May 20
adminLinux Flash Drive linux flash drive, linux flash usb, usb flash drive
Linux flash drive is a basic USB drive which is made bootable for Linux. But before making the efforts one should check the operating system
Linux Flash Drive
compatibility of their computer for USB Linux flash drive installations. To check the compatibility of the system there are many methods available on the chart but the following steps integrates to the most simple method for the cause:
- Install Memtest86+ to the USB. Basically it is used to check the errors on the computer’s memory.
- Now reboot the computer and press F8.
- A window opens containing a tab naming boot. Click on boot and change the priority order of the bios to USB.
- Click on save and exit.
- Now reboot the computer. On rebooting memtest86+ screen appears then it is verified that the host controller or the computer is enabled in response to booting through USB.
After the verification process is done, next step approaches i.e. your USB drive to be a bootable ‘Linux Flash Drive’. It can be done by the method explained below in order:
1. Connect the USB pen drive into the USB port of computer. Minimum memory requirement of 4 GB should be fulfilled for efficient installation of Linux.
2. Copy your data on the pc in any drive other then drive used for operating system. .
3. Format the USB drive.
4. Navigate through Start > All programs >Accessories > right click on Command Prompt. Make it run as administrator.
5. Proceed as follows:
DISKPART, then press enter.
And then type
LIST DISK and then press enter. It will show the number assigned to the disk.
Enter the following commands in hierarchy
SELECT DISK 1:- It will select the disk 1 which is our pen drive in this case.
CLEAN: – It will clean the disk.
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY: -It will create partitions on the memory of USB.
SELECT PARTITION 1: -It is used to select the partition 1.
ACTIVE
FORMAT FS=NTFS: – Formatting is preferred to be done by NTFS than FAT.
ASSIGN
EXIT
6. Do not close the command prompt, minimize it.
7. Insert the CD or DVD containing the windows into the ROM.
8. Pen down the ROM’s drive letter.
9. Restore the command prompt and begin the execution of following commands in the hierarchy given:
D: CD BOOT, press on enter. D is the drive letter of ROM.
CD BOOT, press on enter and BOOTSECT.EXE/NT60 H message will be displayed. H is USB drive letter
10. Copy contents of Linux from DVD to the bootable.
Now your bootable USB drive is ready for use. Follow the steps in hierarchy to install Linux through USB:
- Plug in the USB pen drive in the corresponding port and restart the computer.
- Before the start of the currently installed operating system, start hitting F8 or DEL (for some other system).
- A set-up screen will appear on which there will be a tab named “Boot”. Click on that and change the priority order and set it to USB on the first priority. Click on save and exit.
- Processor will automatically detect operating system in USB drive and operating system set up screen will appear.
- Enter the serial number of the operating system.
- After installation is completed, computer will be restarted.
- Install the drivers and computer will be ready for use.
May 17
adminLinux Flash Drive linux flash disk, usb flash drive
Linux is considered to be one of the most secured operating systems that have multi-user & multi-tasking utilities. It can be installed into your USB flash drive providing you the advantage of enjoying advanced features of Linux. Getting the installation of Linux via USB is preferred because of its faster execution recommended by many big corporate firms, companies & organizations as it is proved to be comparatively more secured & a very useful operating system in favor of multi-users & multitasking functionalities. In order to obtain Linux operating system all you need is a bootable USB flash drive after which it can be used for installing operating systems loading minimal kernel for embedded operations and maintenance tasks like test distribution, recovering data and more. There are some important tasks that “Linux Flash Drive” will be able to perform are recovering and modification of permanently written data which other optical disks like CD, DVD can’t.
In today’s corporate world, flexibility & portability play important roles as we need to switch between office & home and move from one place to another, it is pretty necessary to make all the essential files & documents available which are frequently used. Here comes the need of hour for a flash drive that can be loaded with Linux operating system. Among many software applications, “Damn Small Linux” is preferred as it has highly significant functionalities & is small in size which can easily be fitted in a pen drive.
A few requirements that you need to have:
- A 64MB or larger Pen Drive
- Extracting Utility like WinRar
- DSL zip files
- Syslinux
- HP-USB Format Tool
The following are the guideline on how to install & run “Damn Small Linux “in on a small pen drive:
1. Formatting the USB Pen Drive
The pen drive has to be formatted in FAT or FAT32 for installing DSL on it. For formatting there is an inbuilt utility in the Windows or you can download the USB format utility from the internet.
