Distro for a 4GB flash drive

[Raccoon1400]

What distro would you people recommend for a flash drive. It will be used for everyday use for a couple months when we are at the cottage.

By the way, can you install mandriva on a flash drive without buying the mandriva flash drive with the recovery CD?

Looking at
mandriva
knoppix
faunOS
slax
open to other suggestions

[gameryoshi600]

This should be in other OS talk.
Damn small Linux, it only uses 50 MB
or Puppy Linux, it only uses 80 MB

[KingTermite]

this article: http://www.linux.com/feature/134670

and tutorials at this website:
http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

should point you in the right direction, hopefully.

I just bought an 8Gb pen drive and used the pdl tutorial to squash Ubuntu on it. :)

[Kingsley]

Pen Drive Linux is good.

[adamklempner]

I know that in PCLinuxOS Minime 2008 you can use the "Make Live USB" icon in the Utilities folder on the desktop to make a bootable flash drive. I have never actually tried it, but the option is there and it looks super simple.

[wannadumpwindows]

Pen Drive Linux is good.

+1 For Pen Drive Linux. They have tutorials for just about anything you would wanna put on a flash drive. It's kind of preference. I've ran Ubuntu for a while from a 4G on my EeePC. IT worked pretty well. But you can use just about any distro you want. As far as size and speed, Damn Small Linux is probably your best bet.

Damn Small Site
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

[Raccoon1400]

Is pen drive linux good for installing softare? Does it have good repos?
DSL and Puppy are too minimalist.

[gameryoshi600]

Is pen drive linux good for installing softare? Does it have good repos?
DSL and Puppy are too minimalist.
then use the pen drive linux tutorials. :popcorn:

[wannadumpwindows]

Is pen drive linux good for installing softare? Does it have good repos?
DSL and Puppy are too minimalist.

Pen Drive Linux is just a site with a bunch of tutorials on how to get various distros running from a flash drive. It's not actually a distro. Go look around.

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

[Raccoon1400]

Pen Drive Linux is just a site with a bunch of tutorials on how to get various distros running from a flash drive. It's not actually a distro. Go look around.

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

It is a distro too.
The linux.com article linked said:

Pendrivelinux is both a Linux distribution for USB flash disks and a comprehensive Web site with lots of articles and information on getting Linux running from a flash disk.

[Raccoon1400]

Speed shouldn't be a problem. The flash drive is 480Mbps.

[wannadumpwindows]

It is a distro too.
The linux.com article linked said:

My bad, I didn't realize they also had their own distro. I've never done anything with it.

[reyhan]

maybe Dreamlinux and Backtrack linux?

[Raccoon1400]

How's backtrack for package management and repos?

[Raccoon1400]

With closer inspection, I see backtrack has a tgz packager like slax. I am downloading it and faunOS right now.

[stream303]

I still prefer Knoppix over other distro's live-cd's. They still seem to *me* to be slower, and intended mainly for demos, quick rescues, and the like. If you want to use a system designed exactly for your temporary stay, I think Knoppix can't be beat. But I don't want to be a cheerleader, so try it yourself:

http://www.knoppix.net/

Ver 5.3.1 came out recently and you can get the DVD if you purchase the June 2008 issue of Linux-Pro magazine if you don't want to download or purchase it elsewhere.

I am currently running the 5.3.1 DVD from my 8gb Sandisk Cruzer pendrive, in persistent mode saved to a 2gb partition on that same disk. They say you can run the DVD version in a 4gb pendrive, but I didn't have one available to check it out - only my 8gb was handy which was no problem.

I have also run the CD version of 5.1.1 on several 1gb pendrives.

Of course cd's and dvd's work fine - and with one option, if your machine has enough ram, you can run it from there with just the simple option of "Knoppix toram". About 2 minutes later you are running totally from ram and can remove the cdrom. There's a million things you can do with it. From the DVD, you can boot Kde, Gnome, XFCE, Fluxbox, Wmaker etc, not to mention the huge amount of programs already installed that may be missing from the usual live-cd of other distros.

Anyway, I didn't want to get into any sort of Knoppix cheerleading - I just personally prefer it. The 2nd-edition of "Knoppix Hacks" helped me get started.

