‘Porteus is a fast, portable and modular live CD/USB medium based on Slackware Linux.’ Not an ounce of bloat on this Porteus-CINNAMON-v5.01-x86_64.iso @ just 380 MB. After adding apps & tweaking it only uses 1.7 GiB, so it easily fits on the 32 GB SanDisk USB.
OK – lots of pics to be added, and I am going to try to squeeze everything into just one post. There is a three part Porteus 5.0 Cinnamon series listed under the dropdown Category: Porteus Linux menu, and they are also listed under the Page section at the top – OPERATING SYSTEMS > LINUX > PORTEUS LINUX. Refer to those for more info and pics.
Create a ‘Live’ Porteus-v5.01 USB
Here is the announcement, from their Forum, of Porteus-v5.01’s release: Porteus-v5.01 is released! That shows links to MIRROR sites to download from. Their forum is also very helpful if you need more info or help.
Some USBs do not recognized the ext4 file system (format), but I have found that both SanDisk & Samsung are reliable for all Linux formats.
Some of the pics I will be using are from that three part Porteus 5.0 series mentioned earlier. I have reviewed so many Linux Distros in the past, and creating new pictures for each Linux update is just too much work—hence you’ll see v5.0 showing instead of v5.01, and also a different size USB in a lot of pics here; however, I actually used a 32 GB USB this time.
I downloaded the Porteus-CINNAMON-v5.01-x86_64.iso, but there are 8 desktops available.
I do all of my Linux downloads and transfers to a ‘Live’ USB from my main Win11 Pro machine (‘Apevia‘), in case some interested Windows user wants to see how they can do it. Once you have your iso file, and a small fat32 USB ready (I’m using a 16 GB for this part), then open the USB Drive window, and also open the Downloads folder window:
Click on the above Porteus iso file and it opens like this:
Copy and/or drag ‘n drop the boot, EFI, and porteus folders to the 16 GB (pic show 32 GB, but any size usually works for this step) USB – you can also copy the USB_INSTALLATION text file, but I didn’t actually do it this time. 👍🙂
Some Porteus users just use that fat32 USB as their installation of Porteus. If you want to save your sessions that way, then you have to create a “savefile” – which is shown on the Porteus 5.0 Cinnamon – Part 2: Installation – Fat32 *PLUS* Ext4 or Fat32 post. The method I use doesn’t require a savefile, but Porteus is such a flexible OS that you can test it as is, or tweak it until it feels just right for you.
Interested Windows users could just tinker with it for awhile, just as a ‘Live’ USB without creating any files or formatting any USBs, and then do more later if they like Linux. BTW, I use the Cinnamon desktop because it feels like my primary Win11 Pro OS.
Install Porteus-v5.01 onto a 32 GB USB
With the ‘Live’ USB we can now use the GParted app on it to prep a 32 GB SanDisk USB.
I made a 300 MB fat32 partition, and used the rest for the ext4 partition. My main working Porteus USB is on a 128 GB USB, but I have found that 32 GBs works fine also. That pic is after all the apps are added, and it had only used 1.70 GiB of space. 🙂👍👌
OK, the following pics are from Porteus v5.0 being installed to a 128 GB Ultra Fit USB, which has a very small footprint that works great on a switched 4-Port USB Hub with other Linuxes, and I usually have 2-3 on it. The 32 GB I used for this Porteus-v5.01 Cinnamon installation works the same way—just a different size.
Using the ‘Live’ USB as the base of operations, we open the ‘Live’ USB folder window. Then we open the 32 GB USB’s 300 MiB fat32 (377 in pic) window, and the 28.35 GiB (123 in pic) window:
We’re going to be copying and/or dragging ‘n dropping some important folders, so I try to get the windows set up for easy moving.
Next, we’re going copy and/or drag ‘n drop the EFI & boot folders from the fat32 ‘Live‘ Porteus USB to the 32 GB USB’s 300 MiB fat32 (377 in pic) partition we just created on the Target USB. Then, we’re going to copy and/or drag ‘n drop the porteus folder from the fat32 ‘Live‘ Porteus USB to the 28.35 GiB (123 in pic) ext4 partition we just created on the Target USB. Like this:
That’s it…we have now created a final installation of Porteus-v5.01 on our Target USB drive, by using the EFI, boot, and porteus folders that were located on the fat32 ‘Live‘ Porteus 5.0 USB.
