again which is of course a waste of time. So you can comment these lines:

Code:
<code>#modprobe uhci-hcd
#modprobe ehci-hcd
#modprobe usb-storage</code>

== 13) Edit grub boot menu to change root to /dev/sdb1: ==

Code:
<code>kwrite /mnt/sdb1/boot/grub/menu.lst</code>

Replace all of the followings:

Code:
<code>root (0x80,0) --> root (hd0,0)
root=/dev/sda1 --> root=/dev/sdb1
initramfs-eeepc.img --> initramfs-usb-eeepc.img</code>

== 14) Reboot. Press [Esc] at startup and select "USB: USB2.0 Card Reader SD0" as first boot device. ==




====== Enhancements (Advanced): ======
If you want to be able to store your ROOT and USER partitions on various USB devices, you could use the scripts from
http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=5375&p=1 written by albkwan with contributions by tuxpocket and russm. Alternatively, you can download [[howto:rebuildinitramfs#what_is_initramfs|initramfs]] images built by albkwan from http://eeepc.fire.prohosting.com/#ram4user.

This will use volume labels to differentiate between the partitions and allow grub to boot the desired partition. This also preserves the union filesystem, and retaining all the F9 options to "Perform Disk Scan", "Rescue Console" and "Restore Factory Settings", etc. in the original init.

Code\\

== init ==
Code:

''#!/bin/sh \\
mount -t proc proc /proc \\

ROOTLABEL=`cat /proc/cmdline | sed 's/.*root=label:// ; s/ .*//'` \\
USERLABEL=`cat /proc/cmdline | sed 's/.*USERLABEL:// ; s/ .*//'` \\
#VERSION=`cat /proc/version | cut -f3 -d" "` \\
ROOT= \\
USERPART= \\
\\
#load usb modules \\
insmod -f /modules/usbcore.ko > /dev/null \\
insmod -f /modules/ehci-hcd.ko > /dev/null \\
insmod -f /modules/uhci-hcd.ko > /dev/null \\
insmod -f /modules/libusual.ko > /dev/null \\
insmod -f /modules/usb-storage.ko > /dev/null \\
\\
if [ -n "$XANDROSBOOTDEBUG" ]; then \\
    /bin/busybox sh \\
    set -x \\
fi \\
\\
# loop scan $ROOTLABEL in USB partitions \\
echo loop scan USB partition label:$ROOTLABEL \\
while \\
   [ -z "$ROOT" ] \\
do \\
   PARTS=`cat /proc/partitions | sed -n 's/.*sd/\/dev\/sd/p' | grep 'sd[a-z]'` \\
   for  i in $PARTS ; do \\
   TEST=`dd if=$i bs=4 count=4 skip=286 2>/dev/null | \ \\
   sed -n "/^$ROOTLABEL[^A-Za-z]*"'$/p'` \\
   if [ -n "$TEST" ] ; then \\
       ROOT=$i \\
   fi \\
   done \\
   sleep 1 \\
done \\

echo mounting "$ROOT" as root partition \\
mount -t ext2 -o ro $ROOT /mnt-system \\
if [ $? -ne 0 ] ; then \\
    echo Could not mount OS on $ROOT. Starting debugging shell.... \\
    /bin/busybox sh \\
fi \\
\\
#mount USER partition in RAM disk \\
if [ $USERLABEL = "RAM" ]; then \\
   mount -t tmpfs tmpfs /mnt-user \\
   retval=$? \\
   if [ $retval -ne 0 ]; then \\
       echo Error mounting user partition in RAM disk. \\
       echo Starting debugging shell.... \\
      /bin/busybox sh \\
   fi \\
else \\

