Operation USB Drive Linux

[infra_red_dude]

if u are going wid zenwalk then the default window manager is xfce. that is pretty usable and customisable. plus if change ur mind abt eyecandy it can do that too. to get an idea, jus check out the screenshots of the latest version of dreamlinux. this uses xfce wid not that much customisation. its a light, clean and usable WM.

regarding ur requirements, whatever u've mentioned... u'll get almost everything in pclinuxos. installing everything in zenwalk then removing stuff etc.. is unnecessary. 1gb is overkill for ur requirements. try out pclinux os first. if it doesn't suit then try customising zenwalkm. u may also try gentoo. the perfect distro for customisation.

edit: if u are so inclined at pclinuxos but worry abt kde then try Granular. it can be called 'pclinuxos wid xfce preinstalled'. i dunno if a readymade usb install is available. but u can try it.

 

[gxsaurav]

Hmm...Ok, let me try PCLinux OS first, if it is good then balle balle....

I will try Granular if PCLinuxOS doesn't work for me. Granular is 697 MB, so it must be having everything, but since its XFCE, the RAM usage will be low. Can't I lower the RAM usage in KDE?

See i can live with a non good looking themes, as long as I get good windrow management & all the apps I need

 

[vaithy]

Hmm...Ok, let me try PCLinux OS first, if it is good then balle balle....

I will try Granular if PCLinuxOS doesn't work for me. Granular is 697 MB, so it must be having everything, but since its KFCE, the RAM usage will be low. Can't I lower the RAM usage in KDE?

See i can live with a non good looking themse, as long as I get good WIndow management & all the apps I need

When I first encounter Pclinux OS it ended with failure because my 128 DDR RAM.. not only PCLinux's all the KDE variants act as the same way.. Only after increasing the RAM I can able to taste the fruit of installation..Granular has lot of eyehandy wall papers, iconset themes, a la Vista look, so it RAM requirements heavy not withstanding it had KDE and XFCE,, If you wanted MAC killer look and its functionality just simply install DreamLinux you wouldn't regret it..Out of Nine distros in my system this is the best distro that I havn't change for any other distro (Every week installing new distros is a hobby for me no other distro except PClinux Lilnux Mint and now dreamlinux remain same partition for more than Ten days)

wish you bests!!
Vaithy

 

[gxsaurav]

aaaaa, this is what I hate about Linux, so many distros...plz let me tackle them one by one

When I first encounter Pclinux OS it ended with failure because my 128 DDR RAM.. not only PCLinux's all the KDE variants act as the same way.. Only after increasing the RAM I can able to taste the fruit of installation

That was full PClinuxOS, what I m downloading is just 300 MB of PCLinuxOS MiniMe CD which is faster & slimmer then the real version.

I don't want really awsome eye candy. Just want a functional system, thats why I m eve ready to use XFCE if required. Let me try to install & boot PCLinuxOS first on my external HD & boot from it. No matter what I use, performance will be slow anyway due to working on the USB BUs

 

[Garbage]

Yeh... If you want look 'n feel with XFCE then always try for DreamLinux.
It is the BEST LOOKING DISTRO I ever seen. Pretty low on resources & plays MP3, Movies also

 

[gary4gar]

aaaaa, this is what I hate about Linux, so many distros...plz let me tackle them one by one

Too many choices tend to confuse, so shortlist 3 distro & stick to them

 

[gxsaurav]

PCLinux OS compleated downloading just now. Hmm...wonder how it is different from any other KDE distribution.

Anyway, i tried it in VMWare right now, looks good. I will install it in the external HD tomorrow after exam, good night.

 

[vish786]

Operation damn small linux on USB... Mission Impossible

i tried running dsl from usb but i get this error message

Invalid or Damaged boot partition

this r the method how i installed / copied dsl on USB.

I tried with dsl 3.0 and dsl 3.4, both didnt work for me.