2. Downloading DSL and extracting it to pen drive
Now you can download the DSL file to your computer. The DSL file is supposed to be in zip format and can readily be downloaded online. You can also use the torrent for downloading. After you have downloaded the zip file, you have to unzip the contents of the file to your pen drive. Extracting utility like WinRar can be used.
3. Downloading syslinux and unzipping it to your computer
Next step would be downloading the syslinux zip file from online. You need to unzip the downloaded file to a directory termed as “syslinux” on your computer.
4. Need to run few commands in command prompt
Open up the command prompt & type cd \syslinux\win32 after you have navigated to the folder where the syslinux directory is located. Then now type syslinux.exe -ma X: (the drive letter of your USB pen drive would be X).
5. Changing boot priority in BIOS
For running the DSL & booting the system from the pen drive, you have to reboot your PC and the boot priority settings should be set to ‘boot from USB device’ from the BIOS setting and follow the following steps:
- Click on save and exit.
- Processor will automatically detect operating system in USB drive and operating system set up screen will appear.
- Enter the serial number of the operating system.
- After installation is completed, computer will be restarted.
- You can now install the drivers and computer will be ready for use.
You are now ready to boot your PC from the pen drive and after you have booted from the pen drive you can modify the setting according to your needs and save all the changes to your pen drive. Now take the world in your pocket with you wherever you move and enjoy the wonderful utilities of Linux.
May 07
adminLinux Flash Drive lunux usb, usb flash drive
Linux Flash Drive
Linux Live USB is an amazing data storage device which contains a flash memory that can be utilized to install & boot various Linux versions on a host controller through a USB port. Linux is a multi-tasking operating system which is considered to be far more sophisticated & secured than any other operating system available in the market. It can be loaded into a USB drive in order to explore its advanced features. All you need is to check the host controller supports drive-formatting utility & get a boot-able 1GB or larger USB drive to pack the Linux OS and a then install it in your computer to undergo multi-tasking, maintenance & other data recovering purposes. You can also load only the required kernel embedded operations into the flash drive and install it across a network.
The best part of a Linux Live USB is its portability and relatively smaller in size. You can carry your entire OS, applications, sensitive files, personal setting and many more with you & wherever you go. Bootstrapping Linux from live USB is comparatively easier & faster than any other means. It is impossible to modify & manipulate the data from a live CD or DVD which has been permanently written. But by using Linux Flash Drive, this impossible task is made possible. So, it increases the flexibility for the Linux users to have their required applications, configuration etc. to get stored & securely saved in a live USB as an extended storage device.
Out of the number of applications available to make Linux Live USB, Ubuntu image writer is considered to be the best and the steps to be followed to make it work are given below:
- Download and install image writer on the system.
- Ensure that you must have .img file of Linux-Ubuntu in the memory. If it is not available then download it from internet or any other source available.
- Navigate through applications> Accessories> Image writer and then make a click on it.
- Plug in the USB flash drive to be converted to boot-able flash drive into the USB port.
- Browse the .img file and select it along with flash drive.
- Click on “write to device”.
- Process starts automatically and reaches its destination by itself without making any effort by the user.
- Once the job is done you can plug out the flash drive safely by selecting safely remove hardware in order to avoid the data loss.
There exists a drawback of the above method that it can work only for Ubuntu version of Linux. But still because of its user friendly nature it is considered as one of the best methods. Anyone can follow the above steps in hierarchy to make the USB flash drive boot-able for Linux operating system efficiently.
Now your Linux Live USB is ready for use. Proceed with the following simple steps in hierarchy to install Linux through USB:
1. Plug in the USB pen drive in the corresponding port and restart the computer.
2. Before the start of currently installed operating system, start hitting F8.
3. A screen will appear on which there will be a tab named boot. Make a click on that and change the priority order and set it to USB on first priority.
4. Click on save and exit.
5. Processor will automatically detect operating system in USB drive and operating system set up screen will appear.
6. Enter the serial number of the operating system.
7. After installation is completed, computer will be restarted.
8. Install the drivers and computer will be ready for use.
Apr 11
adminLinux Flash Drive linux flash disk, linux flash drives, usb flash drive
Linux flash drive is a live USB that can be used to boot a host controller or personal computer with Linux. It is one of the preferable methods for booting your computer because of its faster execution. Linux is an operating system which is used mainly by big companies as it is more secured and has proved to be a very practical weapon in favor of multitasking. Before making USB drive bootable one should check the system compatibility for the booting via USB. In order to prove its compatibility, one can install memtest86+ onto the USB and set the bios priority to USB as well. If memtest86+ screen appears on rebooting the system then it is compatible with bootable USB otherwise not. Most of the systems pass this test.