# loop scan $USERLABEL in USB partitions \\
echo loop scan USB partition label:$USERLABEL \\
while \\
   [ -z "$USERPART" ] \\
do \\
   PARTS=`cat /proc/partitions | sed -n 's/.*sd/\/dev\/sd/p' | grep 'sd[a-z]'` \\
   for  j in $PARTS ; do \\
   TEST=`dd if=$j bs=4 count=4 skip=286 2>/dev/null | \ \\
   sed -n "/^$USERLABEL[^A-Za-z]*"'$/p'` \\
   if [ -n "$TEST" ] ; then \\
       USERPART=$j \\
   fi \\
   done \\
   sleep 1 \\
done \\
\\
   if [ -n "$XANDROSSCAN" ]; then \\
       exec switch_root /mnt-system /sbin/scanuser.sh\\
   fi\\
\\
   if [ -n "$XANDROSRESTORE" ]; then \\
       exec switch_root /mnt-system /sbin/formatuser.sh \\
   fi \\
\\
   if [ -z "`grep nosplash /proc/cmdline`" ]; then \\
       echo -n "[?25l"  \\
       cp /mnt-system/boot/startup.fb /dev/fb/0 \\
   fi \\
\\
   mount -t ext3 -o rw,noatime,nodiratime $USERPART /mnt-user \\
   retval=$? \\
\\
   if [ $retval -ne 0 ]; then \\
       echo 'Error mounting user partition. Must run filesystem scan!' \\
       exec switch_root /mnt-system /sbin/scanuser.sh \\
   fi \\
\\
   # Factory auto-format functionality \\
   if [ -f /mnt-user/.autoformat ]; then \\
       umount /mnt-user \\
       exec switch_root /mnt-system /sbin/formatuser.sh -- --auto \\
   fi\\ 
fi\\
\\
mount -t unionfs -o dirs=/mnt-user=rw:/mnt-system=ro unionfs /mnt \\
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then\\
    echo Could not mount unionfs. Starting debugging shell.... \\
    /bin/busybox sh \\
fi\\
\\
mount --move /mnt-system /mnt/mnt\\
umount -l /mnt-user\\
\\
umount /proc\\
\\
if [ -n "$INIT" ]; then\\
    if [ -n "$XANDROSBOOTDEBUG" ]; then\\
    exec switch_root /mnt $INIT </mnt/dev/console >/mnt/dev/console\\
    else\\
    exec switch_root /mnt $INIT </mnt/dev/null >/mnt/dev/null\\
    fi\\
else\\
    exec switch_root /mnt /sbin/fastinit "$@" </mnt/dev/console >/mnt/dev/console\\
fi\\
\\
echo\\
echo Init Failed. Starting emergency shell....\\
/bin/busybox sh''

== /boot/grub/menu.lst ==
Code:\\ 

''#\\
# Configured by Xandros Configuration system.\\
#\\
hiddenmenu\\
# default boot entry\\
default=0\\
\\
# Boot automatically after 1 second.\\
timeout=0\\
\\
# Fallback to Configure.\\
fallback=2\\
\\
title Normal Boot (label:SYSTEM_USB / USER_USB)\\
    root (hd0,0)\\
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.21.4-eeepc quiet rw vga=785 irqpoll root=label:SYSTEM_USB USERLABEL:USER_USB\\
    initrd /boot/initramfs-usblabel-eeepc.img\\
\\
title Perform Disk Scan (label:SYSTEM_USB / USER_USB)\\
    root (hd0,0)\\
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.21.4-eeepc quiet rw vga=785 irqpoll USERLABEL:USER_USB root=label:SYSTEM_USB XANDROSSCAN=y \\
    initrd /boot/initramfs-usblabel-eeepc.img\\
\\
title Rescue Console\\
    root (hd0,0)\\
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.21.4-eeepc quiet rw vga=785 irqpoll i8042.noloop=1 USERLABEL:USER_USB root=label:SYSTEM_USB XANDROSBOOTDEBUG=y\\
    initrd /boot/initramfs-usblabel-eeepc.img\\
\\
title Restore Factory Settings (label:SYSTEM_USB / USER_USB)\\
    root (hd0,0)\\
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.21.4-eeepc quiet rw vga=normal nosplash=y irqpoll  USERLABEL:USER_USB root=label:SYSTEM_USB XANDROSRESTORE=y\\
    initrd /boot/initramfs-usblabel-eeepc.img\\
\\
title Boot to RAM disk (label:SYSTEM_USB / RAM)\\
    root (hd0,0)\\
    kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.21.4-eeepc quiet rw vga=785 irqpoll root=label:SYSTEM_USB USERLABEL:RAM\\
    initrd /boot/initramfs-usblabel-eeepc.img\\
''

