PartialVolume/shredos.x86_64 v2024.11_27_x86-64_0.38

on GitHub

v2024.11_27_x86-64_0.38

Other software versions used within ShredOS for disc related operations

System memory requirements

2GB memory is required for all recent versions. ShredOS creates a virtual disk in memory that contains 700-800MB of drivers and software. If you are seeing the error kernel panic not syncing write error during boot, then either you have less than 2GB of memory or you may have faulty memory.

Notable changes in this release - ShredOS

• Updated buildroot from 24.02.2 to 24.11, many changes to the Linux kernel and other software.
• Updated nwipe from v0.37 to v0.38
• You can toggle the size of the font by pressing the 'f' key on the drive selection or wipe progress screens. This feature is only available in ShredOS and is disabled when nwipe is used with xorg or Wayland.
• Added the 'parallel' application for those that want to run the same command line program at the same time, 'tmux' is also available to create multiple terminals on the same virtual terminal.
• Including CONFIG_PCI_MSI fixes a problem with some discs not showing up on HP servers. Thanks to @tlschenkjr
• Added CONFIG_IKCONFIG: This option enables the complete Linux kernel .config file contents to be saved in the kernel. It provides documentation of which kernel options are used in a running kernel or in an on-disk kernel. This information can be extracted from the kernel image file with the script scripts/extract-ikconfig and used as input to rebuild the current kernel or to build another kernel. It can also be extracted from a running kernel by reading /proc/config.gz if enabled (below).
• Added Dell x86 platform specific device drivers as builtin:
  CONFIG_ALIENWARE_WMI=y
  CONFIG_DCDBAS=y
  CONFIG_DELL_LAPTOP=y
  CONFIG_DELL_RBU=y
  CONFIG_DELL_SMBIOS=y
  CONFIG_DELL_SMO8800=y
  CONFIG_DELL_WMI=y
  CONFIG_DELL_WMI_PRIVACY=y
  CONFIG_DELL_WMI_AIO=y
  CONFIG_DELL_WMI_DDV=y
  CONFIG_DELL_WMI_LED=y
  CONFIG_DELL_WMI_SYSMAN=y
• Improved the naming of the dmesg.txt file to avoid overwriting. dmesg.txt, which is found on the USB stick and also in / on the ShredOS virtual RAM disc.
• Added the MPI3MR driver for Broadcom SCSI:
  CONFIG_SCSI_MPI3MR=y
• Added Seagate's OpenSeaChest tools. Increased image size to 310MB leaving approximately 25MB free for PDF certificates and logs
• Fix a build issue with 24.11 due to a kselftest issue. linux-tools: remove BPF kselftest artifact to avoid arch mismatch error. Thanks @Knogle

Notable changes in this release - Nwipe v0.38

• Fixes type error, relevant to i686 (32 bit) only. Fixes a compile error on some distros. #588 Thanks @Knogle
• Added feature relevant to ShredOS only, the f key will toggle the font size, standard size to double size, has no action for other xorg/wayland distributions. The f key is available in the drive selection and progress screens only. Note that in earlier commits in this release the d key was programmed however this is now the f key to toggle font size. #589 #635 Thanks @PartialVolume
• Fixes a issue where SAS drives always respond with hidden sectors = ???, i.e warning. This patch fixes the problem so that a SAS drive responds with hidden sectors = not applicable. A SATA drive connected to a SAS interface should still respond with yes or no subject to the interface passing HPA and DCO-identify commands. #605 Thanks @PartialVolume
• The hidden sector check for SAS drives has been disabled as it is believed that SAS drives do not support the SCSI commands to adjust the drives size as reported to the O.S. #607 Thanks @PartialVolume
• Some USB adapters report the model name and serial number with the incorrect endian, so adjacent characters in the model name are swapped with each other. This patch detects and fixes model names for Hitachi, Toshiba, WDC Western Digital Corporation and Seagate/ST drives. Mainly some older adapters and drive interfaces might have this issue. #630 Thanks @PartialVolume
• Fixes the s shift s bug as reported here #301 To summarize, if no drives are selected and then the user presses s (lower case) a warning appears indicating that the user should press S (upper case) to start the wipe. This warning appears for about 3 seconds but during this time if the user presses S (upper case) nwipe would immediately complete, having wiped no drives and requesting the user to press the spacebar to exit. The is incorrect behaviour.
  The bug doesn't appear if the user pressed S after the 3 seconds elapsed and the warning message disappeared. This patch fixes this so that it does not exit but displays the warning for 3 seconds and then waits for input. #636

Download Counters

Architecture/format/mode	Download link
x86-64 .img for USB Vanilla
x86-64 .iso for CD/DVD/Ventoy nomodeset
x86-64 .iso for CD/DVD/Ventoy Vanilla

Vanilla or nomodeset, which do I use?