(NOTE: if you have used & tested that ‘Live’ USB a lot, then you may have to use a copy of the actual Porteus-CINNAMON-v5.01-x86_64.iso in order to get clean EFI, boot, and porteus folders.)
First Boot Up
OK, almost two pages in LibreOffice Writer already—without the actual pics entered yet, so I’m going to refer to the “First Boot Up” section in the Porteus 5.0 Cinnamon – Part 3: Booting the new Fat32 & Ext4 USB’s Porteus 5.0 installation post at this point.
Porteus offers several methods to login, but I only really use the “Option 2 – Text mode” where I can login as root user. Other users don’t like to leave anything on the disk, and others like using the “savefile” fat32 method.
For this post, I’m using that “Option 2 – Text mode” method, and am using username root and password is toor.
Then the prompt will look for you to type in – startx – before system will boot into the desktop.
Editing the porteus.cfg file
The following pics are from that same Part 3 post, so same folders, just different size USBs. Hey, I must have 13 other Porteus Linux posts over at the Private Linux Newbie -Since 1996 blog, so most of this is repeats dating back to 3/31/2022 and Porteus Cinnamon v4.0 💦😓💦 with newer versions showing up during that span.
Fedora is getting a new update in October, so that’s another one coming up. Over 4-years at the Linux Newbie -Since 1996 blog testing and reviewing many many many Linux OSes. That built up a lot of obsolete info on many posts & pages, but I learned a lot about Linux during those years. However, I had to move on, and just mainly review a few of my favorites now. 🙂
OK, back to the porteus.cfg file editing.
I want to automatically boot into the desktop every time the computer boots up into Porteus. Here’s how…
Opening three different folder windows again: 1) that fat32 partition (sda1 for me). 2) then the boot folder. 3) then the syslinux folder. Like this:
After you learn how to find the porteus.cfg file, you can do it w/o having to open folders in new windows.
We are now in the syslinux folder, where we can just click on the porteus.cfg file to open it – like this:
Make sure you’re using the “Text Editor” for editing here.
Then scroll down the porteus.cfg file until you get to the “LABEL GRAPHICAL” section:
Look for the “INITRD” line, hit [Space] key at the end of that line, and then add login=root to it. Double-check that you have it right, then save it, then click close and exit the window. Reboot, and the system should now automatically boot into the desktop from now on. \o/ ‘Hippity hip Hoorah‘ \o/
(NOTE: Porteus actually recommends that login=root cheat-code be added to the “APPEND” line – just below the “INITRD” line, but I have done it both ways, and mainly use the “INITRD” line method above.)
At the end of the third page now – a really long post after the pics get added, but not too long for those interested in Porteus or trying it. 😉👍
Post Apps & Tweaks
I really enjoy using, testing, and experimenting with Porteus!
Had added LibreOffice, gimp, Gnome Disks Utility, etcher, the Firefox browser, inxi & perl, and a Nvidia driver.
He’s a look at the desktop & wallpaper:
The Developer doesn’t have access to all the Nvidia GPUs, and he doesn’t really have the time to tweak all of them with the right drivers in the ‘Blind‘. They had a Nvidia 535 driver, but it didn’t work.
The new 470 Nvidia driver worked great on my GeForce 1660 Super, and actually, the original Linux nouveau open-source ‘graphics device driver for Nvidia video cards‘ worked just fine.
Here’s the inxi -F results:
Here are the System Settings:
- Had a DATA USB with bookmarks, wallpaper, and modules plugged in—hence the “62.6 GB” showing next to Hard Drives.
Conclusion
Developer/s did excellent job with Porteus-v5.01, and the Cinnamon DE was a perfect touch for me.
I still need to move two more posts from that Porteus 5.0 Cinnamon series over to here, the “Porteus 5.0 Cinnamon – Part 5: Installing LibreOffice” (will be Part 4 here) post, and the “Porteus 5.0 Cinnamon – Part 6: Package Managers & Porteus Modules – ‘Attention Windows 10 & Windows 11 users‘” (will be Part 5 here) post.
Those posts explain how to add modules and what they are…
LINUX IS LIKE A BOX OF CHOCOLATES – you never know what you’re gonna get!