One Button Installer, 'OBI'

[Nio Wiklund]

Hello everybody,


*Typical cases for the One Button Installer*

- Tool that is easy to use and just works

The normal linux installers that come with iso files are complicated to
use or freeze during the installation process, and you want a tool that
is easier to use and just works.

- Replace Windows XP

Replace Windows XP because you want the computer to work faster or
smoother with an Ubuntu based linux operating system, or at the end of
life in April 2014, when there will be no more security updates for
Windows XP.

- Backup

You want a simple method to backup (and restore) your whole installed
linux system. The One Button Installer combines installation, backup and
restore in one set of tools.

- Your own portable Ubuntu based linux system

You want to make your own linux system portable and port it to a USB
pendrive or to be installed in another computer to be used by yourself,
or to be uploaded to the internet for sharing with other people. The One
Button Installer can do it in a simpler way than to remaster the code
and make an own iso file.


*Background*

One main objective with Lubuntu is keeping old computers running.
Another objective is to supply an operating system, that is easy to
install and use. Often old computers have low RAM, which can make it
hard to use the iso file installers for Lubuntu (the desktop one and the
alternate one). Furthermore, some users get confused by all the
alternatives. The alternate installer is better with low RAM and both
installers are better with zRAM in Saucy, but not really easy to use,
fast, and with feed-back so the user knows it is alive.

This is why I started to develop the One Button Installer, the 'OBI'. It
is quite stable now, it works well with a wide range of computers from
new computers with Intel i5 CPUs to old ones (I can use it in a Compaq
with a 400 MHz CPU and 128 MB RAM) and it runs even faster than before.

There must be a USB port or some other means to add a second mass
storage device, where the One Button Installer can reside. A second HDD
(IDE/PATA or SATA) drive is also possible, but not as convenient.

I have found that it works with help of the Plop boot manager to boot
old computers, which cannot boot directly from USB.

The One Button Installer is running in text mode (made from the Ubuntu
mini iso) and it needs very little RAM. You can choose the drive (mass
storage device), the target where to install the system. If there is
only one available drive (except the live drive), there is no choice,
only 'go' or 'quit'. (There are also some options to help the user
identify which is the correct target drive.) So the installer is made to
install its system to the whole drive. And it should not confuse a user,
that is new to linux, at least not after reading the documentation.


*You find the One Button Installer here*

The One Button Installer is still experimental (but quite stable), and I
think you will like it, so please have a look at the documentation,
download an image file and try it :-)

The files, documents to read and image files to download, can be found
at my google drive account

http://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzX-18u3W1sQblBTYXNacGVsVkk&usp=sharing

The files to download are also available at Phillw.net

http://phillw.net/isos/one-button-installer/

and there is a preliminary tutorial at wiki.ubuntu.com

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/phillw/OBI

and at the Ubuntu Forums

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2172971

The intention is that the tutorial at wiki.ubuntu.com should be the
master version, with the other web pages referring to it or serving for
downloading the files.


*My personal comments*

When you have tried the OBI, I think you will see the potential: How it
can be used by many people to install Lubuntu for example to replace
Windows XP. Later on we can discuss if and how it is should be easier to
understand and run, and maybe more polished.

-o-

It is easy to create custom systems to distribute without making an own
distro or fork. Avoid proprietary drivers, make a tarball, and use the
One Button Installer to install it into other computers! Very simple :-)

And it will keep many custom systems 'within the family' rather than
forking away, because the normal update/upgrade methods work including
upgrading to the next version. The custom system is simply a copy of
Lubuntu with some tweaks.

There are actually two 'buttons' ;-) one 'button' to select tarball and
one 'button' to select target drive.


Best regards
Nio