Is anyone running Mint or Ubuntu from a flash drive?

I have tried both of these with little success. They both boot and run, but I am unable to run any special effects even though I download the suggested driver. I cannot get my printer to print even though it is recognized. I cannot play dvd's in Ubuntu but I can in Mint, although the volume control doesn't work properly. I can also play youtube videos out of the box with Mint, but not with Ubuntu. I am not able to install the suggested flash players.

Have any of you run either of these distros from a flash drive and if so what were your results.

 

Is it a LiveUSB or did you make it persistent?

 

It is persistent.

 

What drivers did you download and how? (synaptic, envy, from source?)

 

I honestly don't know where they came from. I clicked on the suggested driver for my video card and still cannot enable special effects. I have not downloaded a driver for my printer. The only driver that it says I need to download is the one for the video card.

Perhaps I am just missing something here as I have no idea what to do to download anything else, or where it goes when it is downloaded or how to open and install a download. I only know Windows, but I didn't expect Linux to be this hard, especially Ubuntu. Unless it is due to the flash drive. I guess no one else here has tried the flash drive route.

 

Can you run nvidia-settings in terminal? if not the drivers probably arn't installed.

 

You have to install the medibuntu(nice how to here) repository and the libdvdcss2(after adding the medibuntu repository, of course) package for DVD in Ubuntu, Ubuntu also does not include media codecs and flash, install the ubuntu-restricted-extras package for that(and a few extras like java).
What's your computers specifications and your printers make and model? That could help us a lot to help you out.

 

I am using a Sony desktop, 5 1/2 years old, P4 @2.8, 1 gb RAM, Nvidia Geforce 6200 with 256 mb. My printer is a Canon MP 600.

 

I followed the instructions on the provide link and I have dvd playback, but no sound and I cannot access any of the dvd menus. I downloaded the Adobe flash player for Ubuntu and I can watch youtube, but the master volume doesn't work, I have to use the volume control on each video. Any ideas?

When I try to print the test page, the lcd on my printer wakes up, but it doesn't print.

 

No. Supposedly the drivers are downloaded and it says to restart to activate. When I restart, I can't boot from the usb, it goes to Windows. I have to unplug the drive and plug it back in to get it to boot again. I do not have that problem with Mint. For some reason, the drive is not beind recognized again and must be removed and plugged back in again. When I do this and boot from the usb again, I still cannot enable desktop effects and it says that I have a different version of the reccomended driver and an I also cannot run the Nvida Settings as I need to download the driver. I get stuck in an endless loop.

Sorry for asking so many questions.

 

Any more ideas? Thanks.

 

select the correct master volume channel, and make sure the PCM slide and Headphone slider is pushed all the way up if your speak are connected to headphone jack for the latter...it's just a setting somewhere.

 

I have installed the medibunti repository and the libdvdcss2. Where do I find the ubuntu restricted extras package? Thank you for your help.

 

I tried all of that, still no sound and I can't access any of the dvd menus. No sound, no printer no special effects. This is sooooooooooooo frustrating.

I got my printer to work in Mint, now I'll have to try the same thing in Ubuntu. Dvd playback is fine in Mint, I wish I could get it to work in Ubuntu. I would be happy if I could get the special effects to work in Mint, then it would be usuable and somewhat enjoyable. I just haven't beenable to get the video card drivers to work in either version.

One thing that I find extremely odd is I can restart without removing the flash drive with Mint and I cannot with Ubuntu. It will boot into Windows and I have to remove and reintall the drive to boot into Ubuntu again. It is either something with the Ubuntu installation or the usb drive itself. They are two different brands. For some reason, the Ubuntu drive is not recognized when you restart; when it boots into Windows the driver is not recognized until you remove and reinstall it. Strange.

Anyway, if somebody can help me with the video driver so the special effects will work, I would be most greatfull. I really would like to have both of these work well so I can spend some time learning them. If I can get the video drivers working in Mint, it will be a decent portable OS and I may buy another hdd to do some extensive use with Linux.

 

I have sound when I play an audio cd, but there is no sound in dvd playback.