[Raccoon1400]

I put backtrack on the drive, but it doesn't want to persist.

[OmniCloud]

One word...

WOLVIX!

You won't be disappointed.

[alex_anthony]

fedora 9 has a nice onto USB installer IIRC

[Antman]

One word...

WOLVIX!

You won't be disappointed.
When was the last time Wolvix was updated?!? Last time I checked its laptop support wasn't that great:(

[Antman]

I currently have ZenLive5.2 RC1(LiveCD version of Zenwalk) on a USB flash and it works great. There isn't an automatic USB install like in Sidux or Fedora, but it's pretty straight forward to do.

[AdamWill]

To answer the other bit of your initial question - yeah, you can install Mandriva to a Flash drive, just using the regular installer. What you wind up with isn't quite as smooth as Mandriva Flash, which is tailor-made for the key, but it works fine.

[Raccoon1400]

To answer the other bit of your initial question - yeah, you can install Mandriva to a Flash drive, just using the regular installer. What you wind up with isn't quite as smooth as Mandriva Flash, which is tailor-made for the key, but it works fine.

I tried the recovery disk,but that didn't work. Where is the installer? The liveCD?

[pluckypigeon]

don't use fedora or mandriva.

i think you should use dsl with icewm as your window manager:KS

[Raccoon1400]

don't use fedora or mandriva.

i think you should use dsl with icewm as your window manager:KS

DSL is too basic.

[pluckypigeon]

DSL is too basic.

What's wrong with that?

Don't tell me that you want to use this flash drive as a main system.

Some times using something that is quick and simple can be more useful when using something portable from pc to pc.

I have a 8gig business card with Ubuntu (7gig) and DSL (1gig) on.

I keep both with minimal software installed also.

[cecilpierce]

Just wondering, can you use 2 flash drives for 1 OS ?

[Herman]

You can if you just install Ubuntu to your flashdrive in the regular manner, the same as if you were installing to a hard disk.

I have several test installations of Ubuntu flash memory sticks now and the regular, stock standard Ubuntu installation in a memory stick detects and read/writes to other memory sticks plugged into a USB hub.
That means we can have one flash memory disk with the OS in it, and another one for data.

I imagine it would also be possible to make an installation with a separate /boot, /root and /home and so on for the purposes if splitting the installation in two or more parts to fit on small USB memory sticks if someone really wanted to.

[Raccoon1400]

What's wrong with that?

Don't tell me that you want to use this flash drive as a main system.

Some times using something that is quick and simple can be more useful when using something portable from pc to pc.

I have a 8gig business card with Ubuntu (7gig) and DSL (1gig) on.

I keep both with minimal software installed also.

We are going up to the cottage soon. Mom is bringing her laptop and I want to keep it simple and leave mine here. I though I would just boot of the flash drive. I won't use it much because there is so much else to do there. Just email, internet(24K dialup) and the occasional game on a rainy day.

The problem with dsl is I have never had luck installing software on it with apt-get.

[pluckypigeon]

We are going up to the cottage soon. Mom is bringing her laptop and I want to keep it simple and leave mine here. I though I would just boot of the flash drive. I won't use it much because there is so much else to do there. Just email, internet(24K dialup) and the occasional game on a rainy day.

The problem with dsl is I have never had luck installing software on it with apt-get.

Just use ubuntu then. you may have to edit grub if the laptop has a different label for usb drives though

[Raccoon1400]

Just use ubuntu then. you may have to edit grub if the laptop has a different label for usb drives though

The laptop this will be used on has XP.

http://www.linux.com/feature/134670
Ubuntu wasn't made for flash drives. This link says problems come up when ubuntu is forced onto a flash drive.

[pluckypigeon]

The laptop this will be used on has XP.

http://www.linux.com/feature/134670
Ubuntu wasn't made for flash drives. This link says problems come up when ubuntu is forced onto a flash drive.

I, personally, haven't had any problems with mine.

It doesn't matter what system you have on your pc.

Just select usb booting from bios or boot menu options.

Make sure that you install grub on your flashcard though otherwise it won't work

[Raccoon1400]

maybe Dreamlinux and Backtrack linux?

Will dreamlinux be persistent?

[Raccoon1400]

I, personally, haven't had any problems with mine.

