What is Digg?Related by Keyword 
How are these related stories? Tell us!
- jimrooney, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15Yeah, works great... IF thier computer can boot USB.
LiveCDs are nice to have around just in case.- exsst, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9Nah, with USB you can easily change your setup.. and with a live cd, you need to reburn to mae any modifications.
Unless you use a CDRW - rewritable, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9Use a floppy to boot the USB stick.
- rageguy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Use a live cd to boot the USB stick. (Best of both worlds)
- surfit, on 10/12/2007, -5/+27Use the floppy to boot the CD to boot the USB, and carry a laptop with you just in case you need to update any of them. :P
- jimrooney, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7I hadn't realized that you can boot a usb via cdrom/floppy.
I've been wanting to usbboot my laptop, but I didn't want to flash the bios (no usb boot at the moment).
Thanks
Jim - jimrooney, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7Ok, silly question here...
How?
I can find lots of info on how to create a bootable USB drive, but I'm having trouble finding info on booting it vai floppy/cd instead of bios.
Thanks
Jim - sbrown123, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I think Damn Small Linux, Knoppix, and a few other Linux distros will let you boot it from a CD but than load+save changes and settings to the USB drive.
- DaMacGamer, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2this is a dupe:
http://digg.com/linux_unix/Borrowing_a_PC_Put_Linux_on_it_via_a_USB_drive - tybris, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Puppy Linux can burn your personal files back to a multi-session CD/DVD. (or on USB flash/USB drive/NTFS partition/Linux partition for that matter).
- nofxjunkee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2If this is a serious problem for someone they should get one of those Black Dog computers. The small 400MHz PPC running Debian that can use a PC running Windows (and other OSs) as a host for the DKM. (I know this sounds like an ad, but I just think these things look cool and fit the need here pretty well)
http://www.projectblackdog.com/ - praxis22, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0@jimrooney:
Check this page:
http://featherlinux.berlios.de/download.htm
It has floppy images that allow you to boot from USB
- exsst, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9Nah, with USB you can easily change your setup.. and with a live cd, you need to reburn to mae any modifications.
- jimrooney, on 10/12/2007, -8/+5A lot of computers won't boot usb.
- praxis22, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@jimrooney "A lot of computers won't boot usb"
My cheapo ASRock AGP Mobo (939A8X-M) will boot USB, I discovered this by leaving a USB stick in then rebooting, then I had to scratch my head for a bit wondering why it was complaining that my drive had no OS installed :)
I was actually thinking of doing this only the other day, since I want to move away from XP, (no Vista for me.) However, this means I'd need to mess about with OS virtualisation untill Linux comes up with a simpler way of burning DVD's, etc. Not mention getting my Sims2 fix :)
I could dual boot, but for what I need, I don't really want to give XP drive space. Then I thought that since you can now get 4Gb USB drives for very little cash and soon there will be 8Gb drives, that's more than enough to host an OS, I wouldn't need to install an OS at all I could just use the full size of the drives for data. Simply boot the OS I needed from USB at the time that I needed it. I could even take my OS'es with me wherever I went.
So as a story it's remarkably timely, I'd hoped for some enlightened comment as opposed to the usual holy wars between the Microsoft and Linux zealots, but this is digg, not slashdot.. - d2nd, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1praxis22: what are you talking about? There are many applications were it is useful to run XP from flash memory, but "I don't really want to give XP drive space" is not a valid reason. Unless you tweak XP, there will be alot of read/writes to the installed partition, flash memory is slower and doesnt last as long as a a hard drive.
- praxis22, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@d2nd:
It may not be a valid reason to you, but to me the idea of having a machine that has no OS installed by default, is actually kinda cool. As for the "it doesn't last as long" well, it won't need too, beyond a certain point what I need from XP will (eventually) be matched by apps for Linux. Not to mention the fact that at the price of a 4Gb stick now, by the time I need to replace it, I'll be able to pick another cheaper one for peanuts.
I can appreciate the "but why would you want to?" sentiment, but my answer to that is the same one to justify climbing mountains and/or jumping out of perfectly good planes. :)
YMMV - d2nd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1word. i stand corrected, simply for the "coolness" of it is a perfectly valid reason. you are right, gigs of flash memory will be cheap by the time it will need to be replaced, maybe not peanuts cheap, but less than a tank of gas. Speed is still kinda a problem.
SD cards with integrated USB would be ideal, once the capacity increases some you could carry your OS in your wallet. - praxis22, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Actually I just found this from OCZ:
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/flash_drives/ocz_rally2_usb_2_0_dual_channel_flash_memory_drive
Dual Channel USB2, 28Mb/s read, 15Mb/s write. Lifetime warranty.
