Run Linux for free on your USB stick drive

[Bob Crabtree]

Pendrivelinux.com has a tutorial showing how you can easily set up Linux to boot from a USB stick drive.

Links are provided to the only two downloads required (both free), one a suitable Mandriva-based Linux distribution.

Three things are needed in addition to a stick drive (which has to be off 512MB or larger). The first is an X86 PC that's able to boot from stick drives. The other items are those downloads.

One is a small (2MB) USB tool from HP that lets you reformat the stick drive as FAT or FAT 32, the other the full Linux installer weighing in at 306MB.

A nice little project for this weekend, maybe?

More in this HEXUS.lifestyle.headline.

[Craig321]

nice, might come in handy

[Bob Crabtree]

I'm writing this from within the Konqueror - the browser that is built into the above mentioned Linux distribution - and which, of course, I'm running on a USB stick drive.

Two little tips:

1/ In the Bios, choose to boot from USB hard disk

2/ To logon when the OS first boots up, use root as the user name and root as the password.

It's been a longish while since I've fiddled with Linux so there's lots of stuff to figure out (again) - starting wiht, where Konqueror lives, so I can install MacroMedia Flash, which I think is needed on these forums.

D'oh!

Bob

[Bob Crabtree]

Blimey, and on my Clawhammer Athlon 64 3200+, this really is very nippy, even though it's running from a USB stick drive.

I'm impressed. So far. Even though I've not yet figured out where Konqueror lives.

[Kumagoro]

Its just a shame that still lots of PC's dont boot from USB. I was very
disappointed that my 6 month old laptop cant. I even searched for a hacked
bios but couldnt find anything.

[Bob Crabtree]

Its just a shame that still lots of PC's dont boot from USB. I was very
disappointed that my 6 month old laptop cant. I even searched for a hacked
bios but couldnt find anything.

Agree - I'd be mightily hacked off.

And, in truth, it's not easy when choosing what to buy to get info about the bios as detailed as whether or not it will do this.

Food for thought, perhaps, for HEXUS motherboard and system reviews?

[Bluecube]

How quickly does it boot from start to login?

[johnny02004976]

cheers for this Bob gonna give it a try - just ordered myself a 1gb USB pen - was only £10, i can remember paying £50 for a 128mb one a few years ago how things have changed. Cant wait to try this tho

[Bob Crabtree]

How quickly does it boot from start to login?

I haven't timed it - and the PC I was using it on is my main work PC, so can't quickly run it up, in part because my main PC (a VERY busy XP machine) takes so long to shut down and start up!

I'd guess a couple of minutes or more, though.

I've also hit one minor hurdle (well, I'm hoping it's minor) - changes you make, such as to the screen resolution, and the things you save to the OS's desktop, are NOT retained after a reboot.

I did spot a little app - already installed - that does appear as though it might fix that, but it would seem to require you to make said changes as Guest, rather than the top Root account.

I may be able to find time this weekend to look into this, but I kind of doubt it.

[Bob Crabtree]

cheers for this Bob gonna give it a try - just ordered myself a 1gb USB pen - was only £10, i can remember paying £50 for a 128mb one a few years ago how things have changed. Cant wait to try this tho

It's a no-brainer, and good fun, though I'm not sure jyet ust how useful it is.

As for saying to me things like, "ooh, haven't things changed", do take care, cos I'll only start boring you with tales of the cost of things back in 1997 (like PC100 RAM costing £125, ex VAT, for 4MB).