== /sbin/scanuser.sh ==
Code:\\

''#!/bin/sh\\
\\
clear\\
\\
echo "Scanning user partition, please wait..."\\
\\
mount -tproc proc /proc\\
\\
USERLABEL=`cat /proc/cmdline | sed 's/.*USERLABEL:// ; s/ .*//'`\\
USERPART=\\
echo seeking volume with label $USERLABEL\\
PARTS=`cat /proc/partitions | sed -n 's/.*sd/\/dev\/sd/p' | grep 'sd[b-z]'`\\
echo searching in $PARTS\\
for  i in $PARTS ; do\\
TEST=`dd if=$i bs=4 count=4 skip=286 2>/dev/null | \ \\
sed -n "/^$USERLABEL[^A-Za-z]*"'$/p'` \\
#  echo answer $TEST \\
if [ -n "$TEST" ] ; then \\
    USERPART=$i\\
    echo match in $USERPART\\
fi\\
done\\
\\
/sbin/fsck -C -f -y -text3 $USERPART\\
/sbin/tune2fs -j $USERPART\\
umount /proc\\
\\
echo\\
echo "Press <ENTER> to reboot..."\\
\\
read\\
\\
/sbin/busybox.asus reboot -f\\
''

== /sbin/formatuser.sh ==
Code:\\
\\
''#!/bin/sh\\
\\
clear\\
\\
[ "$1" = "--auto" ] && AUTO=true\\
\\
mount -tproc proc /proc\\

USERLABEL=`cat /proc/cmdline | sed 's/.*USERLABEL:// ; s/ .*//'`\\
USERPART=\\
echo seeking volume with label $USERLABEL\\
PARTS=`cat /proc/partitions | sed -n 's/.*sd/\/dev\/sd/p' | grep 'sd[b-z]'`\\
echo searching in $PARTS\\
for  i in $PARTS ; do\\
TEST=`dd if=$i bs=4 count=4 skip=286 2>/dev/null | \ \\
sed -n "/^$USERLABEL[^A-Za-z]*"'$/p'`\\
#  echo answer $TEST\\
if [ -n "$TEST" ] ; then\\
    USERPART=$i\\
    echo match in $USERPART\\
fi\\
done\\
\\
echo You are about to restore this unit to factory settings.\\
echo All user data will be lost!\\
echo format USER partition label:$USERLABEL $USERPART\\
echo Are you sure?\\
echo -n "Enter 'yes' to continue: "\\
\\
read INPUT\\
\\
if [ "$INPUT" != "yes" ]; then\\
    if [ -n $AUTO ]; then\\
        mount $USERPART /mnt\\
        rm -f /mnt/.autoformat\\
        umount /mnt\\
        umount /proc\\
    fi\\
\\
    /sbin/busybox.asus reboot -f\\
fi\\
\\
echo -n "Formatting user partition, please wait... "\\
\\
mount -tproc proc /proc\\
/sbin/mkfs.ext3 -q -L $USERLABEL $USERPART\\
\\
echo "done!"\\
echo\\
\\
if [ -z $AUTO ]; then\\
    umount /proc\\
    echo "Press <ENTER> to reboot..."\\
    read\\
    /sbin/busybox.asus reboot -f\\
else\\
    echo "Press <ENTER> to shutdown..."\\
    read\\
    echo 5 > /proc/acpi/sleep\\
fi\\
''