There are many constructive methods to make a USB drive bootable. It can easily be done through command prompt but it is little complicated for the people who do not know computer that well. To help those people out, many software applications are available in the market.
Hierarchical procedures to do the job by one of the best software named- UNetbootin is given below:
1) Download UNetbootin from Internet. Plug in the USB drive into the corresponding port of your system. Please make sure that the UNetbootin window is closed at that time.
2) After that open UNetbootin from the icon on desktop.
3) Tick execute by navigating through properties>preferences to make it executable.
4) Browse the ISO image of Linux available and click ok.
5) If you are not having ISO image of Linux available then there is no need to worry. UNetbootin can do the job for you. It means you can download Linux image from internet by the use of UNetbootin. After that one can proceed by browsing the image followed by hitting the cursor on ok.
6) Process will begin just after that and do everything else automatically till the USB Linux flash drive is created.
The method explained above is one of the best methods because it is very user friendly and there is no need to for the user to have a big intellect of computer. Anyone can follow the above steps in hierarchy to make the USB flash drive bootable for Linux operating system efficiently. Now your bootable USB drive is ready for use. Proceed with the following simple steps in hierarchy to install Linux through USB:
1. Plug in your Linux Flash Drive in the corresponding port and restart the computer.
2. Before the start of currently installed operating system, start hitting F8.
3. A DOS window will appear on which there will be a tab named boot. Make a click on that and change the priority order and set it to USB on first priority.
4. Click on save and exit.
5. Processor will automatically detect operating system in USB drive and operating system set up screen will appear.
6. Enter the serial number of the operating system.
7. After installation is completed, computer will be restarted.
8. Install the drivers and computer will be ready for use.
Apr 05
adminLinux Flash Drive linux flash drive, usb flash drive
Linux flash drive is a basic USB drive which is made bootable for Linux. But before making the efforts one should check the operating system compatibility of their computer for USB Linux flash drive installations. To check the compatibility of the system there are many methods available on the chart but the following steps integrates to the most simple method for the cause:
1. Install Memtest86+ to the USB. Basically it is used to check the errors on the computer’s memory.
2. Now reboot the computer and press F8.
3. A window opens containing a tab naming boot. Click on boot and change the priority order of the bios to USB.
4. Click on save and exit.
5. Now reboot the computer. On rebooting memtest86+ screen appears then it is verified that computer is enabled in response to booting through USB.
After the verification process is done, next step approaches i.e. your USB drive to be a bootable ‘Linux Flash Drive’. It can be done by the method explained below in order:
1. Connect the USB pen drive into the USB port of computer. Minimum memory requirement of 4 GB should be fulfilled for efficient installation of Linux.
2. Copy your data on the pc in any drive other then drive used for operating system.
3. Format the USB drive.
4. Navigate through Start > All programs >Accessories > right click on Command Prompt. Make it run as administrator.
5. Proceed as follows: -
DISKPART, then press enter.
And then type
LIST DISK and then press enter. It will show the number assigned to the disk.
Enter the following commands in hierarchy
SELECT DISK 1:- It will select the disk 1 which is our pen drive in this case.
CLEAN: – It will clean the disk.
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY: -It will create partitions on the memory of USB.
SELECT PARTITION 1: -It is used to select the partition 1.
ACTIVE
FORMAT FS=NTFS: – Formatting is preferred to be done by NTFS than FAT.
ASSIGN
EXIT
6. Do not close the command prompt, minimize it.
7. Insert the CD or DVD containing the windows into the ROM.
8. Pen down the ROM’s drive letter.
9. Restore the command prompt and begin the execution of following commands in the hierarchy given:
D: CD BOOT, press on enter. D is the drive letter of ROM.
CD BOOT, press on enter and BOOTSECT.EXE/NT60 H message will be displayed. H is USB drive letter
10. Copy contents of Linux from DVD to the bootable USB.
Now your bootable USB drive is ready for use. Follow the steps in hierarchy to install Linux through USB:
1. Plug in the USB pen drive in the corresponding port and restart the computer.
2. Before the start of currently installed operating system, start hitting f8.
3. A screen will appear on which there will be a tab named boot. Make a click on that and change the priority order and set it to USB on first priority.
