VortexBox 2.5 BETA

[agillis]

MakeMKV does not work well. more then 50% of the problems we had with VortexBox in the past were MakeMKV related. It actually never really worked right. Better to run MakeMKV on your computer the GUI version is much better.

[davem]

I took the plunge today and it ended it tears... I have a NUC 2820 that was running 2.3 on a single disk. I booted the 2.5 USB and went through the process (eventually found that I needed to select 'USB' not "USB UEFI (or similar) and that Vortexbox 2.5 was actually an option and not a menu title. The default selects Clonezilla)

After running through I get dumped at a CLI prompt and no apparent errors. I see 'ocs-live-restore finished' & 'The next step: True'.

Starting to get a little nervous and tried 2.4 which I briefly tested on this machine when it was first released. Again the install bombed out with an error up the screen which I thought that I recorded. In desperation I then decided to dig out my 2.3 CD and try it. Strangely it also failed early on in the process...

I updated the BIOS and tried different settings to try to get it to work. After many hours and attempts I loaded Daphile as a sanity check which worked immediately.

Given that Daphile loads fine, I think that I can rule out a hardware failure. After some googling I suspect that it might be related to EFI/BIOS which is something I know very little about.

Any ideas on why I cant get it to install ? Any way to get logs off a console (my HDMI TV) ?

[mattni]

Hi, I met problem when resize the partition after installation. Please help.

[davem]

Mattni

I am no Linux expert but not sure that is a problem. The instructions give commands that need to be run to resize the partitions correctly.

[mattni]

Mattni

I am no Linux expert but not sure that is a problem. The instructions give commands that need to be run to resize the partitions correctly.

Yes, this is the screen shot from the execution of config_4-fill.sh. this kind of prompt is displayed at installation process. And cfdisk command fail all the time. fdisk command, -n: only 3.5G/partition; change partition type: system completely is down and have to reinstall.
I am using H61 motherboard and a i3 CPU. I've tried motherboard SATA and PCIE SATA.

[pclinux1]

Is license manager [for makemkv key] part of 2.5?

[vbbob]

It appears license manager [for makemkv key] is no longer be included.

I always liked and had great success with MKV on VB (until v14). I don't need a GUI, I liked the drop the disc in, and then it was done.
But I understand the issue with support challenges.

[SB64]

MakeMKV does not work well. more then 50% of the problems we had with VortexBox in the past were MakeMKV related. It actually never really worked right. Better to run MakeMKV on your computer the GUI version is much better.

That is sad to hear - I managed to rip my entire collection (several hundred DVDs, slightly less Blu-Rays) without many problems. It sure took a long time, but I now have plenty of free shelf space and it's certainly one of the major positives in investing in VB.

[davem]

I took the plunge today and it ended it tears... I have a NUC 2820 that was running 2.3 on a single disk. I booted the 2.5 USB and went through the process (eventually found that I needed to select 'USB' not "USB UEFI (or similar) and that Vortexbox 2.5 was actually an option and not a menu title. The default selects Clonezilla)

Today I took my stuff into the office and did some more work. Installed 2.5 onto my hard drive that I put into a spare laptop. It worked fine [although it also dropped to a shell at completion - no prompt to reboot etc] and was able to access CLI, resize partitions etc. I then moved the hard disk back to my NUC but it would not boot even though it did detect the disk as a bootable object.

I have tried all the possibly relevant combinations within BIOS that I could think of but still no booting....

Not sure where to from here...

[agillis]

This image is BIOS boot. Your NUC probable needs UEFI boot. Just enable compatibility mode in the BIOS and it should boot OK.

[SeanMiddleton]

I prepared the USB drive as per instructions and booted from it OK. There are then a series of Clonezilla menus with various options. It isn't clear whcih options are to be selected. Are we copying an image over from the USB to the hard disk or are we doing a device to device copy etc etc. I tried the default options and none worked. My machine just wouldnt boot after the procedure
Here are the Clonezilla choices I took (I want to install to the 120GB hard disk, whcih is already connected to my motherboard):

1) Basic VGA resolution
2) US Keyboard
3) Keep the US keyboard
4) Start Clonezilla
5) device-image work with disks or partitions using images
6) local_dev Use local device (e.g. hard drive, USB drive)
message
osc_root device is local)dev
preparing the mount point /home/partitioning.....................
...........
..........
press any key to continue ( I press Enter) and get this message:
Every 3.0s ocs-scan-disk
You can insert storage device into this machine..............................
Scanning Devices....Available disk(s)
---------------------
---------------------
excluding busy partition or disk.....
/dev/sda: KINGMAX_SSD_120G etc etc
Update periodically. Press Ctrl-C to exit window

It just then sits there endlessly doing nothing. What should I be doing at this point ??

2 HOURS LATER:
I had a cuppa tea and played around a bit more. I used the VB USB boot stick option to load clonezilla into RAM. I was then able to see the VB USB boot and also my 120GB SSD listed. I chose the device-device option and was ultimately able to clone the VB USB boot onto my 120GB SSD. I thought I'd cracked it but no.......I now have a bootable Clonezilla on my SSD.......whcih is absolutely useless of course. I assume I should somehow have copied the images of the VB USB boot onto the 120GB and not the device???? I'll carry on playing, pending any good advise received to this post




Cheers

Sean

[Sully]

SeanMiddleton, I believe you are just hitting enter on the initial boot menu and that it's picking the Clonezilla boot option rather than the VortexBox 2.5 option.

Hit the up arrow to choose VB 2.5 install, then hit enter.

[davem]

@Sean - Yes I think Sully is right. I made the same mistake. I initially thought that the VB option at install was a title and not an option to select. Would be much better if the default went to the VB install.

This image is BIOS boot. Your NUC probable needs UEFI boot. Just enable compatibility mode in the BIOS and it should boot OK.

Unfortunately NUC is definitely set to boot off BIOS. I even disabled UEFI completely at one stage.

My NUC really does not like VB. I tried installing Ubuntu over my HD with VB installed from another machine. Ubuntu would not even detect the HD to install onto! I had to remove the disk, mount it on another machine and delete the partitions. Then I was able to get the Ubuntu install to detect it... Something weird happening here... Anyway spent waaay too much time on this and I have moved on now.

[Wirrunna]

SeanMiddleton, I believe you are just hitting enter on the initial boot menu and that it's picking the Clonezilla boot option rather than the VortexBox 2.5 option.

Hit the up arrow to choose VB 2.5 install, then hit enter.

Up arrow just stays at *Clonezilla Live (Default settings, VGA 800x600) - no option for Vortexbox 2.5

[SeanMiddleton]

When booting from teh USB install stick the only option I have is Clonezilla. It goes straight into Clonezilla. There are no other options that I can find. I've tried arrows Ctrl C etc and no joy. I can drop out to the command line and I get a user@bionic prompt