From within Windows

Note: This guide assumes that your USB Flash Drive is "F:". Please replace "F" with the correct drive letter. There are two methods. For either method, you will need:

• A USB flash drive (also called flash disk, pendrive, USB stick...)
• Download "dsl-embedded.zip" from *www.damnsmalllinux.org/download.html (49Mb - The Torrent is recommended, and is often the fastest)

[edit]
Method I

1. Format your flash drive, from cmd.exe (the "DOS" window) type:FORMAT F: /fs:FAT32
2. Unzip "dsl-embedded.zip" to your flash drive (you could use the "Extract all files" built into XP with the destination as "F:\")
3. Download Syslinux - Syslinux can also be used by various other platforms, such as Unix.
4. Go to a command prompt and run syslinux for your drive from \win32\syslinux.exe (SYSLINUX F:)
5. reboot.

Note: Booting from USB may or may not work on your computer, mostly dependent on its age and bios setup. Some systems may have problems booting from USB drives formatted as FAT32. Changing the format step to FORMAT F: /fs:FAT may allow DSL to boot.

Method II

For this method, you will need "HP USB Key Utility for Windows", from *h18007.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/23839.html?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

1. Install "HP USB Key Utility for Windows"
2. Plug in the flash disk and let windows find it (check the letter assigned to your flash disk i.e. F
3. Run Start Menu-> Programs -> HP System Tools -> HP Drive Key Boot Utility
   1. On Welcome Screen - click Next
   2. Select your flash drive letter (in my case F - click Next
   3. Choose Create New or Replace Existing Configuration - click Next
   4. Choose Hard Drive - click Next
   5. Choose Create New Filesystem - click Next
   6. Wait until the drive is formated...
   7. Choose HP Firmware Flash Package - click Next, click Finish.
4. Now extract the content of the dsl-embedded.zip file directly onto your flash disk (F: in my case) overwriting all files(!!).
5. Done! Your DamnSmallLinux on USB is ready Reboot and try it!!

NOTE: This method would not work for me using DSL v3.3 with a Sandisk Cruizer Titanium USB drive.

Convert .iso to USB installation

With the guide from [1] you can install the .iso contents non-destructiveley onto a USB partition. Leave out all the partitioning or formating stuff to prepare an existing and used USB drive for DSL booting:
Note: All path names are examples! Please adapt or you may corrupt existing partitions or files.

• Mount USB drive, with e.g. mount /dev/sda1 /flash - can be either FAT16 or FAT32!
• Mount ISO image, with e.g. mount /tmp/dsl-3.2.iso /tmp/iso -o loop
• Copy all contents from ISO to USB drive: cp -vr /tmp/iso/* /flash/
• Rename and move syslinux files to root directory: mv /flash/boot/isolinux/* /flash/
• Rename isolinux.cfg: mv /flash/isolinux.cfg /flash/syslinux.cfg
• Unmount USB drive: umount /flash
• Install syslinux: syslinux /dev/sda1 and eventually set the MBR boot flag for this partition (with fdisk).

but it runs in windows properly using qemu inbuilt in usb... but give the damn same error with all the methods while booting directly after bios.

Mission Impossible == Failure.

Change of plans

After infra_red_dude's advice, I have decided that I will not install Linux on my pen drive, it can really hamper the life of the USB Drive this way.

I have a 40 GB external HD which has one 25 GB FAT32 partition & one 13 GB FAT32 Partition. I have decided that I will install some sort of Linux in that 13 GB partition & leave the rest of 25 GB partition for file storage.

As said, I m right now downloading PCLinuxOS MiniMe CD

hey dude since ur not using usb... then why download mini version of pclinuxos... download the full version, i mean complete cd its around 700 MB thats it.

 

[gxsaurav]

Re: Operation damn small linux on USB... Mission Impossible

^^^ I am still using USB. External USB Harddisk

I don't know whats the problem. I made a bootable CD of PCLinuxOS then I unplugged my real harddisk (just in case) & plugged my External HD via USB. Now I booted in PCLinuxOS & told it to install to a USB Disk as well as Hard disk & tried giving the path of my external HD, guess what...no external HD at /dev/sda1

Then I tried using the method given at pendrivelinux.com. It said "Cannot find kernel Image", so I wrote vmlinuz which ended up giving a BSOD

Any help? How do I boot from USB

 

[mediator]

Here's a link that might help!

 

[gxsaurav]

reading that right now