Linux on a Flash Drive...Is it possible???

I have a 2GB Kinston DataTraveler USB Flash drive.....
I dont have any experience using linux and would like to try it...
I'm not very good at installing Operating Systems...so I dont want to take a risk on partitioning my current HDD which has Windows Vista....Moreover I dont hav much space left on my HDD....

So, is it possible to install a linux distro like Ubuntu or Fedora on my 2GB USB drive? If so, how can I install it? I have Ubuntu 7.04 & Fedora 7 & 8 Disc Images with me....
How can I install one of the operating systems on my flash drive??
I want to do this because I dont have any exerience with linux and would like to try it first b4 installing on my HDD..
Pls help...

 

uhhh
Why don't you just download a Ubuntu Live CD to try it out?

 

Oh ok...I have a live CD too...but how to boot from it without installing??..

 

insert it into the CD drive & restart your computer(make sure you are set to boot from CD drive first in BIOS).

 

Check it out - you only need a 50m flash drive to run Damn Small Linux.

http://damnsmalllinux.org/

 

Google Pendrive Linux, and you should be able to find Ubuntu on a thumb drive, etc.

 

Hmm, kinda OT but at the same time, kinda not. I found this article from pendrive linux; and I was wondering if I can use it to install Gutsy Gibbon to a computer. I'll be getting an EEE this week and I want to install Ubuntu on it. How would I go about doing it? =/

 

Yes.

I am doing this very thing with a 2GB Kingston USB Drive. I used the very simple instructions found here. it was by far the easiest and most straightforward walkthrough i found.

There are also instructions on how to partition the USB Drive so that you can have persistent data backup everytime you load the OS.

 

I have done this before PClinux and I have set up an external hdd and run fedora from it as well. The biggest problem I found was that not all bois really support booting from a usb device. If yours does you should not have any real issues with it.

 

It's simpler to use the Live CD...just boot with it, it won't install the distribution on your computer

 

i'm gonna disagree with this. for me, it's way simpler to carry around a USB thumb drive than it is to carry around a CD/DVD. i'm not sure what you meant by a live CD not installing a distribution as if a flash drive does?

take a look at the link and you'll see that that particular build boots to a menu that allows you to boot from the flash drive, load/boot into RAM, boot to HD, etc.

as well, you can partition the flash drive so that you can actually save data to the drive as well, something you can't do with a live CD. basically, with a flash drive, you can carry around your OS, your applications, and your data and save any/all changes between use.

again, you can't do that with a live CD.

 

"I dont have any experience using linux and would like to try it...
I'm not very good at installing Operating Systems...so I dont want to take a risk on partitioning my current HDD which has Windows Vista....Moreover I dont hav much space left on my HDD...."

if coolguy already has the Live CD burned then nothing is simpler than putting it in the CD tray and booting...(no skills required)

installing it on a flash drive has its advantages for sure...but it all depends if coolguy wants to try it for 1 hour, 1 week or 1 month

 

You're in luck with fedora. I am Fedora and so can you!

I've used this a few times to install F8 on my ThinkPad X61s. With a large drive you could even partition it in two and use the second partition for data.

 

Only problem is - is he in a Fedora environment?

 

Is it possible, as described with PenDriveLinux, to boot linux on a pendrive, using a floppy, on a system that does not normally allow a USB boot option? I 've created the flash drive and boot floppy as described at the PDL site, and the flash boots on a USB-bootable decktop, and the floppy boot works on that as well, but I can't get the flash recognized on a desktop or laptop that does not have a USB boot option. I don't know if it is a function of the actual system, or that something needs to be configured in the GRUB files to allow the USB flash to be recognized/mounted as bootable.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

 

do you have a link to the pen drive linux article? Most, if not all of the stuff they say on PDL has worked fine for me...

 

Sorry, I should have included it to start...

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/2007/11/21/use-a-floppy-to-boot-usb-pendrive-linux/

when I do the find /casper/vmlinuz, nothing shows up.

 

From what I can infer, I think you need a USB bootable machine.

 

There are two ways to go, depending on your situation:

I have a USB key with a Linux distro running under QEMU. This lets me run off of a Windows box without rebooting (great for computer labs/internet cafes where you can not set bios to boot USB or even get to the CD drive in some cases). Great for truly portable Linux.

If you want a fuller Linux, consider using a distro that allows a persistent mode on the live version. The Sabayon DVD has tons of software and allows you to place /home on a USB stick, and it is one of many that have this option. With a 2GB Flash Drive, that allows you to have a full distro with plenty of file storage. Most distros get pretty big when installed, so 2GB limits your options. The CD/DVD + USB option is great if you want to seriously try Linux (or run on a shared family computer) without touching the hard drive, but you have access to the optical drive and can set bios if needed.

Have fun.

 

It is too slow to use Linux from liveCD (unless you boot it into RAM).

I would recommend smaller distros to try first: damn small linux or puppy linux.
After you boot them from CD they have an option to be installed on USB stick in few clicks.