4. Click on save and exit.
5. Processor will automatically detect operating system in USB drive and operating system set up screen will appear.
6. Enter the serial number of the operating system.
7. After installation is completed, computer will be restarted.
8. Install the drivers and computer will be ready for use.
Sep 24
adminLinux Flash Drive, News linux flash drive, linux flash usb, usb flash drive
The system BIOS can be complicated to someone who is not yet familiar with all of the settings. Here are a few tips to help increase your chances of successfully booting a USB Linux system. If the flash memory stick fails to boot, go back into the system BIOS and try changing some of the following settings (Be sure to take note on any changes you have made). In addition, we have included some other tips to help achieve a successful boot.
BIOS setup tips for USB Boot:
- Switch on or off USB keyboard support
- Disable USB 2.0 support (last resort, this will default to USB 1.1)
Other tips to help you Boot from USB:
These are some other suggestions to help ensure a successful USB Linux Boot:
- Unplug USB hubs and extensions (these may draw from the current needed to wake your USB device)
- Try using a different USB port. (some frontal ports may not be fully supportive)
- Unplug additional USB devices. (I’ve seen something as simple as an IPod halt a system boot)
- Sometimes a USB drive may go undetected at startup. If your drive has an LED, ensure that it either flashes or remains solid during system post. If the drive does not respond, remove the drive, then power the system completely down for 15 seconds, reinsert the drive and try again.
- Some laptops using a PCMCIA slot may have troubles booting. You may have to tell Linux to ignore PCMCIA during boot. You can do this in the syslinux.cfg file by simply adding “nopcmcia” to the default boot options or by using a cheatcode before boot.
source : pendrivelinux.com
Sep 06
adminLinux Flash Drive, News bootable linux, install linux from usb, linux flash drive, usb flash drive
USB Flash Drive is a small device which can hold a significant amount of data. Bigger the use, more the security threats. There are many security threats to Information or data stored on USB Flash drives except virus, malwares etc.
USB Flash drive is best friend of business over last few years. It makes easy to transfer data from one machine to another and from office to home and vice versa. But USB flash drives are also looked at by some companies as one of their biggest threats to security. If USB Flash drive is not secure, it can lead to loss of data, theft of data and the contraction of a computer virus which could totally wipe out company’s IT structure. But Hold on! don’t worry we have some solutions to above sad problems such as Encrypted Flash Drives, Linux Flash drives, Password Protection and Restricted access to company’s sensitive information.
USB flash drive can also perform scans on the foreign system even if it doesn’t have its own virus protection. This will ensure that your flash drive does not get infected. I would also suggest you scanning the flash drive as soon as you plug it into your regular PC. This will help catch anything that your portable virus scanner did not catch.
Jul 23
adminLinux Flash Drive, News Encrypted Flash Drive, linux flash drive, USB boot drive, usb flash drive
Nothing can beat having a great Linux distro installed on a super-fast hard drive, with all your favourite apps configured just how you like them and all your files at your fingertips. But this has one major drawback: perfect as your setup is, it’s also just one machine, and sooner or later you’ll be forced to leave that computer behind and use something else. Something that might run Windows. Something that might not even have Firefox.
Because no one likes being parted from their data for too long, we present a smarter option: store it all on a USB flash drive…
In older days, you were able to store Linux on a CD and use a flash drive just to save changes. After some advancements, you were able to run Linux straight from the flash drive, but it didn’t store any changes you made. But the latest generation of Linux distros – namely Ubuntu 8.10 and Fedora 9 – have a memory overlay system that allows you to store your Linux distro and any changes you make to it on a single flash drive. Sure, you’ll need at least 1GB to be able to fit the entire distro on there, but it does mean everything you need is all on the one device.
Once you switch your install to a flash drive, it means you can take it pretty much anywhere and get back to work immediately. Whether you’re using a server, a desktop or even a tiny little Aspire One or Eee PC, the vast majority of modern computers support booting straight from USB, so you can just plug in your drive and go.
You’ll need a flash drive with at least 1GB of free space, and ISO images of either Ubuntu 8.10 or Fedora 9. It’s likely there are other distros out there that work with similar or perhaps even identical instructions, but Ubuntu and Fedora are the big two so we stuck with them.
