Please help test usb-creator

[C.S.Cameron]

I still can't understand the need for such an application when it so easy to install to Flash the same as to HDD.

[evan d]

Is it possible to create a persistent usb key using usb-creator?
For me, thez live usb worked nicely; i just created a user (with admin rights), installed a few apps, but after reboot, that user was deleted.

Was this using usb-creator 0.1.7? Persistence support is broken in casper, but you should end up at an initramfs prompt rather than the full desktop.

How to have the usb stick boot to a gdm login window that asks for a login/password?

Why would you want to do this? It's currently not possible on the live CD (which we're eventually renaming to "test drive", as the former is confusing when talking about USB drives).

And besides usb-creator, what would happen if booting from a Desktop live cd and installing ubuntu on the usb stick, straight from the installer ?

That will work by the 8.10 release. It requires some outstanding changes to partman and grub in order to work without modification of the installed system post-install.

[evan d]

I still can't understand the need for such an application when it so easy to install to Flash the same as to HDD.

I think you may be confused on the intention of this application. It does not replace ubiquity, the desktop CD installer, but rather writes a modified copy of the desktop CD to a USB disk and optionally enables persistence support.

[C.S.Cameron]

I'm often mistaken for being a little confused.
My point is that I built my current stick installing from the Live CD to the Flash drive the same as I would to internal HDD.
(My computer BIOS sees flash as just another HDD).
The Flash drive has:
A FAT32 partition visible to windows,
ext2 home partition,
ext3 O/S partition,
swap space for booting into low ram computers.
It can open in gnome or xfce sessions.
Switchconf allows it to boot:
Using Nvidia restricted drivers on a dual monitor,
Using Nvidia drivers on a HDTV,
Without restricted drivers on an ATI laptop, but with touchpad drivers etc working.
Using the basic xorg.conf for generic computers,
And using a boot CD for computer with BIOS that won't boot Flash.
Not to mention it runs wine, tvtime, Sketchup, Avast and has all the plugins for Movie Player.
I fully agree that Ubuntu should have an install to USB option.
I just think it should produce a fully featured flash drive.
Have ordered a new 4G and will give usb-creator a try when it arrives, but don't expect an easy sell.

[evan d]

I'm often mistaken for being a little confused.
My point is that I built my current stick installing from the Live CD to the Flash drive the same as I would to internal HDD.
(My computer BIOS sees flash as just another HDD).

Right, and as mentioned that's not the design goal of usb-creator, so there is no overlap.

The Flash drive has:
A FAT32 partition visible to windows,
ext2 home partition,
ext3 O/S partition,
swap space for booting into low ram computers.

For what it's worth, usb-creator uses a single vfat partition, which is perfectly readable in Windows (though the actual Ubuntu filesystem is packed in a squashfs, which is not). usb-creator will happily co-exist with any other files you have on this partition.

Switchconf allows it to boot:
Using Nvidia restricted drivers on a dual monitor,
Using Nvidia drivers on a HDTV,
Without restricted drivers on an ATI laptop, but with touchpad drivers etc working.
Using the basic xorg.conf for generic computers,

Our ability to add the nvidia driver to the CD or a tool such as this is governed by the decisions that nvidia's legal department makes. Our hands are tied.

And using a boot CD for computer with BIOS that won't boot Flash.

As said before, we're talking about two different overall use cases, but the usb-creator specification doesn't concern itself with BIOSes that cannot boot USB mass storage devices as one of the use cases is a computer without a CDROM drive. In which case I have yet to see such a system with a BIOS that does not boot from USB mass storage.

The CD-based images will still be available for users with such BIOSes, however.

For the curious, the other use cases are computers without CD burners and and wanting a faster installation medium[1].

1: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/USBInstallationImages

Not to mention it runs wine, tvtime, Sketchup, Avast and has all the plugins for Movie Player.

This is more of a statement for the CD and DVD images themselves, as usb-creator does not concern itself with the packages on the image.

I fully agree that Ubuntu should have an install to USB option.
I just think it should produce a fully featured flash drive.
Have ordered a new 4G and will give usb-creator a try when it arrives, but don't expect an easy sell.

Which again is not what we're talking about here. As you said yourself, Ubuntu already has an install to USB option, ubiquity. Your USB mass storage device is similar enough to a hard drive that the desktop installer can write to it with very little consideration.

I don't think you're the use case for this. You clearly want a highly customized image, and that's great, but it's not something usb-creator is setting out to provide.

[C.S.Cameron]

Evan: You are wrong about one thing, I will be a user.
This is much better than the Live CD.
Downloaded and installed usb-creator on my thumbdrive using above link.
Process was smooth with no problems.
From there tried installing Xubuntu 8.04.1 on a 2G flash that had EEE-Xubuntu on it.
usb-creator said there was enough space.
Formatting was instantaneous, Install seemed to go ok and was very quick.
When booting, ended up at busybox with (initramfs).
Then tried an Ubuntu 8.04.1 disk.
usb-creator said there was enough space.
When booting, ended up at busybox with (initramfs).
Tried Ubuntu-EEE, same thing, but this was the closest I've gotten to installing it on flash
My last attempt was with Xubuntu 8.10 A6, (Intrepid).
First from CD and then directly from an iso on the desktop.
Both worked like a charm on the 2G flash. System Monitor says there is still 1.2G available.
It only took 2 minutes to install from the iso, not the 45 minutes I am use to.
I was a little worried about installing from a flash to a flash but usb-creator picked the correct drives.
I think I can vouch for usb-creator being fool proof.
The thing I like most is that it eliminates the need for a CD drive when installing Ubuntu.
I am still a little confused about this persistence thing but give usb-creator a 9 out of 10 anyway.

[msktje]

Hello, I have a question about that persistent ability.
Is it so that when you boot the stick and you install extra packages,
the next time you boot the stick the packages are still installed?
Is this feature already implemented or wil it be in time for intrepid or
wil it be for 9.04?
greetz FW

[Ubuntiac]

For everyone not getting the advantage of this...

It's not about installing TO a usb key, its about installing FROM a usb key to your hard drive.

I have no CD drive on my laptop therefore I CAN'T use a live CD. This let's me replace the live cd with a "live usb key" and *finally* have an easy way to do a fresh install.

Evan, it works *perfectly* for me and is an absolute {$PREFERRED_DEITY} send. Thankyou!!!

[Ubuntiac]

Uh oh...

I just found out that this bug is alive and well with Intrepid. Fortunately the simple fix is there, too.

In short, computers installing (*)ubuntu from a USB key become unable to automount usb keys after installing. This may or may not be limited to laptops without CD drives.

If you've used usb-creator to install from usb, I'd encourage you to share whether usb automount works for you or not and whether you have a cd/dvd drive on the bug report.

To be fair, I understand this is a bug with Ubuntu / the kernel, but I have a feeling that because of the ease of installing from usb that usb-creator is bringing that we're about to see a whole lot more people hitting this bug.

[C.S.Cameron]

I used a flash drive built using usb-creator to install Xubuntu 8.10 Beta on a second flash drive, full install, not CD image.
Booting gave error message, no such drive.
Menu.lst had root listed as (1,2).
After changing root to (0,2) the drive boots.
During updates I am asked to modify menu.lst.
If I say yes, it is changed back to (1,2).

Automount seems to work fine when I am running this drive.

My only problem is that the latest usb-creator from launchpad no longer seem to work for me.
Booting all I get is grub _ with a blinking curses.
I've tried it a dozen times with different distro's, different computers, etc.

Oop's, forget that last statement, I installed Usb-creator just a few minutes ago booting from a 8.10 Beta Live CD.
It seems to be working fine again.