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Thread ID: 55860 2005-03-21 08:02:00 Boot Linux off a usb flashdrive Prescott (11) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
336446 2005-03-21 08:02:00 hey there,
i brought myself a 1gb mp3 player/flash drive and i have heard that you can install a small linux distro on it and boot off it, if your BIOS allows you to. i just
wanna install it and have a bit of a play with it.

-which linux distro should i go with?
-how do i install it on the usb drive?
-im pretty sure i need to make partions so how do i do that? partion magic?
-will i still be able to listen to my music if i have a linux distro on it at the same time?
Prescott (11)
336447 2005-03-21 08:39:00 www.pcstats.com
This works only as a live distro

www.ncsu.edu
This looks interesting though
Dannz (1668)
336448 2005-03-21 08:45:00 I was looking at this one stage, until I realised my mobo didn't appear to support booting off a USB device :dogeye:

The distro I looked at was Flash-Puppy ( . goosee . com/puppy/flash-puppy . htm" target="_blank">www . goosee . com) as it was only a small download . There are other flash drive distro's available - List from Distrowatch ( . com/search . php?category=USB+drives&origin=All&basedon=All&desktop=All&architecture=All&status=Active" target="_blank">distrowatch . com)

The distro's should have instructions on how you install it .

Hmm . . . That Flash Puppy mascot ain't look too hot - think it needs some sunshine and fresh air :p
Jen (38)
336449 2005-03-21 14:01:00 Ive heard Puppy is the one to go for.

Why not install Gentoo? You could do it via a loopback filesystem on WinXP's NTFS/FAT32 filesystem :D
Chilling_Silence (9)
336450 2005-03-21 22:29:00 Ive heard Puppy is the one to go for.(snip)

There is a very interesting article in The Press this am about Puppy. I searched The Press website, but there is nothing there from the computer pages - plenty about flower arranging and death and destruction in a Cambodian Noodle House, but nothing on computers...

Here is the website for Puppy: www.goosee.com

Here is their Mission Statement:
Mission Statement

* Puppy will boot off a minimum PC with 586 CPU and 32M RAM.
* Puppy will easily install to USB, Zip or hard drive media.
* Booting from CD, Puppy will load totally into RAM so that the CD drive is then free for other purposes.
* Booting from USB, Puppy will greatly minimise writes, to extend the life of Flash devices indefinitely.
* Puppy will be extremely friendly for Linux newbies.
* Puppy will boot up and run extraordinarily fast.
* Puppy will have all the applications needed for daily use.
* Puppy will just work, no hassles.

According to The Press article, you only need 128Mb of RAM for the thing to load into RAM!
John H (8)
336451 2005-03-22 06:54:00 gutted, it seems that my pc doesnt boot off usb actually none of my pcs at home boot off usb...... there goes that idea :(
thanks for the suggestion guys
Prescott (11)
336452 2005-03-22 10:24:00 I downloaded Puppy Linux today, and it booted my laptop via CD. Only 50Mb, yet it has a surprising amount of software included. You put the CD in a CDRW drive so it can save changes to the CD before you exit.

It did not recognise my trackpad, so I had to plug in a USB mouse, and it picked that up. I haven't had time for a proper play yet, but it looks promising.

Sorry your pc doesn't want to cooperate!
John H (8)
336453 2005-03-22 11:22:00 You _can_ make it do that if you're willing to play a little with the Grub BootLoader, it _is_ possible!!!

Fedora supports it out of the box AFAIK
Chilling_Silence (9)
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