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Thread: booting from a usb flash disk?

  1. #1
    w33d smoka
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    booting from a usb flash disk?

    hi there

    i was just wondering if its possible to boot my win98 startup disk from a usb flashdisk instaead of having to use my prehistoric floppy drive,i hate having to dismantle my shuttle just to plug in a floppy drive when i want to format.

    i appologise if this is in the wrong forum.

    thnx.

    mic.

  2. #2
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    It should be possible, provided the USB is formatted as a boot disk with the relevant files copied to it.

    Looky here for the HP format utility (works with all USB flask disks):

    http://h18007.www1.hp.com/support/fi...oad/20306.html

    Looky here for boot disk files (or you can copy from your existing W98 disk):

    http://www.bootdisk.com/

    Remember to set USB FD as the first boot device in Windows.

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    Not Very Senior Member RavenNight's Avatar
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    You may also need to set your BIOS to allow booting from USB and out the USB higher up the order than it is at the mo. Booting of USB is great, there are even several distros of Linux which can be run off USB sticks as small as 64mb.
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    w33d smoka
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    thank you very much fellas,,can you tell me please what it is that people benefit from using linux or other op systems than windows xp.

    ie, is it smaller in size than xp once installed,can you still do all the things you can with windows like gaming/burning dvd,s/surfing web/does linux support x2 processors,ive realy been curious about this for some time and would like to try it out if possible.

    i appreciate your time and info thnx.

    mic.

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    Ah, Mrs. Peel! mike_w's Avatar
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    The quick version (in my opinion): Linux can do virtually anything as well as Windows, except gaming. I surf the web, burn CDs (no DVDs to write), program Python, use OpenOffice.org, and, although I can't do that many, I can still run some games - UT2004, Homeworld, Warcraft II.

    By the way, if you've got an ATi card, you're not going to do all that well with Linux and gaming.
    "Well, there was your Uncle Tiberius who died wrapped in cabbage leaves but we assumed that was a freak accident."

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    w33d smoka
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    oh bugger,it just so happens my card is an ati x800xl,i realy fancied tryin this too.

    i do have a second system in the way of an sn41g2 with onboard geforce graffix,would this be acceptable?

    thnx.

    mic.

  7. #7
    Ah, Mrs. Peel! mike_w's Avatar
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    Depends what Geforce it is. Just for a comparison of drivers... ATi have only just released drivers with support for X1Ks. To quote:

    Quote Originally Posted by directhex
    x1800xl benches about 50-75% slower than 6800gt in gpu-limited stuffs
    "Well, there was your Uncle Tiberius who died wrapped in cabbage leaves but we assumed that was a freak accident."

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    Gold Member Marcos's Avatar
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    Whats with linux being crap at handling MS word docs?

    I was trying to print my CV off on a uni linux comp and its office program decided it has its own standard for line spacing and margin sizes.

    never did make it fit on 2 pages, had to quit in the end

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    Try one of the "live disc" options which allow you to create a bootable CD / DVD and run on your windows PCS without disrupting your current installation until you are happy.

    For me the big difference (good and bad) is that Linux can be configured to do exactly what I want - but it assumes I know what I am doing, there are few safety nets! How many times have you found youself swearing at a windows PC that you don't want advice - you just want it to do what you said, and you dont want to say "yes" 3 times before it agrees.

    or is this just me?

    Quote Originally Posted by micovwar
    thank you very much fellas,,can you tell me please what it is that people benefit from using linux or other op systems than windows xp.

    ie, is it smaller in size than xp once installed,can you still do all the things you can with windows like gaming/burning dvd,s/surfing web/does linux support x2 processors,ive realy been curious about this for some time and would like to try it out if possible.

    i appreciate your time and info thnx.

    mic.

  10. #10
    Seething Cauldron of Hatred TheAnimus's Avatar
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    Damn small linux is designed for pen drive use. Have a look:
    http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/
    its an intresting asside.

    As for booting a win98 environment from floppy, what is it ur needing it for? Could you use an emulator like DosBox?
    throw new ArgumentException (String, String, Exception)

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    Not Very Senior Member RavenNight's Avatar
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    DSL is great, I'm a fan of Puppylinux, the main advantage of a Linux distro on a oen drive is that you take everything with you, not just your files but your OS, all your programs settings etc. You need never be frustrated that the computer your using can't open a specific file format etc. Its also great for getting usable performance out of old machines, I run Linux on my laptopp and it beats the pants off Win98 for usability.

    Another major advantage of Linux is incerdibly wasy programming.
    AMD 3700+ San Diego @ 2.8GHz | Zalman CNPS 9500LED + Arctic Cooling MX-1 | Asus A8N-SLi Deluxe + Zalman Northbridge | 1024MB DDR RAM (2 x 512MB Corsair XMS Pro TwinX) | Leadtek nVidia 6600GT 128MB | Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Music | 2x80GB Hitachi Deskstar SATA-II (RAID 0) | Gigabyte 3D Aurora Case | Hiper Type-R 580W Modular | Enermax Ultimate Fan Controller| Microsoft Nautral 4000 | Logitech G5 + fUnc 1030| Ideazon Fang | SpeedLink Medusa 5.1 Surround Headset | Samsung SM913N 19" TFT | Compro DVB-T200

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  12. #12
    Seething Cauldron of Hatred TheAnimus's Avatar
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    bollocks is DSL good for getting performance out of old machines.

    NT4 runs so much more useably on an eden533mhz on a 512meg CF card.
    throw new ArgumentException (String, String, Exception)

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    Linux is a great OS free, can run with old hardware, has spanned multiple platforms; PPC, PS2, Xbox (ok its almost x86) as well as so many others

    But with or without WINE it cannot compete IMO with windows for the gaming area.. and its also not that easy to configure (well it isnt for me) and who else hates the /hda/ /hdb/ slayout c:\ and d:\ are so much easier..

  14. #14
    Ah, Mrs. Peel! mike_w's Avatar
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    I prefer the Linux layout - it makes it a lot easier to integrate all the different partitions e.g. by having a separate partition for /home, whereas My Documents is automatically on the same partition as Windows (or WinNT).
    "Well, there was your Uncle Tiberius who died wrapped in cabbage leaves but we assumed that was a freak accident."

  15. #15
    Seething Cauldron of Hatred TheAnimus's Avatar
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    NT ripped off unix in the same way with Documents and Settings for XP users, can easily be migrated to any source or partition. (ie, what u mean mike_w?)

    But this is just going waaaaay off topic.

    On USB booting, why are you needing win98 in the first place, if its games, try DosBox, its great, if its because you want to boot the whole OS from a small pen stick, then try DSL (Damn Small Linux). But that isn't exactly snappy to run imo, and has more security concernes than a bunch of animal rights hippies outside a ginea pig farm.
    throw new ArgumentException (String, String, Exception)

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