Always try the vanilla version first, this makes use of the Linux DRM (Direct Rendering Manager) video drivers. This should work fine on the majority of systems. As it makes full use of the monitors native resolution the text tends to be smaller and you can fit many more drives on screen. Using DRM also allows you to send the system to sleep from the command line to unfreeze drives if you are planning on wiping using the ATA secure erase features of the hdparm or nvme tools. If the text is too small for your liking, press the f key when you are on the drive selection or wipe progress screens to toggle the size of the font between standard and double size.

The nomodeset version should be used when ShredOS fails to display the nwipe program, you may see the percentage progress to 100% when the Shredos image is being downloaded but then nothing happens or the screen goes blank. If this happens with the vanilla version, then try the nomodeset version. The nomodeset version disables the DRM rendering manager and resorts to simple frame buffer mode. If this then works on your system you know that the DRM video drivers are the issue. The text in nomodeset is much larger than in DRM (vanilla) mode especially if you are viewing on a 4:3 aspect ratio monitor. You may see cropped serial number information or incomplete help on the bottom of the screen. However if nomodeset works for you and vanilla doesn't please record the output of the lspci command and post an issue. If nomodeset works for you, it's fine to use it for wiping disks as normal.

Important: If you use a nomodeset .iso and write it to Ventoy or using another tool that discards our supplied grub.cfg file then nomodeset may not be enabled. This also applies to PXE booting that may discard our grub configuration. In this situation use the .img version and edit the two grub.cfg files on the USB stick or burn the nomodeset .iso to a CD or DVD and boot from that. I realize that if you are having video issues you won't be able to do this, except by logging into ShredOS via telnet (if you enabled it) but to confirm you are operating in nomodeset type more /proc/cmdline. This will display the kernel command line, if there is no nomodeset appended to the line you are still running in DRM mode.

.iso and .img Notes

• The .img file for writing to a USB flash drive is both legacy (bios) and UEFI bootable.
• The .iso file for CD-R/DVD-R is legacy bootable only if burned to DVD/CD, however if you copy the .iso to a Ventoy USB stick it is bootable on both UEFI & legacy hardware.

Ventoy Notes

If Ventoy's 'normal' mode does not work try 'Ventoy's 'grub2' mode. To enable grub2 mode in Ventoy, when the Ventoy list of Iso/img files appear type control +r to toggle into grub2 mode, then select the ShredOS .iso. If you try to boot the ShredOS .iso using Ventoy's 'normal' mode you will end up at the grub prompt on some systems.

What's the difference between Ventoy's normal & grub2 modes?
Well it appears that in normal mode Ventoy uses ShredOS's own grub code to boot ShredOS, while in grub2 mode Ventoy uses it's own code. Using Ventoys own grub code when in grub2 mode may allow you to boot when normal mode doesn't work however, Ventoy's grub does not load the progress module so you won't see the progress percentage as the ShredOS kernel is loaded. ShredOS also includes modules for PXE booting.

The ShredOS .iso labeled nomodeset disables the Linux Direct Rendering Manager (DRM) and so remains in simple framebuffer mode. This mode is compatible with most graphics hardware and avoids any buggy graphics drivers. This would be used when you find that the standard version of ShredOS initially displays text but then fails to display nwipe.

64bit .img and .iso for modern Intel & compatible processors post Pentium 4.

The .iso is for burning to DVD/CD and copying onto a Ventoy USB stick.

32bit .img and .iso for Pentium 4 and earlier CPUs.

Pentium MMX, K5, K6, K6-II, K6-III, Pentium Pro, Pentium II, Pentium III, Athlon, Athlon XP, Opteron*, Athlon FX-51*, Athlon FX-53*, Athlon 64* Pentium 4 (32 bit) Celeron (32bit).

. * = 32-bit/64-bit. The x86 32 bit version of ShredOS will often run on x86 64 processors but not all 64 bit processors due to limitations in the CPU or bios.

Checksums

sha1 334e5fb3968fcee67c719ced11f0fbe0cbbd1bc4  shredos-2024.11_27_x86-64_0.38_20250123.img
sha1 51cb1b6b77553515f250d54be171e0fcfd1ebc62  shredos-2024.11_27_x86-64_0.38_20250125_vanilla.iso
sha1 ee22b64bf581fea7e070411aef8694c6a28c942c  shredos-2024.11_27_x86-64_0.38_20250125_nomodeset.iso
i586(32bit) to follow shortly.