It doesn't matter what system you have on your pc.

Just select usb booting from bios or boot menu options.

Make sure that you install grub on your flashcard though otherwise it won't work

Did you shoehorn it on, like the pendrivelinux tutorial does? If not, what did you do?

[pluckypigeon]

Did you shoehorn it on, like the pendrivelinux tutorial does? If not, what did you do?

I don't know what shoehorn is. I just installed it from the live cd, like you would a harddisk

[Raccoon1400]

I don't know what shoehorn is. I just installed it from the live cd, like you would a harddisk

By shoehorn I just meant force it on.

Would a regular install work on different machines with different hardware?

[Herman]

Before Hardy Heron came out, the advantage of the liveCD persistent type of installation was so that the automatic hardware detection features of the live CD could be used so a USB will boot in any computer hardware that a live cd can.

Ubuntu Hardy Heron is the first Ubuntu to come out with new xserver technology which means a regular hard disk install will detect different hardware much better than was previously possible.
Read this link, What's new in 8.04 | Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/804overview), (look for the heading: 'Xorg 7.3' and read what it says there especially).

I tried it and it works for all my computers, so I'm guessing that it's no longer necessary to go to all the work of doing a persistent livecd install to a USB, just install Ubuntu the easy way and it should work fine.

You just have to be carefull when you get to step 7 of 7 in the install, and make sure to remember to click the 'advanced' button and choose to install the boot loader to the USB disk's MBR, don't forget and let it go to the MBR of the first hard disk in the computer you're using to perform the installaltion from.
That's about the only thing you would need to do differently. :)

[stream303]

Before Hardy Heron came out, the advantage of the liveCD persistent type of installation was so that the automatic hardware detection features of the live CD could be used so a USB will boot in any computer hardware that a live cd can.

I'm a bit confused on this point. Compared to Knoppix, the persistent feature just means that all your changes and tweaks to the desktop and other programs you started from the boot cd, are stored as an image file on some other sort of writable disk, (not a full hd install btw) so that when you boot with the Cd again, you don't have to go back and redo all your settings. In addition, a writable home directory is created to store your files.

In other words, all your personal settings persist on a writable drive, and have nothing to do with being able to actually boot a usb device or hardware detection. Typically you boot with the CD, and you can use a pendrive for example, just to store your settings and home directory files. (although I take it further and actually boot from the pendrive as well). So some take *two* things with them, the boot cd, and a pendrive for persistent files.

Is this different from how Ubuntu does it?

[Herman]

I'm a bit confused on this point. Compared to Knoppix, the persistent feature just means that all your changes and tweaks to the desktop and other programs you started from the boot cd, are stored as an image file on some other sort of writable disk, (not a full hd install btw) so that when you boot with the CD again, you don't have to go back and redo all your settings. In addition, a writable home directory is created to store your files.

In other words, all your personal settings persist on a writable drive, and have nothing to do with being able to actually boot a usb device or hardware detection. Typically you boot with the CD, and you can use a pendrive for example, just to store your settings and home directory files. (although I take it further and actually boot from the pendrive as well). So some take *two* things with them, the boot cd, and a pendrive for persistent files.

Is this different from how Ubuntu does it? We can do the same thing with a Ubuntu Live CD, run the CD in the CD-ROM drive and make it mount a USB disk as a /home directory if we want to, there's a very good how-to about that somewhere in Community Docs and I've tried it and had that working.
It's the same thing but Ubuntu doesn't come with that as a standard option like Knoppix does, because Ubuntu is mainly a distro intended for installing to hard disk, compared with Knoppix which is a distro primarily intended to be run from a CD or DVD.

Instead of having to carry two things around though, it's not very difficult to copy the contents of an .iso file to a small partition in the USB and boot it as a live cd, and have it mount a second partition to store your settings and personal files.

As we well know, most live cds can be popped into the CD/DVD drawer in almost any computer anywhere, and booted and in a few minutes they will automatically set themselves up to suit the computers hardware (in most computers).

