How to build a custom portable Busenlab Lithium Distro?(Based off VDI)

justaghost · 2021-02-17 21:42:08

Objective:I've currently downloaded the 'busenlab-lithium-iso-amd64' on my Windows 10 VBox to do some testing and tweaking. However My goal is to move/copy my custom-designed VDI out onto a usb drive. So that I have a bootable-OS that I can take anywhere with the tools/specs I need.

Issue: The problem I'm finding at the moment is that many of the backup/iso build tools (i.e. Systemback, Live-Magic, Linux-Live-kit...etc) don't seem to work with OS. I love the OS but I need to test my customized-distro on
a physical machine. Are there any tools already on the OS? Or do I need to
download a special tool?

--Appreciate the help, sorry for any poor english

tknomanzr · 2021-02-18 00:11:29

You would be better off enabling persistence on your USB stick for a customized Bunselabs. However, having said that, VDI files are pretty portable. You should be able to copy them from one Virtualbox instance to the next. Tools commonly used for copying, outside of the GUI, are rsync and dd. Rsync is a fantastic tool that automatically handles incremental backups, among other things. dd is a direct byte-by-byte transfer tool that is great for cloning drives, etc. For large file transfers and backups, I prefer rsync, however, because it piggy-backs over the top of ssh nicely.

I have also seen custom vdi's built with ansible. This is how we deployed our development environments in my last job. I would consider ansible a fairly advanced topic, however, as it took me the better part of a month to fix their onboarding process.

Last edited by tknomanzr (2021-02-18 00:12:12)

justaghost · 2021-02-18 05:09:00

Alright thanks for the response, i'll see if I can do anyhting with rsync, then work my way back to a USB w/ persistence from there if all else fails. I just to make sure there was an ability to build my own customized iso-usb based off of the OS b/c i've like it thus far

unklar · 2021-02-18 09:05:40

Maybe https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html

justaghost · 2021-02-18 10:57:10

yooo much love to everyone for the asistance. @unklar this ventoy tool is f-ing awesome dude! \m/(^_^)\m/ this will make building my own custom distro project alot easier for expirimentation--thanks

Last edited by justaghost (2021-02-18 10:58:31)

justaghost · 2021-02-18 11:04:43

unklar wrote:

Maybe https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html

Thanks again m8, but one last (possibly dumb) question I assume if i boot into busenlab distro and I select "install" at the boot rather than "live" that it will install the OS on my actuall system not the USB i'm running it on?

Basically i'd like to make sure any OS changes I do are isolated to the USB ( aka now my "ventoy" usb ), rather than my actually system. Hope that makes sense

#1 2021-02-17 21:42:08

How to build a custom portable Busenlab Lithium Distro?(Based off VDI)

#2 2021-02-18 00:11:29

Re: How to build a custom portable Busenlab Lithium Distro?(Based off VDI)

#3 2021-02-18 05:09:00

Re: How to build a custom portable Busenlab Lithium Distro?(Based off VDI)

#4 2021-02-18 09:05:40

Re: How to build a custom portable Busenlab Lithium Distro?(Based off VDI)

#5 2021-02-18 10:57:10

Re: How to build a custom portable Busenlab Lithium Distro?(Based off VDI)

#6 2021-02-18 11:04:43

Re: How to build a custom portable Busenlab Lithium Distro?(Based off VDI)

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