One should also take into account that USB sticks have different speeds from 1 Mbps to 30 Mbps. I use one of the fastests by GEIL (another fast one I know is Buffalo, and there is a fast one by Sony but I forgot its name) to boot puppy linux from it.

 

I've already gotten a debian install, dual boot with W2K eek: ).

The internet Debian install went flawlessly as far as that is concerned. My problem is some way to boot with out a hard drive and no CD. Using a floppy to get to a loader of some type, then using that to pass control to a USB stick, or a CF card in a PCMCIA slot. Using Grub, SmartBootManager, and SuperGrubDisk do not seem to see the bootable flash or CF partition, although they can see my windows and linux partitions on the hard drive. I think Amol appears to be right that the bios needs to be bootable from USB, although the pendrivelinux site seemed to say some systems could be started this way (without a USB boot option).
I hope this is making some sense in description, if not in actual practice. I'll keep trying but don't see a way to make it work yet.

 

It feels really ackward having 4 os. Ubuntu, window xp, window vista.
Guess where the one more os is. (ubuntu)
external hard drive

 

I think 4 OS is overkill. Dual Boot should be sufficient.

I want to try Haiku/BeOS

 

It actually paid out
ex: halo 2 pc, which i could boot to vista to play or reboot and go to xp for something else

 

Whatever floats your boat, my friend =)

 

Okay, I'm not sure of the difference, but I guess I'll have to learn. A 512mb flash drive with DSL is bootable via USB from the DSL usb boot image floppy. The laptop (Panasonic CF-28/800mhz) is not normally USB bootable, so this has possibilities.

 

booting from usb stick is faster and more fun, unless you have really slow usb stick.

 

there are also qnx, syllable and skyos to try!!!

 

Hi everyone, I was able to create a ubuntu 'live cd' that boots from a flash drive. It's the same as booting from the cd, but it runs a lot faster from a flash drive, and there is no spin up 'lag' when running apps. It's pretty easy to do, and the directions are from HERE, if you want to play around with it. I found those directions slightly confusing for a noob since some of them include installing from a linux environment, plus they are a little old with updated comments added in.

Here is how I did it from windows xp if anyone wants to give it a try. I tried to explain it as clear as I could.

1. Download the ubuntu 7.10 image (.iso) and save to your desktop.
2. Download the latest version of 'syslinux' and save to your desktop: http://syslinux.zytor.com/download.php
3. Insert your (minimum 1 gig) flash drive into your computer. Click on 'my computer' and find your flash drive.
. Note which drive letter your flash drive is: (E,F ?)
. Right click on the flash drive and choose 'format'. (NOTE: THIS WILL ERASE EVERYTHING ON YOUR FLASH DRIVE).
. Choose FAT filesystem. and hit format.
4. Unzip the syslinux zip to a folder on your desktop.
. open a command window (start > run) then enter CMD and hit enter.
. manually change the directory to \win32\ in the syslinux folder on the desktop: cd desktop\syslinux-3.62\win32
. run syslinux to make the flash drive bootable. type: syslinux -s F: and hit enter. (assuming your flash drive is F: drive).
5. Copy all the files in the ubuntu .ISO file to the flash drive. (DONT COPY THE .ISO FILE, YOU NEED TO OPEN IT AND COPY THE FILES). I used 7-zip to open the iso and extract the files ( www.7-zip.org), I tried winrar first, but it seemed to hang so i switched to 7zip which was a lot faster. Be sure to copy all hidden files and directories. You may have to check 'show hidden files and folders' in your windows folder options.
6. Copy all the files in the flash drive's \install\ directory to the root directory of the flash drive.
7. Rename the isolinux directory to syslinux and the two files in that directory: isolinux.bin and isolinux.cfg to syslinux.bin and syslinux.cfg respectively.
8. Copy the files vmlinuz and initrd.gz from the \casper\ directory to the root directory. (this may not be needed, but do it anyway).
9. Edit syslinux.cfg and change the line: kernel /install/mt86plus to: kernel /mt86plus

Thats all! now reboot your computer and boot from the flash!
This is assuming your computer can boot from flash, you know how to set a boot order in the bios, and you know how to access your boot menu when you first boot. (it's F12 on both my laptops).

Again this is the same as booting from the cd, but I think it gives you a better feel on how fast and smooth linux is without having to deal with cd spinup lag.
It's also possible to do a permanent install that saves your data. read up on that over at PenDriveLinux

If you found this helpful, post back and let me know how it went for you.

 

>.> then i should feel really akward... wanted to know what would run best on my laptop so i got....
M$ Vista
M$ XP
Ubuntu 7.10
Ubuntu 8.04
Debian
Fedora
Mepis
Mandriva
PCLinuxOS 2007
OpenSuse

Never mix A big hard Drive, Fast Internet, and No Life... you should see my boot loader xD

thinking about adding Gentoo to the list, i hear thats really good for laptops.

 

Is there anyway to run it from a flash drive inside windows?

 

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/ has instructions on using several distros with QEMU under Windows. The size of your flash drive will limit your selection of Linux, but there are a number of good options that will fit, especially as the bigger drives keep getting cheaper.

 

I have used Puppy Linux on a flash drive...