A hard disk installed system was different though. In previous Ubuntu releases, the Xserver was set up to suit the hardware in the computer the install was run in during installation, and written to static files in the hard disk.
Before Hardy Heron came along, you couldn't just pull a hard disk drive out of a computer and plug it into a different computer and expect everything to work automatically.
We would probably be able to boot it from command line GRUB okay, but we would only expect it to boot to a command line interface, no Xserver. Then we'd run 'sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver.xorg, and after that we'd be able to type 'startx', and our xserver would start, hopefully we'd have a working GUI and a decent display. That process might take fifteen minutes, or a bit longer it the user wasn't practiced at it. Here's an illustrated web page about it so you can see what it was like, Xserver Page (http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/p7.html).
That's okay if you only have to do that once in a blue moon, say if your computer broke down or you got a new one and you wanted to keep the same OS. You could keep your hard disk and put it in your new, or working, computer and set it up for the new hardware in a little while.
It wasn't a very quick or convenient operation to have to have to repeat very frequently though, as you might if you were travelling with a USB flash memory stick.
That's why the Live CD with persistence installs to USB sticks were a good thing.
They combined the autodetection features of the live CD with the ability to remember the user's settings (but not the hardware settings), and store some personal files.

Now, Hardy Heron has the ability to set up it's Xserver dynamically when the standard hard disk type of installation boots, instead of being stuck with the Xserver settings for whatever computer it was installed in.
As far as I know, the hard disk installed Hardy Heron is as good at configuring itself for different hardware on boot-up as the Live CD, at least that's been my limited experience with it. It works with all the various hardware in my house, so I presume it works as well as the LiveCD for everyone else too. I haven't been informed to the contrary yet.
So, in my opinion, there's no longer any real need to perform a LiveCD with Persistence type of installation in a USB flash memory device if you're using Hardy Heron.

[pluckypigeon]

seriously though, just install ubuntu on the usb drive the same way you installed it on your hdd.

like i said before; just make sure you install grub on the mbr of the usb drive.

You should have done it by now. If it doesn't work then you can always try something else.

Ubuntu doesn't take as long as it used to to install, you can just try and see.

Experimenting with information is one of the best things to help you learn.

[Raccoon1400]

Somebody a couple pages ago suggested Dreamlinux. I tried 4 times, and couldn't get the drive to boot. I formated the drive with fat16, fat32, ext2, ext3. Think it might reformat the drive anyway. With the fat filesystems, gparted didn't know what the fs type was after installation. With the ext fs, gparted at least knew the fs type, etx2/3. It still wouldn't boot. I just got a cursor flashing in the corner. When I used ext3, it created two ext partitions and a swap.

Trying the PCLOS usb install next.

[Raccoon1400]

PCLinuxOS appears to be a success. I used the usb HD install on the live cd It took 1.5 hours to copy the files, probably due to the fact I used an 800MHz PC with usb 1.1 or 1.0 ports.
I only had to change X11 drivers to get it working on my laptop. The laptop be will use at the cottage shouldn't be a problem, since both laptops are DELL and just over a year apart in age.
I did have to play with the partition table the install gave me, since / was full.
Almost working fine.

PCLinuxOS and Ubuntu are the most reliable distros I have used.

[stream303]

It's the same thing but Ubuntu doesn't come with that as a standard option like Knoppix does, because Ubuntu is mainly a distro intended for installing to hard disk, compared with Knoppix which is a distro primarily intended to be run from a CD or DVD.

Thanks for the information - quite informative. I agree with you here; even though both can be used as live-cd's, I tend to use knoppix in a temporary situation, or maybe at most in persistent mode and never as a permanent hard drive install. Ubuntu can fill the live role too, but obviously the strength is for permanent installs.

I think it comes down to a matter of convenience for me in regards to Knoppix for a temporary run. I took the long way to install the dvd version of it on an 8gb usb stick manually, when all I could have done was to run

mkbootdev

and it would have done it for me automatically. Live and learn. :)

What I found interesting was that I made some modifications to my /etc/X11/xorg.conf file to force it into a 16:9 mode for 1680x1050 and some other small tweaks, and this was remembered in persistent mode on the usb pendrive. I didn't expect that and was pleasantly surprised. As an Apple PPC user, I'm no stranger to manually modifying xorg.conf, even in Hardy. :)

Again, thanks for the info - that cleared up a few things I wasn't sure of.

[pluckypigeon]

enough already