One of the first thing you encounter when switching to free software are people who want to let you know all a bout the difference between free beer and free speech, and that’s all very nice. But for most us, nearly all our software is free of cost and free to modify, so in our minds we balk at the idea of paying for functionality. However, if you want to put Linux on a flash drive you really do have to fork out and buy some hardware, so if you don’t already have a good flash drive you need to read this first.
There are five things you’ll want to consider when buying the perfect flash drive for Linux. If we order them with the most important first, it looks like this:
- Reliability. This is easily the most important thing to care about, because it doesn’t matter how cheap, fast and spacious a flash drive is when it dies after 20 minutes. If losing your data is simply not an option (and, let’s face it, that’s almost certainly the case), go for a brand name you trust – we chose Corsair, because it’s a company with a huge amount of experience making quality flash drives, and its Flash Voyager range is designed to be water- and shock-proof.
- Cost. This is always going to be a consideration, but fortunately flash prices have dropped dramatically in recent years – whereas 256MB drives used to be £60 or £70, you can now get 32GB drives for the same price. That’s over 100 times the capacity for the same price!
- Capacity. 1GB is the absolute minimum needed to get started, but it really depends on how much data you want to store – and also how much extra software you want to install. If cost is an issue, the best value drive sizes right now are 4GB or 8GB.
- Speed. The simple rule here is “pay more, get more”. Companies such as OCZ and Corsair specialise in high-performance devices – Corsair even makes a special range of flash drives (known as ‘GT’) that are made from extra-fast components. Remember, your entire computer will be running from this tiny device, so only go for a slow drive if you’re a very, very patient person.
- Size. Arguably the least important consideration is the actual physical size of the flash drive. This isn’t usually a problem because all flash drives are necessarily small, and it’s only if you’re after a particularly tiny one that you even need to consider this. SanDisk’s Cruzer Micro and Corsair’s Flash Voyager Mini both come in 4GB and 8GB capacities, despite being less than half the size of conventional drives.
Make your choice
There are two distinct ways of running Linux from a flash drive, but we’ll only be covering one of them here – and for good reason, as you’ll see.
The two ways are: using your flash drive as a Live CD, and using the drive as a full Linux install. Perhaps surprisingly, the first option is the better one for several reasons:
- Live CDs scan the hardware at boot time, and so are likely to be compatible with the most machines.
- Live CDs must by necessity have a small footprint, which means there’s more space for your files – or you can just buy a smaller, cheaper drive.
- Live CDs run as much as they can in RAM, which makes for better performance.
- Live CDs don’t use swap.
That last point is actually the most important one of all: Linux makes extensive use of hard drives to save temporary data, and if you treat your flash drive as a real hard drive then Linux will use it for swap, too.
The problem is that flash drives, like all flash memory devices, have a limited number of times they can be written to before they fail. Most drives are able to withstand 100,000 writes to every memory sector, but the best can handle up to 1,000,000 and often automatically balance writes to ensure that no one sector gets excessively worn out while others are sitting untouched. Again, this is a reliability factor, so if you care for keeping your data intact for a long time it’s worth you buying a trusted brand.
Just how fast is it?
As fast as flash memory is compared with mechanical hard disks, it’s still limited by the throughput of USB. But on the upside, the lack of swap availability means that Linux will take advantage of your RAM much more, which means the most commonly accessed data will be just as fast if not faster when using USB drives.
If you’re used to using a Live CD, you’ll also be pleased to know there’s much less noise (the triple-digit decibel whir of a busy DVD drive is, of course, absent with flash drives), and there’s also none of the latency that usually happens when the OS lets the DVD drive go idle.
On the flip side, the nature of Live distros means they must detect their environment during boot up, so expect boot times to be a bit longer.
Do it with Ubuntu
Ubuntu 8.10 doesn’t contain much in the ‘wow’ department, but it does come with a USB installation wizard as standard. This works by mimicking the Casper system of running a live operating system from read-only media – with the exception that flash drives aren’t read-only, so you can actually make changes to the OS.
Even after Ubuntu is installed to your drive, it still looks and feels as if it works in Live mode, so you’ll be prompted to choose a language when it boots up. This might seem like an annoyance, but it does come with the added bonus that the Ubuntu hard disk installer is always within reach – you can use your flash drive as an Ubuntu installer on as many PCs as you want.
Get Ubuntu on your flash drive
Start the app
Plug in the drive – Once the app is running, go ahead and plug in your flash drive. Ubuntu will automatically mount the drive, and it will appear in the USB startup disk window.
