Preparation for installation with Labtix

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Tags: 
labtix
installation
preparation

If you already have a bootable CD or USB stick with the Labtix installation environment and Laboo Images for Cloning, you can skip this chapter.

Using the Labtix tool as a live CD/DVD or USB stick (recommended), Labdoo systems prepared by our helpers and equipped with learning content can be easily and quickly transferred ("cloned") to new computers , using so-called Images. As of Labtix 2.09 there are 4 BASIC images in 4 languages (English, Spanish, German, French). Depending on the language in the target country of the IT donation, you can select the language and upload additional learning content in other languages using control files. Local teams maintain additional images, e.g. in Catalan.

You need 2 things:
Labtix on a bootable medium: this can be a DVD (from Labtix 2.xx, from 2022) or a CD (Labtix 1.xx, 2017-2021) or a USB stick (recommended, 2 GB or larger) with which you can boot a computer into the Labtix environment.
External USB hard drive: for storing the Cloning Images and other learning content from our FTP server (Labdoo Hubs in Germany can be obtained from Labdoo.org e.V. Retrieve donated, pre-recorded boot media and USB hard drives.)

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Labtix: The Labdoo installation environment

In order to be able to install older and newer computers yourself with a license-free tool, Labdoo.org has put together a small solution based on the Linux version Antix, which we called Labtix (composed of Labdoo and Antix).

In Labtix you will find everything you need - for deleting old data on a donated computer, for quick and automated installation of finished systems. In addition, you will find many tools on Labtix to diagnose hardware and analyze and solve problems (CPU/processor, thermal problems (°C), detect damaged drives, battery status, etc.)

You could download the iso files for Labtix from the folder of our FTP server. You could check the correct download using checksums (MD5 or sha512).

Once you have downloaded the file, you can create a boot medium from the iso file (CD or USB stick). This is the boot medium with which you can start and prepare donated computers.

Create a boot medium (CD or USB stick) from the Labtix ISO

Next, convert the ISO file into a boot CD or USB boot stick (simple copying is not enough!). This can often be done with the file manager of the operating system you trust or with additional tools. Below you will find some suggestions. For more, consult the web (search for "create CD / USB stick iso" and your operating system).

Requirements for Labtix 2:

  • Installation on DVD possible, a simple CD is no longer sufficient
  • USB stick with at least 2 GB of storage space. If Labtix is to be expanded using the persistence mode, it may make sense to use a larger stick.

WINDOWS:

LINUX:

  • In Labtix there is the tool Live USB Maker as well as the tool ISO-Snapshot with the help of which you can create an ISO file from the existing system (recommended).
  • At https://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/Brennprogramme/ you will find a range of Linux tools that you can use to burn CDs/DVDs, e.g. Xfburn or Brasero,
  • zto create bootable USB sticks: Unetbootin, boot media creator, Yumi, drive management etc. As a rule, every distro/desktop environment has a corresponding program installed
  • With dd, enter the following in the terminal: dd if=/Path/to/Labtix.iso of=/dev/target partition bs=1M
    But beware: Persistence cannot be set up on USB sticks created with dd! Further details at : https://antixlinux.com/forum-archive/writing-antix-iso-image-on-usb-flas...

MAC OS:
The balenaEtcher tool at https://www.balena.io/etcher/ creates the boot medium in a simple way after installation: select the image file, specify the target drive and the medium is flashed.

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Labtix 2

https://youtu.be/oCJ84kMxjg4

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Labdoo Clone Images and additional learning content

You must download the images beforehand for cloning. Images are copies of a complete, pre-installed system. Linux has a great feature that other operating systems do not have. You can transfer a system from computer A to computer B - and it will run!

You can find these images online on our Labdoo FTP server http://ftp.labdoo.org/download/install-disk/.

You can download individual files via the browser by clicking on them with the right mouse button and then selecting "save link as".

However, this does not work for folders or for many files! These have to be downloaded individually and this is of course not convenient.
Simple methods for downloading multiple files for all common operating systems can be found at https://platform.labdoo.org/content/connecting-labdoo-ftp-server
Images sind groß und der Download dauert lange. Wenn ihr euch mit FTP-Clients auskennt, empfehlen wir daher sie direkt per FTP herunterzuladen (sftp, user labdoo und Passwort labdoo).

Labdoo BASIC Images for Cloning

Images and learning content have been decoupled since summer 2023. Previously, there were turnkey images, e.g. EN_40, EN_80, EN_160, EN_250 etc. Learning content was already pre-installed in these images, but this bloated the images, led to redundancy and long download times.
You can quickly download BASIC images with approx. 16 GB and then complete them with the desired content either during cloning with Labtix 2 or after rebooting. This is much faster, more flexible and saves time and resources.

In order to decide which image and which content is/are best for you, you would have to take the respective framework conditions into account:

  • The CPU/processor architecture of the computer you are currently working on (only 64-bit has been supported since 2018). Current images from 2020 are only available as 64-bit versions.
  • The language(s) in the target country for which you want to install.
  • The size of the hard disk in the computer to be refurbished. The size of the hard disk is displayed e.g. in the BIOS or after booting Labtix.

The name of a BASIC image on the FTP server says:

  • xx_04_LTS = Version on which Ubuntu is based, e.g. 22.04 LTS (older versions are in the archive)

There are standard directories for each available BASIC image and user language.

...and more to come.

Additional learning content
Additional learning content can be combined with the BASIC images. The content must be available locally on a local storage medium or on a local server. Downloading from the FTP server during installation is deliberately not supported (overloading the FTP server and taking a long time).

  • Either during installation with Labtix. content: none is preset in the mask. If you click on it, you will be redirected to the folder with prepared control files. The names provide information about the content and required disk size, e.g. EN_SW_250 installs English and Swahili content and requires a 250 GB disk.
  • Or after the installation process with the script installscript-content.sh, which can be found on the desktop in the /scripts folder. The process is the same as before, only you have to manually navigate to the folder with the control files for the content (usually on install-disk/wiki-archives/content_list

    • ).

Preparation of the external USB hard drive (1+ TB)

The downloaded images are already unpacked and ready for immediate use. Copies them to an external hard drive or a local server. The USB disk must be formatted to store large files. For example, FAT32 is not possible because FAT32 can only handle files smaller than 4GB. NTFS is the recommended file system for an external hard drive.

Continue reading under this section:
Images and educational content

Connecting to the Labdoo FTP server

install-disk-maker