I think I have found my drive :)
- praxis22, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@jimrooney "A lot of computers won't boot usb"
- Settra, on 10/12/2007, -13/+12Wow. Comparing using someone's computer to using their toothbrush. Stupid..
- PJBonoVox, on 10/12/2007, -6/+15Yeah, not to mention the fact this this guy seems to think that the 'grimy keyboard' will be fixed with a Linux USB key.
No digg, just for the elitism. - Narpas, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I disagree. I did a big computer census for her office, and many of the computers were hella gross, both internally and externally.
- PJBonoVox, on 10/12/2007, -6/+15Yeah, not to mention the fact this this guy seems to think that the 'grimy keyboard' will be fixed with a Linux USB key.
- realpaladin, on 10/12/2007, -8/+6Good article for anybody not already aware this was possible. And yeah, using some people's computers is like using their toothbrush. You should see some of my relatives computers, especially the ones who smoke.
- tybris, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3and this article solves that because...
- thenamestj, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Definitly old news. How about this....learn how to use windows and linux.
- timf, on 10/12/2007, -15/+1Since when is borrowing someone's toothbrush considered a good thing?
- wurzelgummage, on 10/12/2007, -2/+32I suppose linux solves the grimy keyboard problem by putting up a barrier between the keys and fingers, using your own sense of self-satisfaction.
- fraggle35, on 10/12/2007, -4/+18The easiest thing is not to be a ***** and just use the P.C.
I wouldn't let anybody, ANYBODY, boot of a stick or a disc.- Handcannons, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4No kidding. Just what you want to do, give someone complete and utter control over your PC. "oops, sorry I just fdisked your drive from my l33t USB Linux distro, you didn't want to use Windows anymore anyway, right?"
- zeiben, on 10/12/2007, -6/+15"If you're a Linux desktop user and are forced to use someone's Windows machine, the experience may be more on par with borrowing a toothbrush."
If you're this big of a linux douchebag, I say you can walk home and use your own f*cking computer. - yathosho, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3is there any bigger, but nicer looking distro (using kde). i mean there are 2gb usb sticks and stuff :)
- drizek, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3slax, and it is still less than 256mb. It has modules so you can add any app you want. multimedia/OOo/nvidia drivers, etc.
- blackjack75, on 10/12/2007, -2/+32The title is misleading. It suggests you can be both a linux user and have friends.
- thund3rstruck, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2Can someone explain exactly how to boot to usb thumbdrive by booting from floppy or CD? I needed to boot to usb while flashing my XBOX360 drive but none of my pc's can boot from a USB thumbdrive.
- zackk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This explains http://www.althack.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=24&Itemid=27
- r3drum, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9@zeiben
"If you're this big of a linux douchebag, I say you can walk home and use your own f*cking computer."
If the tables were turned and you had to use someones linux computer, would you? Or would you prefer to be able to use windows that you are more familiar with.- neko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I don't have to walk home, I can SSH home =)
Seriously though, I don't think carrying around your OS so you can boot it on poor unsuspecting friends' computers is useful -except- when you're trying to recover said machine from some horrible situation and the friend has begged you to come and fix it.
In normal situations, it's not really the best thing to do. While I could boot off a USB stick and cackle manically as my friend thinks Linux is installing all over their precious computer, I would be just as nervous trusting my home Debian machine with my friend's "Windows Live CD" - I just flat out would not trust it to leave the hard drive alone, and neither would a non-Linux user be comfortable with a Linux Live CD.
Of course, the only "Windows Live CD" I know of is BartPE, which I tried, and seemed kinda nice I guess, but... why bother? What am I going to use it for? Plus there's the licensing problems.
Generally, it would be much better to use the Internet and SSH / VNC back to your comfortable home machine (of course, you'll probably need PuTTY on that usb stick, they won't have it). Or for a Windows user borrowing a Linux machine, I suppose they could use grdesktop. - zeiben, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Sure. Of course, if an RDP client is available, I always just terminal into my computer at work so I can get access to all my crap.
- theblackgecko, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I don't mind using other people's Windows. However, I like to keep my browser separate. Thank goodness for Portable Firefox.
- neko, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I don't have to walk home, I can SSH home =)
- komputes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"Both of these Linux distributions can be modified and augmented to boot up from a USB drive instead of a CD, but some tinkering is required."
Why write the article if you're not going to go all the way and explain what needs to be changed for the USB disk to be bootable... Anyone have a tutorial on how to do this I would like to try it out.- tybris, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Just get Puppy Linux or Knoppix, no tinkering required.