Download Ubuntu – Now download the version of Ubuntu you want to use. It doesn’t matter whether it’s 32-bit or 64-bit, or whether it’s 8.04 LTS or 8.10. If you have an Ubuntu CD handy, you can use that.
Select your ISO – Click on the Other button to choose the ISO you just downloaded. If you have a real CD, it should be auto-detected.
Choose free space – Make sure you specify that documents and settings be stored in reserved extra space, then drag the slider up as far as you want it. Don’t worry – the space for the Live CD image is automatically deducted.
Sit back and wait – When you’re ready, click Make Startup Disk, then sit back and wait – it will take a few minutes to copy the image, and if you have a large flash drive you can expect it to take up to 10 minutes in total.
reboot pc
Reboot your PC – When the installer finishes, click Quit then reboot your computer. This is the tricky part: you need to press a key to get to your BIOS boot screen then choose the right device.
Booting from your flash drive
The more advanced your motherboard, the more options you will have to boot from. But sometimes even the best motherboards don’t have a USB booting option – even though they support it. To get started, read the BIOS output when your computer boots up and note down which key you have to press to select your boot device. Some BIOSes don’t have such a screen, so you may need to go into the setup system to manually reorder your boot devices. Once that’s done, the next problem is to figure out just which device represents your flash drive.
In our tests, most motherboards that don’t have a single “USB” option instead have things like “USB-FDD”, “USB-CDROM” and even “USB-ZIP”, and one of these was the correct option on all the machines. Of course, your own machine will almost certainly be different, so you’ll probably need to work your way through the most popular options to see what works.
Choose your language – When your USB Linux boots, you’ll see the usual ‘Choose your language’ screen, and it will log in as the Live session user.
customise
Customise! – Your flash drive is finished: now you can make all the customizations you want, because it all gets saved. Add users, add packages, and make it your own!
Make these changes
Once you have your Linux installation, you can do with it as you please. But we’d recommend you make some or all of these simple changes to make it truly feel like home:
- Add your own user. Running under the Live session user will get old sooner or later, so create your own user and home directory, and make sure you give it the “administer the system” privilege.
- Set a strong password for yourself, and/or the root user. Lots of people hate the way Ubuntu insists on using sudo – if you’re one of them, run sudo bash, enter your password, then type passwd to set the root password yourself. After that, su works fine.
- Delete the ‘Install’ item from the desktop. If you want to use your stick to install custom Ubuntus around the office, you’ll want to keep this; otherwise, bin it and don’t look back.
- Customise the software. Replace OpenOffice.org with AbiWord if you want to, or get your favourite coding tools in place.
- Update, update, update: you have a real Linux system now, which means staying up to date with patches and other updates.
It’s important to remember that as you make changes from the default installation, you are possibly straying away from what makes the Live CD so darn useful in the fi rst place. For example, if you configure it to automatically use a specific X.org configuration your graphical display (perhaps to enable 3D hardware acceleration on Nvidia cards using a proprietary driver), it may mean that your flash drive Ubuntu won’t work so well on other machines.
Yes, Ubuntu is supposed to have a failsafe X.org mode that switches to a standard VESA-compatible resolution when it encounters problems, but we find that rarely works when we need it!
Installing to USB
Although the Live USB method of installing Ubuntu is the easiest and safest, there is one good alternative: when you’re installing Ubuntu from a CD-ROM, slot in your flash drive and choose that as the installation target. The problem, as mentioned earlier, is that it will wear down your flash drive with unnecessary writes, and the solution here is to edit your /etc/fstab file so that it uses tmpfs (otherwise known as a RAM disk) for the /tmp directory. For example:
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs nosuid,nodev 0 0
If you have enough RAM you should be able to do without swap entirely, which neatly sidesteps this problem.
source: tuxdar.com
Jun 12
adminLinux Flash Drive, News linus flash drive, linux flash drive, secure usb, usb flash drive
Some Linux distributions, such as Mandriva Flash, are specially designed to work from flash devices. Some provide installers to get them onto thumb drives, while others can be coerced onto a USB flash drive with some simple modifications. I tested five Linux distributions — Damn Small Linux (DSL), Puppy Linux, Pendrivelinux, Ubuntu, and Mandriva Flash — to see how they fare running from a flash disk.
