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Linux off CD or USB

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wsm23
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Linux off CD or USB

I am interested in trying out Linux within Windows XP SP2.

I know there are a few very good Linux geeks here Smile

I have 3 machined I use regularly. I am not really concerned about leaving files on the host PC. Two of the machines are my personal ones and the third is a work PC that they do not care what I do with.

I would like it to be portable of some sort though.

DVD might be an option.
CD definitely.
USB up to CD size might work.

I want to be able to access my files if I need to. I have already downloaded and tried Knoppix, but I could only burn files to a CD or DVD.

I was looking at DSL, but I don't know if it will do what I want.

Any suggestions?

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Simeon
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DSL

Get it from here, burn it to a CD-RW and try it.
Every major distribution has a live cd/DVD to try.

"There is a computer disease that anybody who works with computers knows about. It's a very serious disease and it interferes completely with the work. The trouble with computers is that you 'play' with them!" - Richard P. Feynman

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wsm23
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Tried DSL

Tried DSL last night. The "embedded" version. Man is that SLOW. also switch back to Windows was difficult at first until I remembered alt+tab. I will have to try it embedded from a CD.

I want Linux to run in it's own window within Windows or is that asking too much from Windows?

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Life is about the journey not the destination!

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The Kazoo Spartan

Life is about the journey not the destination!

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Simeon
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Thats the problem

about embedded versions: They are pretty slow cause the emulation needs system resources too. I think you can use QEMU portable and let it boot from a cd you insert in your drive but I don't know any details.

"There is a computer disease that anybody who works with computers knows about. It's a very serious disease and it interferes completely with the work. The trouble with computers is that you 'play

"What about Love?" - "Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate." - Al Pacino in The Devils Advocate

emuostrich
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File Access..

The only files I've ever been able to reach while running live Linux (Ubuntu CD, Knoppix CD, and DSL Qemu emulation) have been on my flash drive. For all other (hard drives) it says my drives are not mounted... Not sure why.

---

Adam

Thanks,

Adam

wsm23
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Same here.

Any work around this?

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Life is about the journey not the destination!

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The Kazoo Spartan

Life is about the journey not the destination!

The Kazoo Spartan

alanbcohen
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mounting hard drives from within livecd's/DVD's

In order to allow a user to have access to a physical drive/partition within linux, you need to 'mount' it. There are a number of issues to be concerned with:
- the name of the partition (often like hda1 or hda5),
- the location in the filesystem it needs to mounted to (a directory in the tree structure that has no other contents. You have to have permissions to access that directory too.),
- the encoding used to format the partition (NTFS, FAT, FAT32). There are additional issues around NTFS partitions,
- whether the partition is to R/O or R/W from linux,
- if you as a user have permissions to mount anything.

There is too much to answer here. I'd suggest looking at the online MANual for this command. Take a look at:

http://www.ss64.com/bash/mount.html

Good luck!

wsm23
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Thanks.

I will read it.

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Life is about the journey not the destination!

My site * My Blog

The Kazoo Spartan

Life is about the journey not the destination!

The Kazoo Spartan

Kevin Porter
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I could use a few

I could use a few suggestions too. I'm going to be trying out Ubuntu for sure and maybe Knoppix. I've tried DSL on a flash drive (from www.pendrivelinux.com). Didn't work. I figured it was my machine. But I tried Ubuntu (CD) on a friend's PC (with him around, of course :smile:) and that was as slow as molasses in the middle of a blizzard. It didn't even run. It just came up with an error screen. Any suggestions?

Kevin Porter
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alanbcohen
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A lot depends on the processor speed and installed memory

As much as I like linux, I have to admit a lot depends of how fast your machine is and the amount of memory. Also, any liveCD will be slower than an install (and even be impacted by the speed of the drive). The same is true of running in any emulator, like QEMU, or even as a virtual machine using VMPlayer, Virtual Iron, or Virtual Box.

And Linux will look and act different, based on which Window Manager (e.g., KDE, Gnome, Fluxbox, XFCE) is being used by the particular distribution. So, don't let your experience with one distro color your view of the Linux world. Not everybody likes the same thing!

Okay, down to the details;
Try DSL on CD first. It uses the least resources of the major liveCD's and because it uses the 2.24 series kernel, it will run on older equipment. It is only 50 meg and if you need to download and burn a copy, it will be the fastest to do that! PLEASE REMEMBER TO FOLLOW YOUR BURNING SOFTWARE DIRECTIONS FOR ISO IMAGES. ISO's and other drive images are burned differently than other types of files.

There are others worth trying; my particular favorite is called PCLinuxOS and uses KDE as it's Window Manager. It is in the middle of some website problems (caused by growing popularity), repository upheaval (crashes at Ibiblio, won't affect a liveCD user, just those installed), and in the middle of a series of Test Releases for the 2007 edition. If you can find a copy of PCLOS 0.93a 'Big Daddy', it would be worth a try.

Be aware that ALL liveCD's have some difficulties with some wireless chipsets, so don't expect a liveCD will work with yours - an Ethernet cable goes a long way.

Gosh, this is a lot longer than I realized! I'll cut off here.

Kevin Porter
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Thanks. I was thinking of

Thanks. I was thinking of doing PCLinuxOS too. Then I'll try DSL too. Thanks again.

Kevin Porter
"What can you say about a society that says that God is dead and Elvis is alive?"
--Irv Kupcinet

-Please search before posting

"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning." - Rick Cook

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