- sjalloul, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@ exsst
You can't use a CDRW since this is essentially a virtual machine, some files will expand and to have this on a CDRW would just fail every time....how will the file expand this is not a flash state memory? So the only way would be a usb flash state medium. Plus you won't be able to re burn data unless the files are running of the desktop, then you would be able to re-burn the data to the CDRW. - mediahack, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2yes, a link to the "boot to usb floppy" would be great. The one's that I have seen are home rolled and do not give directions on how to make your own. I would guess that there is a floppy .iso type file out there but dang'd if I can find it.
- sherwinn, on 10/12/2007, -5/+4God this is stupid.
- TheG2, on 10/12/2007, -3/+7I've said it before, if you can't go 5 minutes on a computer that isn't running Linix, you've lost your usefulness to society and need to be shot.
- damentz, on 10/12/2007, -3/+4Theg2, you dont understand that some people dont know how to maintain your computer, either its boot up usb to linux or such or u use a windows machine infected to the max, IE only, everythings just all ***** up. I'm sorry but so many people i know dont know how to maintain their comps, and i would rather use a live cd on their pc than try and navigate their *****.
- sixdays, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I'll say it now, if your so stupid you can't use Linux then you deserve to flip burgers at mcdonalds. Man you should be fired from the internet.
- praxis22, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0A large part of the reason why there is so much SPAM is that most computer users are funtioning illiterates when it comes to basic computer security. In the broadband age this is very bad news indeed. Added to this is the lousy security record of the company that makes the OS software most people use.
I'm willing to bet that most people who use Linux however are at least reasonably computer litterate, so it's less a matter of not being able to use something other than Linux as not wanting to. For a good 90% of the PC owning public this is not something that will ever bother them, simply because they are not even aware of the existence of Linux, let alone anything else.
It's easy to say that Linux is a better OS than windows, purely on a technical level this is demonstrably the case, however it's hardly a fair "apples to apples" comparison. Nor is it appropriate given the nature of the two OS'es development goals, etc.
It is regretable that Linux users are in the main just fanboys of another colour, as opposed to more enlightened geeks, but given that the most popular distro (ubuntu) is designed for "ordinary people" (so much so that it doesn't even a conventional root account) who are in the main young men with time on thier hands, it's not surprising that the "conversion process" is just as traumatic in some as that of a religious conversion.
Just as ex smokers make the worst "non smokers" so it appears that ex Windows users make the worst Linux users. But then again the "Stockholm syndrome" that causes some users of Windows to become such fanboys given the amount of misery & inconvenience the OS is likley to have caused them in the past is also a mystery.
In the meantime perhaps we could all just learn to be civil to one another, that would make a pleasant change.
- dcipjr, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3This article is pointless. I can't think of a good situation where someone would need to borrow my computer for any longer than 5 minutes – you know, to check email or something on the web. And for that, you shouldn't need anything other than a web browser. If you do, then it's common courtesy just to wait until you're at your home PC.
Plus, even if I let you use my computer, I don't want you messing with my OS setup. If someone wants to check email on my computer, and he proceeds to boot Linux from a thumbdrive, I'm going to proceed to boot his ass from my place. (It's safe to assume he's a guy, since there are no girls that would do something like this.) What a nerd – precisely the type of nerd who would have something dangerous like NTFS write support turned on for his Linux distro, precisely something that could wreck my PC.
Yeah, no thanks.- Smuuv, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1A good reason would be security, it's not your computer and it could be virus ridden. The machine could be a virtual Kentucky Derby with dozens of Trojan Horses. It would be a pain to have to reboot and wait but at least you can be sure you aren't just giving away your credentials. Just my 3 cents (price raise due to high gas prices).
- praxis22, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Actually NTFS support is now stable, but I take your point :)
- Matt2k, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2http://www.somethingawful.com/features/usarfreindley/
I'm using windows on my computer because bill gates is a smarty man!!! - TexasCanuck, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2/me puts on his black hat
I keep Ubuntu on a 2gb Sony USB keychain stick. *GREAT* subversion tool when walking into places with strange computers =) Slap in the USB stick, reboot to Ubuntu, run nmap, and you can pretty much start owning a network in minutes...
With a minimal install, theres still a respectable amount of room left on the USB stick to tgz any make a copy of any interesting data you come across =)
/me takes off his black hat now...
In all truth, it's nice having a tool like a bootable USB stick so that you can quickly troubleshoot and fix messed up machines. - gh02t, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1This article is... sparse.
- capajc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If a Linux user asked to borrow my PC and then complained about the OS, I'd just tell 'em to get the f--k out and go to the library.
Good tool for troubleshooting, tho.
Check out the new & improved 
© Digg Inc. 2009 — Content posted by Digg users is