Of the five, only Ubuntu doesn’t offer a native method for getting it to run from flash, while Pendrivelinux and Mandriva Flash are designed to run exclusively from flash. The five Linux distributions can be divided into two classes: the small, compact distributions (DSL and Puppy Linux), which are less than 100MB in size, and the full-blown distributions (Mandriva, Pendrivelinux, and Ubuntu).
Small & beautiful
Both DSL and Puppy Linux are small and don’t have huge system requirements. DSL can run on a 468DX with only 16MB of RAM, although this feature is of dubious utility because it would be hard to find a 486DX machine that could boot from a USB device. These two distributions aim to be small yet versatile with flexible boot and install options.
They’re also fast, because they load the whole OS and applications into RAM.DSL is a 50MB download and boots from a live CD. Once booted, you can install it to a USB drive using the Pendrive install application . The text-based installer runs in a command window. DSL detected and installed to my flash drive without any problem.
DSL is handy as a recovery tool that enables you to boot a broken machine and copy valuable data from it. It uses the lightweight JWM window manager, which should be easy to learn for those who are used to a “Start” button (labeled DSL in this case). DSL tries to be feature-rich and contains many standard types of applications, such as a music player, a couple of Web browsers, a word processor, and a spreadsheet. With the exception of Firefox, they’re all specialized, small applications, but DSL is extendable using the myDSL Extension Browser. With the packages in its community repository you can add some of the more popular software to DSL, including OpenOffice.org. DSL is a marvel to look at, has potential for expansion, but it isn’t as strong as some alternatives as a serious, portable desktop.
Like DSL, Puppy Linux is a small download (less than 100MB) and boots from a live CD. Once you boot the CD, you’re up and running with the whole OS and file system loaded into RAM, which means that Puppy isn’t always pulling files off the CD. To install to USB flash, use the Puppy universal installer, which can cope with almost any USB flash disk, regardless of whether it’s unpartitioned or using the wrong boot flags.
However, the downside is that the installation process can be quite complicated. The installer does a good job of trying to explain what’s going on, but you will need to know how to work with disks and partitions if the need arises; for example, if the flags are wrong on a partition, the installer will fire up GParted for you to fix it rather than correct the problem automatically.
The recently released version 4.0 is a great improvement over its predecessor and using the JWM window manager it offers AbiWord 2.4.6 as a word processor, the Gnumeric 1.7.13 spreadsheet, Sylpheed 2.4.7 for email, and Mozilla SeaMonkey 1.1.8 for Web browsing and other integrated .Internet applications. Puppy Linux also has a package manager called PETget that automatically connects to the official Puppy repository and offers additional software to install. Currently the 4.0 repository doesn’t offer OpenOffice.org but I was able to install it from the version 3.0 repository.
One possible problem with Puppy Linux is that your data isn’t immediately saved to the flash drive. As you’re working, the files you create and edit are saved to memory, but that memory copy is only written to the flash disk periodically or during the shutdown process.
There is also a Save button on the desktop to force a write to the flash disk. This intermittent saving can leave a window for losing files.Pendrivelinux.Pendrivelinux is both a Linux distribution for USB flash disks and a comprehensive Web site with lots of articles and information on getting Linux running from a flash disk.Amongst the articles on the Web site are a couple on installing .Pendrivelinux from Linux and from Windows. Pendrivelinux doesn’t come as a live CD; instead, you need to be up and running in Windows or in .Linux. The installation process involves downloading a .zip file and then making the USB flash drive bootable (either with a batch file supplied for Windows or by using syslinux on Linux). I originally tried installing it from Linux, but it wouldn’t boot, so I switched to using Windows, and things went better, with one minor wrinkle. I was using Vista, and I had to run the batch file to make the USB flash disk bootable under the Administrator account. If you run it under a normal accoun, even one that has Administrator rights, the batch file will fail. Pendrivelinux is comprehensive. The .zip file is just under 500MB in size. It includes many of the popular Linux programs, and such as a full KDE desktop. Based on Mandriva 2007.1 (via the folks at MCNLive), itcomes with persistent file changes (using a 256MB loop file), KDE 3.5.6, and Firefox 2.0.0.3. It doesn’t come with OpenOffice.org, but relies instead on KOffice. It includes support for 3-D desktop effects; with a few clicks, you can get a 3-D cube representation of your virtual desktops, wobbly windows, and transparency.The lack of OpenOffice.org could be limiting, as KOffice’s ability to import and export to popular Microsoft and OpenOffice.org file formats is limited, but otherwise, Pendrivelinux is an excellent USB flash-drive Linux distro that you could use daily.
Ubuntu
Ubuntu doesn’t come with an easy way to install it to a USB flash disk, but the Pendrivelinux Web site has an article about how you can shoehorn it onto a flash device. The fairly complicated procedure requires 21 steps. You will need to use command-line tools like syslinux, mkfs.ext2, and apt-get, so the process isn’t for the novice. However, if these commands don’t frighten you, then it’s worth trying.Once it’s installed, you have a normal full Ubuntu system. The OS takes 750MB of your flash disk; whatever is remaining is for your files and documents. Because it’s Ubuntu, you get a whole host of software,including the latest versions of GNOME, OpenOffice.Org, Firefox, and soon. There is one problem with Ubuntu on flash, and it isn’t really a technical one. Whenever I used it, I felt uneasy because I knew Ubuntu wasn’t designed to run from a flash drive. After a time, my fears were realized. One time, for no apparent reason, the disk would no longerboot, and I was forced to reinstall the operating system. After the reinstall, all seemed fine, but later GNOME had problems starting, and I kept getting an error message about some files being unwritable. At that point, I gave up.This is not a bad reflection on Ubuntu, but rather a warning about the dangers of trying to force complicated software to reside where it wasn’t designed to be.
Mandriva Flash
Mandriva sells a specialized version of its Mandriva Linux One distribution called Mandriva Flash. It is an excellent Linux distribution for running from flash. However, there is one downside: you need to pay for it. It costs $69 (or €59), but what you get for your money is a 4GB USB flash disk, one month of Mandriva support, free shipping, and access to a rescue CD should you accidentally crash your USB key.
Mandriva Flash is a complete Linux desktop on a USB key. It comes with KDE 3.5.7, OpenOffice.org 2.2.1, Firefox 2.0.0.8, Skype, and Java 6. Like Pendrivelinux, it comes with the impressive 3-D desktop and a tool to help you import your Windows documents and settings. It uses the standard Mandriva RPM format for package management, which means that there are lots of additional package available on the Internet.Using Mandriva Flash is easy, especially if you’re already used to Linux. I was able to download Google’s Picasa for Linux and install it without any problems. I connected my digital camera and was able to import all my photos. Another neat trick unique to Mandriva Flash is that if you plug the USB flash disk into a Windows machine, all of your documents will be available there too. Anything you copy over to the USB key will also be available in Linux the next time you boot it, thanks to the way Mandriva use the flash disk. The first time you boot Mandriva Flash you choose how much space to use for system files and how much is reserved for user files.The inclusion of essential software like OpenOffice.org makes Mandriva Flash a prime candidate for running Linux from a USB flash disk. You can take your OS and data with you everywhere you go.
source : linux.com
Jun 10
adminLinux Flash Drive Encrypted Flash Drive, encryted usb, usb flash drive, usb protection
Carrying around your personal or professional data on a USB encrypted flash drive is far more than common these days. Almost everyone be it student, lawyer, businessmen, or professional from any other field make use of this data portable device which has made it easier for people to carry their important data. Whether you are carrying your private stuff like songs, videos, photographs or other private stuff or are using USB encrypted flash drive for carrying around some important professional data, protection of the stored data in the USB boot drive has become a major concern.
Being of the small size that it is, it is not uncommon to lose your flash drive nor is it unusual if your drive gets stolen. Under such circumstances, which you cannot prevent; the only saving grace that you have is having a password protected USB encrypted flash drive so that even if you lose your drive or if it gets stolen at least you can be sure that the information or the data in it is safe and cannot fall in wrong hands. A password protected USB drive will always ask for the correct password before it lets anyone access the information. Incorrect password would mean access denied, thus keeping your data safe.
USB Protection has become extremely important in today’s world. A recent research conducted revealed that on an average about 70% of privacy breaches are due to lost or stolen of USB drives. Keeping this in mind USB protection has become a must. Password protecting your USB boot drive can be done easily with the help of some software. There are number of locking software available in the market, which you can choose as per your convenience and budget. After selecting the right software you can easily install the software to your flash drive. After installation the software will ask you to enter the password. After entering the password, format the flash drive so that your new password feature is installed, thus making your flash drive with USB encryption completely safe and protected. You can reset the password whenever you feel like for security reasons.
By simply installing a password in your USB encrypted flash drive you can stop any predator from having access to your sensitive data.
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